The news from Apple that the coronavirus will hit sales of its iPhone should not have come as a surprise but has nonetheless provided a jolt to investors who had seemed quite relaxed about the outbreak. There may now be increased attention on the impact on other firms. The management teams of companies with Chinese exposure, either through their manufacturing function or customer base, will ...

Investors are often told to avoid funds with less than £100m of assets under management (AuM) on the premise that they are sub-scale and might have higher fees than many funds with similar investment mandates. However, performance statistics would suggest some of these tiddler funds might still be worth a look. Data from Fe Fundinfo shows that of the 4,505 funds in the Investment Association ...

London’s FTSE firmed 59.1 points to 7,197 as the week drew to a close, with consumer-facing stocks back in fashion. JD Sports Fashion (JD.), Whitbread (WTB), Kingfisher (KGF) and Next (NXT) all featured in the blue chip index’s top 10 risers. Despite ongoing political uncertainty, early indications suggest that Black Friday was good for retailers, implying that consumers might have become ...

The basic principle of value investing is buying stocks on low valuations and waiting for them to re-rate. Warren Buffett calls it buying a dollar of earnings for 50 cents, or in the case of UK stocks buying £1 of assets for 50p. In theory this makes a lot of sense; in practice, it’s far from simple and in today’s market not a lot of stocks sell for 50p on the pound. Value investing has ...

After a flat open, the FTSE 100 is drifting with investors nervous over what today’s political events will bring. The European Union is considering the UK’s request for an extension while at the same time MPs are mulling over the merits of a general election in December. Markets dislike uncertainty, and the FTSE 100 has given up 0.3% or 20 points to 3,307 while the FTSE 250, generally ...

The world’s biggest advertising agency WPP (WPP) released better than expected trading for the quarter ended 30 September saying that it had seen a ‘significant improvement’ in the US and China, while Europe returned to growth, giving its shares a 6% boost to 976.5p. Revenue for the quarter was 5.2% ahead at £3.3bn , up 1.9% on a like-for-like basis and 1.8% excluding data marketing ...

Advertising agency WPP (WPP) is the worst performing FTSE 100 share today after a second profit warning from the world’s third largest agency Publicis. Shares in the French media business crashed 13% on Friday after cutting revenue guidance for the full year. It now expects a rough 2.5% decline in headline income compared with an anticipated flat performance previously. IS PUBLICIS THE ...

The FTSE 100 was down a handful of points at 7,179.26 as optimism over trade talks between the US and China was outweighed by strength in sterling. The pound moved higher after a meeting between prime minister Boris Johnson and his Irish counterpart Leo Varadkar on Thursday raised hopes of a Brexit deal. Owner of airline Jet2 Dart Group (DTG:AIM) gained 13.2% to £10.58 as it increased its ...

Digital advertising firm S4 Capital (SFOR) jumped 6.6% to 149.3p after announcing the $150m takeover of marketing agency Firewood. The cash and shares deal is being part funded through a £100m share issue which will also be put towards further deals. S4 is a vehicle for WPP (WPP) founder Martin Sorrell, who left the advertising giant in acrimonious circumstances last year. He has not wasted ...

The FTSE 100 remained on the back foot amid global growth fears, down a further 0.4% after enduring its worst day since January 2016 on Wednesday. Firms perceived to have particular exposure to the global economy like advertising giant WPP (WPP) and packaging firm DS Smith (SMDS) suffered most heavily. Global lifestyle brand Ted Baker (TED) descended 34.9% to 589.9p as it reported a £23m ...

Academic publishing firm Pearson (PSN) earned a dunce’s cap from the market on 26 September. Its shares fell more than 10% to 740p as it warned earnings would be at the lower end of expectations thanks to weak sales to US universities. Full year operating profit is expected to come in towards the bottom of the guided range of £590m to £640m. The news suggests the structural problems ...

Advertising company WPP’s (WPP) appointment of key Sainsbury’s (SBRY) executive John Rogers as chief financial officer looks a good get for the company and is a blow for the supermarket. Shares in WPP are up 1.2% to £10.31 while Sainsbury’s is flat at 220.5p. Rogers is currently the head of Sainsbury's recently-acquired Argos chain and was CFO of Sainsbury's from 2010 to 2016. READ ...

The FTSE 100 was unable to take its cue from strong trading in the US and Asia overnight, with the blue chip benchmark nudging a meagre 3.6 points higher to 7,412 on Tuesday morning. Strength in sterling, with markets awaiting the publication of UK plans for Brexit, weighed on the index early on. However, plumbing and heating supplies play Ferguson (FERG) firmed 3.8% to £61.70 on strong ...

The FTSE 100 was in a sunnier mood on Wednesday, up 0.9% to 7,333.25 amid hopes of a move towards resolution of the US-China trade war. Mike Ashley steered retailer Sports Direct (SPD) was up 1.4% ahead of a crunch AGM at 11am. Home builder Galliford Try (GFRD) gained 0.6% to 668p, even as it booked a fall in first-half profit, which came as little surprise to the market amid a slump in ...

If you are new to stock market investing you may still have heard of the FTSE 100. It frequently appears on TV news bulletins and in the papers, its relative direction up or down giving viewers/readers a steer as to how the UK economy is going and how optimistic, or not, investors feel about the nation’s prospects. By contrast, the FTSE 350 the has a very low profile and seldom gets a mention ...

WPP (WPP) 981.2p Gain to date: 14.9% Original entry price: Buy at 854p, 14 March 2019 First half results (9 Aug) appeared to reward our faith in CEO Mark Read’s turnaround programme at advertising giant WPP (WPP). Sensibly Read is keeping market expectations in check, however second quarter trading was slightly ahead of internal projections and external estimates which helped ...

A 6.4% advance in the share price to 973.4p seems a somewhat strange response to a set of first half results from advertising giant WPP (WPP) showing a 44% slide in profit, owing to shrinking margins and a one-off gain in the previous year. However, there were signs that the turnaround plan introduced by chief executive Mark Read since his appointment a little under a year ago is taking ...

London’s FTSE 100 was on the back foot again on Friday as fears of renewed turmoil in Italy pushed the blue chip benchmark 27.6 points lower to 7,258.3, thereby surrendering some of Thursday’s gains. Sterling was also in the red ahead of UK GDP data and one company counting the cost of the weak currency was travel outfit On The Beach (OTB). Bookie William Hill (WMH) galloped 7p or ...

On 5 August HSBC (HSBA) chief executive John Flint became the 14th of his number in the FTSE 100 so far in 2019 to announce a departure, either immediately or at some point in the future. In some cases these exits are being driven by the executive involved, perhaps for personal reasons or because they fancy something new, but in a good portion of these examples companies will be hoping a change ...

Heavy selling on Asian markets and escalating trade tensions lead to second day straight of large losses across UK stock markets in early trade on Monday. Just mining group Fresnillo (FRES) and British Airways-owner International Consolidated Airlines (IAG) make positive moves across the whole FTSE 100, which slumps more than 100 points, or 1.35%, to 7,307.00. Leading the sell-off is grocery ...