28th Aug 2025 07:43
(Alliance News) - Stocks were called slightly higher on Thursday, with many eyes on the US' flash quarterly personal consumption expenditures data.
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 7.6 points, 0.1%, at 9,263.1
GBP: higher at USD1.3504 (USD1.3469 at previous London equities close)
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BROKER RATINGS
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Berenberg raises JD Sports Fashion price target to 155 (128) pence - 'buy'
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Jefferies reinitiates Tritax Big Box with 'buy' - price target 173 pence
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COMPANIES - FTSE 100
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Barclays subsidiary Barclays Principal Investments has agreed to sell its entire shareholding in joint venture Entercard Group to the JV partner, Swedbank. Entercard, established in 2005, mainly provides consumer credit to Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland-based customers. Barclays says Swedbank will buy the shareholding at book value, which is equal to half of Entercard's net assets and estimated to be SEK2.6 billion as of March 31, payable in cash. Expects the deal to increase its CET1 ratio by around four basis points, once it completes. This is expected by the end of 2025. Entercard Chief Executive Officer Jan Haglund says: "For 20 years, Entercard has been on a strong growth journey. Becoming a full part of Swedbank, the leading financial group in Sweden and the Baltics, creates new business opportunities to further strengthen our operations."
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COMPANIES - FTSE 250
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Drax reports, having been notified on Tuesday, that the Financial Conduct Authority has started an investigation covering the period from January 2022 to March last year, "relating to certain historical statements regarding Drax's biomass sourcing and the compliance of Drax's 2021, 2022 and 2023 annual reports with the Listing Rules and Disclosure Guidance & Transparency Rules". Says it will cooperate with the investigation.
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PPHE Hotel Group says total revenue increased 4.7% to GBP199.9 million in the six months ended June 30, from GBP191.0 million the year before, while like-for-like revenue rose 1.3% to GBP193.3 million. Reported revenue per available room, RevPAR, rose 1.4% to GBP109.3 or 1.1% LFL, due to softer average room rates and improved occupancy. PPHE also declared an interim dividend of 17 pence per share. However, its pretax loss has widened to GBP10.2 million from GBP1.3 million. PPHE expects its full-year Ebitda outcome to be "similar" to that of 2024. Half-year Ebitda was down 5.7% at GBP45.5 million "due to new hotel opening losses, normalising room rates, higher salary costs and increased social security costs".
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Hunting reports that revenue for the first half of 2025 rose to USD528.6 million from USD493.8 million. Ebitda increases to USD70.2 million from GBP60.3 million. Adjusted pretax profit rises to USD43.7 million from USD36.2 million, while statutory pretax profit decreases to USD30.6 million from USD36.2 million. Hunting declares an interim dividend of 6.2 cents per share, up from 5.5 cents. "While commodity prices and the geopolitical landscape have been extremely volatile during the reporting period, oil and gas demand has remained steady and is likely to remain at a consistent level in the medium to long term," the company says. The geopolitical and macro outlook "remains choppy" in the short term, however.
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OTHER COMPANIES
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PureTech Health reports total revenue of USD1.9 million - entirely comprising contract revenue - for the first half of 2025, surging from USD288,000 solely in grant revenue the year before. Pretax loss narrows to USD43.9 million from the prior year's loss of USD55.0 million. Says the revenue increase is mainly due to "the recognition of royalty revenue from sales of Cobenfy (formerly KarXT)". "We entered 2025 with significant momentum, and our progress in the first half of the year further underscores the strength and breadth of our portfolio and model," comments Interim Chief Executive Robert Lyne. Adds: "Looking ahead, our approach to capital allocation will be guided by an efficient use of cash and prioritising spend that is truly value accretive to shareholders. Practically, this means optimising spend on current and any new programs to reach key inflection points, after which programs can be advanced through founded entities or other structures with dedicated operational capacity and external financing."
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By Emma Curzon, Alliance News reporter
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JD SportsTritax Big BoxBarclaysDraxHuntingPureTech