New Woodford Income Focus managers Aberdeen Standard Investments (ASI) have given a glimpse of what the revamped portfolio will look like, with only two of the top 10 holdings left over from the Woodford days. Renamed the ASI Income Focus, the new fund will reopen tomorrow under the management of ASI fund managers Charles Luke and Thomas Moore. Investors are able to place trades from midday ...

Aerospace and defence firm Babcock (BAB) fell 3.8% to 535p after downgrading its profit guidance and warning of an £85m write-off associated with its oil and gas business. Underlying operating profit for the year through March is now expected to come in at £540m, down from previous guidance of between £540m and £560m. The company said however that expectations for underlying earnings per ...

A surprisingly quiet news day on the corporate front on Wednesday sees UK markets firm as investors eye hopes that the coronavirus in China may have peaked. That mild optimism saw Asian markets regain some of their recent lost ground overnight with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rallying a full 1%. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 and China's Shanghai Composite made 0.6% moves higher ...

Defence contractor Babcock (BAB) could be on the verge of a real recovery having come through a cycle of earnings downgrades. The company’s combined order book and pipeline has reached its highest ever level and the group is also moving into new markets like Canada and Norway. We believe you should buy the shares. Despite a rally on the latest set of results, the price-to-earnings ...

UK shares continued to slide following yesterday afternoon’s sudden market reversal, with the FTSE 100 index dropping 0.7% to 7,275 despite several upbeat corporate reports. The selling appeared to be broad-based with just the beverages, healthcare, pharmaceutical and utility indices posting gains. EARNINGS GO UNREWARDED Aerospace and defence contractor Babcock (BAB) delivered first ...

UK stocks opened weaker, dragged down by weakness in oil shares and US president Trump’s outburst at the United Nations General Assembly at China’s trade practices, saying he would not accept a bad deal. The FTSE 100 index was down 40 points or 0.6% at 7,254 while the FTSE 250 index was trading off 91 points at 19,813 points. Food retailer J Sainsbury (SBRY) reported good momentum in ...

A consortium led by aerospace and defence firm Babcock International (BAB) has been chosen by the Government as the preferred bidder for the £1.25bn contract to build the UK’s new fleet of navy war ships. The Type 31 general-purpose frigate programme would provide the UK with a fleet of five ships, at an average production cost of £250m per ship, the company said. The news saw investors ...

UK shares started higher on Thursday as sentiment continued to rise following more constructive tariff talks between the US and China. At 9.30am the FTSE 100 was 25 points, or 0.34%, to the good at 7,362, while the FTSE 250 was 55 points higher at 20,037. Miners were firm across the board after the US agreed to delay tariffs on $250bn of Chinese imports. Banking shares gave back some their ...

Shares in aerospace and defence firm Babcock International (BAB) gain 4% to 483p after the company confirmed weekend press reports that it has been approached by outsourcing group Serco (SRP). According to today’s press release, Babcock received an ‘unsolicited and highly preliminary proposal’ from Serco in late January regarding a potential all-share combination between the two ...

UK investors begin the week with takeover talk to digest after defence contractor Babcock (BAB) admits it turned down approaches of a tie-up from outsourcing peer Serco (SRP). There is also a strategy overhaul reported by troubled construction firm Kier (KIE) and a profit warning from German airline Lufthansa to mull, the latter hurting UK listed airlines that have been struggling with rising ...

Defence contractor Babcock International (BAB) just can’t seem to catch a break. Despite reporting full year results which were in line with its most recent latest guidance the share price has tanked today, falling more than 10% to 450p, close to a 10-year low. That fact underlying revenues for the year to 31 March 2019 fell 3.8% to £6.16bn and operating profits, also on an underlying ...

UK investors are on the front foot in early trade on Wednesday as they eye the promise of progress on a softer Brexit deal and are buoyed by firm markets in New York and Asia overnight. The benchmark FTSE 100 opens roughly 34 points higher at 7,362.92, closing on May highs of 7,385, and batting off a series of corporate announcement disappoints. They include Marks & Spencer ...

UK stocks fall in line with continental Europe and US index futures as worries over the strength of the US economy begin to weigh on sentiment. In early trade the FTSE 100 index gives up almost 2% to 6,792.10, a new two-year low, while the FTSE 250 gives up 1.5% to a low for the year of 17,995 points. Tomorrow sees the release of three closely-watched indicators of the health of the US economy ...

All eyes are on Royal Mail (RMG) ahead of the FTSE 100 re-shuffle next Tuesday. With the shares trading down another 2% to 317p on Friday, its current market capitalisation of just over £3.2bn. That puts it in 119th spot in terms of valuation on the UK stock market, well below the 110th place cut-off, meaning it will automatically be ejected from the blue-chip index. This sums up a ...

Shares in Indivior (INDV) have more than halved in value since 20 November and are now trading at an all-time low of 96.52p thanks to a court injunction being lifted on rival Dr Reddy’s Laboratories. The latter is trying to launch a generic version of Indivior’s opioid treatment, Suboxone. Jefferies analyst James Vane-Tempest warns ‘seismic changes’ are needed to salvage ...

It is important to take a balanced view when doing your research either for new investment ideas or to justify keeping current holdings in your portfolio. You should consider the positive investment case and also the challenges and headwinds facing a business, as well as any flaws in its decision making, structure or corporate culture, for example. Many investors find it easier to work out ...

Shares in defence and nuclear contractor Babcock (BAB) sunk to a seven-year low after half year results failed to calm shredded investor nerves over key issues. Earlier this month the company responded to press reports that it was set to report £100m of provisions by saying that the net cash costs of restructuring would not be material. Today it revealed £120m of provisions, £80m of ...

UK blue-chip stocks make early gains in early trade on Wednesday with the FTSE 100 up 0.7%, or roughly 48 points, to 6,996 despite heavy losses in US and Asian markets overnight. Across the pond the US S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 indices both posted heavy declines, falling by about 1.8% a piece as leading global technology stocks, including Apple, Amazon and Facebook, continue to come under ...

Defence contractor and engineering group Babcock International (BAB) has today published a response to a bear raid note put out last month. Babcock pulled on punches, saying it ‘strongly refutes’ what it calls ‘many false and malicious statements’ contained in the report issued by little-known trading firm Boatman Capital. Bear raid attacks such as this are designed to drive the ...

Cigarettes giant British American Tobacco (BATS) heads the FTSE 100 lower board on Monday following newspaper reports that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) wants to ban menthol cigarettes. The story emerged from the Wall Street Journal over the weekend and it has got investors in BAT worried, with shares in the group slumping 9% in early trade to £31.07. BAT owns Newport, which is the ...