23rd Sep 2025 07:54
(Alliance News) - London's blue chip stocks were set to open higher on Tuesday, ahead of a slew of PMI readings in the UK, US and eurozone, and US President Donald Trump meeting Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky at a UN conference.
In early corporate news, Kingfisher lifts its full-year guidance as interim profit grows, while Raspberry Pi reports a double-digit earnings decline during its first half due to reduced royalty income.
Here is what you need to know before the London market open:
----------
MARKETS
----------
FTSE 100: called up 0.1% at 9,238.48
GBP: up at USD1.3508 (USD1.3501 at previous London equities close)
----------
BROKER RATINGS
----------
JPMorgan raises Informa price target to 1,120 (1,020) pence - 'overweight'
----------
Bernstein cuts Ocado price target to 170 (240) pence - 'underperform'
----------
JPMorgan raises THG to 'neutral' (underweight) - price target 43 (24) pence
----------
COMPANIES - FTSE 100
----------
Kingfisher posts pretax profit of GBP338 million for the six months that ended July 31, rising 4.1% from GBP324 million a year earlier. Sales rise 0.8% to GBP6.81 billion from GBP6.76 billion. Kingfisher declares an interim dividend of 3.80 per share, unchanged on-year. "We were encouraged by underlying quarter-on-quarter growth in our core categories, and a third consecutive quarter of growth in big ticket sales," says Chief Executive Officer Thierry Garnier, adding: "Our expectations for our markets for the year remain consistent with what we outlined in March, whilst mindful of mixed consumer sentiment and political uncertainty. Combined with our H1 performance, this gives us the confidence to upgrade our full year profit and free cash flow guidance and to accelerate our share buyback programme. We remain focused on executing our strategic priorities, maintaining cost discipline and driving shareholder returns." Kingfisher now expects full-year adjusted pretax profit at the upper end of its around GBP480 million to GBP540 million guidance range, which would be up 2.3% at best from GBP528 million a year prior. The firm anticipates free cash flow between around GBP480 million and GBP520 million, lifted from a prior guidance range of GBP420 million to GBP480 million. Free cash flow in the first half was up 14% on-year to GBP478 million from GBP421 million.
----------
Smiths Group says pretax profit for the year that ended July 31 grows 15% to GBP375 million from GBP327 million. Revenue rises 5.0% to GBP2.92 billion from GBP2.78 billion. The firm declares a total dividend of 46.0p per share, 5.1% higher on-year against 43.75p. "We exceeded our twice-raised organic revenue growth guidance, delivering +8.9% growth, and operating margin was 17.4%, at the top of our guided range. This strong performance reflects the quality of our business and agility managing ongoing macro-economic uncertainties," comments CEO Roland Carter, adding: "Financial 2025 has been a pivotal year and the strategic actions we have announced to focus Smiths as a world-class industrial engineering company to unlock significant value and enhance returns to shareholders are well underway." Smiths expects organic revenue growth between 4% and 6% during financial 2026, as well as continuing margin expansion. The group remains confident in delivering its medium-term targets.
----------
COMPANIES - FTSE 250
----------
Raspberry Pi reports pretax profit of USD6.2 million for the six months to June 30, falling 43% from USD10.8 million the year before. Revenue declines 5.9% to USD135.5 million from USD144.0 million, as a result of reduced royalty income and lower related component sales, while research and development expenses rise 38% to USD11.7 million from USD8.5 million. Adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation slip 7.2% to USD19.4 million from USD20.9 million. "We continued to build momentum in the half, with growing demand from our reseller channel and [original equipment manufacturers] driving an 8% sequential increase in direct unit shipments and a significant customer order backlog at the end of June," says CEO Eben Upton. "Our growing pipeline of OEM opportunities, disciplined supply chain management and strong product roadmap position the business for future growth. For the full year, we remain on track with profit expectations unchanged, underpinned by strong anticipated sales volumes and unit economics in the second half. We are encouraged by the uptake of new products, expanding OEM engagement, and the first instance of semiconductor volumes exceeding board volumes." The company says second-half Ebitda to date is ahead of the year before.
----------
Serco says MT&S, the mission training and satellite ground network communications software acquired by the group from Northrop Grumman, has won a contract with the US Air Force. The single-award indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity deal for the provision of enhanced simulator and training services has a ceiling value of up to USD972 million over five years, and is expected to generate around USD60 million in revenue from task orders during 2026. The contract is granted under the Air Force Modelling & Simulation Support Services programme, which will support synthetic training exercises and enhance operational readiness for the US Air Force. Serco also on Tuesday announces the appointment of Michael LaRouche as CEO of its North American division, with effect from October 1. LaRouche was most recently business president at Science Applications International, and also previously held positions at Lockheed Martin and Raytheon.
----------
OTHER COMPANIES
----------
Henry Boot says pretax profit for the six months to June 30 is GBP7.8 million, more than doubling from GBP3.7 million the year before, as revenue grows 19% to GBP126.4 million from GBP106.0 million, driven by land and property disposals. The property development firm declared an interim dividend of 3.24p per share, up 5.2% on-year from 3.08p. Return on capital employed for the half year is 9.1%, against 4.9% a year earlier. Henry Boot remains confident in delivering medium-term returns between 10% to 15%. Net asset value per share at June 30 was 307p, down 3.2% from 317p at December 31, 2024. "Despite starting the year in an uncertain market environment, demand for our prime projects remains resilient, and we continue to make good strategic progress by increasing our focus on land promotion, property development and home building. This, alongside the day to day activities within the group are enabling us to further expand our strong pipeline of opportunities, while crystalising value within our portfolio," says Henry Boot. The firm has secured 80% of budgeted sales for 2025, and says it is on course to meet its full-year expectations, with a "rock solid" balance sheet. "This puts us in a strong position for the future and gives us confidence to once again increase the dividend, by 5%," it adds.
----------
By Emily Parsons, Alliance News reporter
Comments and questions to [email protected]
Copyright 2025 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
Related Shares:
InformaOcadoThgKingfisherRaspberry PiSercoHenry BootSmiths Group