Enterprise value (EV) is often underappreciated by investors who tend to focus on the market value of a company. It is arguably a better way to value a business than market capitalisation (also known as market cap) because it takes account of debts, preferred shares, minority interest and cash. Put simply, it is the value of the whole business, not just the portion financed by shareholders. In ...

London’s FTSE 100 made some decent gains by lunchtime on Monday after a volatile morning as rising commodity prices and a $101 billion injection into China’s financial system eventually lifted the index. However, weighing on UK stocks were further falls in travel companies, as investors continued to digest new quarantine restrictions placed on European travelers. The UK’s benchmark ...

Shares in infrastructure firm Costain (COST) slipped 5% to 54.5p after it reported a ‘resilient’ first half but cautioned it was still waiting for a court decision on one contract and had put aside tens of millions of pounds for the termination of another contract, which would impact its earnings. The firm said it had performed steadily through the pandemic and made ‘strong progress with ...

London’s FTSE 100 crept higher on Monday, up 0.18% to 6,100.85 early on, as rises in the oil and mining sectors were offset by further falls in travel companies and the $101 billion injection into China’s financial system announced overnight failed to really move the market. Among the mining titans, Rio Tinto (RIO) ticked up 1.5% to £47.76, BHP (BHP) also caught a bid, adding 1.5% to trade ...

UK stocks opened higher on Friday after retail sales rebounded in May, helping to offset concerns about a second wave of Covid-19 infections. In early trading the FTSE 100 was up 0.4%, at 6,246.89 following on from a mixed session in the US overnight. The top riser on the index was housebuilder Taylor Wimpey (TW.) following the completion of its £522 million placing to finance ...

The decision by FTSE 100 companies Compass (CPG) and Whitbread (WTB) to let the general public take part in their gigantic fundraisings is significant for retail investors. Hundreds of companies this year have issued new shares at a discount to the market price in order to boost their balance sheets during the crisis. The majority of these fundraisings have been restricted to institutional ...

London’s FTSE 100 rallied 84 points to 6,044.21 on Wednesday as the Bank of England cut interest rates by 0.5%, returning the cost of borrowing to a record low of 0.25% with the coronavirus continuing to rock confidence. Investors will be looking for further stimulus when new chancellor Rishi Sunak delivers the first annual budget of the Boris Johnson era later today. In corporate ...

There was good and bad news for infrastructure investors over the past week, depending on where in the sector they invested. On the plus side, an infrastructure boom could be about to hit the UK after the government gave the green light to build the £106bn High Speed 2 (HS2) rail project, spelling good news for stocks in the space. But for those investing in renewable energy, another area ...

The FTSE 100 opened somewhat higher this morning as the UK public goes to the polls, with markets tentatively optimistic of a Conservative victory. However, trading volumes were said to be low, and shortly after trading started, the UK’s benchmark index was up 0.25%, or 17.56 points, to 7,233.81. POUND AND POWER PRICE HITS JOHN LAING A big mover this morning was infrastructure investor ...

UK stocks eased back after last week’s strong finish, with the FTSE 100 index giving up 21 points or 0.3% to 7,303. Banks, Household Goods, Mobile Telecoms and Tobacco were the sectors weighing the most on the index. Global banking giant HSBC (HSBA) delivered a disappointing third quarter earnings update, with profits down 24% to $3bn, and abandoned its Return on Tangible Equity target of ...

A disappointing trading update from building materials firm SIG (SHI) on 5 July was the latest bit of bad news from the UK construction sector. It follows a series of negative data points and gloomy commentary from construction companies. In this article we look at some of the larger businesses in the construction and building materials space and consider how diversified they are ...

UK stocks are generally weaker this morning after US stocks drifted lower overnight ahead of the G20 meeting in Japan this week. The FTSE 100 large-cap index gives up 0.4% to 7,390 due to weakness in banks, food retailers, industrial transportation and oil services companies. The FTSE 250 mid-cap index gives up 0.3% to 19,230 meanwhile. The big corporate news is in France where software and ...

Infrastructure group Costain (COST) has never been busier with record workloads pencilled in. In its end of year trading update the group says it finished 2018 with an order book worth £4.2bn, its largest ever, and up on the £3.9bn equivalent of a year ago. Costain provides construction and building services to many large customers, including Network Rail and Highways England for whom it ...

High street fashion chain Next (NXT) gets the eagerly awaited Christmas reporting season underway as it reports festive sales as expected but still lowers full year guidance. The UK retail sector has been under a cloud for weeks with investors anticipating a gloomy run-in to Christmas as consumers flex their muscles over discounts and on line bargains. Yet Next has survived the worst of the ...

UK stocks open higher with the FTSE 100 adding 0.9% to 7,104, shrugging off a soft tone in US stocks yesterday on the mid-term elections. With the Democrats taking control of the House of Representatives, President Trump and the Republican party will find it more difficult to pass legislation and fulfill some of their policy promises. Shares in high-street stalwart Marks & Spencer ...

Chancellor Philip Hammond’s last Budget before Brexit is being sold in some quarters as the biggest giveaway from the Treasury since 2010. The financial market response to Hammond’s apparent spending splurge was modest, perhaps reflecting a view this could all be subject to change in the event of a no-deal Brexit. Arguably the door was left open for this potential situation by the ...

UK construction output contracted for the first time in six months as ‘The Beast from the East’ hit business activity and civil engineering work. IHS Markit’s Purchasing Managers’ Index dropped sharply from 51.4 in February to 47 in March. A reading of over 50 suggests growth while one under 50 implies contraction. Unusually bad weather in the form of ‘The Beast from the ...

Support services company Carillion (CLLN) is being put into compulsory liquidation. What does this mean for the many companies Carillion had contracts with and is there an opportunity for rivals to pick up business? Broker Numis says that while the event is clearly bad news for the whole industry in the short term many suppliers have been able to mitigate this to some degree by adopting low ...

The FTSE 100 opens in positive territory, up 9.45 points to 7,679.22. The UK’s leading index has been buoyed by statements from the US Federal Reserve and better than expected Chinese service sector data. Embattled department store operator Debenhams (DEB) crashes 23.9% to 27.08p after revealing its like-for-like sales fell in the 17 weeks to 30 December. In its Christmas trading update, the ...

Advertising giant WPP (WPP) says the first seven months of its new financial year have been very tough thanks to slowing GDP growth around the world. Second quarter net sales growth was less than the first quarter with forecast client spending in quarter two ‘under considerable pressure’, it says. Unsurprisingly the market has taken a negative view of the results, sending its share price down ...