Shares in some of the housebuilders are finally showing signs of life after a poor first quarter caused by concerns over the potential cost of fixing cladding on high-rise blocks. In January, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities announced it wanted developers to contribute £4 billion to a new fund to remediate what it called life-critical safety issues on buildings over 11 ...

Shares in the major housebuilders traded higher after positive results and an increase in earnings guidance from their smaller rivals Redrow (RDW) and MJ Gleeson (GLE), bringing some relief to beleaguered shareholders. Redrow shares gained 2% to 637p after issuing new forecasts for its 2024 financial year while MJ Gleeson shares were 1% higher at 733p after the firm said results for the year to ...

Investors for whom the housebuilders were a low-risk place to put their money up to and even after the pandemic have had a rude awakening in the last month or so. While most firms had already put money aside for fire safety work, the government’s warning they were liable for up to £4 billion of additional costs to remove cladding from high-rise buildings completely blind-sided them. The ...

Shares in Britain’s biggest housebuilding firms lost billions in value in the week to 14 January after the Government announced it would ask them to meet the cost of rectifying safety issues on high-rise buildings in the wake of the Grenfell tragedy. The cost of the work could be up to £4 billion, and the message from Whitehall was if the firms didn’t comply willingly the Government could ...

Shareholders in the big six major UK housebuilders received a rude awakening on Monday after the sector lost more than £1.5 billion in value after the government unexpectedly said it could force them to fix cladding issues on high-rise buildings at an estimated cost of up to £4 billion. The hardest-hit stocks were Persimmon (PSN) and Barratt Developments (BDEV), down 5.3% and ...

Equipment rental firm Speedy Hire (SDY) offers that rare combination of growth and value. Sales and earnings are growing at close to 30%, and the firm has just raised its full year outlook, while the shares are trading on just 15 times this year’s earnings and less than 13 times next year. The pace of the firm’s recovery from the pandemic has been remarkable, with earnings before ...

Shares in leading tool and industrial equipment rental group Speedy Hire (SDY) climbed 5% to 67p on above-average volume after the firm posted a robust first half trading update and raised its full year outlook. Sales for the first half to September rose 28% to £186.6 million thanks to a 31.8% increase in hire revenues and a 22.2% increase in service revenues, driven by the rehire ...

The FTSE 100 was under early pressure on Friday morning, dragged down by weakness in index heavyweight AstraZeneca (AZN), which produced disappointing third quarter results. Asian trading was generally steady with China’s SE Composite up 0.2% and Japan’s Nikkei gaining 1.1%. Commodities were weaker with Brent Crude down 0.7% to $82.3 a barrel while Gold prices were 0.4% lower at £1,855 ...

There are three principal reasons why we believe investment trust Merchants Trust (MRCH) is a great stock to own. First, the recently published half-year results demonstrated the merits of manager Simon Gergel’s investment approach. This involves searching for attractively valued companies with strong fundamentals that are expected to pay a dividend yield above or in line with the market ...

Shares in housebuilder Redrow (RDW) rose 0.4% to 703p after the firm posted a strong increase in full year revenues, announced the resumption of the full year dividend and reinstated its medium-term guidance. For the period to June, sales were up 45% to £1.94 billion thanks to a 39% increase in legal completions to 5,620 units and higher average selling prices. NET CASH AGAIN Higher ...

UK stocks made little headway on Wednesday despite a spate of earnings reports which on the whole painted a picture of improving corporate health. By 9.30am the FTSE 100 index of leading stocks was unchanged at 7,033 points. In Asia, Chinese stocks closed lower after August retail sales data disappointed, sending the CSI index down for a fifth day in succession. In Japan on the other hand, the ...

After their worst session in nearly three weeks yesterday, UK stocks rallied on Wednesday with energy and mining stocks leading the gains. By 8.30am the FTSE 100 index of leading shares was up 34 points or 0.5% at 7,136 points. Elsewhere, investors seem to be questioning the strength of the global recovery with ‘safe haven’ trades such as US government bonds and the Japanese Yen attracting ...

The FTSE 100 finished 0.2% higher at 7,087.55 points on Tuesday with banks and housebuilders lending support. However food delivery platform Just Eat Takeaway.com (JET) was the biggest riser on the blue chip benchmark, bid up 3.4% to £68.40 as investors bet it would benefit from a surge in orders as consumers settled on sofas to watch the Euro 2020 clash between England and Germany. A ...

London’s FTSE 100 was up 0.25% at 7,090.71 points by lunchtime on Tuesday, led by gains across sectors including banking, tobacco and beverages. A 0.3% decline in sterling against the US dollar to $1.3839 benefited some FTSE stocks with large US dollar earnings including CRH (CRH) and Ferguson (FERG). Housebuilders were lifted by the latest Nationwide house price index, which surged ...

Markets generally appear to have been somewhat quieter over the past week and the same goes for director dealing, with a lower than normal number of noteworthy trades. But there have been some interesting transactions, one of which involves Michael Dobson, the outgoing chairman and former chief executive of FTSE 100 fund manager Schroders (SDR). Dobson sold over 17,000 shares at a price of ...

We’re pleased to welcome back Malcolm from Edinburgh who is sharing his experience as someone in retirement taking charge of their investments for the first time. After a year-and-a-half of taking responsibility for investing for retirement through my SIPP and Stocks and Shares ISA, matters are becoming clearer. There is no going on endless holidays and checking my portfolio once a ...

UK shares picked themselves up in early trade after a two-day plunge with leading stocks given a helping hand by a better than forecast first quarter GDP reading. The data showed the UK contracted by 1.5% in the lockdown-hit opening months to the year, compared to the 1.6% decline forecast. A stronger sign of recovery was news that the economy actually grew 2.1% in March, instead of the ...

Investors have reacted in a mixed fashion to the Budget after Chancellor Rishi Sunak pledged to extend furlough and support for businesses, continue relief on stamp duty and refrain from raising income tax. The blue-chip FTSE 100 was trading 0.6% higher at 6,654 shortly after the Chancellor’s speech, losing half of the gains seen at the market open, while the more domestically focused FTSE ...

UK stocks traded higher on Wednesday as mining stocks found favour thanks to a sharp rally in metals and commodity prices. In Asian trading the Shanghai Composite SE index surged 1.4% and Japan’s Nikkei 225 index gained 0.2%. Gold prices were 0.3% higher at $1,845 an ounce and Brent oil prices were slightly lower at $60.8 a barrel. At 12 pm the FTSE 100 was up 27 points or 0.4% t0 6,559 ...

UK stocks opened higher on Wednesday after a clutch of positive corporate results and dividend resumptions. In Asian trading the Shanghai Composite SE index surged 1.4% and Japan’s Nikkei 225 index gained 0.2%. Gold prices were 0.3% higher at $1,845 an ounce and Brent oil prices were slightly lower at $60.8 a barrel. At 08.45 am the FTSE 100 was 14 points higher at 6,546 ...