After good gains in the previous two sessions, UK stocks marked time on Thursday as Brexit negotiations remained gridlocked and Russia and Saudi Arabia argued over extending production cuts agreed at the start of the pandemic. At 8.30am the FTSE 100 index of leading stocks was almost unchanged at 6,466 points with weakness in banks and utilities offsetting gains in industrial and consumer ...

The news on 9 November of successful early trials of a coronavirus vaccine sent global markets soaring with the most beaten-down sectors like travel, leisure and hospitality, energy and banks enjoying their best daily or weekly performance in years. This has been followed by further positive news on other vaccines in development. It remains the case, however, that many of the top-performing ...

London’s FTSE 100 traded slightly lower on Wednesday, down 0.03% at 6,187.94 early on, as climbing COVID-19 cases in countries including the US and Australia cooled optimism that the global economy is turning a corner. Bus and rail company FirstGroup (FGP) fell 10.6% to 44p after reporting wider annual losses owing, in part, to write-downs at its Greyhound coach division and restructuring ...

If you chart Mark Slater’s run as a fund manager back to the start of 2000, you will see a significant outperformance versus his peer group over the subsequent years. According to financial data group FE, collectively across his funds Slater has delivered more than twice the amount of returns to investors than his peer group (400% versus 145% respectively). The son of the late Jim Slater, a ...

Specialist safety and compliance firm Marlowe (MRL:AIM)  delivered another set of impressive full year results to 31 March 2019. A mixture of solid organic progress has been effectively combined with a handful of small but well-judged acquisitions. Revenues for the period rose 59% to £128m while earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) grew 53% to £11m, on an ...

Heightened worries over Middle East tensions and a profit warning from German chipmaker Siltronic (OR8P), which became the latest firm to say that US restrictions on exports to China would hurt its business, have put European markets on the back foot this morning. The FTSE100 was trading down 11.5 points at 7,353. Defensive sectors Pharmaceuticals and Staples are the leading shares this ...

Marlowe (MRL:AIM) 432p Gain to date: 1.4% Original entry point: Buy at 426p, 28 June 2018 Shares in fire and water safety expert Marlowe (MRL:AIM) have strengthened in recent weeks for three reasons. First, the service group appointed investment bank Berenberg as joint corporate broker alongside Cenkos, helping to raise its profile among institutional investors. Berenberg believes ...

Marlowe (MRL:AIM) 389p Loss to date: 8.7% Original entry point: Buy at 426p, 28 June 2018 Don’t be dismayed by Marlowe’s (MRL:AIM) share price failing to keep up with the broader market this year. While equities in general have started to move forward in 2019, Marlowe has drifted down slightly and we see no reason for the price weakness. The fire and water safety expert raised £7m ...

Marlowe (MRL:AIM) 434p Gain to date: 1.9% Original entry point: Buy at 426p, 28 June 2018 The safety expert says full year results will now be better than previous market expectations, thanks to good trading across its business and positive contribution from recent acquisitions. Stockbroker Cenkos has subsequently upgraded its earnings per share forecast by 18% to 17.9p for the year ...

London’s FTSE 100 is off 13 points at 7,050 and the FTSE 250 is down 33.5 points at 18,530 as markets in Europe take a step back on Tuesday following a strong start to the week. Convenience foods giant Greencore (GNC) fattens up 1.9p to 185.7p on full year results that come in a little ahead of expectations, driven by solid growth in the UK Food to Go operations. Last month, Greencore ...

Marlowe (MRL:AIM) 510p Gain to date: 19.7% Original entry point: Buy at 426p, 28 June 2018 The fire and water safety expert has raised £20m to help fund new acquisitions. The money came from issuing new shares at 475p which was a 9.1% discount to the closing mid-market price on the day before the fundraise was announced. Investors should note that share placings are likely to be ...

Corporate awareness of the need for fire protection is at an all-time high, says Alex Dacre, chief executive of Marlowe (MRL:AIM), a support services business enjoying rapid growth. Increasing health and safety awareness results in stricter legislation and puts more pressure on organisations to make sure the occupants of their buildings are safe. That’s driving earnings growth at Marlowe ...

Marlowe (MRL:AIM) 382.5p Gain to date: 23.4% Original entry point: Buy at 310p, 23 March 2017 The boss of fire and water safety specialist Marlowe (MRL:AIM) says July’s acquisition of Ductclean UK is the best acquisition the company has ever made. Chief executive Alex Dacre says the ventilation maintenance industry has better growth prospects than fire and water because many ...

Shares in housebuilders fell after the Budget announcement which failed to deliver the kind of radical changes to planning or extended financial support desired by the market. Although Chancellor Philip Hammond pledged £44bn to help build 300,000 homes a year by 2020, a lack of detail has gone down poorly with investors. In particular, there was no comment on extending Help to Buy. There ...

Shares in housebuilders are in retreat as the Budget fails to deliver the kind of radical changes to planning or extended financial support desired by the market. Although Chancellor Philip Hammond pledged £44bn to help build 300,000 homes a year by 2020, a lack of detail has gone down poorly with investors. In particular, there was no comment on extending Help to Buy. There was also ...

Fire protection services group Marlowe (MRL:AIM) tells Shares that it has received an increase in new business enquiries since the Grenfell Tower fire tragedy in London in mid-June. Chief executive Alex Dacre says enquiries have included both local authorities and commercial businesses. ‘The clearly terrible events have reiterated the critical importance of fire protection. Compliance is at ...

Marlowe (MRL:AIM) 405p Gain to date: 30.6% Original entry point: Buy at 310p, 23 March 2017 A 30%+ share price gain in three months is a great start for our trade on support services group  Marlowe (MRL:AIM). We think there is much more to come from the fire and water services expert, particularly as it has just made an interesting acquisition and imminent full year results could remind ...

The 25% decline in fire and water services group Marlowe (MRL:AIM) to 310p over the past few months puts the stock at a much more attractive level for new investors, in our opinion. Regulated markets Marlowe is buying small businesses that serve heavily-regulated markets. Companies and organisations ranging from hotels and shops to universities and hospitals face very large fines if they ...

Marlowe’s (MRL:AIM) acquisition of BBC Fire Protection (3 Feb) will boost its pre-tax profit by 12% in the financial year to March 2018, according to broker Cenkos. The support services group is backed by several people associated with highly successful document storage business Restore (RST:AIM), including Lord Ashcroft and Charles ...

The FTSE 100 kicks off the new trading week with a smile, up 0.2% to 6,970, supported by gains in oil, gas and mining stocks. The large cap corporate reporting calendar starts to get very quiet from now on in December, but takeover activity is likely to remain the hot theme given many deals over the past month including Sky (SKY) last Friday. Today’s bid action is concentrated at the lower ...