30th Sep 2025 09:12
(Alliance News) - Stock prices in London opened lower on Tuesday morning amid a swathe of earnings before a deadline on the last day of the third quarter.
The FTSE 100 index opened down 30.64 points, 0.3%, at 9,269.20. The FTSE 250 was down 49.82 points, 0.2%, at 21,816.66, and the AIM All-Share was down 0.42 points, 0.1%, at 779.76.
The Cboe UK 100 was down 0.4% at 929.33, the Cboe UK 250 was fell 0.1% at 19,085.91, and the Cboe Small Companies was 0.1% higher at 17,531.33.
In European equities on Tuesday, the CAC 40 in Paris was down 0.5%, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt fell 0.2%.
UK gross domestic product grew as expected during the second quarter of 2025, according to data from the Office for National Statistics on Tuesday.
Real GDP is estimated to have increased by 0.3% between April and June, in line with the ONS's first estimate.
The rate of growth slowed from a 0.7% rise in the prior quarter.
Growth in the latest quarter was driven by increases of 0.4% in services and 1.0% in construction, while the production sector fell by 0.8%.
Real household disposable income per head increased in the latest quarter by 0.2%, following a fall of 0.9% in the first quarter.
Real GDP per head is estimated to have grown by an unrevised 0.2% in the second quarter, and is up by 0.9% compared with the same quarter a year ago.
Sterling was at USD1.3445, up slightly from USD1.3432 at the London equities close on Monday. The euro traded at USD1.1740, up from USD1.1731 late Monday. Against the yen, the dollar was lower at JPY148.06 versus JPY148.57.
In Asia on Tuesday, the Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo closed down 0.3%. In China, the Shanghai Composite finished 0.5% higher, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong climbed 1.0%. The S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney finished 0.2% lower.
Wall Street ended higher on Monday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.2%, the S&P 500 0.3% higher and the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.5%.
The yield on the 10-year US Treasury was slimmed to 4.13% on Tuesday from 4.14% on Monday. The yield on the 30-year stayed at 4.71%.
In London, Airtel Africa led the FTSE 100 index and climbed 2.2% after Citigroup raised its price target to 236 pence from 160p, with an unchanged 'neutral' rating.
Legal & General fell 1.2%.
The life insurance provider said Andrew Kail will replace Jeff Davies as chief financial officer from the start of December.
Kail is the chief executive officer of the company's largest business, Institutional Retirement, after joining in 2021 as CEO of the Retail Retirement division. Since the start of last year, Kail is also the CEO of the largest entity in the group, the Legal and General Assurance Society.
Davies is leaving to work as CFO of Resolution Life from March 2, 2026.
PayPoint was the biggest gainer on the FTSE 250 index and jumped 8.5%.
It said it will take a 49% stake in International Distribution Services' Collect+ business with an investment of GBP43.9 million.
The payments and retail technology group said Collect+ has a network of more than 14,000 out of home locations in the UK, of which almost 8,000 offer Royal Mail collect, send and return parcel services.
Over the next 12 months, the intention is to expand the rollout of Royal Mail over the counter services through the network, including the launch of self-service kiosks during the first quarter of 2026.
As a result of this transaction, PayPoint announced a special dividend of 50.0 pence per share combined with a share consolidation of 12 for 13, to be proposed for shareholder approval at a special general meeting on October 17.
It expects the transaction as a whole to be earnings per share enhancing in the first full year to March 2027.
At the other end of the index, Close Brothers sank 7.3%.
The merchant bank said it swung to a 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 was down 14% to GBP144.3 million from GBP167.6 million. For the full year, net interest income fell 2.0% to GBP568.8 million from GBP580.7 million.
Operating income dropped 7.6% to GBP659.5 million from GBP713.4 million. The firm did not declare a dividend, unchanged from a year ago.
It said the reinstatement of dividends will be reviewed once there is more clarity on the financial impact of the Financial Conduct Authority review of motor finance commission arrangements.
Chief Executive Mike Morgan said: "Over the last year, we have taken decisive action to address legacy issues and reposition the business for growth. We have sold Close Brothers Asset Management, Winterflood and the Brewery Rentals business, and we have repositioned our Premium Finance business to focus on commercial lines...The task now is to accelerate from here. I am confident we are on the right path and that we will return this business to double-digit returns."
Uru Metals led the AIM index and jumped 35%. The firm saw its net loss for the year to the end of March narrow to USD832,000 from USD5.9 million, as exploration expenditure and impairment of intangible assets plunged to USD162,000 from USD5.1 million.
"With the mining right approval pending, the company is moving steadily toward its objective of establishing Zeb Nickel as a world-class supplier of critical metals essential to the renewable energy and battery storage sectors," said Non-Executive Chair Kyle Appleby.
Tissue Regenix shares plunged 20%.
The company 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.
Gold was higher at USD3,845.50 an ounce early on Tuesday from USD3,828.66 late Monday. Brent oil was trading lower at USD66.35 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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