BOE Rate Decision Seen Causing Lasting Damage to Sterling

The Bank of England may have caused lasting damage to sterling by leaving interest rates unchanged last Thursday, despite talking up the prospect of a rate rise to come, Commerzbank says. The BOE has "damaged confidence" by allowing the market to "move in the wrong direction" with its rate-rise expectations, Commerzbank currency analyst Ulrich Leuchtmann says. Any "hawkish" comments about lifting rates by BOE Governor Andrew Bailey and other policymakers in the near future will sound "insipid," he says. "Everyone is likely to remember for some time that hawkish comments by this governor don't mean very much." GBP/USD is flat at 1.3491 and EUR/GBP rises 0.1% to 0.8576. 


 
Companies News:

Woodbois Appoints Federico Tonetti as CEO, Paul Dolan Becomes Executive Chair

Woodbois Ltd. said on Monday that it has appointed Federico Tonetti as chief executive officer with immediate effect replacing Paul Dolan who becomes executive chairman of the company.

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CyanConnode 1H Pretax Loss Narrowed on Higher Revenue

CyanConnode Holdings PLC said Monday that its pretax loss for the first half of fiscal 2022 narrowed as the company benefited from the continued deployment of projects.

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TMT Acquisition Posts 1H Pretax Loss on Listing Costs

TMT Acquisition PLC on Monday reported a pretax loss for the first half of fiscal 2022 because of costs related to its listing on the London Stock Exchange.

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Yu Group Shares Rise on Becoming Supplier of Last Resort for Ampower

Yu Group PLC shares rose Monday after it said it has been appointed by a U.K. regulator as supplier of last resort for Ampoweruk Ltd., and that it has taken on their electricity and gas customer book.

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Nanoco Group Appoints Liam Gray CFO

Nanoco Group PLC said Monday that it has appointed Liam Gray as chief financial officer, effective immediately.

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Panther Metals Subsidiary to Raise A$5 Mln in Australia IPO

Panther Metals PLC said Monday that its subsidiary Panther Metals Ltd. expects to raise five million Australian dollars ($3.7 million) in conjunction with its initial public offering on the Australian Securities Exchange.

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Invinity Ships More Than 4.2 MWh of Products in Recent Weeks Despite Supply Presure

Invinity Energy Systems PLC said Monday that it has shipped more than 4.2 megawatt hours of batteries in recent weeks, though supply-chain issues and inflationary pressures are likely to persist into 2022.

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Eneraqua Technologies Expects to Raise GBP12 Mln at November IPO

Eneraqua Technologies PLC said Monday that it expects to raise 12 million pounds ($16.2 million) of new money upon admission into London's junior AIM market later in the month.

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UK Regulator Issues Initial Enforcement Order on IAA's Acquisition of Synetiq

The U.K. Competition and Markets Authority said Monday that it has served an initial enforcement order on digital vehicle marketplace IAA Inc.'s acquisition of Synetiq Ltd., a U.K. salvage and vehicle dismantling company. 


 
Market Talk:

BlackRock Looks to Unilever for How to Decarbonize

1045 GMT - Unilever says many companies ask them for input on decarbonization, including BlackRock. "BlackRock, the largest asset manager in the world, their number two guy has been with us twice now and just wants to understand how do you go about decarbonizing your business," says Alan Jope, CEO of Unilever, speaking at an event on the sidelines of COP26. "That's an instance for example where we would say [carbon] offsets are not good enough, offsets should be the last thing you turn to, not the first thing."

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SSE Faces Mixed Picture Ahead of 1H Results

1038 GMT - SSE faces mixed issues ahead of first-half results Nov. 17, HSBC says. The Scottish power generator reportedly has faced pressure from activist investor Elliott Management to break itself up. Still, unlike its continental European peers, its ownership remains dominated by U.K. income funds, HSBC says. "They are more likely to remain happy with the integrated utility model and high payout ratio of over 90%. This may mean a lack of appropriate catalyst at 1H results," analyst Verity Mitchell says, increasing HSBC's target price on the stock to 1810p from 1780p. "We maintain our buy rating on the stock as we believe SSE is well placed to benefit from the U.K. government's decarbonization plans." Shares fall 0.4% to 1643p.

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BAE's Backed Guidance and Free-Cash-Flow Ambition Are Seen Supporting Its Shares

1009 GMT - BAE Systems confirmed its 2021 guidance, which along with its free-cash-flow ambition of more than GBP1.0 billion for the year, should support the U.K. defense company's shares, UBS says. BAE's operational performance has also been strong with limited effect from supply-chain bottlenecks on operations so far, and it has had good order intake, the Swiss bank says. Furthermore, Typhoon production revenue has also picked up with the first Qatari jets deep into final assembly, UBS says. "Importantly, defense trends remain supportive across the core markets for BAE, including the U.S., U.K., Australia and Europe, helping to secure the mid-term growth," the bank says. UBS rates the stock neutral, with a 575 pence target price.

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US Employment Growth Set to Accelerate in the Coming Months

0956 GMT - Job creation in the U.S. could rise above one million payrolls a month and stay at this level for some time as many people return to the labor force, Pantheon Macroeconomics' chief economist Ian Shepherdson says. The 531,000 increase registered in October payrolls was the best for three months, but job growth is still short of the more than 800,000 monthly pace reported just before the Covid-19 Delta wave hit, he says. Job creation before the Delta wave was held back by the lack of supply of workers due to the impact of closed childcare facilities and the availability of pandemic-related unemployment benefits, but the return to normalcy should boost employment figures in the next few months, Shepherdson says.

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Investors May Wait After UK Linker Auction to Reset Short Positions, Says Mizuho

0952 GMT - The U.K. Debt Management Office plans to sell GBP900 million in the 0.125% index-linked 2031 gilt Wednesday and investors may wait after the auction to resume bets that they will decline in value, says Mizuho. "There's only a small linker auction in the U.K. this week, but considering issuance elsewhere there may be more desire to reset shorts once this supply has hit the market," analysts at the bank say. They advise clients to look to scale into shorts in sterling rates, with the 10-year gilt yield flagging as a sell at 1%. "We'll be monitoring the technical factors for an optimal entry," they add. The 30-year gilt yield trades last at 1.014%, according to Tradeweb.

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Polymetal's Veduga Approval Announcement Includes Substantial Reserves Upgrade

0926 GMT - The approval of the Veduga gold project marks another important milestone in Polymetal's growth journey, but it won't catch anyone by surprise, RBC Capital Markets analyst Tyler Broda says. However, the company also announced a meaningful increase of reserves and resources for Veduga which sets the ground for potential life of mine extensions beyond the 20 years guided, he says. In addition, another important item is Polymetal's expressed intention to acquire the remaining 40.6% stake in Veduga by exercising an option, Broda says. Shares in the FTSE 100 precious metals miner rise 2.4% to 1,398 pence.

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Sterling Falls as UK-EU Tensions Escalate

0822 GMT - Sterling falls on concerns about rising tensions between the U.K. and EU over the protocol agreed as part of the Brexit deal to prevent a hard border between Northern Ireland and Ireland. "This issue has been bubbling since the summer but has failed to hit GBP too severely," ING analysts say. "And we suspect that GBP can hold up ok, assuming that the prospect of a Bank of England rate hike in December remains live." EUR/GBP is unlikely to rise above 0.8600 and should end the year around 0.8500, the analysts say. EUR/GBP rises 0.1% to 0.8577 and GBP/USD drops 0.1% to 1.3482.

Contact: London NewsPlus, Dow Jones Newswires; Write to Sarka Halas at sarka.halas@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

11-08-21 0629ET