Shares News

Publishing group Reach (RCH) isn't out of the woods by a long way but it has struck a note of confidence today by announcing that full year trading will be above expectations, lifting the shares by 6.7% to 60.8p. It appears the acquisition of Express and Star is driving sales, which rose 23% in the last three months of 2018. When the acquisition is stripped out, like-for-like sales are ...

You have got to take good news in the UK construction sector where you can get it and in that sense Balfour Beatty’s (BBY) guidance for full year profit to top expectations is extremely welcome. Granted, the beat is largely the result of the sale of an infrastructure investment. The company has been making divestments from its portfolio of school and hospital facilities, street ...

Specialist recruiter SThree (STHR) stands out from the crowd today as shares gain 5% to 273p on a positive fourth quarter trading update and news that full year earnings will be above the top end of forecasts. The company, which focuses on the disciplines of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), had a ‘strong finish to the year’ with gross profits up 12% for the quarter ...

The FTSE 100 starts lower this morning after weak Chinese data overnight and as Theresa May shows little sign of making any progress with the EU as she looks to save her Brexit deal. Early on the index is down 1% at 6,811.16. On the corporate front, we are clearly winding down for Christmas now with only a handful of announcements out. Three pretty disparate companies help warm up a cold ...

Shares in security services firm G4S (GFS) have rallied 9% to 200p after saying it could separate its cash solutions division from the rest of the business. Chief executive Ashley Almanza describes the decision to look at options for the unit as a way to ‘enhance (G4S’s) focus for the benefit of customers, shareholders and employees’. The firm expects to update the market on its ...

Travel agent TUI (TUI) reports a very robust set of full year numbers given a difficult backdrop, helping the shares rise 5.4% to £12.00 – making it the best performer on the FTSE 100. The company reports turnover up 5% to €19.5bn and core earnings up 10.9% at constant currency to €1.15bn in the year to 30 September. TUI also reiterates guidance for underling earnings to increase at a ...

The FTSE 100 is trading on a 4.9% yield, based on 2019 dividend forecasts, and total payouts are forecast to hit a new all-time high of £93.7bn next year, according to analysis by AJ Bell. Ten companies in the FTSE 100 are expected to pay out around half of the index’s total dividends including Royal Dutch Shell (RDSB), HSBC (HSBA), BP (BP.) and British American Tobacco (BATS). Some ...

Embattled women’s value retailer Bonmarche (BON) is taking an absolute battering on Thursday, the shares collapsing 36% to 51.5p on a savage profit warning, the week’s latest bit of high street horror news flow following yesterday’s disappointing updates from Superdry (SDRY) and Dixons Carphone (DC.). Having held annual profit guidance only last month, Bonmarche now bemoans ...

THIS IS AN ADVERTISING PROMOTION With so much uncertainty shrouding 2019 already, now might be a good time to diversify your portfolio and seek alternative returns away from mainstream markets, say James de Bunsen and Peter Webster, Co-Fund Managers of Henderson Alternative Strategies Trust. It’s been a fantastic decade for equity markets, but now there is a growing consensus among money ...

UK stocks have responded positively to Prime Minister Theresa May’s success in fending off a leadership challenge with the FTSE 100 index climbing 0.3% to 6,902 points. Supporting the index are banks, life insurers, miners and utilities while oil producers, oil services and industrial metals lag. Topping the FTSE is travel operator TUI (TUI) whose shares jump 5% to £11.90 as the company ...