Less Ads, More Data, More Tools Register for FREE

Pin to quick picks888.L Share News (888)

  • There is currently no data for 888

Watchlists are a member only feature

Login to your account

Alerts are a premium feature

Login to your account

LONDON MARKET MIDDAY: Stocks red; Entain slides on revenue warning

Mon, 25th Sep 2023 12:06

(Alliance News) - Stock prices in London were lower at midday on Monday as investors fretted about the health of the Chinese economy and the prospect of interest rates remaining high in the US.

"The twin worries about the ongoing fragility in China's economy and high interest rates lingering for longer in the US have quashed hopes of a dose of Monday motivation to start the week," said Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets at Hargreaves Lansdown.

The FTSE 100 index was down 48.43 points, or 0.6%, at 7,635.48. The FTSE 250 was down 170.26 points, or 0.9%, at 18,436.61, and the AIM All-Share was down 1.44 points, or 0.2%, at 737.99.

The Cboe UK 100 was down 0.7% at 761.70, the Cboe UK 250 was down 1.3% at 16,064.87, and the Cboe Small Companies was down 0.8% at 13,284.46.

Shares in Chinese property developer Evergrande plummeted Monday following the announcement that it would be unable to carry out a restructuring plan intended to guarantee its survival.

The news heightened fears around China's already fragile property market crisis and weighed on market sentiment as concerns of a global spillover grew.

"The property sector is very important to China's economy and therefore associated problems will weigh on the stock market. Investors are losing faith in China and this situation is only going to make matters worse for the markets," explained Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell.

Recently, risk appetite had already been suppressed by central banks hinting that more rate hikes are still on the table before the year-end.

On Wednesday, the US Federal Reserve left its benchmark interest rate at a 22-year high but signalled it still expects one more hike before the end of the year and fewer cuts than previously indicated next year.

"The committee would be prepared to adjust the stance of monetary policy as appropriate if risks emerge that could impede the attainment of the committee's goals," it said.

The hawkish pause triggered a fresh wave of worries that the rates would stay higher for longer, hurting stocks but boosting the US dollar.

The pound was quoted at USD1.2234 at midday on Monday in London, down from USD1.2267 at the London equities close on Friday. The euro stood at USD1.0636, lower against USD1.0664. Against the yen, the dollar was trading at JPY148.62, higher compared to JPY148.22.

In London, Entain was the worst blue-chip performer, trading 8.8% lower at midday on Monday.

The Ladbrokes owner reported that its online net gaming revenue has been weaker than expected during the third quarter of the year as it suffered from regulatory headwinds and unfavourable sporting results hurting its margins.

Nonetheless, Entain reiterated its expectation for full-year earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation to be within the range of GBP1.0 billion and GBP1.05 billion. This would be up from GBP993.2 million in 2022.

"Entain deserves some credit for maintaining its earnings guidance for the full year despite the disappointing third quarter showing as it keeps a tight rein on costs," AJ Bell analyst Russ Mould commented but added that regulatory affairs remain a "big threat" to bookmakers.

"The social harm from gambling is such that governments are stepping up their efforts to curtail the impact both in betting shops and on the internet. This means companies have to spend more on measures to mitigate problem gambling and that can lead to slower customer acquisition," he explained.

William Hill owner 888 Holdings dropped 5.8% in the FTSE 250 in a negative read-across.

Elsewhere in London, Gulf Keystone Petroleum jumped 7.8% after the company reported a consistent increase in local sales from the Shaikan field in Iraq.

Gulf Keystone said gross average sales currently stand at 33,000 barrels of oil per day. This was up from 28,800 bopd between September 1 and 24, 17,200 bopd in August and 4,900 bopd in July.

On AIM, SpaceandPeople plunged 25% after it reported a widened interim loss on rising costs.

The Glasgow-based retail, promotional and brand experience specialist said its pretax loss widened to GBP424,000, from GBP377,000 a year ago. SpaceandPeople said this was primarily due to an increase in administration expenses, including professional fees and staff costs.

Looking forward, the firm said it is confident in the second half, noting a recently agreed extension to its contract with Network Rail until September 2024.

"This half year has been encouraging for SpaceandPeople, with a drive to invest further across the business both in the UK and in Germany in order to develop products and services that are closely attuned to our customers evolving needs," said Chief Executive Nancy Cullen.

In European equities on Monday, the CAC 40 in Paris was down 0.6%, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt was down 0.7%.

Germany's business climate worsened in September, as companies were again less satisfied with their current business situation, data from Munich-based research institution ifo showed.

The ifo business climate index worsened to 85.7 in September from 85.8 in August, the fifth consecutive fall, although faring better than FXStreet-cited expectations of 85.2.

Stocks in New York were called lower. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was called down 0.1%, the S&P 500 index down 0.1%, and the Nasdaq Composite down 0.2%.

Amazon on Monday said that it will invest up to USD4 billion in Anthropic PBC and have a minority ownership position in the AI firm.

The Seattle-based online retailer said the investment was made alongside Anthropic PBC selecting Amazon Web Services as its primary cloud provider.

AWS will become Anthropic's primary cloud provider for mission-critical workloads, Amazon said, including safety research and future foundation model development, with Anthropic planning to run the majority of its workloads on AWS.

The deal intensifies competition between Amazon and Alphabet's Google, which had earlier opened its cloud services to Anthropic and invested USD300 million to acquire 10% of the company.

Shares in Amazon were up 1.0% in pre-market trade in New York on Monday, while Alphabet shares were down 0.1%.

Brent oil was quoted at USD92.00 a barrel at midday in London on Monday, down from USD92.32 at the close on Friday. Gold was quoted at USD1,924.04 an ounce, lower against USD1,927.93.

Still to come on Monday's economic calendar, the US Chicago Fed national activity index will be released at 1330 BST.

By Heather Rydings, Alliance News senior economics reporter

Comments and questions to newsroom@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2023 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

More News
23 Jun 2022 07:52

LONDON MARKET PRE-OPEN: boohoo poaches new CFO from Trainline

(Alliance News) - Stock prices in London are seen opening lower on Thursday after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell admitted the US economy could tip into recession following aggressive interest rate hikes.

Read more
23 Jun 2022 07:04

Interim revenues on track at 888

(Sharecast News) - Gambling and gaming group 888 Holdings said on Thursday that it expects interim revenues to be "broadly" in line with expectations.

Read more
13 Jun 2022 09:33

LONDON BROKER RATINGS: Upgrades for Rolls-Royce and Euromoney

(Alliance News) - The following London-listed shares received analyst recommendations Monday morning and Friday:

Read more
8 Jun 2022 16:02

UK shareholder meetings calendar - next 7 days

Thursday 9 June 
4basebio PLCAGM
BioPharma Credit PLCAGM
BlackRock Smaller Companies Trust PLCAGM
Checkit PLCAGM
Corero Network Security PLCAGM
Dignity PLCAGM
Funding Circle Holdings PLCAGM
Instem PLCAGM
Invesco Perpetual UK Smaller Companies Investment Trust PLCAGM
Kistos PLCAGM
Kore Potash PLCAGM
Kosmos Energy PLCAGM
Northbridge Industrial Services PLCGM re name change to Crestchic
Northbridge Industrial Services PLCAGM
Panther Metals PLCAGM
Rambler Metals & Mining PLCAGM
REA Holdings PLCAGM
Round Hill Music Royalty Fund LtdAGM
Tungsten Corp PLCGM re Kofax Offer
Xpediator PLCAGM
Friday 10 June 
Chariot LtdAGM
Ergomed PLCAGM
MP Evans Group PLCAGM
THG PLCAGM
Ultra Electronics Holdings PLCAGM
XLMedia PLCAGM
Monday 13 June 
Angus Energy PLCGM re second tranche of subscription shares and warrants
Elixirr International PLCAGM
Jupiter Emerging & Frontier Income Trust PLCGM re voluntary liquidation
Mirriad Advertising PLCAGM
Ocean Outdoor LtdGM re takeover by Atairos Group Inc
Saga PLCAGM
Spectra Systems CorpAGM
VPC Speciality Lending Investments PLCAGM
Tuesday 14 June 
Andrews Sykes Group PLCAGM
Coro Energy PLCAGM
DCD Media PLCGM re de-listing from AIM
Everyman Media Group PLCAGM
Fair Oaks Income LtdAGM
Genflow Biosciences PLCAGM
IP Group PLCAGM
LoopUp Group PLCAGM
Pod Point Group Holdings PLCAGM
SDX Energy PLCAGM
Somero Enterprises IncAGM
St Mark Homes PLCAGM
Wednesday 15 June 
Angling Direct PLCAGM
888 Holdings PLCAGM
Christie Group PLCAGM
Deltic Energy PLCAGM
Distribution Finance Capital Holdings PLCAGM
Ferrexpo PLCAGM
Foresight Solar Fund LtdAGM
Foxtons Group PLCAGM
IGas Energy PLCAGM
NAHL Group PLCAGM
NB Global Monthly Income Fund LtdAGM
Phoenix Spree Deutschland LtdAGM
Science in Sport PLCAGM
SourceBio International PLCAGM
Standard Life Investments Property Income Trust PLCAGM
Tortilla Mexican Grill PLCAGM
WANdisco PLCAGM
Whitbread PLCAGM
Xaar PLCAGM
  
Copyright 2022 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.

Read more
20 Apr 2022 11:02

888 first-quarter revenue falls as Dutch exit hurts user numbers

(Alliance News) - 888 Holdings PLC on Wednesday said revenue declined in the first quarter, with the gambling firm's exit from the Netherlands hitting monthly punter numbers.

Read more
20 Apr 2022 07:05

888 Holdings Q1 revenues fall 18% YOY

(Sharecast News) - Online betting and gaming firm 888 Holdings said on Wednesday that total revenues had fallen in the three months ended 31 March.

Read more
19 Apr 2022 14:24

EXECUTIVE CHANGES: 888 hires former Bleacher Report CEO to be US chief

(Alliance News) - The following is a round-up of London-listed company director and manager changes announced on Tuesday and not separately reported by Alliance News:

Read more
19 Apr 2022 09:35

LONDON BROKER RATINGS: Prudential and CRH get upgrades, ITV cut

(Alliance News) - The following London-listed shares received analyst recommendations Tuesday morning and Thursday last week:

Read more
8 Apr 2022 16:58

LONDON MARKET CLOSE: Stocks end week in optimistic mood

(Alliance News) - Stocks in Europe rallied on Friday, ending the week on the front foot, as investors prepare for the start of US earnings season, inflation readings from Germany, the US and UK and a rate decision from Europe's central bank in an action packed week.

Read more
7 Apr 2022 19:21

IN BRIEF: 888 Holdings raises GBP163 million to fund William Hill buy

888 Holdings PLC - Gibraltar-based online betting and gaming company - Raises GBP162.9 million through the placing of 70.8 million shares at a price of 230 pence per share. Says the proceeds will be used to partly fund the acquisition of the non-US business of William Hill, the London-based gambling company. The placing price represents a premium of 20% to the closing share price of 192 pence on Wednesday, 888 explains.

Read more
7 Apr 2022 17:09

LONDON MARKET CLOSE: Shell and ex-dividend stocks take FTSE 100 down

(Alliance News) - Stocks around Europe struggled on Thursday as a couple of central banks cast a large shadow over markets.

Read more
7 Apr 2022 12:13

LONDON MARKET MIDDAY: Stocks mixed as Fed plans aggressive tightening

(Alliance News) - Stocks in London were mixed at midday on Thursday as minutes from the Federal Reserve's most recent meeting fuelled expectations of more aggressive US interest rate hikes.

Read more
7 Apr 2022 09:19

TOP NEWS: 888 in cash raise to fund now cheaper William Hill unit buy

(Alliance News) - 888 Holdings PLC confirmed on Thursday said it will conduct an accelerated bookbuild to fund the acquisition of William Hill's non-US operations, also adding the purchase price of the deal has been cut.

Read more
7 Apr 2022 08:58

LONDON MARKET OPEN: Countryside Partnerships sinks on profit warning

(Alliance News) - Stocks in London opened lower on Thursday following hawkish minutes from the US Federal Reserve, while mid-cap stock Countryside Partnerships fell sharply after issuing a profit warning.

Read more
7 Apr 2022 07:52

LONDON MARKET PRE-OPEN: Shell to take hit after exit from Russia

(Alliance News) - Stocks in London are seen opening lower on Thursday after minutes from the US Federal Reserve's March meeting heightened expectations for aggressive central bank monetary policy tightening.

Read more

Login to your account

Don't have an account? Click here to register.

Quickpicks are a member only feature

Login to your account

Don't have an account? Click here to register.