High street chains Ashley (Laura) Holding (ALY) and Debenhams (DEB) in battle for younger shoppers. Laura Ashley is set to open hotels and its stores will sell Nordic furniture. Debenhams is opening collection points for Asos and Amazon in stores
Persimmon (PSN) embarrassed as report reveals Mr £131m is not worth the money. For every pound received by Fairburn over the past four years, shareholders have received just £114. That compares to £478 received by investors in firms with best value bosses
Ocado Group (OCDO) led the risers, after strong sales data earlier in the week, climbing 20.5p, to 110p.
Grafton Group Units (GFTU) nailed a 2.3% gain as it rose 18p to 794.5p. Adjusted operating profit was up 17% to £92.5million and investors were rewarded with a 6p per share dividend, 14% more than last year. However it played down future success, saying market conditions are expected to remain relatively flat for the rest of the year. But Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said that was ‘a classic example of under-promising in the hope of over-delivering’.
Paragon Entertainment Ltd (DI) (PEL) fell after results for what chairman Mark Taylor called a ‘very poor’ six months. The York-based business revealed revenue had halved to £4million, while it made an underlying loss of £2million compared to a profit of £448,000 last year. Paragon reassured shareholders that its order book was recovering after an ‘industry-wide downturn’ in 2017, and that it should recover in the second half of this year.
Collagen Solutions (COS) was given a boost as it announced it was in negotiations with distributors in Europe. Financial performance would be in line with market expectations, it added.
Investors in MediaZest (MDZ), which received a 12.5% battering after disappointing results last week, pulled some of their losses back as shares rose 11.1%, or 0.02p, to 0.15p.
Blue collar jobs being squeezed as roads, railways and water bosses turn to high-end technology. One third of builder and engineer Costain Group (COST) workforce is now in technology and consultancy roles as it seeks to meet market demand.
BT Group (BT.A) geeks will deliver smartphones to customers as group tries to improve customer service. BT has brought in Apple’s former retail guru to improve customer service. The telecoms giant’s mobile arm, EE, has linked up with Ron Johnson, 59, to let customers have their new smartphones hand-delivered by experts who can answer technical questions.
Sky (SKY) investors hope for higher takeover offer from Comcast. The owner of Universal Studios says its bid for Sky has less than 1% backing from shareholders so far, as investors wait to see if they can get a better price.
Debenhams (DEB) appoints former Domino’s Pizza director as new finance chief on basic salary of £439k a year
Ashley (Laura) Holding (ALY) profits crash to just £100k as the retailer closes UK stores and struggles to shift furniture… but its shares rocket higher
