Headline
CPI and PPI data drop for August alongside a fresh crop of downgrades from film-services, care-home financing and estate agency names — inflation remains front-of-mind while UK Plc's tone is patchy.
What UK Plc said today
The clearest negative signal came from film infrastructure specialist ADF, which lowered guidance: management "now expects full year results to be below current market expectations" as H1 revenue fell 4.6% to £16.6m and Adjusted EBITDA margin compressed to 10.2% (H1 FY25: 12.6%). The BFI H1 UK Film & HETV market spend of £2.7bn was down 16% YoY — a helpful frame for why the CAD Services segment slipped 13.4%. Estate-agency franchisor WINK also cut, flagging reported FY26 PBT "materially below current market expectations" on legal and advisory costs from High Court proceedings against its Non-Executive Chair. Automotive supplier CTA narrowed FY26 Adj PBT to $4.9m–$9.4m, contingent on cost-escalation talks with a Chapter 11 customer.
Against those, several names reaffirmed or beat. TENG delivered "record performance" with FY26 revenue +6% to £69.7m and EBITDA +20%. TUNE reported 3% revenue growth with tone "ahead", and BAB cited "robust" demand across defence and nuclear. MOON and SMWH reaffirmed. In healthcare, AMS posted +4% revenue with EBITDA margin 22.7% while H.B. Fuller's acquisition tracks Q4 completion. LSC grew 9.2% ("non-discretionary expenditure items"). Investment trust CTY hit a 60th consecutive year of dividend growth with NAV total return 21.9%, and REIT SUPR raised its FY27 dividend target 2%. Capital-return activity was heavy: buybacks from ADVT (up to £10m), SPR and SLP, plus small treasury issuances at BRAI and CYN.
Statistical releases
- ONS Consumer price inflation, UK: August 2026 — headline CPI/CPIH print for the month.
- ONS Contributions to 12-month CPI(H) by import intensity: August 2026 — decomposition of imported vs domestic price pressure.
- ONS Producer price inflation, UK: August 2026 — factory-gate and input costs feeding future CPI.
- ONS Private rent and house prices, UK: September 2026 — housing cost track relevant to services inflation.
- ONS Deaths registered weekly in England and Wales, w/e 4 September 2026.
- ONS Relationship between time spent in emergency departments, employment, and hospitalisation, England: 2021 to 2025.
Policy / monetary
HMT and [BoE] jointly announced three new non-executive directors to the Bank's Court of Directors — governance rather than policy. HMT also published the September 2026 "Forecasts for the UK economy" compilation of independent forecasts.
Themes
- Guidance dispersion is widening. Three cuts today (ADF, WINK, CTA) sit alongside clean beats/reaffirmations from TENG, TUNE, BAB, MOON, SMWH — issuer-specific rather than macro-driven.
- Content/production sector under pressure. ADF's 16% drop in BFI H1 UK Film & HETV spend is the concrete data point; production-adjacent revenue lines will remain soft into H2.
- Balance sheets being fortified into uncertainty. Multiple issuers combined equity raises with debt reduction: COG fundraised £2.6m and is now debt-free; STAR raised £9.1m and swung to £4.6m net cash; EGT raised £6.9m net; ART reaffirmed guidance while carrying £34.0m net debt.
- Capital returns to shareholders remain a live theme — ADVT, SPR, SLP buybacks and SUPR's dividend uplift suggest boards see value at current levels.
Watch
- BOW investor presentation, 17 September 2026.
- CRW FY26 results, 21 September 2026.
- THRL FY26 results and TRT FY26 final results, 22 September 2026.
- OTB trading update, 24 September 2026; RIFT prospecting licence renewal application, 24 September 2026.
- GRG Q3 2026 trading update, 30 September 2026.
- STAR Singleton gas-to-wire first production, early October 2026; Croatian geothermal disposal completion end October 2026.
- PNN Strategic Update, 7 October 2026.
- OTB Final Results, 1 December 2026.