Political concerns are dogging the market into the weekend. Click here for The Trader Nicole Elliott's latest thoughts.
IC TIP UPDATES:
Housebuilder Berkeley (BKG) reaffirmed its commitment to pay £16.34 in dividends by 2021, but will now pay the outstanding £10 per share through a mixture of dividends and share buy-backs. Reservations were down 20 per cent from the same time a year earlier as a result of higher stamp duty and a decision by some potential buyers to hold back. Forward sales were down from £3.25bn to £2.9bn, while the estimated gross margin from the 42,125 plots in the land bank was down from £6.1bn to £5.1bn. A new five-year target has been announced to deliver at least £3bn in pre-tax profits in the five years beginning 1 May 2016. We maintain our buy recommendation.
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Commercial flooring company James Halstead (JHD) has warned that its end markets are tougher than last year although it has maintained market share. Management has also shown its confidence by confirming its plans to increase its dividend by 8.2 per cent.
Laird (LRD) has confirmed that trading remains in line with recently reduced expectations and that a rationalisation plan is on track. Meanwhile management is looking to address its heightened debt levels with a £185m fund raising early next year and in the mean time is cancelling its dividend payment.
Allied Minds (ALM) has completed a placing of just less than 17.5m shares at 367p a share, raising £64m in the process. The shares were placed at a 2.2 per cent discount to the prevailing market price.
