23rd Jun 2026 07:45
(Alliance News) - Stocks were called lower on Tuesday, after Iran announced that it plans to continue administering the Strait of Hormuz, and as Bunzl raises its full-year guidance after "encouraging volume growth" in the first half.
Here is what you need to know before the London market open:
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MARKETS
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FTSE 100: called down 105.7 points, 1.0% at 10,332.15
GBP: lower at USD1.3241 (USD1.3254 at previous London equities close)
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BROKER RATINGS
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Deutsche Bank Research raises Standard Chartered to 'buy' (hold) - price target 2,400 (1,900) pence
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RBC raises boohoo price target to 22 (20) pence - 'underperform'
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COMPANIES - FTSE 100
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Bunzl upgrades its 2026 guidance, saying it now expects revenue growth at constant exchange rates to be driven by modest underlying revenue growth, supported by some inflation, alongside a small benefit from acquisitions. It adds: "Our operating margin guidance is unchanged and we continue to expect it to be slightly down year-on-year." For the first half, the international distribution and services firm expects revenue to grow by around 4% at CER, with underlying revenue growth of around 3%. "We expect growth to be supported by inflation across certain categories in the second quarter, with product-cost increases driven by geopolitical events, and we are also seeing encouraging volume growth. Volume growth is expected to be driven by North America, with good growth in our Distribution business," Bunzl says. Also, the company says it completed the bolt-on acquisition of Australian life sciences-focused distributor Scientifix Group.
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Metlen Energy & Metals announces the launch of a share buyback to repurchase up to EUR600.0 million in ordinary shares. The programme will run until June 2031, Metlen says, subject to the availability and renewal of the relevant shareholder authorities at annual general meetings.
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COMPANIES - FTSE 250
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Telecom Plus reports GBP1.94 billion in revenue for the year ended March 31, up 5.6% from GBP1.84 billion the year before. Pretax profit rises 6.7% to GBP113.0 million from GBP105.9 million, the household services provider, which trades as Utility Warehouse, says. Telecom Plus will pay a total dividend of 100 pence per share, up 6.4% on-year from 94p. Adjusted pretax profit is within guidance, Telecom says, rising 4.7% to GBP132.2 million from GBP126.3 million. For financial 2027, Telecom Plus expects adjusted pretax profit between GBP80 million and GBP90 million, which it says reflects the first year of investment under its new five-year plan. The firm says, in a separate announcement, that the plan will "double our number of high-quality, multiservice customers from [around 500,000 to more than 1 million by FY31." This will require about GBP55 million per year of P&L investment. As of financial 2031, it expects the plan to deliver adjusted pretax profit of approximately GBP175 million, "with earnings per share growing faster than total customer growth and return on capital employed above 30%," and around GBP100 million in shareholder distributions.
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NCC Group announces its selection to join the OpenAI Daybreak Cyber Partner Program. The cybersecurity firm says this will give it access to a version of OpenAI's GPT-5.5, which has been configured to explore cyber resilience use cases. Its technical staff will assess the model's capabilities and provide OpenAI with feedback. "Researching the capabilities of this frontier AI model can benefit the global software ecosystem and give NCC Group experts deeper insight into the latest AI technologies, with potential future benefits to NCC Group clients," the company says.
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OTHER COMPANIES
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Ramsdens has agreed to a takeover offer from a FirstCash Holdings Inc vehicle. The Fort Worth, Texas-based pawnshop operator will pay Ramsdens shareholders up to 609 pence per share, comprising cash consideration of 600p and dividends of up to 9p. The consideration is about 22% higher than Ramsdens's all-time high closing share price of 493p on June 3. The deal values Ramsdens at up to approximately GBP206 million on a fully diluted basis, or approximately GBP203 million on a pre-IFRS 16 basis. "Ramsdens represents a compelling opportunity for FirstCash to further grow its business in the UK market through the acquisition of a highly complementary business and will further cement FirstCash's position as the largest publicly traded pawn platform in the US, Latin America and the UK," FirstCash says. The companies expect the takeover to become effective in the second half of 2026.
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A top Indian maker of iPhone parts has confirmed it was hit by a "cybersecurity incident", with media reports alleging that Apple supplier specifications had been leaked. Industrial titan Tata Group is a lynchpin of Apple's growing supply chain within the world's most populous country. On Monday, reports said over 600 gigabytes of data, allegedly stolen from the conglomerate's subsidiary Tata Electronics, were made available on the dark web. Specialist news site TechCrunch said it had found what appeared to be "Apple supplier specifications and Tesla manufacturing documents".
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By Emma Curzon, Alliance News reporter
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Ramsdens HldgsBunzlMetlen EnergyTelecom PlusStandard CharteredBoohooNcc