Investors seem to be warming to the idea of an eleventh-hour Brexit deal if the performance of domestically focused stocks and a strong pound prove to be a good guide to future events. Shares in Housebuilders Vistry (VTY) and Redrow (RDW) and Crest Nicholson (CRST) gained 4.5%, 3.5% and 5% respectively while home improvements company Travis Perkins (TPK) was also perky on Wednesday, gaining ...

Shares in house and appartment builder Crest Nicholson (CRST) leapt 19% to 259p after the firm revealed that trading for the year to October had been better than expected and raised its earnings guidance. The company, whose developments and land portfolio are concentrated in southern England and the commuter belt to major towns and cities, especially London, has benefitted from changing ...

London’s FTSE 100 extended yesterday’s gains on Tuesday morning, continuing to recover from last week’s sell-off. Investors braced themselves for the contentious US Presidential Election in which Democrat Joe Biden remains the betting favourite to win. Anticipation is high that he will have a more favourable trade policy with China and the EU, while the market is also counting on more ...

The decision by chancellor Rishi Sunak to temporarily waive stamp duty on the purchase of homes up to the value of £500,000 in England and Northern Ireland until the end of March 2021 has reignited the housing market after months of hibernation caused by the coronavirus. Since the announcement on 8 July, shares in the housebuilders have mostly beaten the FTSE All-Share index with gains of ...

Housebuilders Persimmon (PSN) and Crest Nicholson (CRST) traded lower on their latest updates on Wednesday. FTSE 100 constituent Persimmon fell 1.5% to £23.27 as it announced the appointment of Dean Finch as its new chief executive. Finch had been CEO of National Express (NEX) since 2010. He would take up the top job at Persimmon at the end of the year, replacing David Jenkinson, whose ...

The housing market is emerging from hibernation but as investors in directly related sectors like housebuilders and estate agents count the cost of lockdown they have seen a significant divergence in share price performance. There are a number of factors behind these disparities. A look at the table of year-to-date performance suggests that financial strength has been a clear dividing line but ...

Housebuilding stocks traded higher as restrictions on the property market were lifted. Coinciding with the shift in guidance, allowing estate agents to open and home viewings to take place, Taylor Wimpey (TW.), up 1.5% to 148p, has announced plans to open up show homes and site offices from 22 May as it progresses beyond a phased return to sites which began at the beginning of May. Elsewhere ...

London’s FTSE 100 traded down 55.4 points or 0.92% to 5,939.35 early on Wednesday as investors continued to fret about a potential second wave of COVID-19 infections as lockdowns ease and data showed the British economy slumped in March. UK gross domestic product shrank 5.8% in March, although that was better than market expectations of a 7.9% contraction. In corporate news, Ferguson ...

Having already committed to £330bn of funding, equivalent to 2.3% of GDP, to help businesses get through the current coronavirus lockdown, the UK Treasury may be making contingency plans to inject vital funds in companies most threatened by the crisis, according to The Telegraph. The focus would be on ailing but strategically significant sectors of the economy such as airlines with grounded ...

The ESG (environmental, social and governance) theme is heavily in demand with investors looking for ways to profit from companies trying to make the world a better place. Unfortunately finding suitable investments isn’t as straightforward as you might think. Firstly, a lot of companies say they are embracing ESG principles but they might only be doing the bare minimum such as recycling their ...

Shares in Crest Nicholson (CRST) advanced 3.4% to 455p as it announced its full year results and outlined its recovery plans. The housebuilder reported a fall in profit as it sold fewer homes at lower prices amid a shift in focus to more affordable housing. For the year to 31 October, pre-tax fell to £102.7m from £168.7m year-on-year as sales slipped to £1.09bn from £1.12bn amid a ...

London’s FTSE 100 recovered some of the heavy ground lost yesterday, rising a modest 11.3 points to 7,423.3 early on Tuesday, although markets are likely to be in a holding pattern until there is greater clarity on how and when the coronavirus can be contained. Recently in the doldrums following a savage profit warning last summer, IRN-BRU-to-Rubicon maker A.G. Barr (BAG) fizzed 14.7% higher ...

According to the latest AJ Bell Dividend Dashboard report, the FTSE 100 is yielding 4.8%. However, the same research shows FTSE dividends are, on average, covered just 1.63 times by earnings which suggest investors need to investigate the sustainability of these payouts. For example, the housebuilding sector offers some of the largest yields on the FTSE 100 but cracks are starting to ...

Oil giant Royal Dutch Shell (RDSB) tops the FTSE 100 biggest losers list on Thursday after reporting a year-on-year fall in earnings for the third quarter. The energy group posted $4.8bn for the three months to 30 September, or roughly £3.7bn, versus a 17% decline in oil prices year-on-year. Royal Dutch Shell shares fell more than 3% in early trade to £22.50. The oil and gas giant said the ...

The number of deals involving stocks being bought by third party investors from the troubled Woodford Equity Income Fund (BLRZQ73) is picking up pace. Dealing in the fund is currently suspended while fund manager Neil Woodford restructures the portfolio, selling the most illiquid holdings and reducing exposure to many other stocks in an effort to raise cash to meet redemptions and be able to ...

Faded British design champion Ted Baker (TED) continues to suffer, falling more than 25% as it warned profit for the year to January 2020 would fall significantly short of forecasts (11 Jun). The company, reeling from the recent departure of founder Ray Kelvin amid a storm of controversy, guided for underlying profit of between £50m and £60m. Broker Liberum Capital reduced its own forecast ...

UK stocks opened higher on Tuesday, led by a rally in mining stocks spurred by China stimulus hopes. The FTSE 100 index is trading up 34 points to 7,410. Shares in over 50's services group Saga (SAGA) lead the FTSE350, shooting up 6.6% to 44p following news that it has joined forces with Goldman Sachs’ unit Marcus, to offer long-term savings products. Saga and Marcus will launch new ...

UK markets have started the day higher with the benchmark FTSE 100 up 0.5% to 7,350.4, bouncing back after yesterday’s blockbuster announcement from Google that it is barring Chinese smartphone marker Huawei from updates to its Android operating system. On Tuesday UK investors seem more willing to put ongoing Brexit uncertainty to one side as they concentrate on corporate news, led by a ...

Real estate investment trust Residential Secure Income (RESI) is acquiring 132 new build apartments in London’s Clapham Park, significantly boosting its exposure to shared ownership homes. This type of asset, where a first-time buyer acquires a portion of a property below market value and rents the rest, can be attractive because it provides two separate sources of return. This includes ...

Investors liked plans by Apple to offer various new services including new TV, gaming and credit card platforms, sending its shares up 1.4% to $191.4. This move suggests it is trying new ways of growing earnings without being so reliant on sales of iPhones and its other consumer electronics products, which are slowing. While the company may be nearing saturation point with sales of tablets and ...