2017-12-01 07:14:23
COMPANIES ROUND-UP
FTSE 100
. Although Next’s sales were 2. 6% ahead of last year’s figure, the British clothing company’s pre-tax profit fell by 1.5% to £342.1m. Its retail division proved the least profitable part of the business, generating £133.9m, down 16.8% on the year before.
. Barratt Developments finished the year strongly, delivering its highest total of housing completions since the global financial crisis and enjoying increased demand for homes. Homebuyers reserved an average 0. 75 homes a week per site since 1 July 2016, compared with 0.71 homes the year before.
. Dixons Carphone shares climbed by 4.25% to 390.1p after the company said it was still feeling the impact of the Brexit vote on consumer behaviour. In the UK and Ireland, the electrical retailer had like-for-like revenue growth of 4%
Investment industry
. Mattioli Woods reported fullyear adjusted earnings of £9.3m, a 25.7% rise on the level achieved the year before. Accordingly, adjusted earnings per share were up by 14% to 31p and revenue was up 24.3% to £43m. Client assets were also up by 22.2% to £6.61bn from £5.41bn in 2015. The firm’s discretionary assets were up 15.8% to £1.17bn. It also announced the acquisition of pensions company MC Trustees.
. Brooks MacDonald rang in its 25th anniversary with higher funds under management and profits for the year ending 30 June 2016, overcoming significant headwinds. Shares in the wealth manager wobbled slightly after the release of its year-end results, however, dipping 1.06% to 1,962p. Brooks MacDonald generated £863m in net new discretionary business, taking funds under management to £8.3bn, a 12% increase.
. In its interim results, Miton said that outflows from its UK Value Opportunities Fund during the second quarter more than offset its first-quarter asset accumulation. The fund suffered £423m in redemptions during the first half of the year after the resignation of George Godber and Georgina Hamilton. Miton swiftly replaced the pair with EdenTree’s Andrew Jackson.
MONTH IN PREVIEW
October
. Markit Economics in conjunction with Caixin releases the China manufacturing purchasing managers’ index report on 3 October. A UK version will be released the same day.
. The European Central Bank holds its non-monetary policy meeting on 4 October. On 7 October, HM Revenue & Customs will post UK overseas trade statistics, which span both EU and non-EU countries.
. FTSE 100 grocery retailer Tesco publishes interim results on 5 October, while British Dutch giant Unilever will release its Q3 figures on 13 October.
. BP and Royal Dutch Shell will report during the final week of the month (25 and 27 October), followed by Royal Bank of Scotland on 28 October.
SELECTED MARKETS
The UK’s biggest companies had a very mixed month with the index experiencing a big sell-off early on, then recovering through the back end of September.
US equites followed a similar pattern to their UK counterparts, with a bad start to the month and a strong finish.
The Nikkei 225 did not move much for the majority of the period but there was a discernible rise following the BoJ’s announcement it would modify its monetary policy framework.
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