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 quarte

The FTSE 100 rose on Monday morning, albeit not as confidently as peers in Paris and Frankfurt, as investors reflect on a slew of data releases from last week, and look ahead to what could be a key few days for inflation and monetary policy developments.The FTSE 100 index rose 9.70 points, 0.1%, at 7,920.86. The FTSE 250 climbed 68.77 points, 0.4%, at 19,794.71, and the AIM All-Share advanced 4.55

Second half momentum improvementProfit guidance ?slightly? increasedNew branding well-receivedCake Box (CBOX:AIM) shares sweetened up 6.2% to 171p on Monday after the fresh cream celebration cakes retailer said full year profits will be ?slightly? ahead of the £5.9 million consensus estimate, implying a 10% year-on-year uplift, after trading momentum improved in the second half.As a result, reven

For the second part of our annual survey, we asked fund managers if they had changed their view on any stocks this year, for better or for worse, and what lay behind their decisions.As with the winners and losers survey last week, the answers were often frank and once again we would like to thank everyone who took part.Thomas Moore - Aberdeen Equity Income Trust (AEI)THE STOCK THAT I CHANGED MY MI

David is a 41-year-old IT consultant who first got interested in investing in 2004 after buying shares in his employer when it floated on the Indian stock market.He then started investing in the UK and US markets for his ISA and SIPP (self-invested person pension). The ISA is used to house stocks while the SIPP is comprised of funds and investment trusts.David still owns shares in the Indian compa

- Profit warning sends shares 45% lower- Cost inflation higher than anticipated- Like-for-like sales slumpFresh cream cakes specialist Cake Box (CBOX:AIM) has issued a profit warning for the year to 31 March 2023, sending the shares 45% lower to 91.1p on Wednesday.Cake Box now expects full year profitability to be 'significantly below' market expectations. Darren Shirley, food retail analyst at Sh

Shares in Cake Box (CBOX:AIM) rallied 8.6% to 209p after the fresh cream cakes retailer served up a reassuring full year trading update that confirmed the strong trading seen since the end of lockdown has continued.The Enfield-headquartered egg-free cakes franchisor expects adjusted pre-tax profit for the year to March 2022 to be in line with market expectations, having put recent reporting and ac

Shares in Cake Box (CBOX:AIM) rallied 8.8% to 216p after the fresh cream cakes retailer announced senior management changes which helped soothe market fears following recent worrying revelation of poor internal controls.Investors were also relieved as the Enfield-headquartered egg-free cakes franchisor delivered news of strong trading in the second half to date and expressed confidence its perform

Sukh Chamdal, chief executive and co-founder of specialist fresh cream cakes retailer Cake Box (CBOX:AIM) has sold shares with a market value of £10.5 million.The sale represents 7.5% of the company's shares and was executed through an accelerated book build with house broker Shore Capital. The sale leaves Chamdal with 9.8 million shares, representing just under 25% of the company.STRONG GAINSYe

UK stocks meandered in Monday afternoon after disappointing consumer confidence data with cyber security firm Darktrace (DARK) a rare exception up 12.5% to 650p on bargain hunting.At the close the FTSE 100 index of leading shares was down just three points to 7,300.COMPANY NEWSShares in mining group BHP (BHP) gained 0.7% to £19.23 after the firm announced it had agreed to sell its 80% stake in BH

UK stocks drifted into negative territory Monday lunchtime despite gains in oil stocks and a rebound in cyber security firm Darktrace (DARK), which gained 10.5% to 638p.Brent crude futures firmed 0.8% to $83.30 per barrel after OPEC rejected US calls for it to step up production, while sterling was flat against the dollar at $1.3490 and gold crept 0.2% higher to $1,817 per ounce.At midday, the FTS

Shares in specialist retailer of fresh cream cakes Cake Box (CBOX:AIM) sweetened 4.5% on Monday to a new all-time high of 397p after the group reported record first half results to 30 September.Revenues grew 92% to £16.5 million resulting in pre-tax profit more than doubling to £3.7 million. For the four months through September, a period which compares a fully opened estate year-on-year, revenu

UK stocks continued their positive progress on Monday with technology and energy stocks lending support to the main index.US markets pushed to new highs on Friday after a strong October payrolls report and news that drugmaker Pfizer had developed a new Covid-19 pill.Brent crude future firmed 0.8% to $83.60 per barrel after OPEC rejected US calls for it to step up production, while sterling was fla

UK shares retreated from positive territory on Monday afternoon, pulled down by weak US markets while oil prices spiked higher.At the London close the US S&P 500 index of leading shares was down 1.4% while the technology focused Nasdaq 100 index was 2.3% lower.Meanwhile Brent crude prices shot up 2.6% to $81.20 per barrel, marking new three-year highs.At the close the FTSE 100 index of leading sto

UK shares traded slightly higher at midday on Monday as gains in oil and mining shares were offset by weakness in financials. At 12pm, the FTSE 100 index of leading stocks was up 0.2% to 7,040 points. Brent crude prices were trading 0.4% higher at $79.50 per barrel, close to last week's three-year high.COMPANY NEWSThe auction for supermarket group Morrisons (MRW) ended with CD&R pipping Fortress t

Shares in egg-free fresh cream cakes franchisor Cake Box (CBOX:AIM) surged 10% to 370p on Monday, marking an all-time high for the stock after the company posted a 91% increase in first-half revenues through September to £16.4 million.To provide a cleaner picture of underlying performance and exclude any overlap with the past lockdowns, the company flagged that over the last four months revenues

UK stocks started the week cautiously, in spite of a raft of earnings upgrades, after another weak session in Asia where stocks in China and Japan were down 2% and 1% respectively as the Evergrande saga rumbled on.In energy markets, the focus was on the meeting of OPEC+ oil producers for any decision on whether to increase crude production, after a sharp rally in oil and gas prices this year. Bren

Over the past week, directors have sold into share price strength at a number of well-followed companies, while the outgoing boss of one firm put more money to work ahead of his switch to a non-executive role.DESAI DEMONSTRATES FAITHThat man is Samir Desai, who will soon step down as CEO of Funding Circle (FCH) after 12 years in the hot seat. However, he demonstrated his faith in the lending firm'

UK stocks pulled back from their recent highs on Wednesday as first quarter GDP fell 1.6%, revised down from 1.5% reflecting the most recent lockdown, and oil prices retreated.Brent crude futures gave up 0.3% to $74 per barrel while precious metals were also weaker, with gold down 0.2% at $1,758 per ounce, capping its worst monthly performance for a couple of years, down 8% since the start of June

Eggs-free cakes maker Cake Box (CBOX:AIM) reported a rise in annual profit as revenue was boosted by a record franchisee sales despite the pandemic impact.For the 12 months ended 31 March 2021, pre-tax profit jumped 11.8% to £4.2 million year-on-year as revenue increased 16.9% to £21.9 million.Online sales grew 84%, and like-for-like sales grew 14.7% in franchise stores, up from 5.1% in the 40 w