One of the most striking features of the current crisis, from a stock market perspective, is how sharply and suddenly UK firms have cut their dividends in response to the drop in demand for their goods or services. In March alone, UK companies cancelled or postponed more than £4bn in forecast dividend payments. Both the speed and the size of the cuts are unprecedented. Last week, housebuilders ...

UK stocks opened substantially higher on Wednesday, with the FTSE 100 up 212.3 points at 5,658.32 early on, after US lawmakers reached agreement on a $2trn stimulus package to buffer the world’s biggest economy from the still-spreading coronavirus. Housebuilder Persimmon (PSN) perked up 3.7% to £17.55 even after it scrapped one planned dividend payment and postponed another as it braces for ...

London’s FTSE 100 shed 9.1 points to trade at 7,273 on Tuesday as political uncertainty caused sterling to drop below $1.20 for the first time since 2017. This weighed on the UK-focused FTSE 250, dragging it back by 26 points to 19,456 and is also bad news for UK domestic FTSE 100 stocks including the housebuilders, supermarkets and various banks. Plumbing and heating products distributor ...

US President Donald Trump’s latest trade war tariff threat weighs on sentiment on Tuesday, with the FTSE 100 cheapening 17.4 points to 7, 363.2. However, weakness among banks and utilities is being softened by strength among pharma and mining stocks and investors are perhaps taking some comfort in the news that China’s vice-premier Liu He will travel to the US for another round of trade talks ...

Director dealings can provide a useful pointer for investors as management have a deep pool of knowledge about their firm and insider buying and selling can sometimes be an indication of the health of the business. Saying that, investors shouldn't jump to conclusions when directors sell shares as this can sometimes be prompted by tax liabilities or it may be the first opportunity for management ...

The FTSE 100 starts the week on the back foot although it is still holding on to a position north of 7,200, down 0.37% at 7,210.16 in early trading. An uptick in the pound contributing to the weaker open. Consumer goods giant Reckitt Benckiser (RB.) reports a 65% drop in annual profit owing to one-off gains and expenses but underlying earnings are up as the company hit the top end of its sales ...

First half results (18 Jan) from Henderson Smaller Companies Investment Trust (HSL) reveal a rare period of underperformance. But manager Neil Hermon, who has outperformed the benchmark in 14 of the past 15 financial years, insists his universe ‘continues to throw up exciting growth opportunities’ and M&A ‘remains a supportive feature’. For the six months ended 30 November, the ...

Experts increasingly believe value investing will come back into fashion and Keystone Investment Trust (KIT) looks an excellent product to buy ahead of the anticipated trend switch. Don’t put be off by its past performance – the trust has fallen in value in the past year – as buying Keystone is a bet on the market looking for different things in 2019. Investing in growth ...

Pharmaceuticals giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) suffered a big fall in its share price on 3 December after announcing the $5.1bn acquisition of US cancer drug maker Tesaro. Glaxo offered a premium of 62% to Tesaro’s previous closing price; shares in the latter have been weak amid doubts over the prospects for its flagship ovarian cancer drug Zejula. The FTSE 100 constituent does not expect ...

High-flying floor coverings maker Victoria (VCP:AIM) has shocked the market with a very negative trading update which has triggered a 31% slump in its share price to 418p. Operating margins at the carpets distributor-to-flooring underlay group are tracking below expectations as it cuts prices to capture share in a challenging market. The company has also flagged pricing pressures in hard ...

The FTSE 100 manages a solid start despite selling in Asia overnight. Ahead of the Budget later the index of leading UK shares is up 0.6% to 6,979.44. Index heavyweight and Europe’s largest bank HBSC (HSBA) reports higher profit in the third quarter of the year, supported by cost cuts and a rise in deposit revenue. Pre-tax profit rose 28% to $5.9bn in the three months to the end of ...

Investing in companies that are in a rising trend can often be a great way to profit from the market. Stocks on a tear often find those strong runs last far longer, and go far higher, than most normal investors might expect. Fund manager and renowned momentum investor Richard Driehaus takes exception to the old stock market adage of buying low and selling high by saying ‘far more money is ...

A highly successful, yet unnamed, fund manager, is quoted in full year results (24 Jul) from flooring star turn Victoria (VCP:AIM) as delivering the following pearl of markets-related wisdom: ‘[Investment is] not a well-behaved machine that cranks out returns to owners of all equities...Instead quite extraordinary returns flow from a tiny fraction of the companies in existence.’ This is ...

The FTSE 100 opens down by 27 points to 7003.66 despite a Wall Street rally overnight. The market seems to be wary over US president Donald Trump’s continued tariff war rhetoric with China as both countries continue to add to their list of tariff targets. Advertising giant WPP (WPP) sheds 3.2% to £10.82 on news it's appointing an independent council to investigate an allegation of misconduct ...

In his revered investment book One Up on Wall Street, US fund manager Peter Lynch wrote: ‘Before buying a stock, I like to be able to give a two-minute monologue that covers the reasons I’m interested in it, what has to happen for the company to succeed, and the pitfalls that stand in its path… ‘Once you’re able to tell the story of a stock to your family, your friends, or the ...

Unloved parcel delivery service Royal Mail (RMG) rises 3.4% to 402.2p on better than expected half year results. CEO Moya Greene reports ‘a good start to the year’ and says her charge is performing well in a highly competitive UK parcels market. Royal Mail's overseas division GLS was the star performer, strong growth offsetting flat revenue from domestic parcels and letters business UKPIL ...

Investment trust shares can trade either at a discount or a premium to their underlying assets or net asset value (NAV), depending on factors such as current market appetite for the strategy or the performance track record of the manager. While share prices that trade at a discount to NAV are quite common for closed-ended funds, sometimes these discounts become unduly wide or narrow and do not ...

There are many good reasons for investors to investigate beyond the scope of the FTSE 100 heavyweights. Smaller companies may start off with share trading liquidity challenges and fall below the remit of most equity research analysts. That can mean companies being priced more inefficiently than larger peers which is an opportunity for savvy investors. PROVEN STRATEGY As successful smaller ...

Shares views the global growth scope and future dividend paying potential of innovative flooring specialist Victoria (VCP:AIM) as underappreciated. Take advantage as the design-led carpets-to-hardwood flooring manufacturer ahead of further earnings upgrades and acquisitions in a fragmented global flooring market. Victoria has achieved scale in carpet manufacturing through acquisitions and ...

London’s FTSE 100 bounces back on Tuesday, the blue-chip benchmark taking on 41.5 points at 7419.2 with investors hunting down bargain trades. One of the day's big stories involves luxury shoe retailer Jimmy Choo (CHOO), which jumps 33.5p (17.2%) to 228.5p after agreeing an £896m all cash takeover by US retailer Michael Kors. The takeover is pitched at 230p per share, a 36.5% premium to the ...