Grafton Group (GFTU)

UK stocks are in modest decline in early trade on Thursday as investors come to terms with the can being kicked down the road again on a Brexit outcome following last night’s extension to the end of October. Many businesses may be breathing a sigh of relief at a possible side-stepping of a more draconian deal. Travel stocks are certainly leading the charge, with budget airline EasyJet ...

With equity markets worldwide on course for their best week since late November the FTSE 100 is ahead by 0.6% to 6,986.55 closing on the psychologically significant 7,000 mark. Struggling regional carrier Flybe (FLYB) agrees to be taken over for £2.2m by a joint venture comprising Stobart Group (STOB), Virgin Atlantic and funds managed by Cyrus Capital Partners. The joint venture, dubbed ...

Building support services company Grafton (GFTU) first half results exceeded market expectations, triggering a 2.6% rise in the share price to 796.5p. The company’s pre-tax profits in the six months to 30 June hit £90m, around a 4% beat on market forecasts and a 19% improvement on its prior year. As Grafton had previously guided, revenue increased by 9% to £1.4bn on a year-on-year ...

On a typically quiet August Wednesday UK markets open on the back foot with little corporate activity around to inspire investors. The FTSE 100 index begins the day by opening around 20 points, or 0.3%, lower at 7,546.35, with mid cap FTSE 250 and small cap indexes also posting modest reverses. On currency markets, the pound is flat against both the dollar and euro, at $1.2903 and €1.1149 ...

Luceco (LUCE) has suffered a huge share price sell-off after the company issued a profit warning. The LED lighting specialist saw its market value collapse to £224m following a 46% crash in the share price to 125.6p. Luceco now says it expects to profit after tax to come in at £13.2m. That's £3.5m, or a 21% markdown from the £16.7m that had been expected this year to 31 December ...

LED lighting products-to-extension leads manufacturer Luceco (LUCE) has risen by 80% since floating on the stock market in October 2016. Its shares at 235p aren’t cheap. They trade on 20 times next year’s forecast earnings. It also faces market headwinds in the UK where it generates 86% of sales. However, our interview with chief executive John Hornby reveals compelling reasons why this ...

The FTSE 100 trades 16 points lower at 7,354.48 in early trading on 11 July as investors await a speech at noon by the Bank of England’s deputy governor Ben Broadbent. Any comment on monetary policy has the potential to move markets. Among corporate news, UK retail favourite Marks & Spencer (MKS) drops 1.7% to 333.3p on releasing its first quarter trading update to 1 July. Like-for-like ...

Grafton (GFTU), the owner of the third largest general building merchant Buildbase, has carried last year’s momentum into 2017. The company reports decent first quarter results. Of it diversified business streams, only its Belgium operation is in the red and group revenue is up by 6.1% to 30 April. The market’s reaction is muted though as Grafton’s share price remains flat, suggesting ...

The FTSE 100 was modestly higher on Tuesday morning at 7,319.70 as sales figures from the British Retail Consortium for April show year-on-year growth of 5.6% in April against expectations for a 0.5% increase. Utilities stocks are under pressure after a weak set of results from German utility Eon and Prime Minister Theresa May's pledge to end 'rip-off' energy bills. Software business Micro ...

On a busy day for reporting, temporary power provider Aggreko (AGK) dives 13% to 920.75p after reporting full year pre-tax profits of £221m, around £1m light of the £222m consensus. Aggreko also warns 2017 profits will be lower than last year due to the impact of pricing renegotiations in Argentina. Full year pre-tax profit from builders’ merchant Grafton (GFTU) is approximately 8% better ...

There are some bargains to be found among UK domestic-focused stocks if you believe the economy won’t deteriorate sharply in 2017. One company that’s caught our eye is FTSE 250 kitchens seller Howden Joinery (HWDN). Its share price has fallen 28% since the Brexit vote in June 2016, yet it has an excellent track record of managing costs in more difficult economic times in order to protect ...

Harvester-to-O’Neill’s owner Mitchells & Butlers (MAB) has enjoyed 4.7% like-for-like sales growth over the Christmas period, much to the surprise of many investors and analysts. The business has been struggling for years but solid trading in the four week period to 7 January could prompt the market to reassess negative views of the stock. Investors certainly like today’s news as the ...

The construction industry has endured its worst quarter in four years in the wake of the Brexit vote. Dig deeper in the data and you’ll find reasons to stay positive on parts of the sector. The 1.1% decline in construction volumes flagged by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) in the July to September period is less acute than its forecast in October for a 1.4% fall in construction ...

Miners and financial stocks staged a strong rally the day after Donald Trump's election victory as markets around the world melted up. Fears over the incoming president's protectionist policy stance appear to be on the wane as overnight traders in Asia piled in to the market and erased election night losses. Japan's Nikkei 225 index staged an astonishing comeback, gaining 6.7% after losses ...

Stocks in London trade lower on the back of a profit warning from tech outfit Laird (LRD) and a slowdown in sales at consumer goods giant Reckitt Benckiser (RB.). The blue chip FTSE 100 index is down 0.2% at 6,987 with similar declines in the mid cap index. At Laird, weak mobile phone sales are to blame for lowered profit guidance, sending shares 46% lower to 170p. Underlying pre-tax ...

There is a week to go until the UK votes on membership of the European Union (23 Jun) and polls are suggesting the ‘Leave’ camp is opening up a lead on ‘Remain’. Investors need to have a clear understanding of which stocks could move up or down once the votes are counted. The bookies, which have been solidly behind a ‘Remain’ vote until now, are changing tack. On 14 June the odds with ...

For several quarters now, analysts, economists and journalists have been anticipating a pick-up in activity in the RMI (renovation, maintenance and improvement) market. There are signs that this pick-up is finally coming through. The logic behind a predicted RMI recovery is both compelling and straightforward; activity in the housing market is brisk which would suggest  a certain amount of home ...

It may only have a population of around 4.5 million, putting it at roughly half the size of London but Ireland is still one of the UK’s most important trading partners and remains on track to be one of the fastest growing economies in the eurozone in 2016. Among the so-called PIIGS (Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain), Ireland has been a consistent over-achiever of late and with ...

A robustly recovering Irish economy again looks set to come to the rescue of builders merchanting and DIY group Grafton (GFTU) in 2016 as another mixed year beckons in the increasingly competitive UK market. At 728p, shares in the £1.7 billion cap are down the merest of touches after a year-end trading update showed revenue in the 12 months to December up 6.3% at £2.21 billion. Like-for-like ...

The recent slew of disappointing updates from the builders' merchanting space have brought sector valuations and expectations back to realistic levels. Recent performance clearly shows how the difficult trading environment remains and sustained competitive pressures are likely to characterise the space going forward. This is the view of analysts at Dublin-based Davy Research, but the broker's ...