Stock prices in London, Paris and Frankfurt opened mostly in the green on Wednesday, amid a slew of purchasing managers indices data, as investors await the US ADP report.'Today, investors will watch the US ADP report, and PMI, ISM numbers from both sides of the Atlantic Ocean,' said Swissquote's Ipek Ozkardeskaya. 'While the European investors could brush off bad news on expectation that the...

The market gave a largely positive response to Labour's first Budget with the domestic-facing FTSE 250 index and AIM market both enjoying strong gains following the unveiling of chancellor Rachel Reeves' plans.While the inheritance tax exemption on AIM shares was halved it wasn't abolished as had been feared. Rachel Winter, partner at Killik & Co: 'AIM shares have suffered from a perfect storm...

MJ Gleeson director sellsJudges Scientific director sells 25,791 sharesBalfour Beatty CFO sells after strong annual share gainsChristopher Mills, non-executive director of affordable house builder MJ Gleeson (GLE) has sold 300,000 shares at 610p for a total value of £1.83 million on 4 October.The sale was made by the North Atlantic Smaller Companies Investment Trust (NAS) where Mills is the...

Stock prices in the UK, France and Germany were higher at midday Wednesday as investors await a US consumer price inflation print, after UK CPI inflation was reported higher.The FTSE 100 index was up 28.63 points, or 0.4%, at 8,263.86. The FTSE 250 was up 114.24 points, or 0.6%, at 20,858.32, and the AIM All-Share was up 1.10 points, or 0.1%, at 769.08.The Cboe UK 100 was up 0.5% at 826.01,...

New £185 million contract win9% rise in half-year dividend to 3.8p per shareSelected by Rolls Royce as a construction partnerShares in Balfour Beatty (BBY) fell more than 3% to 394p in morning trading as the infrastructure group reported a widely expected rise in revenue for the first half of the year.However this news failed to excite investors who took the opportunity to cash in on a recent...

Although shares in leading infrastructure group Balfour Beatty (BBY) haven't been immune to the recent pull-back in markets, they were recently sitting at their best level in more than a decade so investors will be keen to hear how the business has been performing when it reports half-year earnings on 14 August.In its last trading update in May, the firm said trading was in line with its...

Aviva director buys £484,000 sharesBalfour Beatty CEO buys £129,696 sharesCakebox CEO Sukh Chamdal ups stakeT Neil Morrison, non-executive director at life insurer Aviva (AV.) has bought 100,000 shares at 484p for a total value of £484,000 on 25 June.Over the past year Aviva shares have gained 23%.Morrison's move comes after the life insurer reported a strong set of results for the first...

Balfour Beatty CEO sells sharesCarr's director snaps up stockVictrex CFO buys after first-half resultsLeo Quinn, chief executive of construction group Balfour Beatty (BBY), sold 189,921 shares at 384p for a total value of £730,423 on 16 May.Quinn's move could be seen as 'cashing in' on good news after Balfour Beatty shares have gained over 9% year-to-date. The FTSE 250 company recently said...

Shares jump to three-month highEarnings per share fall over 20%Dividend raised and new buybackInvestors gave the latest results from infrastructure firm Balfour Beatty (BBY) a fairly rapturous reception considering it reported a 20% drop in earnings for the year to December.The shares surged as much as 9% to a three-month high of 370p on a dull day for the rest of the FTSE 250 which traded...

London?s FTSE 100 made a tepid start to 2024, with underwhelming manufacturing data from the UK and eurozone doing little to lift sentiment.Equities in New York are called to open lower ahead of a key week for the US interest rate outlook. The latest Federal Reserve meeting minutes are released on Wednesday, before the official US jobs report on Friday.The FTSE 100 index was down 29.34 points,...

Prime minister Rishi Sunak has floated and announced big policy changes recently from delaying a ban of the sales of new petrol and diesel cares, pulling back on phasing out gas boilers and introducing a New Zealand-style anti-smoking policy.There has also been the public discussion of abandoning or at least curtailing the zero-carbon high-speed railway to the north of England - better known...

Balfour Beatty CEO snaps up sharesOn The Beach chief buys on weaknessMarks & Spencer director adds to holdingLeo Quinn, chief executive of construction and infrastructure group Balfour Beatty (BBY), has bought a total of 57,269 shares in two separate tranches this week - 32,269 at 308p and 25,000 at 310p for £198,992 on the 16 and 17 August 2023 respectively.The purchases come after the...

While there is much handwringing over the outlook for the new-build housing sector, it seems the rest of the UK construction industry is in rude health. That has helped construction to be one of the best performing sectors in the FTSE 350 index year-to-date, up 20%.The latest S&P Global/CIPS UK Construction PMI survey - which tracks changes in the total volume of construction activity in the...

- YouGov boss transfers shares to family firm, gifts shares to children- London Stock Exchange NED buys over £1 million of shares- Balfour Beatty chief capitalises on positive set of resultsStephan Shakespeare, the chief executive of YouGov (YOU), the international online research and data analytics group, sold 1,563,625 shares at 950p per share on 3 April for a total consideration of...

- Contract win worth £1.2 billion- Crossing to provide a crucial link- Focus on public works pays offConstruction and infrastructure group Balfour Beatty (BBY) has added another high-profile project to its UK order book with the Lower Thames Crossing contract.The shares, which have risen more than 25% since their October low, added another 1% to 363p.BUILDING BRIDGESThe new contract, worth a...

Thanks to a slew of major UK and US public works programmes, revenues and earnings at construction and engineering firm Balfour Beatty (BBY) are set to beat expectations in 2022, according to the company.The news sent shares in the group up 2.7% to 346p on 8 December, their highest level in more than a decade.Major UK projects include the Queen Street station in Glasgow, Whitechapel station on...

- Infrastructure market is booming- Full-year profits seen above consensus- Shares just pence away from a new highInternational infrastructure group Balfour Beatty (BBY) received the thumbs-up from investors for its latest trading update and increased full-year earnings guidance.The shares gained 3% to 342p, above their September closing high of 340p, which - assuming they stay at that level...

- First half earnings beat estimates- Order book reaches £17.7 billion- Full-year margins seen topping forecastsShares in Balfour Beatty (BBY) leapt 10% to a 12-month high of 321p after the construction and infrastructure group posted a strong set of interim results and raised its full year outlook.On the back of a 42% increase in underlying first-half profits, the board now expects margins...

UK stocks began the last trading of the week in better spirits despite a turbulent overnight session for US equities as shares in Facebook owner Meta lost $250 billion in value, the largest single one-day loss in US history, contributing to a 4.2% slide in the Nasdaq 100 technology index.In contrast, Amazon delivered better than expected earnings thanks to its cloud business, sending its...

UK stocks edged lower into the close on Wednesday as investors awaited clues to the speed of a possible US rate rise from the publication of the latest meeting notes from the Federal Reserve.At 4.45pm, the benchmark FTSE 100 index was down 12 points or less than 0.2% at 7,169, with losses for miners offsetting gains for house builders after more strong data on home prices.COMPANY NEWSPersimmon...