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European wholesale natural gas prices climbed sharply on Monday, reaching their highest levels since late March as renewed geopolitical tensions in the Middle East heightened concerns over potential disruptions to global liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies.

The Dutch front-month gas contract, Europe’s benchmark, rose 3.45% during mid-morning trading, while the equivalent UK wholesale gas contract advanced 3.52%, reflecting growing anxiety across regional energy markets.

The latest rally followed reports that a commercial tanker caught fire after an attack in the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most strategically important shipping routes for energy exports.

Around one-fifth of global LNG shipments pass through the Strait of Hormuz, with cargoes primarily originating from major Gulf producers. Any threat to the passage is closely monitored by European energy markets, given the region’s increasing dependence on imported LNG.

Following the sharp reduction in Russian pipeline gas supplies in recent years, Europe has become significantly more reliant on seaborne LNG to meet residential heating demand and support industrial activity.

The renewed maritime tensions also coincided with a 2.2% rise in global crude oil prices, adding further upward pressure to oil-linked gas contracts.

Although LNG cargoes continue to transit the Strait of Hormuz under heightened security measures, traders said the market is increasingly pricing in geopolitical risk. Reports of active security incidents have driven insurance costs sharply higher, with elevated war-risk premiums feeding directly into European gas prices.

Shares in Segro Plc (LSE:SGRO) declined on Monday after Prologis Inc (NYSE:PLD) revealed that the UK logistics property company had rejected its latest £13.5 billion takeover proposal.

Segro’s shares fell 1.7% to 882 pence in London trading, underperforming the FTSE 100, which was down 0.4% during the session.

Prologis said its revised offer, submitted on 16 July, valued Segro at approximately £13.5 billion, or around 993 pence per share. The proposal consisted of 0.0890 newly issued Prologis shares for each Segro share, together with a partial cash alternative worth up to £2.7 billion.

According to Prologis, Segro’s board unanimously rejected the proposal the following day. The latest approach was the third made by the U.S. logistics real estate group since discussions began in June, after an earlier all-share proposal was also turned down.

Analysts at Jefferies said the revised offer increases pressure on Segro’s board, noting that the proposal values the company at roughly 993 pence per share. This represents a premium of approximately 9.7% to Segro’s pro forma June 2026 net asset value and 33.8% above the company’s unaffected share price before the takeover approach became public.

Jefferies added that Prologis continues to question Segro’s standalone valuation assumptions while highlighting its own operational performance and expanding data centre development pipeline as part of the rationale for the proposed transaction.

The brokerage also noted that Prologis faces a key deadline under the UK Takeover Code. By 22 July, the company must either announce a firm intention to make an offer for Segro or withdraw its interest, unless the UK Takeover Panel agrees to extend the timetable.

If completed, the transaction would represent the largest takeover involving a publicly listed European real estate company. While Segro has rejected each of Prologis’ proposals to date, the U.S. group continues to argue that combining the two businesses would create greater long-term value for shareholders.

Shares in Computacenter PLC (LSE:CCC) climbed on Monday after Berenberg upgraded the IT services provider to “buy” from “hold” and significantly increased its price target to 5,300 pence from 3,450 pence. The broker said the company is well placed to deliver earnings ahead of current market expectations.

Computacenter’s shares rose 3.6% to 4,746 pence during London trading, comfortably outperforming the FTSE 100, which declined 0.3% over the same period.

Berenberg said its more optimistic outlook followed Computacenter’s first-half trading update, which highlighted stronger-than-expected demand from hyperscale customers in North America, continued solid growth in the UK and improving trading conditions in Germany.

The broker expects adjusted profit before tax for the first half to reach around £163 million, ahead of the market consensus of £155 million. It also noted that management now expects full-year results to be comfortably above existing market forecasts.

Reflecting the stronger outlook, Berenberg increased its gross profit forecasts by 4% for 2026, 5% for 2027 and 6% for 2028. The brokerage also raised its adjusted operating profit estimates by 17% for 2026, 15% for 2027 and 17% for 2028.

Berenberg now forecasts adjusted operating profit of £349 million for 2026, compared with the previous consensus estimate of approximately £318 million. The broker said the upgrade reflects expectations that a larger proportion of gross profit will convert into operating earnings, supported by stronger operational leverage.

Looking ahead, Berenberg believes continued momentum in North America and the UK, combined with an improving performance in Germany, could drive further earnings growth. It also highlighted management’s long-term objective of achieving a 30% operating profit-to-gross profit conversion rate as a positive indicator for future profitability. However, the broker cautioned that any slowdown in hyperscale data centre investment, particularly from Meta, remains the principal risk to the investment case.

Shares in Ryanair Holdings Plc (LSE:0A2U) fell more than 7% on Monday after the low-cost airline reported first-quarter net income that missed market expectations and warned that second-quarter fares are now likely to be lower than previously forecast.

The airline generated net income of €538 million during the quarter, a decline of 34.4% from €820 million in the same period last year. The result fell short of the consensus analyst forecast of €579 million by 7.1% and was 15.8% below Morgan Stanley’s estimate of €639 million.

Morgan Stanley said the earnings shortfall was largely driven by weaker revenue rather than costs. Non-fuel costs per passenger came in 1.5% below consensus estimates and matched the broker’s expectations, while fuel costs were broadly in line with market forecasts but around 6% higher than Morgan Stanley had anticipated.

Quarterly revenue increased 1.1% year-on-year to €4.43 billion. Although this represented modest growth, it was still below the consensus estimate of €4.48 billion by 1.1%. Revenue, however, came in slightly ahead of Morgan Stanley’s forecast of €4.38 billion.

According to Morgan Stanley, the main weakness came from scheduled revenue per passenger, which was around 3% below consensus after average fares declined 6% year-on-year. That fall was steeper than the mid-single-digit decline Ryanair had previously guided.

Despite the weaker quarter, Ryanair maintained its full-year traffic forecast, expecting passenger numbers to rise 4% to 216 million, broadly in line with both consensus and Morgan Stanley forecasts. However, the airline no longer expects unit cost inflation to increase by a mid-single-digit percentage, instead stating that the outcome will depend on movements in unhedged fuel prices. Analysts had previously been forecasting unit cost growth of around 1% to 2%.

“Principal cause of this was the price of our 20% unhedged fuel doubled in the quarter and fares fell 6%, primarily, we think, due to the impact of the Middle East conflict and the first part of Easter falling into our prior year Q4,” group chief executive Michael O’Leary said on the earnings call.

Average fares fell 6%, exceeding both the company’s previous guidance and analysts’ expectations. Ryanair attributed the weakness to softer booking trends linked to geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, which encouraged customers to delay making travel reservations until closer to departure.

The airline’s load factor remained unchanged at 94%. O’Leary also provided an update on Boeing’s MAX-10 programme, stating that certification is expected “sometime in September or October of this year,” while adding that Boeing remains on schedule to deliver the first 15 aircraft during spring 2027.

Group chief financial officer Neil Sorahan highlighted the widening cost advantage Ryanair continues to hold over competitors, saying, “If we look at our two nearest competitors, before COVID, Wizz were 26% behind Ryanair. Now that’s over 81%, we would expect that to continue to grow over the next number of quarters and years.”

Sorahan added that the unit cost gap with easyJet has also widened significantly, increasing from around 70% before the pandemic to approximately 150%. On fuel hedging, O’Leary said Ryanair has hedged 15% of its fiscal 2028 fuel requirements at $85 per barrel, while 90% of fiscal 2027 operating expenses are hedged at $1.15 to the euro and 30% of first-half fiscal 2028 operating expenses are hedged at $1.20.

The company also confirmed that 60% of its order for 150 Boeing MAX-10 aircraft has been hedged against euro-dollar exchange rate movements at just above 1.23.

Ryanair chose not to provide full-year net income guidance and did not reaffirm its previous outlook for unit cost inflation, citing uncertainty over second-half trading conditions, volatile jet fuel prices, approximately €300 million of additional European Union environmental taxes, rising maintenance expenses and higher employee pay costs.

Looking ahead, the airline expects second-quarter fares to be modestly lower than a year ago, rather than broadly flat as previously indicated. O’Leary described the anticipated decline as “something low to mid single digits” and said first-half performance would depend heavily on late bookings throughout August and September, despite healthy demand for summer 2026 travel.

Following the results, Morgan Stanley said it expects market consensus for full-year net income to fall from approximately €2.1 billion to around €1.9 billion. Nevertheless, the broker maintained its “overweight” recommendation on Ryanair with a €27.60 price target, citing strong summer demand and reduced reliance on fare discounting despite expectations for slightly weaker second-quarter pricing.

Craneware (LSE:CRW) has confirmed that it recently identified and contained a cyber security incident involving unauthorised access to part of its data environment. Following the discovery, the company activated its incident response procedures and appointed external cyber security and forensic specialists to work alongside its internal IT team. Craneware said the incident has been contained and that customer services and day-to-day operations have continued without disruption. Relevant regulators and law enforcement agencies in both the UK and the United States have also been informed.

Initial investigations indicate that a significant number of file names were accessed and copied. The company said the information primarily consisted of non-sensitive or publicly available regulatory data, although some employee, customer and business partner records were also affected. Craneware is continuing its forensic investigation to determine the full scope of the incident, identify any individuals or organisations impacted and complete any notifications required under applicable data protection regulations. The company has committed to providing further updates as the investigation progresses.

Craneware continues to benefit from strong underlying financial fundamentals, including high gross margins and relatively low leverage. However, its share price remains below key technical levels, while valuation is supported by a moderate price-to-earnings ratio of around 22.6 and a dividend yield of approximately 2.43%.

More about Craneware

Craneware plc is a UK-based healthcare technology company that provides financial and operational software solutions for hospitals and healthcare organisations. Its cloud-based Trisus platform combines revenue management, financial intelligence and advanced analytics to help healthcare providers improve operational performance and maximise financial sustainability.

As a Microsoft partner, Craneware delivers integrated technology solutions designed to simplify complex healthcare finance processes and support data-driven decision-making across the healthcare sector.

GCP Infrastructure Investments Limited (LSE:GCP) has completed the sale of its operational onshore wind assets at Winscales Moor and Burton Wold, which together have a generating capacity of approximately 26.5MW. The transaction was completed at around a 13% premium to the projects’ net asset value as of March 2026, highlighting continued investor demand for high-quality renewable infrastructure assets.

The disposal generated immediate cash proceeds of approximately £10.3 million, with an additional £0.8 million in tax-related receipts expected in the near term and a further £0.6 million payable through deferred consideration linked to agreed milestones. The sale reduces GCP Infrastructure Investments’ exposure to equity-style onshore wind investments in line with its capital allocation strategy. The proceeds, together with any surplus cash, will be used to support the company’s ongoing share buyback programme. Separately, the disposal of a supported social housing investment continues to progress and is expected to facilitate the repayment of around £47 million of loans, leaving the company’s revolving credit facility fully undrawn.

GCP Infrastructure Investments continues to benefit from a conservative balance sheet, improving cash generation and supportive technical indicators. These strengths are balanced against softer revenue trends and a relatively demanding valuation, although the company’s attractive dividend yield, stable income strategy and continued share buybacks provide additional support for shareholders.

More about GCP Infrastructure Investments

GCP Infrastructure Investments Limited is a FTSE 250-listed closed-ended investment company focused on providing investors with regular long-term income while preserving capital. The company primarily invests in UK infrastructure debt and related assets that generate stable, availability-based revenues, often supported by public sector counterparties.

Managed by Gravis Capital Management Limited, GCP Infrastructure Investments also seeks to provide partial protection against inflation where possible through the structure of its investments. The company has been awarded the London Stock Exchange’s Green Economy Mark in recognition of its investment in infrastructure projects that contribute to positive environmental outcomes.