27th Nov 2025 09:01
(Alliance News) - Stock prices in Europe opened in the green on Thursday, with equities in London higher, though some sectors grappled with the fallout of Wednesday's UK government budget.
Gambling firms continued to fall, while North Sea operators also struggled.
Sterling pushed higher following the budget, but has returned some progress.
The FTSE 100 index opened up 5.06 points, 0.1%, at 9,696.64. The FTSE 250 was up 96.27 points, 0.4%, at 21,981.79, and the AIM All-Share was up 2.57 points, 0.4%, at 745.83.
The Cboe UK 100 was up 0.1% at 970.78, the Cboe UK 250 was up 0.7% at 19,087.15, and the Cboe Small Companies was up 0.3% at 17,378.81.
In European equities on Thursday, the CAC 40 in Paris was 0.2% higher, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt was up 0.4%.
Sterling traded at USD1.3227 on Thursday morning, down slightly from USD1.3232 at the time of the London equities close on Wednesday. The euro slipped to USD1.1593 from USD1.1598. Against the yen, the dollar fell to JPY156.24 from JPY156.35.
The pound had hit USD1.3268 on Thursday, its best level in around a month.
Analysts at ING commented: "The pound has welcomed yesterday's UK budget announcement, as improved fiscal headroom is seemingly not coming at a hefty price for growth. Still, a Bank of England cut in December is still on the table. Expect thinner liquidity into the weekend, with the dollar potentially stabilising after this week's correction.
"Concerns over the credibility of back-loaded tax hikes may have to be left to another day. And we do not think the government's spending plans, running into a 2029 election, look credible. Equally, we do not think sterling has to rally too far now, either. Our take is that this budget does not have major implications for the BoE cycle, but at the margin, lower energy prices could give the BoE a little more confidence to cut."
In Tokyo on Thursday, the Nikkei 225 rose 1.2%. In China, the Shanghai Composite was 0.3% higher, while the Hang Seng Index was up 0.1%. In Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 edged up 0.1%.
Thursday's economic calendar has eurozone consumer confidence figures. Financial markets are closed in the US for Thanksgiving Day.
The fallout of the budget was still evident in share price moves on the London Stock Exchange. William Hill owner Evoke was down 5.2%, Ladbrokes operator Entain shed 0.4%, Grosvenor parent Rank Group was down 6.8% and Flutter, which owns Paddy Power, was 0.2% down.
Flutter said measures announced in the budget were "very disappointing". The budget increased remote gaming duty to 40% from 21%. From April 2027, a new rate of general betting duty for remote betting will be introduced at 25%, excluding self-service betting terminals, spread betting, pool bets and horse racing.
Flutter warned of a "significant adverse impact on our industry". Before mitigation efforts, Flutter expects the measures to hit its adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation by USD320 million in 2026 and USD540 million in 2027.
"In the near term, Flutter expects the overall mitigation opportunity to be similar to recent precedent, with a greater relative opportunity for second order mitigation offsetting a moderately lower relative level of first order mitigation. For both Online Sports betting and iGaming tax increases, direct first order mitigation, including reduced operational, promotional and marketing spend is expected to be approximately 20% of the gross impact in the first six months post implementation, rising to approximately 40% thereafter," it added.
After mitigation, it expects a net hit of USD235 million in 2026 and USD339 million in 2027.
Flutter's UK & Ireland CEO Kevin Harrington says: "The chancellor rightly wants to address harm, but these changes will hand a big win to illegal, unlicensed gambling operators who will become more competitive overnight. These black market operators don't pay tax and don't invest in safer gambling. At 40%, the UK's remote gaming duty is now above countries such as the Netherlands, where a recent tax increase saw a rise in illegal gambling and a fall in government receipts. Despite this impact, I am confident that through both our scale and leading position in the UK, as well as the proactive cost initiatives that we are taking, we are well placed to navigate through today's changes."
Evoke late Wednesday said the measures would up duty costs by approximately GBP125 million to GBP135 million on an annualised basis once fully implemented from April 2027. Evoke withdrew medium-term financial targets.
Entain predicted an earnings hit of GBP100 million and GBP150 million in 2026 and 2027.
Gambling software firm Playtech on Wednesday said it estimates an adjusted Ebitda hit in the "high-teens millions of euros before mitigation" in 2026.
"However, given the group's geographic diversity across regulated markets and strong performance and prospects outside of the UK, Playtech remains comfortable that it can meet market expectations for the full year 2026," it added.
Playtech shares were 2.7% higher.
Serica Energy was down 1.4%. It has seen a "production rebound" this month, and the firm hit out at UK budget measures, which represented a "missed opportunity to kick-start investment across the UK North Sea".
North Sea-focused oil and gas producer Serica said production in the third quarter amounted to 27,500 barrels of oil equivalent per day, up from 21,900 quarter-on-quarter.
Revenue in the first nine months of the year was USD439 million, Serica says, USD134 million in the third quarter alone, an on-year decline from USD139 million.
"Following October production of 27,900 boepd, production in November rebounded to average 50,300 boepd prior to the planned outage at Triton, which started on 23 November and is expected to complete in mid-December," Serica added.
The firm noted the average realised Brent price in the first nine months of the year fell to USD70 a barrel from USD76.
CEO Chris Cox said: "Production rebounded in November to once again average above 50,000 boepd, a level that more accurately reflects the potential of our portfolio. The expected near-term addition of Lancaster production, following completion of our acquisition of Prax Upstream, will add a further short-term boost, and the resumption of regular liftings from Triton will return us to significant and sustainable cash generation going forward. This, in turn, will help us to deliver on our two-pronged growth strategy, as we seek to diversify our production both through investment in our existing portfolio and M&A. While the budget announcements yesterday were a missed opportunity to kick-start investment across the UK North Sea, we now have greater clarity about the fiscal and regulatory regimes in which our investment decisions will be made."
In the budget, the government confirmed the windfall tax will remain in place until March 2030, unless oil and gas prices fall below a certain level before then.
Rising 22% as it predicts no budget hit, was decarbonisation-focused energy services company Earnz. Earnz noted the end of the energy company obligation government energy efficiency scheme.
"Earnz notes that the ECO scheme was originally scheduled to conclude in March 2026. The Earnz group's current business activities and future growth strategy are not reliant on this programme, with ECO scheme revenue representing less than 1% of annual turnover. As a result, the decision to end the scheme is not expected to have an impact on the company's activities or outlook," it added.
Elsewhere, Team announced a GBP12.7 million deal to acquire WH Ireland. WH Ireland shareholders will receive 0.195 new Team shares as part of the deal.
Earlier in November, the two wealth managers confirmed Team had approached WH Ireland about a possible all-share takeover offer.
WH Ireland shares jumped 33%. Team was up 1.3%.
A barrel of Brent rose to USD62.52 early Thursday, from USD62.41 late Wednesday. Gold was flat at USD4,163.31 an ounce from USD4,163.25.
By Eric Cunha, Alliance News news editor
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