* FTSE 100 up 1.8%, FTSE 250 up 0.1%
* Just Eat surges after all-share deal with Takeaway.com
* LSE gains on talks to buy Refinitiv
* 'No-deal' Brexit worries take down sterling
* Sports Direct sinks to lowest since Feb. 2011
(Adds company news items, updates shares)
By Shashwat Awasthi and Muvija M
July 29 (Reuters) - Britain's FTSE 100 surged to its highest
in nearly a year on Monday, as shares of Just Eat and London
Stock Exchange rallied on deal-related news, while exporter
stocks benefited from a weaker pound amid heightened 'no-deal'
Brexit fears.
The main index .FTSE shot up by 1.8%, its biggest one-day
gain in nearly six months. The mid-cap FTSE 250 .FTMC shrugged
off steep losses in shares of Sports Direct SPD.L and
corporate services company Sanne Group SNNS.L , as well as a
drop in the pound, to rise 0.1%.
Just Eat JE.L soared 23% to 793.27 pence on its best day
on record after Takeaway.com TKWY.AS agreed to buy it in an
8.2 billion pound ($10.1 billion) deal to create the world's
largest online food delivery firm outside China. "The deal gives Just Eat and its interim CEO the perfect
exit, whilst also creating a company with the scale and strength
to take on Deliveroo, Uber Eats UBER.N and Amazon AMZN.O ,"
Markets.com analyst Neil Wilson said.
London Stock Exchange LSE.L surged 15.3% to an all-time
high after the company confirmed it was in talks to buy
financial data analytics provider Refinitiv Holdings for $27
billion, including debt. Thomson Reuters TRI.TO , the parent company of Reuters,
holds a 45% stake in Refinitiv.
"CHASING A NO-DEAL BREXIT"
The FTSE 100 handily outperformed the broader European
market as well as the Wall Street, which were held back by weak
earnings.
Investors were also tentative ahead of an expected interest
rate cut by the U.S. Federal Reserve this week. With the rate
cut an almost foregone conclusion, the broader sentiment is more
likely to be determined by whether the central bank drops hints
of further policy easing.
Exporter stocks aided the FTSE 100's gains with sterling
sinking to a 28-month low as Prime Minister Boris Johnson said
Britain would leave on Oct. 31 without a deal unless the
European Union renegotiated.
"An already bad start turned into a full-blown panic attack
for sterling. It honestly seems like Boris Johnson's government
is actively chasing a no-deal Brexit," Spreadex analyst Connor
Campbell said.
On the mid-cap index, Sports Direct slipped 7.5% after its
delayed results statement showed annual core earnings fell due
to problems integrating House of Fraser and as it warned it
could face a 674 million euro tax bill from Belgium.
Asset and corporate services company Sanne Group SNNS.L
plummeted 34%, its steepest one-day fall ever, after cutting its
annual earnings and margin forecast, while shopping centre
operator Hammerson HMSO.L lost 7.2% after it posted lower
first-half net rental income. Money manager Neil Woodford's listed trust, Woodford Patient
Capital Trust WPCT.L , slipped 4.3% to a new record low on news
that the suspension of one of his funds was unlikely to be
lifted until December. Earlier in the day, WPCT said he had sold
1.75 million shares in the trust this month. Georgian lender TBC Group TBCG.L , whose shares have been
pressured lately after its chairman stepped down following money
laundering charges, surged 11.3% on its best day on record as
its first-half profit rose by nearly a fifth on strong lending.