UK Stocks-Factors to watch on Oct 31 (updated)

Hellenic Telecommunications Organization SA

31/10/2024 07:57

(Adds new items, updates futures)
       Oct 31 (Reuters) - Britain's FTSE 100  .FTSE  index is
seen opening lower on Thursday, with futures  FFIc1  down 0.35%.
    
    * SHELL: Shell  SHEL.L   reported third quarter profits of
$6 billion that exceeded forecasts by 12% as weaker oil refining
and trading results were offset by higher LNG sales.
    * VODAFONE: Mobile group Vodafone  VOD.L  and Romania-based
operator Digi  DIGI.BX  said they had signed a memorandum of
understanding with Hellenic Telecommunications Organization
 OTEr.AT  to buy its subsidiary TKRM.
    * SAINSBURY'S: British supermarket Sainsbury's  SBRY.L  
said it would sell its Argos Financial Services cards portfolio
to financial services firm NewDay Group for an expected 720
million pounds ($934.1 million).
    * SMITH + NEPHEW: Smith + Nephew  SN.L , UK's largest
medical products maker, cut its annual underlying revenue growth
forecast, primarily hurt by its weaker-than-expected performance
in China.
    * OCADO: Ocado  OCDO.L , the British online supermarket and
technology group named Adam Warby as its chair from Dec. 1,
succeeding Rick Haythornthwaite.
    * HALEON: Haleon  HLN.L  reported a marginal fall in its
third-quarter revenue, hurt by declines in its pain relief and
digestive health segments.
    * SPECTRIS: Britain's Spectris  SXS.L  said that the
continued softness in the Chinese market is likely to continue
into the early part of 2025, after the scientific instruments
maker posted a 13% decline in third-quarter group sales.
    * UK's REEVES: Finance minister Rachel Reeves, whose first
budget announcement on Wednesday was accompanied by tepid growth
forecasts, said her Labour government had more plans to boost
the economy and she hoped to not have to hike taxes again.
    * BANK OF ENGLAND: Investors priced in fewer than four Bank
of England interest rate cuts over the next year.
    * EX-DIVS: Whitbread  WTB.L  will trade without entitlement
to its latest dividend pay-out.

    
    * For more on the factors affecting European stocks, please
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    TODAY'S UK PAPERS
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    > Other business headlines              PRESS/GB 

 (Reporting by Prerna Bedi and DhanushVignesh Babu in Bengaluru)
 ((Prerna.Bedi@thomsonreuters.com; +91 98052 24616;))