Telecom Plus (TEP) £19.40 Market cap: £1.55 billion On the face of it, Telecom Plus (TEP) is a dull utility business. So far, so boring. Dig a little deeper, however, and you'll find a genuine FTSE 250 diamond in the rough. This is a true income and growth company. Many businesses make such claims but there are surprisingly few that pull it off and have the track record to prove it. For...

First quarter sales up 4.9% Highest market share since 2016 Full year guidance reiterated Supermarket chain Sainsbury's (SBRY) reported 4.9% revenue growth for the 16 weeks to 21 June as the grocer registered its highest market share in nearly a decade with like-for-like sales excluding fuel up 4.7%, the highest in a year. Despite the strong trading update, the shares traded 3.3p or roughly 1%...

In Sainsbury's (SBRY) last set of results for the 52 weeks ending 1 March, the company impressed investors with double-digit growth and an underlying operating profit topping £1 billion. The company also said it had completed a £200 million share buyback and increased its full-year dividend by 4% to 13.6p. However, Sainsbury's can't ignore the 'elephant in the room' which is the supermarket...

Companies which sit in the middle of the market capitalisation range, represented in the UK by the FTSE 250 index, by definition have the potential to become the next large-cap leaders. Unlike small caps, mid caps are big enough to have built a stable business supported by a strong balance sheet, but in contrast to large caps, still have the potential to grow for decades to come. The problem...

Record sales and profits Continued margin expansion 35th year of dividend growth Premium food producer Cranswick (CWK) reported record full-year revenue and pre-tax profit, ahead of market forecasts, sending the shares up more than 4% to a new high of £54.90. Despite a 10% pullback in the shares on 12 May following an investigation into animal cruelty at a Lincolnshire farm, the shares are up...

FY26 retail profit guidance below consensus Investors cheer buyback and special dividend Reaction in sharp contrast to Tesco last week Investors in the UK's second-largest supermarket group Sainsbury's (SBRY) were treated to a triptych of good news with better-than-expected full-year results, a new £200 million buyback and a special dividend. This seemed to overshadow the news retail profit...

London stocks fell on Thursday morning after US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's warning that tariffs could generate increased inflation, while updates from Sainsbury and Dunelm offered bright spots. Lloyds Bank analyst meanwhile commented: 'Powell's comments after the London close, warning of an essentially stagflationary outlook, roiled markets further as his message emphasised the...

Since taking over the helm at Tesco (TSCO) four years ago, chief executive Ken Murphy and the rest of the team have done a fine job of steering the grocery giant to record profits and its highest market share in a decade. It was a surprise, therefore, when the shares dropped 6% on the day the company posted its 2024/25 annual results, but the reaction was based on what was to come rather than...

Supermarket Income REIT (SUPR) 77.1p Market cap: £959 million Experts reckon we could survive three days or nine meals with empty supermarket shelves before a full-blown societal collapse. That's how vital supermarkets are to our everyday existence. So, invest in shares of Tesco (TSCO), Sainsbury's (SBRY) or Marks & Spencer (MKS) during times of market turbulence? That is a possible option,...

UK stocks posted their biggest gains since the pandemic on Thursday after the US paused new reciprocal tariffs, as investors welcomed a break from recent volatility and easing price pressures in the US. The FTSE 100 index closed up 233.77 points, 3.0%, at 7,913.25. The FTSE 250 ended 626.77 points higher, 3.5%, at 18,517.41. The AIM All-Share advanced 17.96 points, 2.9%, at 644.97. The Cboe UK...

Judging by how well shares in Sainsbury's (SBRY) have held up during the global market sell-off, investors are betting the UK's second-largest supermarket chain won't deliver a nasty surprise when it reports its results for the year to the end of March on 17 April. The firm published an 'aide-memoire' a few months ago repeating its guidance from the third quarter that underlying operating...

The sweeping tariffs unveiled by president Donald Trump on 2 April 2025, dubbed 'Liberation Day' by the administration, have significantly impacted financial markets, seemingly disrupting decades of economic norms, at least in the short term. We discuss the details and initial market reaction elsewhere in this magazine and it's only natural as an investor to be somewhat shaken by these...

Defensives hold up in sell-offNew appetite for growth stocksBanks unable to shake off lossesAs the dust settles from the three-day 'Liberation Day'-inspired sell-off, the list of winners and losers makes for interesting reading.Not everything which held up during the market meltdown is being sold off, and not everything which racked up big losses is rebounding, unlike in previous recoveries,...

With online sales rising to 30% of all retail sales last year, according to the Office for National Statistics, there are more parcels than ever ending up on people's front doorsteps. This has created an opportunity for unscrupulous criminals to steal goods from unsuspecting citizens who may not be home or may be unaware of the delivery. The BBC's Watchdog programme recently featured one...

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...

Shares ended higher in London on Friday as the German government agreed a defence and infrastructure spending package, while the US Senate worked to avoid a government shutdown ahead of its midnight funding deadline.The FTSE 100 index closed up 89.77 points, 1.1%, at 8,632.33. The FTSE 250 ended up 307.02 points, 1.6%, at 19,995.59, and the AIM All-Share closed up 7.59 points, 1.1%, at...

Bakkavor (BAKK) 150.5pMarket cap: £872 millionInvestors fretting over geopolitical uncertainties, downbeat economic outlooks on both sides of the Atlantic and frothy valuations across the pond should consider tucking into an attractively valued, cash generative and dividend paying UK stock with defensive qualities.One name that fits the bill is Bakkavor (BAKK), the chilled prepared food...

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...

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...