British luxury brand Burberry (BRBY) storms to the top of the FTSE 100 leader board in early trade after first quarter sales topped expectations.
Shares in Burberry surged nearly 9% higher to £21.60, adding more than £700m to the firm's previous £8.2bn market valuation, as the company reported a 4% rise in comparable store revenues.
This is follows a swathe of new designs as new creative chief Riccardo Tisci stamps his identity on the company. New product lines accounted for roughly half of all sales, higher than analysts had pencilled in, underlining the progress made in the turnaround plan.
‘We increased the availability of products designed by Riccardo, while continuing to shift consumer perceptions of our brand and align our network to our new creative vision,’ said chief executive Marco Gobbetti.
GLASS HALF FULL FOR INVESTORS
That's a positive message sent out across a relatively upbeat overall market mood on Tuesday. The FTSE 100 has chalked-up a rough 24 point gain in early deals to 7,555.48, helped by gains in healthcare stocks.
The more UK domestically focused FTSE 250 nudges , while moderately lower to 19,553.
Moving in the opposite direction is staffing company Hays (HAS),the shares down 1.2% to 149.7p.
The decline comes after the company reported flat like-for-like net fee growth. The market expectation was for 3% growth for the three months ended 30 June.
Hays’ largest market, Germany, saw 2% like-for-like fee income growth, but the company flagged that there were signs of client cost control and slower decision making, especially in the manufacturing and autos sectors.
ACTIVIST EYES SPORTS DIRECT CHANGE
Mike Ashley’s Sports Direct (SPD) reported after the close yesterday that activist manager Coltrane Asset Management has declared a 3.29% stake in the company, giving the shares a 2.2% boost to 240p.
The company said it would delay the release of its annual results due to ‘complexities’ from integrating the House of Fraser business that it purchased for £90m last year.
Shares in Irun-Bru maker A.G. Barr (BAG) sank 28% to 627p, after it warned that profits would fall by 20%, citing disappointing spring and early summer weather and trading challenges in its Rockstar energy and Rubicon juice drinks.
It also highlighted that there would be some exceptional costs incurred in the current financial year to take action to regain momentum.
On the charge today were shares in Franco Manca pizza chain Fulham Shore (FUL:AIM), up 6.5% to 12.25p, after reporting a strong set of full year numbers to 25 March 2019, with revenue growth of 17% to £64m and profit before tax of £1.4m versus flat last year.
The company has opened four new Franco Manco pizzeria’s and closed one during the year, and since the year end it has opened a further three in Greenwich, Birmingham and Exeter.
