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FTSE 100 Live: Stocks slide as oil and AI weigh on markets. Welcome back to the City AM liveblog. Investors were met with a volatile start to the week after rising tensions around oil and AI dampened market mood. Brent crude - the international benchmark for oil prices - held above $107 per barrel on Tuesday morning after worries around global supply ramped up on Monday. Saudi Arabia has closed its East-West pipeline, which provides an alternative route to the Strait of Hormuz, with no clear indication of when operations will resume. A diplomatic meeting between Iran and the Gulf Arab states to discuss the situation in Hormuz was also abruptly postponed. Iran has also claimed that a supertanker attempted to enter the Strait of Hormuz and exploded after striking mines. Tehran has continued to say it will not engage in talks with the US until its demands are met. News updates. Stay ahead with our three daily briefings delivering all the key market moves, top business and political stories, and incisive analysis straight to your inbox. President Donald Trump said on Monday he is "open" to negotiations with Iran. In a post on Truth Social he said: "The failing Nation of Iran wants to make a deal, quickly and badly. I will determine whether or not the USA will choose to engage - The concept of which we are open to." It came after he insisted the steep rise in Diesel prices is a result of the war between Ukraine and Russia and not Iran. Investors were also facing the latest round of AI jitters following a weekend intervention from Anthropic chief executive Dario Amodei, who warned that AI companies needed to "slow the pace" at which they improve their most powerful models. OpenAI boss Sam Altman and Elon Musk both backed the call, marking a rare point of agreement between three of the industry's fiercest rivals. We'll be bringing you the latest market updates and analysis. Here's a few of our top headlines this morning. * in 8 hours By Samuel Norman Trustpilot revenue soars on North America expansion Trustpilot delivered a 23 percent boost in first-half revenue to $151.4m after it picked up more customers in North America. The firm said efficiency across operations and customer growth helped lift earnings before tax 46 percent to a record $26.3m. Integration with artificial intelligence platforms increased demand for the company's verified review data among major global brands, it said. Despite top-line gains, the business recorded a small net loss of $1.1m due to non-recurring regulatory fines and tax provisions. This was principally related to a fine imposed by the Italian Competition Authority, which the company is actively appealing, and a historical US sales tax provision. Still, management doubled down on its ambitions for high-teens growth in revenue and a earnings margin increase of two to three percentage points. * in 7 hours By Samuel Norman Bank tipped to hike in November As we get further in the week attention is turning to the all-important Bank of England decision. A hold still looks to be on the cards, but following today's jobs data, economists are still looking at what could be in the pipeline. Felix Feather, economist at Aberdeen said: "The softness of the labour market had been the key variable holding back expectations for rate hikes in response to the ongoing energy cost shock. But markets have now moved to price aggressive hiking. "We see the Bank of England hiking only twice, in November and February 2027. More fundamentally, the medium-term trend level of interest rates might have moved higher recently due to greater demand for financing from governments and AI hyperscalers. We therefore expect the UK's interest rates to settle higher than previously thought." * in 7 hours By Samuel Norman Aberdeen tops fallers The FTSE 100 has given up all of its gains from yesterday and trading into the this morning. Aberdeen is topping the fallers, shedding three per cent, shortly followed by ICG at 2.3 per cent. Blue-chip banks Barclays and Standard Chartered are also in the red down two per cent. These moves are more than offsetting a 1.8 per cent gain from B&Q owner Kingfisher and retailer Marks & Spencer. Over on the mid-cap FTSE 250, even a 7.8 per cent rally from Wickes is doing little to drag the mid-cap index out of the red, with it trading down 0.3 per cent. * in 7 hours By Samuel Norman FTSE 100 drops It's a stiff open for the FTSE 100 with the index reversing some of yesterday's gains. The blue-chip index is down 0.4 per cent this morning as market mood catches up. We'll have more shortly with risers and fallers. * in 7 hours By Samuel Norman New kitchen and bathroom fittings help boost Wickes sales Wickes has cheered to a boost in first-half sales driven by demand for new kitchen and bathroom fittings. The firm reported a 2.1 per cent rise in sales, reaching £865.3m. This helped profit tick up one per cent to £865.3m. Growth was heavily anchored by the company's TradePro loyalty scheme alongside sustained demand for instalment projects. Trading accelerated going into the third quarter, keeping the home improvement giant firmly on track to meet its target of ten percent annual profit growth. The company plans to open several new branches this year to progress toward its ultimate goal of 300 stores. Shareholders will receive an increased interim dividend payout of 3.7 pence per share later this autumn. * in 7 hours By Felix Armstrong MJ Gleeson slashes dividend and falls to loss MJ Gleeson has fallen to a pre-tax loss amid a "subdued" housing market, prompting the housebuilder to cut its dividend and slow its landbuying. The London-listed builder posted a £2.7m pre-tax loss in the year to June and cut its dividend from 11p to five pence per share. "Recognising that this subdued market may not improve anytime soon, we are focused on managing the business as efficiently as possible and taking a prudent stance on cash," the group told shareholders. But the housebuilder pointed to its number of homes sold - up 9.8 per cent to 1,968 - as evidence that it is in a "much stronger position to manage through the challenging market environment" than in recent years. * in 6 hours By Samuel Norman Revolut hackers hold nearly 700 customers private data We can bring you more on that Revolut hack from the weekend this morning. City AM understands the group of hackers behind a major breach of Revolut users' data managed to steal nearly 700 customers' private information. Revolut has contacted the 680 people affected by an impersonation scam, according to a source close to the bank. The compromised data included customers' identity documents, postal and email addresses, facial verification image and phone numbers. In messages to City AM on Monday, the hacker group, calling itself Revolut Smilik, confirmed it is seeking payment from Revolut and would release "more and more data everyday" if it did not pay. Several notable figures have had their personal information leaked by the hackers following the data breach. The group is threatening to release more unless it receives payment from Revolut. The company and the hackers are yet to have direct contact, it is understood. * in 6 hours By Felix Armstrong Kier Group swerves 'challenging' housebuilding sector Kier Group has said it will pull out of the UK's "challenging" housebuilding sector, as the construction firm instead eyes growth in public infrastructure projects. The FTSE 250 firm told shareholders on Tuesday that it is pulling all capital out of the property sector in a bid to "de-risk" its portfolio. The group's pre-tax profit from its property arm fell by a quarter to £9.1m in the year to June, owing to a "challenging backdrop" and "macro-economic turbulence". "Kier's core businesses are well aligned to the Government and regulated industry spending commitments to invest in UK infrastructure, with these core markets remaining resilient throughout past political and economic uncertainties," it said. * in 6 hours By Samuel Norman | Vacancies fall again | Vacancies in the UK took another slump to 702,000 in the three months to August 2026, marking a fall of 8,000, official figures suggest. "Payroll numbers continued to edge down, with falls over the past year particularly evident in the retail and hospitality sectors," Liz Mckeown, director of economic statistics at the ONS said. "Vacancies remain at their lowest level outside the pandemic period for more than a decade, with smaller businesses continuing to report that increased labour costs are affecting hiring decisions." * in 6 hours By Samuel Norman Good morning Morning all - Sam here, welcome back to our live coverage for the day. Investors are still dealing with the rising pressures of oil and AI and that's sent to put a dampener on the FTSE 100 this morning. Futures from IG have the blue-chip index sliding 0.3 per cent at open. Stick around with us for all the latest news and analysis.

Trustpilot Group H1 earnings call highlights. September 15, 2026 Key points. * Strong first-half performance: Trustpilot's bookings grew 18% at constant currency, including 27% growth in North America, while adjusted EBITDA rose 46% to a record $26.3 million and the margin expanded to 17.4%. * Enterprise demand and AI relevance supported growth: ARR from customers paying more than $20,000 annually increased 35%, with larger businesses seeking visibility in AI-driven search. Trustpilot also launched AI-focused products and said ChatGPT citations rose more than 400% year over year. * Guidance and capital returns maintained: The company kept its outlook for high-teens constant-currency revenue growth and a 2-3 percentage-point adjusted EBITDA margin improvement, while returning $25.8 million to shareholders through buybacks during the half. Trustpilot also disclosed tax and distributable-reserve issues that it said do not affect current trading or guidance. * MarketBeat previews the top five stocks to own by October 1st. Trustpilot Group LON: TRST reported first-half 2026 bookings growth of 18% at constant currency, supported by enterprise customer demand and a 27% increase in North American bookings, while adjusted EBITDA rose 46% to a record $26.3 million. Chief Executive Officer Adrian Blair said the company's adjusted EBITDA margin reached 17.4%, up 2.8 percentage points year over year. Trustpilot maintained its full-year outlook for high-teens constant-currency revenue growth and a 2 to 3 percentage point improvement in adjusted EBITDA margin. The company also announced a finance leadership transition. Former Chief Financial Officer Hanno Damm, who spent 11 years at Trustpilot, presented the results, while Marcus Roy joined as CFO after five years in the same role at The Economist Group. Enterprise and regional growth. Trustpilot said annual recurring revenue from customers paying more than $20,000 annually increased 35% year over year. The number of customer logos in that segment rose 29%, while the cohort represented 47% of total bookings, compared with 27% in the first half of 2023. Blair said larger customers are increasingly focused on improving their presence in AI-driven search and large language model results. The company cited Expedia as a recent customer win, alongside Bed Bath & Beyond, Intact Insurance, Sunrun, Halfords, Space NK, EE, Bending Spoons and Isybank. Bookings in the U.K. totaled $64 million, up 11% at constant currency. Blair said some global accounts that are sold by the U.K. team are billed through North America, which reduced reported U.K. growth by approximately 1 to 2 percentage points. The U.K. business had a 60% contribution margin, according to the company. Europe and the rest of the world generated $68 million in bookings, up 19% at constant currency. The DACH region - Germany, Austria and Switzerland - grew 30%, and its ARR surpassed $20 million. Germany is now Trustpilot's third-largest country after the U.K. and U.S., Blair said. North American bookings grew 27% at constant currency, with new-business sales up 76% year over year. Organic reviews in the region increased 50%, while the number of paying customers rose 11%. Blair said growth was seen in insurance, wellbeing, software and technology, as well as areas of retail including appliances and electronics. Revenue, retention and cash flow. Revenue was $151.4 million for the half, while gross margin increased 0.8 percentage points to 83%. Trustpilot attributed the improvement partly to infrastructure and hosting efficiencies as platform volume grew, offset in part by continued investment in customer success teams following a sales reorganization. Discover more Stock Market Holidays Track Market Trends Market Cap Calculator Last-12-month gross dollar retention remained at 87%, while net dollar retention was 101%, down from 103% a year earlier. Damm said the decline reflected the annualization of previously disclosed package migrations. The U.K. recorded gross retention of 88%. Adjusted free cash flow rose 5% to $16 million, and adjusted diluted free cash flow per share increased 13% to $0.039. Damm said cash flow is seasonal, with the first half affected by annual bonus payments and the second half typically stronger. For the full year, the company expects free-cash-flow margin to be about one percentage point below adjusted EBITDA margin. Trustpilot closed the period with $21.9 million in cash after returning $25.8 million to shareholders through buybacks during the half. Its employee benefit trust purchased a further $16.5 million of shares. Since beginning its repurchase program in 2024, the company has returned $141 million to shareholders and repurchased 11% of the shares outstanding at the program's start, Damm said. Accounting matters and capital allocation. Damm said Trustpilot excluded an Italian regulatory fine, which it is appealing, and a provision related to historical U.S. sales-tax exposure from adjusted results. The sales-tax matter resulted in a $2.6 million restatement of a prior period and a $0.8 million charge in the current period. He said the adjustment did not affect current trading performance, adjusted EBITDA or the company's 2026 guidance. He added that Trustpilot had obtained advice from a Big Four firm and reviewed historical invoicing and state-level tax requirements, and management believes it has established a robust provision for potential historical liabilities. The company also identified a technical issue involving demonstrated distributable reserves in connection with certain earlier share repurchases. Damm said the issue has no impact on financial performance or cash balances and will be remediated in the fourth quarter. Trustpilot expects to use interim dividends from its Danish operating entity and updated PLC accounts to establish further distributable-reserve headroom for future buybacks. AI products and trust measures. Trustpilot highlighted the role of its review platform in AI search. Blair said research from Seer Interactive ranked Trustpilot as the most cited review platform globally, while the company saw ChatGPT citations increase more than 400% year over year. Trustpilot's Semrush Domain Authority score reached 100, the maximum score. The platform held 394 million active reviews at the end of the half and surpassed 400 million reviews in July. Users submitted 20% more reviews year over year, while Trustpilot reviews received 29 billion Google impressions in the first half, Blair said. The company removed 3.9 million fake reviews during the period, up 28% from a year earlier, with most removed automatically. Business-profile warnings increased 83% year over year as Trustpilot expanded automated detection and enforcement tools. Product releases included AI Search Analytics, an in-app review collector, Invitation Optimizer, custom dashboards and a lower-cost digital-only starter plan. Trustpilot also launched upgrades to product reviews, including a universal product catalog and dedicated product review pages. During a beta trial involving more than 400 businesses, the company said product-review features generated an average increase in AI citation growth of more than 15 times and 2.4 million ChatGPT citation requests. Blair said Trustpilot is also reorganizing sales operations, using outsourced business-development specialists for top-of-funnel activity while internal teams focus on conversion and customer relationships. The company created separate customer success and account management roles to support onboarding, product adoption, cross-selling and renewals. About Trustpilot Group (LON:TRST). Trustpilot began in 2007 with a simple yet powerful idea that is more relevant today than ever - to be the universal symbol of trust, bringing consumers and businesses together through reviews. Trustpilot is open, independent, and impartial - we help consumers make the right choices and businesses to build trust, grow and improve. Today, we have more than 300 million reviews and 67 million monthly active users across the globe, with 127 billion annual Trustpilot brand impressions, and the numbers keep growing. This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to [email protected]. Before you consider Trustpilot Group, you'll want to hear this. MarketBeat keeps track of Wall Street's top-rated and best performing research analysts and the stocks they recommend to their clients on a daily basis. MarketBeat has identified the five stocks that top analysts are quietly whispering to their clients to buy now before the broader market catches on... and Trustpilot Group wasn't on the list. While Trustpilot Group currently has a Buy rating among analysts, top-rated analysts believe these five stocks are better buys. Robotics and automation are rapidly becoming essential infrastructure across healthcare, manufacturing, logistics, and many other industries. "Physical AI" is coming. 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