The FTSE 100 closed Thursday down 0.43%, its third fall in succession. A combination of rising U.S. yields--a decline in U.K. yields notwithstanding--and concern over earnings guidance downgrades is weighing on markets, with the weakness in U.S. markets weighing on the broader risk outlook for the European market, says CMC Markets UK. There have been some positives, with banks and house builders seeing a rebound in the aftermath of the Bank of England's decision to raise rates by 25 basis points, as traders pare back bets on peak bank rate, says Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets UK. "This optimism over a lower terminal rate has helped the likes of Barclays [and] NatWest eke out gains on the FTSE 100," Hewson says.


COMPANIES NEWS:

Next 2Q Full-Price Sales Rose, Hikes Pretax Profit Guidance

Next said total full-price sales rose ahead of its guidance in the second quarter of fiscal 2024, and upgraded its full-year pretax profit guidance on higher sales and improved clearance rates in its summer sale.

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Hikma Pharmaceuticals Raises Generics Guidance After Strong 1H Performance

Hikma Pharmaceuticals has reported a 36% rise in its core net profit for the first half year with growth in all three businesses, especially generics for which it raised guidance.

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London Stock Exchange Group Sees 2023 Income Growth at Top End of Range

London Stock Exchange Group reported a fall in pretax profit for the first half of 2023 and upped its total income growth views for the year to the top end of its guided range.

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Serco Pretax Profit Rose on Strong Demand; Lifts Cash-Flow Guidance

Serco Group said that its pretax profit and revenue rose in the first half as a fall in coronavirus-related work was more than offset by demand for other services, and hiked its cash-flow guidance.

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Rolls-Royce Swings to Pretax Profit on Higher Revenue, Lower Costs

Rolls-Royce Holdings swung to a first-half pretax profit as revenue grew alongside commercial optimization and cost efficiencies.

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Smith & Nephew Raises Revenue View; CFO to Step Down

Smith & Nephew has lifted its revenue growth guidance for 2023 after its second-quarter came in slightly ahead of expectations, and said its chief finance officer is stepping down.

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Mondi Pretax Profit Fell on Lower Revenue; Committed to Syktyvkar Sale

Mondi said that pretax profit fell for the first half on lower revenue due to challenging market conditions, and that the sale process of its Russian Syktyvkar facility continued.

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Belvoir Confident About Full-Year Expectations After Revenue Rose

Belvoir Group's revenue rose in the first half of the year on growth in both its property franchise and financial services adviser networks, and said it is performing comfortably in line with management's full-year expectations.

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Pets at Home Backs Guidance as 1Q Revenue Grows

Pets at Home Group said that revenue for the first quarter of the year grew as it benefited from higher volume and value growth, and backed its full-year guidance.

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ScS Group to Meet Market Views as 2H Improved

ScS Group said that it expects to met full-year market expectations and has benefited from improved trading and cost management.

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Sabre Insurance Raises Gross Written Premiums Guidance

Sabre Insurance Group has raised its guidance for gross written premiums for the year on continued momentum in market pricing, despite reporting a fall in pretax profit for the first half.

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Shaftesbury Capital Confident in Further Growth After Swing to 1H Profit

Shaftesbury Capital swung to a first-half pretax profit on a gain stemming from its recent merger while operating profit and revenue rose, and said it was confident in delivering further growth.

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Helios Towers' Tightens 2023 Guidance Upwards as Pretax Loss Narrows

Helios Towers' pretax loss for the first half narrowed as it benefited from fair-value gains while revenue and adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization increased, leading it to tighten its full-year guidance upwards.

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Xaar Sees 2023 Performance In Line With Views On 2H Improvement

Xaar expects to meet its full-year views as it sees market conditions improving further in the second half in China and demand for its printheads to increase as it launches new products, it said on Thursday.

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Lifesafe Holdings to Raise Up to GBP1.3 Mln; Sees 4Q With Monthly Profits

Lifesafe Holdings is planning to raise up to 1.33 million pounds ($1.7 million) via a share placing, subscription and retail offer, and will use the money to buy stock and for general working capital purposes.

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Wizz Air Swings to Profit on Record Passengers; Backs Outlook

Wizz Air Holdings swung to a pretax profit in the first quarter on record passenger numbers, and backed its guidance for fiscal 2024.

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Devolver Digital Shares Fall After Core Earnings View Lowered

Devolver Digital shares fell on Thursday after the company said its 2023 performance will be lower than expected due to new title releases delays, fewer subscription deals and weaker back-catalogue revenue.

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Morgan Sindall's Property Services Swing to Operating Loss; Pretax Profit Rises

Morgan Sindall Group said its property-services division swung to an operating loss in the first half due to cost pressures and operational challenges, despite reporting higher pretax profit and revenue.

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Maintel Sees Revenue In Line, Earnings Ahead of Views

Maintel Holdings is on track to beat core earnings expectations for the year, with revenues seen in line with views, the company said on Thursday.

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Team17 Performed Well in 1H, Sees Full Year Meeting Market Views

Team17 said its enlarged portfolio of titles performed well in the first half in a challenging marketplace and that it continues to expect to perform in line with full-year market expectations.

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Union Jack Oil Surpasses $17 Mln Revenue Milestone at Wressle Project

Union Jack Oil said that it has seen more than $17 million in revenue generated from the Wressle hydrocarbon development in England--a project it holds a 40% stake in--since the restart of production in August 2021.

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Facilities By ADF Says Hollywood Strikes to Push Some Productions into Next Year

Facilities By ADF said writer and actor strikes in the U.S. will delay some productions into next year but that it still expects to report much higher first-half revenue and adjusted Ebita after a strong performance.

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TT Electronics 1H Pretax Profit Rose on Higher Revenue; Order Intake Is Robust

TT Electronics said that pretax profit rose for the first half as revenue grew across all its businesses, and that order intake remained robust and was normalizing as expected.

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Kodal Shares Rise on $3.5 Mln Funding for Mali Project

Kodal Minerals shares rose after receiving a prepayment of $3.5 million for the development of the Bougouni lithium project in Mali, part of a wider funding package from Hainan Mining.

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CMO Group Sees 2023 Earnings Meeting Market Views But Revenue Slipping

CMO Group expects to meet full-year market expectations for earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, though it sees revenue slipping on year.

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Pennon Group CFO to Step Down

Pennon Group said that Chief Financial Officer Paul Boote will step down at the end of 2023, and that Steve Buck has been appointed as his replacement.

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James Fisher & Sons Appoints Karen Hayzen-Smith as CFO

James Fisher & Sons named Karen Hayzen-Smith as its incoming chief financial officer, joining no later than Dec. 1 and taking over from Duncan Kennedy.

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Global Invacom's Net Loss Narrows as It Focuses on Product Mix, Efficiencies

Global Invacom Group said it expects to report a narrowed net loss and increase in gross profit for the first half, despite a decline in revenue, as the company increased its business focus on product mix and implemented efficiencies at its U.S. manufacturing facilities.

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Mears Group 2023 Revenue, Profit Seen Rising on Year

Mears Group sees 2023 revenue and adjusted pretax profit ahead of the previous year as it reported improved first-half performance.

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Creo Medical Sees Higher 1H Revenue

Creo Medical Group is trading in line with its views as it expects to post a 15% rise in revenue for the first half of 2023, the group said on Thursday.

MARKET TALK:

Rolls-Royce 1H Seen as an Important Milestone

0750 GMT - Rolls-Royce's 1H reconfirms its previous guidance update and gave greater clarity on a underlying business that looks different to what it was at the end of last year, CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson says. With revenue up more than 30% and operating profit rising to GBP673 million from GBP125 million, the improvement was driven by the civil aerospace business, where profits and margins stood out, Hewson says. "There is still a long way to go before the Rolls-Royce share price returns to the levels we saw in 2019, when we were above 300 pence, however today's update is an important milestone for a business that only three years ago was on the brink of bankruptcy," Hewson says. (anthony.orunagoriainoff@dowjones.com)

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London Stock Exchange Shares Slump After 1H Results, Guidance Disappoint

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08-03-23 1228ET