Shares in Heating and Plumbing supplier Ferguson top the UK Index this morning after H1 results, driven by strong US residential markets, were accompanied by welcome confirmation of a $1bn special dividend (circa 5%) to be paid with proceeds of its sale of Nordic building materials distributor Stark. Whilst the former maintains the positive corporate…
Smurfit Kappa shares are bottom of the UK Index this morning, -3.1%, after management’s formal rejection of a circa 3% boost to the cash and share offer from International Paper. Having jumped 26% in response to the early March news, hitting fresh record highs, the shares have since eased almost 10% from their peak. This…
23 March Proactive Investors Mike van Dulken, head of research at Accendo Markets, commented: “With markets expecting the UK’s Bank of England to hike in May to temper inflation, the UK allegedly close to a Brexit transition deal, and President Trump keeping the USD on the back foot with his protectionist approach, investors are also factoring in…
I’ve written lots about M&A – takeovers specifically – and the typically divergent share price reactions of predator and prey. Rather than discuss another UK Index share price jump following a bid approach though, how about two blue-chips trading higher because they walked away from a deal? Why? Because it backs up the rule of…
After another week of top tier events and major surprises, some UK blue chip stocks are back trading at some pretty notable lows. And with the UK 100 itself back trading at December 2016 lows, if these stocks rally, would now be a good time to buy the index? Global indices have been taken on…
Smiths Group is the UK Index loser this morning, -10%, after reporting lower H1 sales (-4%; -1% underlying), profits down -12% (-3% underlying; higher Medical R&D, Detection programme phasing, acquisition integration) and free cash flow down a very sharp -36%. This has only allowed the group to increase the interim dividend by 1.8%, less than…