UK markets held on to gains throughout Wednesday to end the session higher as investors cling to hopes of a stimulus package being agreed by US lawmakers and that UK and EU negotiators can pull a last-ditch trade agreement out of the fire. The UK’s post-Brexit trade deal transition period ends on 1 January 2021. Meaningful progress on either the stimulus or Brexit fronts could help markets ...

UK markets continued their positive run through midday on Wednesday as investors cling to hopes of a stimulus package being agreed by US lawmakers and that UK and EU negotiators can pull a last-ditch trade agreement out of the fire. The UK’s post-Brexit trade deal transition period ends on 1 January 2021. Meaningful progress on either the stimulus or Brexit fronts could help markets rally ...

Engineering business Goodwin (GDWN) has won a long-term contract to make and supply secure storage units for nuclear waste clean-up. The multi-year deal, with an unnamed client, is the largest purchase agreement ever signed by Goodwin and follows extensive behind the scenes work. That effort has now paid off with the company saying that the contract is expected to result in ‘significant ...

London’s FTSE 100 traded 0.22% lower at 6278.68 early on Monday as a rising number of COVID-19 cases, including in the US and China, stoked fears of a second wave of global infections. Sportswear giant JD Sports Fashion (JD.) cheapened 3.7p to 643.3p after confirming it has filed a notice of intention to appoint administrators to its struggling Go Outdoors division with the courts, although ...

London’s FTSE 100 edged 8.6 points higher to 7,549.4 on Thursday with investors in cautious mood ahead of the holiday season and the Bank of England’s interest rate decision at midday, with no change to the cost of borrowing anticipated. Markets seemed to shrug their shoulders following the impeachment of Donald Trump, who became only the third President in US history to be ...

How often should companies report their financial results? In the UK it is every six months and it appears the US could be heading in the same direction after US president Donald Trump used his favourite communication tool, social media network Twitter, to say he has asked the US stock market regulator (the SEC) to consider abandoning quarterly reporting. In this situation, the UK could become ...

By: Steven Frazer, Daniel Coatsworth, James Crux, Tom Sieber Buy family-run businesses if you want to beat the market. It’s a bold statement and credible one, according to various bits of research we’ll discuss later. Many of these studies categorise a family company as one where the family owns at least a 20% stake in the business and has at least one member on the board. Global ...

  With the oil price now down nearly 60% from the June 2014 highs anything remotely connected to the oil and gas world has seen its value plummet over the past few months. While the sector as a whole has been decimated, oil equipment and services companies have generally been hit twice as hard as integrated oil majors. Share prices of many industrial engineering groups with significant ...

Castings and valves maker Goodwin (GDWN) may be vulnerable to profit-taking in the short-term after a 92% advance in the last 12 months. Last week’s large sale by a key family board member is a potentially useful cue for those considering getting out early. Amid a number of smaller director purchases a £487,500 divestment (23 Apr) by Matthew Goodwin stood out. Established in its Stoke on ...

As foreshadowed by Shares, premium branded cookers specialist AGA Rangemaster (AGA) warms up 4.75p to 177.75p on well-received full-year figures and an upbeat outlook statement. Operating profits surge 26.2% to £8.2 million at the operationally-geared group as the housing market revival boosts second-half sales.   Troubled engineer Redhall (RHL:AIM) is raising £7.5 million in a ...

Glencore Xstrata (XTA) rises 4.1% to 334.5p as it provides a significant amount of information on its future plans to investors in a day-long presentation. The market likes the news of $2 billion of synergies from buying Xstrata earlier this year, significantly ahead of the initial $500 million merger guidance. Also pleasing investors is a bullish stance on commodities in general, saying there is ...

On a day in which London's FTSE 100 eases back 14.87 points to 6,573, following on from a 32.5 points fall to 6,587.95 in the previous session, integrated energy firm BG Group (BG.) advances 1.7% to £12.05 on better-than-expected second quarter numbers. We previewed the results here earlier this month. The slight beat on consensus, allied to a 10% hike in the dividend and confirmation the core ...