Persimmon's 1H Was Bleak But Its Strategy Seems Prudent

0907 GMT - Persimmon had a bleak first half, but it's sticking with its full-year expectations, AJ Bell says. The house builder was always likely to be exposed to a drop in volumes and selling prices given the inflationary pressure on build costs that shows no sign of disappearing any time soon, but Persimmon's strategy of retrenchment and adopting a wait-and-see approach seems a prudent one given the circumstances, AJ Bell Investment Director Russ Mould says in a market comment. "There are lots of uncertainties for the company right now, including the future direction of rates, whether the supply and demand dynamics in the U.K. can continue to limit the damage on house prices and what happens to the economy from here," Mould says. Shares are up 3.8% at 1,166 pence. (joseph.hoppe@wsj.com)

COMPANIES NEWS:

Antofagasta Profit Rises on Higher Sales Volumes; Lifts Dividend

Antofagasta PLC said that profit for the first half of 2023 rose, supported by higher sales volumes, backed its annual production target and raised its dividend payout.

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Capita to Sell Travel Businesses to Clarity Travel for GBP16 Mln

Capita said it has sold its travel and events businesses Agiito and Evolvi to Clarity Travel Ltd. for an enterprise value of 36.5 million pounds ($46.4 million), but that it will receive GBP16 million due to work capital and debt liabilities.

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Beazley CFO Sally Lake to Step Down

Beazley Chief Financial Officer Sally Lake will leave the company in 2024, it said Thursday.

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Persimmon Misses Pretax Profit Forecast on Lower House Sales

Persimmon has reported a large fall in first-half pretax profit, missing market forecasts, after selling less houses, reflecting a lower forward order book as it started the year following last year's mini-budget.

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Spirax-Sarco Engineering Pretax Profit Fell on Higher Costs, Missing Consensus

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Deliveroo Raises Guidance After Return to Profit; Plans GBP250M Shareholder Return

Deliveroo has raised its preferred adjusted Ebitda guidance for the year as it reported a swing to profit for the same metric for the first half year, and said it will return an extra 250 million pounds ($317.9 million) of surplus capital to shareholders.

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Entain Swings to Pretax Loss as It Sets Aside GBP585.0 Mln for Bribery Probe

Entain swung to pretax loss for the first half after setting aside 585 million pounds ($743.9 million) for a potential settlement of the U.K.'s bribery probe into its legacy Turkish-facing business.

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ACG Acquisition Company Limited Update on Acquisition

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Watches of Switzerland Backs Guidance on Robust US Performance; Revenue in Line

Watches of Switzerland backed its fiscal 2024 guidance on the back of a first-quarter performance in line with expectations and robust progress in the U.S. market.

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Marks Electrical Four-Month Revenue Rose 31% on Robust Trading Momentum

Marks Electrical reported a four-month revenue jump supported by positive trading momentum.

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Savills Pretax Profit Fell on Reduced Volumes, Real-Estate Market Adjustments

Savills reported lower first-half pretax profit after the group saw a large reduction in trading volumes as real-estate markets adjusted to challenging macroeconomic conditions, and said its expectations for 2023 have been reduced due to uncertainty over the timing of market recoveries.

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OSB Group Pretax Profit Hit by Interest-Rate Adjustment

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S&U Says It Trades Well Despite Challenging Backdrop

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Derwent London Swung to Pretax Loss on Higher Costs; Backs Guidance

Derwent London swung to a pretax loss in the first half after booking higher irrecoverable property costs, but backed its guidance for the year.

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Aterian Raises GBP1 Mln via Premium Share Issue to Fund Exploration

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Jarvis Securities Shares Drop on Performance Below Market Views

Jarvis Securities shares fell after the group said that it is currently performing below market expectations for 2023.

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Silver Bullet Shares Rise After First-Half Revenue Jump; Performance in Line

Silver Bullet Data Services shares rose after the group reported robust revenue growth in the first half and said it is performing in line with expectations.

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Allergy Therapeutics Shares Fall on Lower FY 2023 Revenue, Swing to Loss

Shares of Allergy Therapeutics slid as much as 16% in early trade after the company said that revenue for fiscal 2023 fell due to a pause in production and that it expects to report an underlying operating loss for the year.

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Allergy Therapeutics Shares Fall on Lower FY 2023 Revenue, Swing to Loss

Shares of Allergy Therapeutics slid as much as 16% in early trade after the company said that revenue for fiscal 2023 fell due to a pause in production and that it expects to report an underlying operating loss for the year.

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Hostelworld's Pretax Loss Narrows as Revenue Surges on Strong Key Markets Performance

Hostelworld Group said its pretax loss narrowed for the first half as revenue rose on a strong performance across key regional markets, and backed its guidance for the year.

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Lancashire Holdings to Launch in the US; Pretax Profit Rose

Lancashire Holdings said it intends to launch in the U.S. as it reported a rise in pretax profit for the first half of 2023 on higher insurance and investment results.

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Tullow Oil Sells Orinduik License Interest in Guyana to Eco (Atlantic) Oil & Gas

Tullow Oil said that it has agreed to sell its subsidiary Tullow Guyana, which holds a 60% operated interest at the Orinduik licence in Guyana, to a subsidiary of Eco (Atlantic) Oil & Gas for an initial payment of $700,000 and further considerations upon certain conditions.

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Capital & Regional Launches GBP23.4 Mln Open Offer; to Buy Scottish Shopping Center

Capital & Regional has agreed to acquire the Gyle Shopping Centre, located in Edinburgh, Scotland, for 40 million pounds ($50.9 million), and is launching a discounted open offer of around GBP23.4 million in conjunction with this, it said Thursday.

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TBC Bank Group Lifts Mid-Term Targets After 2Q Pretax Profit Rose

TBC Bank Group upgraded its mid-term targets as it reported a rise in pretax profit for the second quarter of 2023 on higher net-interest, fee and commission income.

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Checkit's Land and Expand Strategy, High Retention Rates Boost Earnings

Checkit said that its 'land and expand' strategy and high net retention rates have boosted annual recurring revenue over the first half of the year.

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Network International Pretax Profit Rose on Middle East Performance

Network International Holdings posted higher pretax profit for first half of 2023 as its revenue rose on good performance in the United Arab Emirates and Jordan and growth its merchant services division.

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Capital & Regional Net Profit Fell Against Tough Comparative

Capital & Regional said net profit for the first half fell compared with last year's, when it benefited from significant one-off gains, and that it will continue exploring selective opportunities to grow the business.

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Trifast Appoints Serena Lang Chair-Elect, Chair Jonathan Shearman to Step Down in September

Trifast said it has appointed Serena Lang chair-elect effective Aug. 10, and that current Chair Jonathan Shearman will step down on Sept. 14.

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Petrofac Swung to Net Loss on Onerous Contracts; Almost Doubles Orders

Petrofac Ltd. reported a swing to net loss in the first half of 2023 driven by legacy contracts, while it benefited from a major increase in its order book.

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Tern CFO Sarah Payne Steps Down Amid Cost-Cutting, Restructuring

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Persimmon Misses Pretax Profit Forecast; Tightens Sales Guidance Upward -- Update

Persimmon first-half pretax profit fell short of market forecasts after the company sold fewer houses, though it expects to deliver on profit expectations for the full year, and tightened sales guidance upward.

MARKET TALK:

Entain's Larger-Than-Expected HMRC Legal Provision Weighs on Shares

0735 GMT - Entain posted mixed first-half results, with an in-line Ebitda and full-year guidance but a heavier-than-expected provision for the HMRC investigation into the legacy Turkey-facing business, Citi says in a note. The gambling-and-betting company said it is setting aside GBP585 million for a potential settlement while expectations were in the GBP250 million to GBP350 million range, analyst Monique Pollard writes. Its retail performance beat expectations by 16% though online missed by 4%, she notes. "We expect a slightly negative share-price reaction given recent strength, the higher than expected HMRC provision, and slight online softness," Pollard adds. Citi rates the stock buy. Shares fall 2% to around 1,330 pence. (elena.vardon@wsj.com)

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Persimmon Raising Volumes Guidance Is Encouraging

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08-10-23 0529ET