Shares News

Shares in travel company FirstGroup (FGP) plunged by almost a fifth after a big hit to the value of its North American bus business Greyhound led the firm to report a major loss. A household name in the US and Canada, Greyhound has struggled in recent times amid competition for its longer-distance routes from low-cost airlines. In its half-year results for the six months to 30 ...

One of Britain’s most famous luxury brands, Burberry (BRBY), bounced 4.7% higher to £21.56 on Thursday to top the FTSE 100 leader board. The jump in the share price comes as the company delivered forecast-beating first half results showing that it has managed to largely shrug-off the political disruption in Hong Kong. Chief executive Marco Gobbetti’s strategy of enhancing margins by ...

Several company bosses appear to have given themselves hefty paydays over the last week as a number of chief executives and chairmen cashed in shares. By far the biggest beneficiary has been Softcat (SCT) chairman Martin Hellawell, who sold off 1.17m shares – 1m at £10.46 per share and 170,000 at £10.96 apiece –banking £12.3m in the process. Hellawell, who used to be chief executive ...

Luxury brand Burberry (BRBY) shot to the top of the FTSE 100 leader board on Thursday after reporting a rise in half year profit as new collections boosted sales. Shares in the company rallied close to 7% in early trading to £22.02 as the £9bn business delivered an 11% hike in pre-tax profit to £193m for the 26 weeks ended 28 September, although the UK fashion brand said it expected a ...

Shares in budget airline Wizz Air (WIZZ) have dropped 2% to £38 despite the carrier reporting a 91% increase in half-year profit. Pre-tax profit for the six months through September rose to €387.9m from €202.8m in the same period the previous year. Increases in fuel and staff costs (up 24.8% and 20% respectively) were more than offset by an 11.4% rise in passenger ticket revenue and a ...

UK tool and equipment rental firm Speedy Hire (SDY) saw growth across all of its key business metrics in the first half and raised its interim dividend by 17%, lifting its shares by 2% to 55.5p. Underlying revenues were up 5.9% to £204m while pre-tax profits were up 21.5% to £16.4m thanks to higher margins from an increased share of service revenues. Return on capital employed ...

Shares in British luxury brand Mulberry (MUL:AIM) were marked down 6.25% to 262.5p on Wednesday with investors disappointed by wider first half losses. Further investment to develop the brand in Asia and ‘the effect of a challenging UK market’ were blamed, although chief executive Thierry Andretta is confident of trading profitably in the second half, bolstered by Christmas ...

A key item in today’s trading update from housebuilder Taylor Wimpey (TW.) is the revelation that build cost inflation is easing and the company expects the trend to continue into 2020. Rising costs at a time when house prices have been stalling has led to serious question marks over the sustainability of the sector’s current levels of profitability. However, the company falls 1.4% to ...

The FTSE 100 index dropped 36 points to 7,340 today along with international markets after Donald Trump merely re-iterated his rhetoric that a trade deal was imminent with China without providing new information, in a speech at the Economic Club of New York last night. Shares in house builder Taylor Wimpey (TW.) bucked the trend to firm 1% at 171.5p after the company’s trading statement said ...

THIS IS AN ADVERTISING FEATURE By Merrick McKay, Fund Manager, Standard Life Private Equity Trust plc -The private equity sector has drawn considerable interest thanks to robust returns and some high profile companies. -There is ‘dry powder’ in the sector, but there are still reasons to believe the sector can thrive from here. -Standard Life Private Equity Trust (SLPET) primarily ...