(Alliance News) - The FTSE 100 closed lower on Wednesday, held back by falls in drugs firms GSK and AstraZeneca, while oil surged amid reports that the US is eyeing a longer blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. Read More
(Alliance News) - Physiomics PLC on Wednesday announced that shareholders at its general meeting agreed to replace the board. Read More
(Correcting the share buyback amount) Read More
(Alliance News) - Anglo American PLC at its annual general meeting on Wednesday described 2025 as "highly consequential", as it updated shareholders on its merger and disposal plans. Read More
(Alliance News) - Driving services provider RAC is aiming for an initial public offering towards the end of 2026, rather than as soon as the first half of the year, prolonging the drought of IPOs in London, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday. Read More
(Alliance News) - The Irish government is working on a "specific round of grants for targeted businesses" amid energy price pressures, Minister Darragh O'Brien has said. Read More
WPP PLC - London-based advertising and marketing services - Hires Peter Agnefjall to be a non-executive director, starting on May 11. Agnefjall was chief executive officer of Swedish furniture retailer Ikea from 2013 to 2017. Since then Agnefjall has served on boards, including as chair of the supervisory board of grocer Ahold Delhaize NV and as a non-executive director of budget airline Wizz Air Holdings PLC. Read More
(Alliance News) - Cambridge, England-based pharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca PLC will pump GBP300 million into UK drugs development in a "major vote of confidence" in the country, the prime minister has said. Read More
(Alliance News) - The following is a round-up of earnings and trading updates by London-listed companies, issued on Wednesday and not separately reported by Alliance News: Read More
Halfords Group PLC - Redditch, England-based motoring and cycling retailer - Reports 4.8% group like for like sales growth for the year ended April 3, with Retail LfL sales increasing by 4.1% and Autocentres LfL sales increasing 5.8%, excluding Halfords' Avayler software platform. With the Retail division, Motoring LfL sales rise 2.9% and Cycling sales rise 6.4%. Halfords says it continues to be cash-generative, and that its balance sheet was in a net cash position at the end of the year. Predicts that underlying pretax profit for the year will be "around the upper end" of the GBP36.0 million to GBP41.2 million consensus range. Read More
Pan African Resources PLC - Rosebank-headquartered gold producer - Secures court approval in the UK on Tuesday for its proposed share capital reduction, with the reduction set to become effective once the order of the court confirming the capital reduction is registered at Companies House in the UK. Expects this to occur in the coming weeks. The plan involves the cancellation of the company's share premium account as well as the cancellation of certain shares in its capital. Read More
Global Smaller Cos Trust PLC - invests in small-cap companies around the world based on fundamentals-based research process - Plans to change benchmark to the MSCI ACWI small cap index net from May 1. The trust's current benchmark is a blend of two indices: the MSCI all country world ex UK small cap index, at 80%, and the Deutsche Numis UK smaller companies (excluding investment companies) index, at 20%. "It is believed that this new benchmark is a better representation of the current composition of the global smaller company equity market and reduces complexity," the company says. Read More