UK stocks opened slightly lower today with the FTSE 100 off 0.17% at 7,600.4 while the FTSE 250 index was flat at 21,720. Gambling stocks were on the back foot following the banning of credit cards which comes into effect on April 14. GVC (GVC) was trading off 0.24%, William Hill (WHM) was 2% lower while Flutter Entertainment (FLTR) shares were 0.8% softer. Online fashion retailer Boohoo ...

Recruitment firms were heavily under the cosh on 8 October with Robert Walters (RWA) and Michael Page (PAGE) falling by nearly 10% apiece as they cut earnings guidance. Both companies attributed their struggles to political and economic uncertainty. PageGroup lowered its operating profit guidance for the full year to a range of £140m to £150m against market expectations of £150m to ...

Shares in recruitment firms PageGroup (PAGE) and Robert Walters (RWA) suffered heavy losses after both firms cut their full year earnings guidance due to lack of visibility in the staffing business. Shares in PageGroup were down 10.5% to a two-year low of 374p after the firm cut its outlook for this year’s operating earnings to £140m to £150m against market expectations of £150m to ...

Despite a lack of progress both on US-China trade talks and the Brexit process, UK stocks edged ahead on Tuesday with the FTSE 100 index of leading stocks up 18 points or 0.2% to 7,216. The best-performing sectors were Basic Materials, such as Mining and Paper & Pulp, and Industrial Goods & Services. HK WALKS AWAY The biggest loser on the FTSE was London Stock Exchange (LSE) which ...

A seeming dialling down in the aggressive rhetoric between the US and China and the latter’s move to stabilise its currency helped restore some calm to the markets with the FTSE 100 trading 0.3% higher at 7.192.96 in early trading. Miner and commodities trader Glencore (GLEN) slips 1.9% to 226.95 after announcing that its half-yearly earnings fell by nearly a third, amid lower copper and ...

It’s been a good week for British luxury brand Burberry (BRBY), which added more than £1bn to its market value after better than expected first quarter results. Its shares rose 12.7% to £22.44 following a 4% rise in comparable store revenues. The iconic brand has man of the moment Riccardo Tisci to thank. The Italian fashion designer, renowned for his work at French fashion house ...

Shares in recruitment firm PageGroup (PAGE) suffered their worst one-day fall since 2017 after the company warned that full year operating profits will be in the bottom half of the range of analyst forecasts. Despite a record second quarter, with 16 countries growing net fee income by more than 10%, the firm cautioned that weak macro-economic conditions meant operating income for the year to 31 ...

UK stocks open weaker on Wednesday with the FTSE 100 index of leading stocks drifting off by 0.2% to 7,522 due to softness in Beverages, Personal Goods, Tobacco and Utilities Housebuilder Barratt Developments (BDEV) delivers a positive trading update for the year to 30 June and forecasts annual pre-tax profit above the current market consensus of £884m thanks to a big improvement in operating ...

Shares in Robert Walters (RWA) seem to be bucking a weak recruitment sector in the wake of a negative note on Dutch firm Randstad from influential investment bank Goldman Sachs. While the share price has stayed flat at 600p, valuing Robert Walters at £456m, larger operators Hays (HAS) and PageGroup (PAGE) are both off by a couple of percent on Tuesday. In Robert Walters' favour is ...

The dictionary definition of quality is ‘the degree of excellence of something’. Handmade Hermes scarfs that use high quality silk would fit this description of quality. However, just because a company makes high quality products, it doesn’t necessarily mean that the business itself would be considered a quality business by investors. This article looks at three different metrics which ...

Shares in specialist recruiter SThree (STHR) have risen by 4% to 284p after full year results hit the firm’s recently raised guidance. Total revenue was up 13% last year to £1.26bn with gross profit up 12% to £321m and pre-tax profit up 20% to £53.4m. Like its larger rivals, the company’s biggest markets are outside the UK which makes it more resilient to political and economic ...

Figures last week from Germany’s Federal Statistical Office showed that gross domestic product (GDP) grew by just 1.5% in 2018, the slowest rate for five years. That meant that GDP was barely positive in the fourth quarter, up by an estimated 0.1%. If the fourth quarter had been negative like the third quarter, which shrank by 0.2%, Germany would technically be in recession. With China ...

We have a better picture of how the UK jobs market looks as we approach Brexit now that all three big UK-listed recruitment firms have reported quarterly results. At Hays (HAS), the UK’s biggest recruitment firm, UK net fee income was up 3% in the most recent quarter, the same rate as the previous quarter. At PageGroup (PAGE) UK net fees grew by 2.1%, better than the previous ...

Shares in recruitment firm Hays (HAS) buck the recent trend to trade 2% higher at 145p after the company reports another quarter of growth in fee income. Rivals Robert Walters (RWA) and PageGroup (PAGE) were marked down following their latest updates, despite reporting fee growth of 13% and 16%. MOST CORE MARKETS PERFORMING WELL Hays’ net fee income – also referred to as gross ...

Shares in recruiter PageGroup (PAGE) have fallen nearly 7% to 434p after the firm reported a slowdown in fee income in its fourth quarter on a sequential basis. Total gross profits – also known in the industry as net fee income – rose by 15.8% to a record £211m in the fourth quarter. While this is impressive, it marks a slowdown from the 17.2% growth rate of the third quarter which is ...

UK stocks are weaker on Monday amid domestic political worries and more signs of a slowdown in China, raising concerns about global growth. Markets are preparing themselves for a week of political upheaval in the UK with the ‘meaningful vote’ on the Prime Minister’s proposed Brexit deal tomorrow potentially paving the way for a Commons revolt and Labour vote of no confidence. Worse ...

With unemployment in the UK and across many countries at historic lows and a shrinking working-age population, employers are increasingly having to turn to recruitment experts to solve their staffing needs. The global employment market is worth in the region of £450bn a year and is expected to grow at about one-and-a-half times the rate of global GDP up to 2020. The biggest three players to ...

Economic growth in the three months to the end of August was 0.7% according to the latest estimate from the Office for National Statistics, released today. The warm weather helped the services sector with retail and consumer sectors showing a big improvement. House-building also performed particularly well. On a rolling three-month basis, service-sector output grew by 0.5%, production ...

UK stocks get off to a slow start with the FTSE 100 index virtually flat on Tuesday’s close at 7,226 points. Financial and Consumer stocks are the early leaders while exporters come under pressure as the Pound continues to climb against the US Dollar. Ticketing technology firm Accesso (ACSO:AIM) shares rally 3% to £25.75 on news of a partnership with Google which will allow customers to book ...

FTSE 250 staffer PageGroup (PAGE) has released its first half results which confirm the gross profit figure issued last month of £396m. The company has also announced a special dividend of 12.73p per share, or £40.6m. This is the third consecutive year of special dividends, having paid out £20m in 2016 and £40m last year. Given that gross profit was already known, the other new ...