Surging house prices fuels revenue growth at Persimmon July 8, 2021 Housebuilder Persimmon posted a strong set of results for the first six months of the year, driven by surging house prices. Revenues climbed to £1.84bn in the first half of 2021, up from £1.75bn over the same period in 2019 – before the pandemic struck. Income for 2020 was £1.19bn. Surging house prices driven by [...]
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 [...]
Doceo Insight – The £81bn jackpot and the investment trusts with the biggest shares July 11, 2022 The number 81 will have different meanings for different people. It might be someone’s age or year of birth. Perhaps the last two digits of a credit card pin. For bus goers in the London area, the number 81 will get you from Slough to Hounslow and back again or, if in Merseyside, from Bootle [...]
The week ahead, 11-15 January: FTSE housebuilders, Asos, Tesco and UK GDP January 10, 2021 London’s markets started the new year in a frenzy last week, picking up over five per cent and closing the gap on their counterparts around the world. This week is set to be a busy one for the FTSE, with a raft of companies due to provide updates, as well as key economic data in [...]
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 [...]
Housebuilder Vistry to cut jobs after acquisition of Galliford Try’s homes unit May 20, 2020 UK housebuilder Vistry warned it will cut more jobs as it continues to consolidate operations following Bovis Homes’ acquisition of and Galliford Try’s residential business. The firm, which was called Bovis until the merger last year, said a consultation on reducing its employee headcount was ongoing, and it expected the cuts to result in annual [...]
Persimmon reports ‘robust trading’ and hails UK’s resilient housing market January 13, 2021 Persimmon, the UK’s biggest housebuilder, said the country’s property market had remained “resilient” despite the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. The FTSE 100 firm reported that trading was “robust” in 2020, although revenue and new home competitions dipped due to the closure of the housing market in the first UK-wide lockdown. New home competitions reached [...]
Persimmon’s first-half profit slumps before market rebound August 18, 2020 Housebuilder Persimmon’s pre-tax profit tumbled 42 per cent in the first half of the year, but the company said it had had an “excellent start” to the second half as market sentiment improved. The figures Persimmon’s profit before tax fell 42 per cent to £292.4m in the six months ending 30 June, down from £509.3m [...]
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 [...]
Coronavirus dividend cuts produce £4.4bn hit to investor portfolios March 27, 2020 With more UK firms announcing coronavirus-fuelled dividend cuts this week, the total loss of investor income so far this year is now £4.4bn. The pace of dividend cuts is accelerating as coronavirus wreaks havoc on world economies. In March 116 companies have suspended their dividends totalling £4.2bn, according to investment fund AJ Bell. That compares [...]