City investors dump hospitality stocks despite pubs welcoming customers back indoors May 17, 2021 England’s pubs welcomed customers back inside for the first time in months today, but investors in the City of London were less taken by the sector’s future. Worries about a possible spread of the Indian variant of Covid-19 made shareholders sell their pub stocks. Wetherspoon, Marston’s, City Pub Group and Fuller, Smith & Turner were [...]
Jobs optimism among employers soars to eight-year high May 17, 2021 Optimism among UK employers has hit an eight-year high, with all sectors expecting a post-Covid jobs recovery, according to a new survey. Jobs in the public, private and voluntary sector are all set to surge and pay prospects have also improved, according to the latest labour market outlook report from the Chartered Institute of Personnel [...]
Vistry raises profit target to £325m as housing demand remains high May 17, 2021 Vistry today said its annual profit will come in higher than expectations as the housing sector benefits from a surge in demand. The housebuilder said it had a “very positive start to the year”, securing an average weekly private sales rate of 0.75, up 21 per cent on 2019. Vistry expects to complete around 6,500 [...]
City fund managers discuss post-pandemic opportunities, with NatWest, Lloyds and BP topping the list April 28, 2021 As the economy slowly recovers from what has been a dramatic year, and investors gradually dare to think again about growth and investment, City A.M. checked in with a number of prominent Square Mile-based fund mangers to find out where they spot opportunities as London’s investment community starts to shake off the pandemic. Banking, energy [...]
Wall Street slips despite better than expected US jobs data March 4, 2021 US stocks opened lower on Thursday as Wall Street reckoned with yesterday’s technology-led selloff, despite new data showing an improved US employment market. The tech-heavy Nasdaq slid 2.4 per cent this afternoon, with carpet company Dixie Group pulling the index down with a 48 per cent drop. Tesla shares extended yesterday’s loss of more than [...]
UK PMIs: Construction activity bounces back as paused projects get green light March 4, 2021 UK construction activity bounced back in February as businesses gave the go ahead to projects that had been forced to be suspended due to the pandemic. The IHS Markit/Cips purchasing managers (PMI) index for construction scored 53.2 in February, with any score above the 50-mark indicating growth. That’s markedly ahead of analyst expectations of a score of [...]
Hygiene surge boosts ratcatchers Rentokil March 4, 2021 Rentokil said that it had boosted profit 5.4 per cent across the full year thanks to huge growth in its hygiene business amid the coronavirus pandemic. Across the year, ongoing operating profit rose to £383.8m, up from £365.5m the year before. Revenue also increased 5.0 per cent to £2.8bn. Despite the impressive performance, shares in [...]
Cairn Homes reports 2020 profit slump as pandemic knocks down housebuilding March 4, 2021 Irish housebuilder Cairn Homes saw profit drop sharply in 2020 as Covid-19 restrictions battered the property industry. Cairn reported an operating profit decline of almost two thirds to €24.4m from €68m a year earlier. Meanwhile, revenue fell 40 per cent to €262m from €435m in 2019, while earnings per share plummeted at a similar rate [...]
GKN owner Melrose starts unit sale as annual profit plummets March 4, 2021 Melrose Industries said on Thursday it had begun processing the sale of its Nortek air-conditioning division as the company posted a steep fall in annual profit. The company, which owns jet and car parts supplier GKN, said Nortek is trading “very strongly” and that there was no guarantee a sale would take place. Melrose’s adjusted [...]
Housebuilder Vistry to double profit in 2021 as Sunak extends property tax cuts March 4, 2021 Housebuilder Vistry Group predicted that it would at least double its profit before tax over the coming financial year after a strong start to the year. As a result of the positive outlook, the firm said that it was reinstating a final dividend of 20p per share. It follows fellow builder Taylor Wimpey in reintroducing [...]