UK stocks opened lower on Friday with the FTSE 100 off 36.1 points to 7,400.6 early on after the coronavirus continued to spread outside China, particularly in South Korea, where more than 200 cases have been confirmed. European equities opened weaker as they took their cue from a soft session in Asia, while increasingly nervous investors chased the gold price to north of $1630. In corporate ...

Industrial engineering software firm AVEVA (AVV) has warned investors that there could be a knock-on effect of the coronavirus this year. ‘The ongoing disruption in China, caused by the coronavirus, due to travel restrictions and office closures, is having some impact on sales in that country’, the UK’s second largest technology company by market value said today. Investors appear to ...

Shares held by directors at some of the biggest companies in the FTSE 100 changed hands over the past week in a number of noteworthy transactions. However the biggest deal came from AIM-listed law firm Gateley (GTLY:AIM), with directors and employees cashing in £11m worth of shares, representing 4.1% of the company’s issued share capital, in a placing to meet demand from institutional ...

Shares in leading recruitment firm Hays (HAS) were flat at 163p in spite of a first half which saw it face negative events in a number of its key markets. Net fee income for the six months to the end of December were down 3% to £553m while operating profits were down 19% to £100.1m due to increased strategic investments. Despite these headwinds, cash generation remained strong. Hays has ...

Price comparison site Moneysupermarket (MONY) is in full blown recovery mode on an encouraging set of full year results, rising 10.8% to 343.3p. The shares had come under pressure of late on concerns over stalling growth. Revenue was up 9% in 2019 as the company continues to make progress on its ‘Reinvent strategy’. Launched in February 2018, the plan is to create a more personalised ...

Knee and hip replacement medical device company Smith & Nephew (SN.) pleased investors after reporting better than expected 4.4% underlying growth in revenue to $5.1bn, pushing the shares up 8% to £19.90. Chief executive Roland Diggelmann commented, ‘the improved underlying revenue growth of 4.4% in 2019, the best for several years, has propelled Group sales above $5 billion for the ...

‘Storm Dennis’ caused consumer footfall to drop by 9% last weekend, proving a menace to the nation’s already hard-pressed shopkeepers. And with parts of the UK still flooded four days after the storm, weaker footfall to retail and leisure destinations ‘may well have continued into much of this week’, warned Shore Capital in a note to clients this morning. According to the broker’s ...

The FTSE 100 edged up 0.1% at 7,465 points while the mid-cap FTSE 250 was up 0.3% at 21,916 points, bucking the trend in Asian and Europe where share prices slipped on renewed coronavirus worries in Japan and South Korea. Brent oil prices were 0.3% lower at $58.6 and the pound was weaker by 0.3% at 1.288 to the dollar. Topping the FTSE leader board was knee to hip replacement medical device ...

Shares in beleaguered fashion-to-furnishings firm Laura Ashley (ALY) rallied 33.3% to 2.2p this afternoon after the cash-strapped curtains, furniture and fashion purveyor was thrown a funding lifeline by US lender Wells Fargo. While the ailing retailer has received a stay of execution, Nick Burchett, who holds the shares through the TM Cavendish Opportunities Fund (B9F9Z98), thinks Laura Ashley ...

Shares in global consulting firm RPS (RPS) slid more than 15% to 145p after it revealed a significant drop in 2019 profits and said at best it expected a ‘stable’ result from its various divisions this year. The firm was impacted last year by a drop in revenues and earnings in its Australia Asia Pacific business and its UK and Netherlands Service business. In addition it suffered the ...