A PCA or person closely associated to Amit Bhatia, non-executive chair of construction materials giant Breedon , bought 1.1 million shares at 383p for a total value of £4,210,250 on 10 May. The purchase was made through Abicad Holding Limited, similar to a purchase at the beginning of April for 1.5 million shares at 385p for a total value of £5,775,000. The FTSE 250 construction firm recentl...

Activist investors usually prepare for a long and hard-fought battle when targeting underperforming companies and management teams. It must therefore be rather pleasing when events conspire to allow a profitable early partial exit. That seems to be the case for Elliott Investment Management after the investor revealed it has roughly halved its position in Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust to...

London stocks were mixed at midday on Monday, ahead of Wednesday's US consumer price reading, though analysts believe potential London floats by Shein and Raspberry Pi could be a game-changer for UK-listed equities. The FTSE 100 index was up 7.05 points, 0.1%, at 8,440.61. The FTSE 250 was down 33.65 points, 0.2%, at 20,611.59, and the AIM All-Share was down 0.45 points, 0.1%, at 789.42. The C...

Shares in The Mission Group were marked up 5.7% to 24p on Monday after the digital media-to-advertising minnow revealed it has rejected a takeover offer from Brave Bison , a rival which snapped up the Steven Bartlett-founded social media advertising practice SocialChain in early 2023. The bid for 'Mission' is the latest in a flurry of takeover offers that have heightened fears over an exodus...

As we have said before, boring can be beautiful, and one company which exemplifies this is specialist distribution group Diploma which today raised its sales and earnings outlook again, sending analysts back to their spreadsheets. The shares opened at £43.40, a gain of 11% on Friday's close, before settling back at £41.88 for a gain of 7.3% putting them firmly at the top of the FTSE 100 lea...

Stocks in London kicked off at a more tepid level on Monday following a week of all-time highs, balanced by success at Diploma and a downturn at BAE Systems, as investors await Wednesday's US inflation data. The FTSE 100 index opened up 9.34 points, 0.1%, at 8,441.86. The FTSE 250 was up 14.63 points, 0.1%, at 20,660.01, and the AIM All-Share was up 4.37 points, 0.1%, at 4,590.66. The Cboe UK...

London's FTSE 100 and its blue-chip peers in Paris and Frankfurt hit record highs on Friday, riding a wave of interest rate optimism, though it was a slightly more cautious start in New York, where stocks traded mixed. The FTSE 100 index closed up 52.41 points, 0.6%, at 8,433.76, after hitting a record high 8,455.77 earlier. The FTSE 250 ended up 114.08 points, 0.6%, at 20,645.38, and the AIM...

UK stocks continue to make new highs buoyed by increasing hopes interest rates will be cut this summer and decreasing worries of economic Armageddon. A dovish tone from Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey at this week's (9 May) interest rate policy meeting and today's (10 May) stronger than expected first quarter GDP reading are creating the UK's own Goldilocks conditions. Add in the e...

London stocks were up at midday on Friday, on the back of an interest rate hold from the Bank of England and a better-than-expected gross domestic product reading from the Office for National Statistics. The FTSE 100 index was up 66.70 points, 0.8%, at 8,448.05, after hitting a record high 8,455.77 earlier. The FTSE 250 was up 163.86 points, 0.8%, at 20,695.16, and the AIM All-Share was up 5.0...

Shares in International Consolidated Airlines were up 1.5p or 0.8% at 184p in morning trading as the British Airways owner said strong travel demand helped lift its results in the three months to 31 March 2024. EARNINGS TOP FORECASTS Total revenue for the three months to 31 March was €6.43 billion compared to €5.89 billion in the same year ago period. Operating profit before excepti...

Investors in property portal Rightmove must be getting used to the market taking a glass-half-empty view of the business, with today's trading update a prime example. Despite positive news on users and advertisers, the shares have been knocked to the bottom of the FTSE 100 performance table with a loss of 32p or 5.5%. WHAT DID THE COMPANY SAY? Ahead of its AGM (annual general meeting), Rightm...

Investors are feeling more chipper as the week comes towards its close after latest economic data left US markets largely happy with the macro outlook. Crashing recession avoided, interest rate cuts coming - it might not be quite the Goldilocks outcome hoped for but good enough. Thursday's S&P 500 move higher left the crucial US index to close above the 5,200 level for the first time in a mont...