The FTSE 100 index closed Tuesday up 0.6% to 7453 points, lifted by financial and oil-exposed stocks amid positive trading along the global markets. Ocado shares outperformed the blue-chip index, closing up 19% after it reported a return to underlying profit in 1H. Taylor Wimpey and home builder Persimmon were also among the top risers, with shares closing up 4.6% and 4.3%, respectively. On the opposite side of the table, Compass Group shares closed down 1.5%, followed by Beazley and BT, down 1.4% and 1.1% respectively.


COMPANIES NEWS:

Bloomsbury Publishing Four-Month Sales Rose 9%

Bloomsbury Publishing said Tuesday that business in the first four months of the new fiscal year has been in line with expectations, with sales up 9%.

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Artisanal Spirits 1H Revenue Rose, Sees 2023 Growth in Line With Views

Artisanal Spirits said Tuesday that revenue in the first half rose and that it is on track to deliver growth in line with expectations for 2023.

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DX (Group) 2H Trading in Line With Views; FY 2023 Revenue Rose 10%

DX (Group) said Tuesday that trading for the second half of the fiscal year has been in line with its expectations, with revenue for the year up around 10%.

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Ocado Backs Full-Year View Despite Widened 1H Pretax Loss

Ocado on Tuesday backed its full-year guidance after revenue rose in the first half of the year, despite a widened pretax loss.

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Darktrace Raises FY 2023 Margin Guidance, Sees It Stable in FY 2024

Darktrace on Tuesday hiked its margin guidance for fiscal 2023 and said it expects it to hold in fiscal 2024 though it sees annual recurring revenue (ARR) growth slowing.

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Revolution Beauty's Chair, CEO to Step Down After Reaching Agreement with Boohoo

Revolution Beauty Group and peer and major shareholder Boohoo Group said Tuesday that they have agreed a settlement, with Boohoo withdrawing its requisitioned meeting and Revolution shuffling its board.

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Wise PLC 1Q Revenue Rose on Strong Customer, Volume Growth

Wise PLC said Tuesday that revenue rose in the first quarter of fiscal 2024, supported by strong customer and volume growth, and it backed its full-year guidance.

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CPPGroup 1H Revenue Rose 22% With Solid Growth in India, Turkey

CPPGroup said Tuesday that revenue for the first half rose around 22% from the 77.8 million pounds ($101.7 million) reported in the year-prior period, and that despite recent currency headwinds it continued to record good revenue growth in its key Indian and Turkish markets.

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Carclo Signs Agreement to Amend Banking Covenants, Says Going-Concern Uncertainty Has Ended

Carclo said Tuesday that it has formally signed the agreement made with its lending bank to amend covenants, removing going-concern uncertainty.

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SSP Group Agrees to New GBP300 Mln Loan to Support Strategy

SSP Group said Tuesday it has agreed to a new 300 million-pound ($392.2 million) four-year term loan after completing the refinancing of its previous syndicated banking facilities, and that this will support its international strategy.

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Arbuthnot Banking 1H Pretax Profit Rose on Higher Interest Income

Arbuthnot Banking Group on Tuesday posted a jump in pretax profit for the first half of 2023, driven by higher interest income.

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Mirriad Advertising US Revenue Hurt by Industry Pressures; Sees 2H Pickup

Mirriad Advertising said Tuesday that revenue in the U.S. has continued to fall during the first half of the year due to industry pressures, but that it expects a pickup in the second half.

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IntegraFin 3Q Closing Funds Under Management Rose Despite Lower On-Quarter Inflows

IntegraFin Holdings said Tuesday that its performance for the third quarter of fiscal 2023 was resilient in terms of closing funds under management despite seeing a slip in inflows, and left guidance unchanged.

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Just Group Confident On 2023 Targets After 1H Sales Rose on New Business Growth

Just Group on Tuesday said it is confident in reaching its full-year financial expectations given the positive growth momentum it is experiencing as its first-half sales more than doubled on year.

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NIOX Group 1H Revenue Rose on Clinical Revenue Increase

NIOX Group said Tuesday that revenue for the first half rose 22% on year, driven by a 29% jump in clinical revenue.

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Record PLC 1Q Assets Under Management Equivalents Fell

Record PLC said Tuesday that assets under management equivalents for the first quarter of fiscal 2024 fell to $86.4 billion from $87.7 billion at March 31, and that it continue to work hard toward its three-year targets for fiscal 2025.

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Digital 9 Sees Interest in Equity Syndication for Subsidiary; Backs Dividend Target

Digital 9 Infrastructure said Tuesday that it has received considerable interest in equity syndication, that its diversified portfolio continues to perform well and reaffirmed its dividend target.

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Gulf Marine Financing Charges Decrease as Paid-in-kind Interest Stops Accruing

Gulf Marine Services said Tuesday that paid-in-kind interest on its bank loan has stopped to accrue as of the second quarter, and so its financing charges will fall by 340 basis points.

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Judges Scientific Expects to Meet 2023 Market Views After 1H Revenue, Orders Rose

Judges Scientific said Tuesday that the company's first-half performance for 2023 saw solid growth in revenue and orders, and that it is confident in meeting market views.

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Osirium Technologies Warns of Additional Capital Raise Before the End of 2023

Osirium Technologies warned Tuesday that it anticipated having to raise additional capital before the end of the year and that it was exploring all options in this regard.

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United Oil & Gas Shares Tumble on 1H Revenue, Production Fall

Shares in United Oil & Gas dropped 26% on Tuesday after revenue fell in the first half of the year due to lower prices and oil production.

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Nanoco Group Calls General Meeting for Aug 14 to Remove Board as Requested

Nanoco Group said Tuesday that it will hold a general meeting on Aug. 14 as requested but advises shareholders to vote against the resolutions to remove the board--including the chairman, chief executive officer, chief finance officer and chief technology officer.

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Petra Diamonds Missed FY 2023 Production Target

Petra Diamonds said Tuesday its missed its diamond production target for fiscal 2023, leading to a fall in revenue for the year.

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X5 Retail Group 2Q Sales Rose as Selling Space Increased

X5 Retail Group said Tuesday total net sales for the second quarter rose 19%, with a 7.8% increase in like-for-like sales, helped by selling-space expansion.

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Midwich Backs Full-Year Views After 1H Profit, Revenue Rose

Midwich Group said Tuesday that it expects adjusted pretax profit and revenue to significantly rise in the first half, and backed its full-year expectations conditional on economic conditions remaining relatively stable.

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Litigation Capital Management Declares Dividend After Strong FY 2023

Litigation Capital Management said Tuesday that it expects to post its strongest performance to date for fiscal 2023 given the amount of resolutions in the second half of the year, and will pay shareholders a dividend.

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Synthomer Doesn't See Customer Demand Recovery Before End of 2023

Synthomer said Tuesday it didn't expect a material recovery in customer demand before the end of 2023 but that it anticipated the implementation of around 20 million pounds ($26.1 million) in self-help measures mainly in the second half of the year.

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Luceco 1H Revenue Fell on Lower Demand; Sees 2022 Adjusted Profit at Top of Range

Luceco said Tuesday that revenue for the first half of the year was lower than for the same period a year earlier, but in line with its expectations, and guided for adjusted operating profit for the full year to be at the upper end of market expectations.

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Vector Capital Sees 1H in Line With Views

Vector Capital on Tuesday said its trading in the first half of 2023 was in line with market expectations.

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Alliance Pharma 1H Revenue Rose; Expects Further Growth in 2H

Alliance Pharma said Tuesday that first-half revenue rose 1.1% and it expects further growth throughout the second half of the year.

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GAM Holding Investor Group Launches Partial Cash Offer to Raise Its Stake

An investor group that holds around 9.6% of GAM Holding on Tuesday launched a public cash offer to buy 17.5% of the Swiss asset manager at a premium to Liontrust Asset Management's takeover bid.

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Futura Medical Chairman John Clarke Steps Down, Jeff Needham Named Replacement

Futura Medical on Tuesday named Jeff Needham as nonexecutive chairman, replacing John Clarke who is stepping down from the role as part of a planned transition.

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Bidstack Says Requisition for Meeting to Remove Directors Withdrawn by Proposers

Bidstack Group said Tuesday that a requisition for a general meeting to remove Nonexecutive Director Glen Calvert and Chief Strategy Officer Lisa Hau from the board and appoint Nicholas Hargrave has been withdrawn by the shareholders.

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Unbound Group in Talks With Woolovers to Sell Hotter Shoes Brand, Sky News Reports

--Woolovers is in advanced talks to buy footwear retailer Hotter Shoes, owned by Unbound Group, Sky News reports.

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Unbound Group in Advanced Talks With Woolovers to Sell Hotter Shoes Brand, Sky News Reports

--Woolovers is in advanced talks to buy footwear retailer Hotter Shoes, which is owned by Unbound Group, through a pre-pack administration that would allow the sale of an asset before appointing administrators, Sky News reports, citing unnamed sources.

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Network Rail Swung to Pretax Loss in Fiscal 2023

Network Rail said Tuesday that it swung to a pretax loss in fiscal 2023 despite rising revenue, and that strikes during the year hurt consumer trust.


Contact: London NewsPlus, Dow Jones Newswires;


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

07-18-23 1219ET