Shares News

On the anniversary of the Brexit vote the FTSE 100 is down by over 30 points to 7408.85 as bluechip companies feel the pain of sterling’s gains against both the euro and the dollar. Some of the large pharma and mining stocks are particularly exposed to a stronger pound as they derive a large proportion of their revenue from overseas. Mining giant Rio Tinto (RIO) has completed its programme of ...

Shares in alcoholic drinks behemoth Diageo (DGE) have dipped 1.6% to £23.36 after it agreed to acquire US super-premium tequila brand Casamigos, which was founded partially by superstar George Clooney. Diageo believes that Casamigos provides an opportunity to expand its tequila range and its global brand – at a steep price of up to $1bn. The deal involves an upfront payment of US$700m, with ...

Shares in defence company Chemring (CHG) rose more than 4% to 194.25p thanks to a strong first half showing from its Energetics division. That’s ammunition and explosives to investors not in the know, its biggest unit. In a world unfortunately shaped by political unrest and division, manufacturing 40mm grenades is apparently a service in demand. This is demonstrated by £44.3m of revenue ...

Concerns are growing that oil prices will hit the lows seen in early 2016 when the commodity fell below $30 per barrel. Part of the problem is that stockpiles of crude continue to grow despite the efforts of producers’ cartel OPEC to reel in output and rising concerns about global economic growth. The European benchmark Brent crude is south of $45 per barrel for the first time in 2017 as ...

Independent video games creator Frontier Developments (FDEV:AIM) is an eye-catching mover on Thursday. The share price surged 7.4% higher to 450p in early trading on news of a significant step-up in performance last year. Armed with an increasingly plump cash pile which supports marketing and development spend, the £143m cap also teases investors over a third game franchise waiting in the ...

UK graphics chip designer Imagination Technologies (IMG) has officially put itself up for sale just days after a major shareholder sold part of its stake. The company, which has lost about 70% of its value following a dispute with its biggest customer Apple, saw Chinese fund Tsinghua Unigroup sell down its stake in the business to below 3% on 19 June. Investors are hoping for the best, bidding the ...

Door step lender Provident Financial (PFG) sees its share price shed 16.2% down to £24.01 as the company issues a profit warning. Can the 135 year old FTSE 100 company recover from this? Back in February Provident announced that it would axe 4500 of its self-employed debt collectors and create 2500 ‘customer experience managers’ instead. The transition has not gone well, with chief ...

Today’s Queen’s Speech setting out the legislative agenda for Theresa May’s minority government was a slimmed down affair and the market reaction also seems modest. Sterling is strengthening slightly after a pledge to ‘build the widest possible consensus on the country’s future outside the European Union’. The tone suggesting a ‘softer’ approach to Brexit. Eight of the 27 bills ...

Premier Inn owner Whitbread (WTB) has more than doubled like-for-like sales at the hotel chain in the 13 weeks to 1 June 2017. Sales rose an impressive 4.7%, up from 2.1% over the same period last year, helping to push Whitbread’s shares 3.7% higher to £39.98. Unfortunately, the group’s high street coffee chain Costa Coffee is finding life a bit hard. Its sales growth has more than ...

With the blue chip benchmark opening lower ahead of the Queen's Speech, FTSE 100 constituent Whitbread (WTB) is marked up 5.1% to £40.48 on news of a good start to the year with sales growth of 7.6%. An encouraging first quarter trading update highlights positive, albeit slowing, like-for-like sales at Costa Coffee and robust growth at hotel chain Premier Inn. London and South East-focused ...