8th Oct 2025 07:43
(Alliance News) - London stocks are called higher on Tuesday, while in India UK Prime Minister Starmer presses business leaders to take full advantage of the countries' recent trade deal.
"Another light-ish docket ahead today, as the ongoing data void stemming from the US government shutdown rolls on," says Pepperstone's Michael Brown. "Minutes from the September FOMC meeting, though, are due for release tonight.
"At that meeting, of course, the FOMC delivered a 25bp cut, with Governor Miran dissenting in favour of a larger 50bp move, while the updated 'dot plot' signalled a further two such 25bp cuts being delivered before year-end. Frankly, it seems difficult to imagine that the minutes add much by way of fresh information to the debate, while the same can be said of scheduled remarks from FOMC members Barr, Kashkari, and Musalem through the day.
"Besides that lot, there's just the small matter of a 10-year Treasury sale to deal with. That sale, though, should be taken down relatively well, with six of the last seven auctions stopping-through."
Here is what you need to know before the London market open:
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MARKETS
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FTSE 100: called up 19.5 points, 0.2%, at 9,503.08
GBP: lower at USD1.3389 (USD1.3440 at previous London equities close)
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ECONOMICS
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Keir Starmer has urged business leaders to seize the opportunity of the UK's trade deal with India. The UK prime minister has travelled to Mumbai with 125 business chiefs, cultural leaders and university bosses in what Downing Street has dubbed the UK's largest ever trade mission to the country. Starmer wants businesses to use the trade deal as a "launchpad for growth", because it offers vastly reduced Indian tariffs for many UK industries. Officials are being asked to implement the deal, signed in July, "as soon as humanly possible," Starmer said. He also suggested the agreement was already having an effect in boosting trade between the two nations. The prime minister had earlier shrugged off suggestions that chief executive officers who joined him on the journey wanted to see an expansion of visas for skilled Indian workers coming to the UK. "No, that isn't part of the plan," he told reporters, adding the UK was "here now to take advantage of the free trade agreement that we've already struck". The trade deal is expected to be worth GBP4.8 billion each year to the UK's economy, and could add GBP2.2 billion collectively to wages.
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BROKER RATINGS
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Berenberg cuts Glencore to 'hold' (buy) - price target 350 pence
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Peel Hunt cuts B&M European Value Retail to 'add' (buy) - price target 250 (400) pence
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Berenberg raises Wheaton Precious Metals price target to 9,600 (8,300) pence - buy
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COMPANIES - FTSE 100
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Bunzl has completed the acquisitions of Caterline Catering Equipment Ltd and Anta y Jesus SLU in September, the international distribution and services firm announces. Caterline distributes commercial catering equipment in Ireland and Northern Ireland, complementing Bunzl's existing catering arm. Anta distributes cleaning and hygiene products in northwestern Spain. Bunzl says it "enhances [our] cleaning & hygiene geographical reach which, supported by other recent acquisitions, has strengthened our national offering and footprint". The deals mark Bunzl's sixth and seventh acquisitions of 2025. "As today's investor seminar will demonstrate, these are good examples of the significant opportunities we see for continued acquisition growth in our existing markets," says Chief Executive Frank van Zanten. "Our acquisition pipeline remains active."
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COMPANIES - FTSE 250
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Unite Group has sold 95.2% of available beds for the 2025/26 academic year as of September 30, the student accommodation owner, manager and developer reports, down from 97.5% one year prior. "While this is slightly below our target, we saw a strong clearing period which has contributed to our outperformance of the wider [purpose-built student accommodation] sector," CEO Joe Lister says. Unite says sales to date have delivered 4.0% rental growth, down on-year from 8.2%. Unite reiterates its full-year guidance for between 47.5p and 48.25p in adjusted earnings per share, and said rental growth is driving modest valuation increases in its third quarter. "Looking ahead, the outlook remains robust, underpinned by growing demand from school leavers and stabilising international admissions," Lister says. "Our income is also underpinned by nomination agreements with long-term university partners, which now cover 59% of our beds...At the same time, our portfolio is increasingly aligned to high-tariff institutions, which continue to attract a growing share of student demand." Unite expects the scheme its planned acquisition of Empiric Student Property to become effective in the second quarter of 2026.
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OTHER COMPANIES
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Marston's expects underlying pretax profit for the year ended September 27 to be ahead of market guidance, "marking a second consecutive year of significant profit growth following the 65% uplift delivered in FY2024," the hospitality firm says. Its profitability is "underpinned by sustained margin expansion through our market-leading pub operating model, including revenue management, labour efficiency and procurement initiatives". Like for like sales rose 1.6% and Marston's says growth continues to outpace the market. It also expects recurring free cash flow to exceed, ahead of schedule, the GBP50 million target set at its Capital Markets Day in October last year. Also delivering on the CMD guidance, Marston's says, it expects underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation margins to increase on-year by over 100 basis points. "We have delivered another year of strong profit growth and significantly improved recurring free cash flow, providing us with continued opportunity to invest in our estate, reduce debt and unlock long-term value for shareholders...Our differentiated pub-formats are already delivering impressive results with a defined plan to accelerate this further in FY2026," CEO Justin Platt comments.
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Netcall reports total revenue of GBP48.0 million for the year ended June 30, up 23% from GBP39.1 million the previous year. Cloud Services revenue rises 48% to GBP29.3 million, with annual contract value jumping 52% to GBP33.9 million. The enterprise software company's pretax profit, however, has decreased on-year to GBP5.1 million from GBP6.3 million. It increases the final dividend by 6% to 0.94 pence per share, from 0.89p. Net call further says momentum continued into the new financial year, which has opened with a record pipeline and a GBP79 million contracted revenue order book. CEO James Ormondroyd says: "Revenue [growth was] driven by strong demand for our Liberty cloud platform and rising AI adoption across our customer base. Organisations are making an ongoing shift to automation and AI as they modernise operations, reduce complexity, and move from fragmented systems to unified platforms for customer engagement and workflow. [Netcall's Liberty cloud platform] is designed for this transformation and delivered another year of strong momentum."
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Scientists led by experts from the University of East Anglia and Oxford Biodynamics have developed the first-ever blood test that can diagnose myalgic encephalomyelitis, also known as chronic fatigue syndrome, ME/CFS. There is no current test for the condition and medics usually diagnose patients based on their symptoms, but as a result, many patients can go undiagnosed for years. Now, academics have made a "breakthrough" in the diagnosis of ME/CFS by developing the first-ever blood test for the condition. But other experts and academics have called for more studies to confirm the findings. "ME/CFS is a serious and often disabling illness characterised by extreme fatigue that is not relieved by rest," said lead researcher Professor Dmitry Pshezhetskiy, from the University of East Anglia's, UEA, Norwich Medical School. "We know that some patients report being ignored or even told that their illness is 'all in their head', with no definitive tests, many patients have gone undiagnosed or misdiagnosed for years. We wanted to see if we could develop a blood test to diagnose the condition – and we did. Our discovery offers the potential for a simple, accurate blood test to help confirm a diagnosis, which could lead to earlier support and more effective management." Scientists led by experts from UEA and Oxford Biodynamics set out to examine how DNA is folded in patients diagnosed with the condition, which might provide tell-tale signs of ME/CFS. Using OBD's EpiSwitch 3D Genomics technology, they looked at blood samples from 47 patients with severe ME/CFS and 61 healthy adults. The team discovered a unique pattern that appears consistently in people with ME/CFS that is not seen in healthy people, enabling them to develop the test.
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By Emma Curzon, Alliance News reporter
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