6th Oct 2025 07:52
(Alliance News) - London stocks were called higher on Monday ahead of construction PMI and new car sales data, as well as comments from the Bank of England's governor.
Swissquote's Ipek Ozkardeskaya noted: "The US official jobs data was not released last Friday as the government remains shut, and the data scheduled for this week will also be delayed if the shutdown continues — a scenario currently given a 60%–80% chance.
"The US dollar is better bid this morning, mostly due to the sharp selloff in the yen, but fundamentally, none of the traditional currencies looks particularly appetising...Sterling remains hard to love amid fiscal and political risks ahead of the Autumn Budget."
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 5.9 points, 0.1%, at 9,497.15
GBP: lower at USD1.3446 (USD1.3469 at previous London equities close)
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ECONOMICS
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British carmaker Jaguar Land Rover, JLR, will reportedly resume some manufacturing production on Monday as it continues to recover from a major cyber attack in September. According to the BBC, manufacturing processes will initially resume at JLR's engine factory in Wolverhampton. It comes after the group said some sections of its production operations would commence amid a "controlled, phased restart of our operations". The group had recently extended the production pause until at least October 1 after its systems were hacked, impacting its factories in Halewood on Merseyside and Solihull in the West Midlands, as well as its Wolverhampton engine manufacturing site. Experts have warned the production shutdown could hit the group's bottom line by around GBP120 million, with the firm usually thought to build about 1,000 cars a day. The pause has also left its suppliers in limbo, leading to calls for urgent financial support, with the government announcing it would underwrite a GBP1.5 billion loan guarantee to JLR to give suppliers some certainty over payments. JLR has the largest supply chain in the UK automotive sector, which employs around 120,000 people and is largely made up of small and medium-sized businesses.
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BROKER RATINGS
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JPMorgan cuts Mondi to 'neutral' (overweight) - price target 1,180 (1,240) pence
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Berenberg cuts Greggs price target to 2,640 (3,060) pence - 'buy'
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RBC cuts Asos price target to 300 (400) pence - 'sector perform'
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COMPANIES - FTSE 100
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Mondi released a third-quarter trading update. The packaging firm reported underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of EUR223 million, including EUR20 million of forestry fair value gain. "Volumes were impacted by subdued demand and paper selling prices declined during the quarter," Mondi said. "To mitigate the impact of the softer markets, we proactively extended certain scheduled annual maintenance shuts." Underlying Ebitda was lower on-quarter in both its Corrugated and Flexible Packaging businesses and selling prices decreased, "largely reversing the increases implemented during the first half", although its packaging converting businesses "delivered a stable performance". Looking ahead, the firm stated: "Challenging trading conditions are expected to persist for the remainder of this year as demand-side confidence remains fragile, key markets remain in oversupply and current selling prices are lower than third quarter average selling prices." It expects an around EUR30 million net incremental contribution to full-year Ebitda from major capacity expansion projects, saying: "Our focus is now on achieving full productivity ramp-up, executing our commercial strategy, driving cash generation and delivering returns."
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COMPANIES - FTSE 250
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Aston Martin Lagonda has revised its outlook, saying that for the full year it now expects total wholesale volumes to decline by mid-high single-digit percentage from 6,030 in 2024. This was due to "the heightened challenges in the global macroeconomic environment, including the ongoing impact of tariffs," it said. "This revision reflects the group's continued focus on maintaining a disciplined approach to balancing core wholesales and retail demand in the current trading environment." It also expects adjusted earnings before interest and tax "to be below the lower end of the range of market consensus...driven by the weaker volumes and pressure on the gross margin per vehicle", the minimum estimate currently being a GBP110 million loss, "and no longer expects positive free cash flow generation in [the second half]". In the third quarter, Aston Martin Lagonda delivered around 1,430 wholesale units, below the previous guidance "due to weaker than expected demand including in both North America, with the continuing tariff impact, and APAC (including greater China)".
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Fidelity Emerging Markets reported a net asset value total return of plus 11.8% for the year ended June 30, ahead of plus 6.3% from its benchmark, the MSCI Emerging Markets Index. NAV per participating preference share was USD11.99 at June 30, up from USD10.09 one year prior. The board is recommending a final dividend of 26 US cents per share. "At the time of writing, the five-year NAV total return (to end August) is approximately 8 percentage points behind the index, although the three-year NAV total return is more than 21 percentage points ahead," Chair Heather Manners said. Looking ahead, she added: "Amid a challenging global geopolitical outlook, emerging markets offer some key benefits to investors. US tariffs on global trade may raise revenues for the government, but are also likely to increase prices for hard-pressed US consumers...Meanwhile, although US tariffs remain a prominent headline issue, a rise in intra-EM trade has lessened the importance of exports to the US for most emerging markets."
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OTHER COMPANIES
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Shawbrook announced that it is considering an initial public offering and intends to publish a registration document today. Shawbrook is a commercial and retail bank, providing credit facilities to businesses and mortgages to professional landlords and property investors. It is considering applying for admission to the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange. The digital banking platform said it aims to continue its trajectory of high-growth and high-returns, and intends to almost double its loan book to approximately GBP30 billion by the end of 2030. The company grew its loan book to GBP17.0 billion as at June 30 this year from GBP1.4 billion at the end of 2013. "Over the medium term, the group's ambition is to achieve mid-to-high teens growth per annum in underlying profit before tax and an adjusted return on tangible equity in the high teens," it added. Chief Executive Marcelino Castrillo commented: "Looking ahead, we are as excited as we have ever been. We have achieved real scale, and our current markets are large and growing, supported by attractive tailwinds...we have ambitious plans for the future. An IPO would mark an important milestone in our journey." The Financial Times on Wednesday reported that a person familiar with the matter told it that Shawbrook could be valued at up to GBP2 billion in the IPO.
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Ferrexpo reported production results for the third quarter to the end of September. Total commercial production for the quarter was 1.51 million tonnes, up 3% from 1.46 million tonnes in the second quarter and down 29% from 2.1 million tonnes in the first quarter. Ferrexpo said it was forced to downscale production to one pellet line due to reduced financial liquidity, as "due to the ongoing suspension of VAT refunds [by Ukrainian tax authorities] the total notified amount of withheld VAT now stands at USD47 million". However, it said it was "able to ramp up production of low-alumina 67% Fe concentrates to meet demand from Chinese customers". "The refusal by the Ukrainian tax authorities to refund VAT remains the most critical issue for the business...Assuming that VAT refunds will also be suspended for August and September, the estimated total non-refunded VAT would be USD58 million," said Interim Executive Chair Lucio Genovese. "The cost-cutting measures implemented in the second quarter continued in the third quarter. At the end of September, approximately 20% of the workforce were on furlough or reduced hours. These and other decisions are not easily made, however, they have helped to keep the business viable."
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By Emma Curzon, Alliance News reporter
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