UK organic sales disappoint Margin pressure in non-food New CEO has his work cut out Warmer weather and soft comparatives helped embattled shopkeeper B&M (BME) return to like-for-like growth in its core UK business in the first quarter to 28 June 2025. Unfortunately, this growth came in at the lower end of market expectations and the variety goods discounter warned of lower margins in some...

London's blue chip index reached a new all-time high on Tuesday morning, with the mood in Europe largely optimistic before focus turns stateside. A host of major banks release earnings before the opening bell in New York. In addition, there is a US inflation reading to come. Among London shares, Experian impressed, though trading statements from Barratt Redrow and B&M disappointed. The FTSE...

Warm Easter holiday weather boosted seasonal sales of outdoor and gardening products and encouraged consumers to get out and spend on 'big-ticket' projects. Among the beneficiaries was DIY chain Wickes (WIX), where revenue grew 6.9% in the 17 weeks to 26 April 2025. The specialty retailer highlighted 'strong volume-led' retail sales, up 9.2% on a like-for-like basis. Wickes, which opened its...

Business at value-focused shopkeeper B&M European Value Retail (BME) should be booming when households are watching every penny, so the fact the company isn't on a growth tear suggests tweaks to the strategy and customer proposition could be needed under new broom Tjeerd Jegen. The recently appointed CEO will provide an experienced hand at the tiller for the variety goods retailer, whose...

According to the latest Dividend Monitor report from Computershare, which looks after the share registers of 900 companies, total UK corporate dividend payments fell 4.6% or £700 million in the first quarter of this year to £14 billion. The decline was mainly due to lower one-off special dividends and a handful of large cuts from firms such as Burberry (BRBY) and Vodafone (VOD), which halved...

The UK market's long-awaited IPO comeback is conspicuous by its absence. There were only four floats in the first quarter of 2025 versus 15 takeover situations, meaning the UK market continues to shrink in size. Last summer, there was market euphoria about a new government coming into power and how that would create more certainty for businesses. They might not like all policies, but they...

A surprise announcement from Asda has caught investors off guard and threatened to spark a supermarket price war. Its UK rivals were knocked off their axis by the profit warning and a statement it intends to invest more in price and store standards this year.Executive chair Allan Leighton said the chief aim behind Asda's move was to restore the supermarket's 5% to 10% price gap 'which had...

Diageo director buys on five-year lowB&M director buys 70,053 sharesLBG Media directors snap up stockA person closely associated with Dan Mobley - a member of the executive committee at Diageo (DGE) - Diana Mobley has bought 2,280 shares at £21.81 for a total value of £49,727 on 14 February.The alcoholic drinks giant's shares recently took a turn for the worse dropping to a five-year low of...

Struggling discounter B&M European Value Retail's (BME) stock plunged to a five-year low after the variety retailer delivered its latest profit downgrade (24 February) and announced chief executive Alex Russo would step down at the end of April.Profit warnings almost always put a dent in a company's stock price, but the sheer magnitude of B&M's value destruction over the past year and a bit is...

Russo to retire at end of AprilEarnings guidance lowered againLike-for-like declines 'at the core' of challengesB&M European Value Retail's (BME) stock plunged 8% to a five-year low of 268p after the struggling discounter delivered another profit warning and announced that Alex Russo will retire as CEO at the end of April.Russo appears to have carried the can for the variety retailer's latest...

Shares in WH Smith (SMWH) jumped 5% to £12.11 on 27 January after the storied retailer confirmed it was 'exploring potential strategic options' for its High Street business, which opened its first shop in London back in 1792.These options include a potential sale of all 500 High Street stores at a time when bricks-and-mortar retailing faces online competition, subdued footfall and a sharp...

Exploring options for High Street divisionTalks ongoing with prospective buyersFocus on faster-growing Travel armShares in WH Smith (SMWH) were marked up 5.5% to £12.11 on 27 January after the global travel retailer confirmed it is 'exploring potential strategic options' for its storied-yet-struggling High Street business, which opened its first shop in London back in 1792.These include a...

With most of the big names in the retail sector having reported we can get a decent picture of how the sector fared in the run-up to and during the festive period. A weak trading backdrop for non-food retail in October and November, before Santa delivered a return to growth in December, a month that also witnessed a notable shift to online sales according to the latest data (17 January) from...

Key UK retailers ended Thursday firmly in the red but calmer bond markets and rising commodity prices helped keep blue-chip stocks in the green.The FTSE 100 index ended up 68.66 points, 0.8%, at 8,319.69. The FTSE 250 climbed 52.90 points, 0.3%, at 20,005.14, bouncing from an intra-day low of 19,733.12. The AIM All-Share ended down 0.15 of a point, 0.1%, at 719.96.The Cboe UK 100 closed up...

London's blue-chips were higher around midday on Thursday, but fresh falls in the pound and bond market angst kept domestically-focused stocks on the back foot.The FTSE 100 index was up 46.80 points, 0.6%, at 8,297.83. The FTSE 250 was down 95.22 points, 0.5%, at 19,857.02, and the AIM All-Share lost 0.68 of a point, 0.1%, at 719.43.The Cboe UK 100 was up 0.6% at 830.81, the Cboe UK 250 lost...

UK high street enduringLow ticket leisure a winnerValue retail showing resilienceMany have sounded the death knell for the UK high street, notably during the Covid crisis as retail trends shifted towards online shopping. Yet, the high street has endured amid the consumer's persistent demand for physical retail.And despite many high street stocks successfully adapting to this evolving retail...

UK takeovers moved up a gear in 2024 as predators targeted bigger companies. The average value of deals was £1.07 billion, nearly three times higher than the £390 million average in 2023. In total, there were £49 billion worth of recommended bids versus £17.2 billion last year.A bounty of unloved or underappreciated companies were swept off their feet, signalling the UK market as being 'on...

What a mixed year this has turned out to be for Shares' best ideas for 2024.That our one star turn stock was an annuities and lifetime mortgage specialist, even if it was 'screamingly cheap at its current price', as we originally noted, and the supposedly exciting tech growth picks have been dull-to-dismal, might make you hark back to school days studies of Christopher Hill's The World Turned...

Group revenue rises 3.7%New UK import centre for 2026France revenue grows 6.8%Shares in B&M European Value (BME) gained over 3% to 392p in morning trading as the low-priced variety goods retailer said group revenue for the 26 weeks to 28 September increased by 3.7% to £2.64 billion.The increase was driven by UK sales growth, which improved across the first half of the year by 6% against 1.5%...

Now that the dust has settled after the UK elections and attention has turned back to markets, we have updated the performance stats on our tips for 2024. Overall, our picks have gained 8.7% year-to-date compared with an 8.3% rise in the FTSE All-Share. That's not to say it has been plain sailing ? our returns range from a gain of almost 60% to a loss of more than 40%, the latter is in a US...