{"id":95058,"date":"2026-07-31T23:22:49","date_gmt":"2026-07-31T23:22:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/95058\/"},"modified":"2026-07-31T23:22:49","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T23:22:49","slug":"uk-stock-market-news-reckitt-benckiser-greggs-sage-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/95058\/","title":{"rendered":"UK Stock Market News: Reckitt Benckiser, Greggs, Sage"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Three key news stories unfolding as the UK stock market opens. Check out our companies reporting diary<\/a> for upcoming results from FTSE 350 and selected international stocks. <\/p>\n

1. New \u00a3500m share buyback at Reckitt <\/p>\n

Consumer goods company Reckitt Benckiser [LON:RKT] issued half year numbers this morning. Thet company’s turn around strategy appears to be on track with solid growth being reported in emerging markets and whilst margins have been squeezed, these continue to run ahead of expectations. The interim dividend is up 5% and a new share buyback of up to \u00a3500m over the next twelve months has also been announced. The full year outlook is unchanged. <\/p>\n

2. On a roll \u2013 revenue, profits and market share up at Greggs <\/p>\n

Bakers to fast food retailer Greggs [LON:GRG] has issued interim numbers this morning with sales up 7% and operating profits adding 23%. Whilst that’s against what the note terms a soft comparative, strong cost control was also in play. The estate now stands at 2,773 shops with management noting scope for at least 3,500, whilst other franchise channels are also pursued. The company also continues to grow market share and notes the full year outlook as unchanged. <\/p>\n

3. Sage sees revenues advance with N America leading the charge <\/p>\n

A nine-month trading update from Sage Group [LON:SGE] was out this morning with revenue growth accelerating, up 11% at a group level. Expansion was notably strong in North America which continued to outperform with the company’s continued expansion of AI capabilities lending further support. Full year revenues are expected to be at least 9% higher, with management focused both on efficiency and scaling the group. <\/p>\n

A note from our partner <\/p>\n

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In case you missed it <\/p>\n

Today we start with the mega-IPO of Chinese chipmaker CXMT<\/a> \u2013 China’s biggest semiconductor flotation in years and what it can tell us about the industry. <\/p>\n

We also have a new Share Tip for our Armchair Trader Plus+ members: this engineeering firm is set to benefit from the growth in infrastructure spend<\/a> across the UK. <\/p>\n

And we have an update on AIM-listed explorer Rift Helium and its programme to test whether its acreage in Tanzania can contribute meaningfully to supply<\/a> of the industrial gas. <\/p>\n

The packed company diary<\/a> features Aberdeen, Breedon, GSK, Rio Tinto, SJP and Sage. <\/p>\n

Another downbeat day yesterday for the AIM All Share, failing to keep track with the main board and other European indices. Yet more uncertainty over tax policy can’t be helping, with the index closing down almost four points at 768. <\/p>\n

GCM Resources +21% <\/p>\n

PCI-Pal +16% <\/p>\n

Empresaria +13% <\/p>\n

AB Dynamics -29% <\/p>\n

Mothercare -17% <\/p>\n

Get free weekly UK company analysis from The Armchair Trader here<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Three key news stories unfolding as the UK stock market opens. Check out our companies reporting diary for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":78741,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[21355],"tags":[24014,21399,21376,1854,40453,21054],"class_list":["post-95058","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-reckitt-benckiser","tag-interim-dividend","tag-reckitt","tag-reckitt-benckiser","tag-revenue-growth","tag-sage-group","tag-share-buyback"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@UnitedKingdom\/117017169252313262","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95058","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95058"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95058\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/78741"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95058"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95058"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95058"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}