This recent habit of having a major nationwide vote each year is leaving many people tired. Not so Idox (IDOX). The software company, which provides voter registration, management, e-counting and internet voting, among other election services, is very much looking forward to Thursday's drama. It needs a good bump, after a weak first half. Click here for our analysis.
It will be interesting to see which of the pollsters gets closest to the result. YouGov (YOU) has been attracting a lot of attention, and a few jokes, on social media with their current forecast that the Conservative Party will fall short of a parliamentary majority. There's an argument that no publicity is bad publicity for the group, which is more focused on selling its data products and services - which measure brand impact profile customers - and we shouldn't forget that its largest market is the US. Getting it very wrong wouldn't be great for its own brand, but who knows... I'm very clear that there is only one poll that matters.
The current uncertain economic conditions are having a real impact in the retail and property sectors. Click here for ex-London commercial property investor Custodian Reit's (CREI) decent full-year performance, against a backdrop of muted supply. The results themselves had an interesting take from independent chairman David Hunter:
"Property investment and occupational markets continue to exhibit a less than perfect correlation, which is slightly at odds with expected theory that occupational demand drives rental growth which in turn drives valuation increases. This aspect makes the outlook for total returns harder to predict as external influences can cause investment markets to move in a contrary fashion. While the occupational market has strengthened through the year and rental growth has taken hold across large parts of regional economies, the investment market has been more volatile. I anticipate that occupational demand combined with a limited supply of new development will continue to drive rental growth across regional markets, supporting a low vacancy rate and securing dividends and long-term capital growth for the Company's shareholders."
As for retail, AO World (AO.) put out some fairly rubbish full-year results. The white goods seller is spending a lot to expand overseas while seeing growth at home struggle - it's not a fun time to be importing consumer goods. We were ahead on this one, as you can read here.
There's plenty more below, including our latest Boardroom Talk podcast...
