30th Sep 2025 12:09
(Alliance News) - Stock prices in London edged higher at midday in London, shaking off early losses and the threat of a US government shutdown, as investors digested a broad slate of earnings releases.
The FTSE 100 index was up 8.01 points, 0.1%, at 9,307.85. The FTSE 250 was up 55.23 points, 0.3%, at 21,921.02, and the AIM All-Share was up 0.07 points at 780.25.
The Cboe UK 100 was up 0.1% at 933.46, the Cboe UK 250 was 0.4% higher at 19,172.29, and the Cboe Small Companies was up 0.3% at 17,562.90.
In European equities on Tuesday, the CAC 40 in Paris was down 0.3%, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt was 0.1% higher.
"The FTSE 100 was lower on Tuesday as investors started to fret about the prospect of a government shutdown in Washington," said AJ Bell analyst Russ Mould.
"One of the biggest short-term concerns for markets is the impact this would have on the release of government data – particularly the jobs number due on Friday – without which the Federal Reserve might not feel as confident about cutting interest rates."
President Donald Trump met key congressional Republicans and Democrats at the White House on Monday, hoping to revive stalled spending negotiations on the eve of a looming US government shutdown.
Without Congress passing a bill to fund federal operations before midnight Tuesday night, the government will partially close up shop – and plunge Washington into a new round of political crisis.
A shutdown would see non-essential operations grind to a halt, hundreds of thousands of civil servants temporarily left without pay, and payment of many social safety net benefits disrupted.
Sterling was at USD1.3442 at midday in London, up slightly from USD1.3432 at the London equities close on Monday. The euro traded at USD1.1746, up from USD1.1731 late Monday. Against the yen, the dollar was lower at JPY148.02 versus JPY148.57.
Stocks in New York were called lower. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was called down 0.3%, the S&P 500 index 0.2% lower, and the Nasdaq Composite down 0.1%.
The yield on the 10-year US Treasury was unchanged from Monday at 4.14%. The yield on the 30-year widened slightly to 4.72% from 4.71%.
In London, Airtel Africa led the FTSE 100 index and climbed 2.8% after Citigroup raised its price target to 236 pence from 160p, with an unchanged 'neutral' rating.
Rentokil Initial was up 2.3% as it said it has completed the sale of its Workwear business in France to HIG Capital for an enterprise value of EUR410 million.
PayPoint surged 9.7% on the FTSE 250 index.
It said it will pay a 50 pence per share special dividend after securing an investment into its Collect+ business.
Paypoint said Royal Mail owner International Distribution Services will make a GBP43.9 million investment in Collect+, and take 49% ownership, valuing the Collect+ business at GBP90 million.
Collect+ is a UK parcel service that uses a network of local shops and convenience stores for customers to pick up and drop off packages.
"PayPoint launched Collect+ as a 50/50 joint venture with Yodel in 2009 and bought out the partner in 2020 for GBP6 million. It has now effectively resold that stake, minus 1%, for more than seven times higher. That's quite a return on investment, and the price is an indication of how Royal Mail is serious about wanting to have the right foundation to survive and thrive in a highly competitive and evolving market," said AJ Bell's Mould.
Close Brothers sank 2.9%.
It said it will offload its loss-making vehicle hire business as its continues to restructure amid motor finance litigation uncertainty.
The merchant bank said it will take a GBP30 million impairment charge relating to the exit, stating the vehicle hire division is "not strategically aligned with our core specialist lending expertise."
Close Brothers has been restructuring its business in the face of the probe into motor finance commissions by the UK Financial Conduct Authority.
The company said it welcomed the positive outcome of the UK Supreme Court judgement in August, which provided "much-needed clarity to the industry", and overturned the Court of Appeal's ruling in respect of the Hopcraft case. The FCA is still consulting on a redress scheme.
As a result, Close Brothers has left its GBP165 million provision charge relating to motor finance unchanged.
But Close Brothers said it is implementing a "proactive customer remediation programme" in motor finance, which has resulted in a separate provision of GBP33.0 million in the 2025 financial year.
Close Brothers swung to an operating pretax loss of GBP122.4 million for the twelve months to the end of July from a profit of GBP132.7 million in the prior year.
Adjusted operating profit from continuing operations slumped 14% to GBP144.3 million from GBP167.6 million.
On the AIM market, Verici Dx climbed 34%.
The developer of advanced clinical diagnostics for organ transplants said its pretax loss widened to USD3.1 million in the six months to the end of June from USD1.3 million a year ago.
Revenue fell 43% to USD1.9 million from USD3.3 million.
"We have significantly de-risked the business, achieving all the milestones to enable two validated products to be commercialised. We have in place commercial requirements to support the business: our laboratories and logistical operations are set up, we have all the required regulatory approvals, and we have reimbursement," said CEO Sara Barrington. The company continues to expect to meet expectations for the full year.
Tissue Regenix lost 40%.
The regenerative medical devices firm said revenue fell 6.1% in the six months to the end of June to GBP13.8 million from GBP14.7 million a year ago. The pretax loss widened to USD1.0 million from USD63,000.
"Although we have seen a downturn in trading in [the first half], with a resultant impact on our cash position, we remain confident in the underlying business and market opportunities for our leading products and superior technology," said Chief Executive Officer Daniel Lee.
The firm said it expects trading and cash to improve in the longer term. Revenue is down as a result of "commercial, regulatory and reimbursement challenges" as revenues for BioRinse were hit by delays in regulatory approval impacting the ability to bring on new customers.
Gold was lower at USD3,813.50 an ounce at midday on Tuesday from USD3,828.66 late Monday. Brent oil was trading lower at USD66.53 a barrel from USD67.81.
Still to come on Tuesday's economic calendar is an inflation print in Germany plus the Chicago PMI and house price data in the US.
By Michael Hennessey, Alliance News reporter
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