Supermarket chain Tesco (TSCO) gets off the a strong start to the current year with first quarter sales beating market expectations. Britain's largest grocer reports a like-for-like sales increase of 2.3% in the three months to 27 May, boosted by demand for fresh food. That's after stripping out the impact of new stores. The news is welcomed by investors, although early morning gains become temper

UK stocks decline in early trade on Friday as investors continue to digest the Bank of England's policy meeting minutes and looked ahead to the Federal Reserve's decision on interest rates next week. The BoE on Thursday voted 8-1 to keep interest rates and the asset purchase programme unchanged, pointing to weak inflation. The consumer price index rose 0.1% in July, well below the BoE's target of

London shares make positive moves higher in early trade on Thursday as investors begin to put Greece debt deal talk behind them and focus on future corporate earnings. The benchmark FTSE 100 index rises 36 points, or about 0.54%, to 6,790, gains broadly matched by the midcap FTSE 250 and the wider FTSE All-Share.Investors remain sanguine over a possible enforced break-up of UK telecoms giant BT (B

To get a flotation away the stockbrokers organising the transaction need to price it sensibly and leave something on the table for the investor to ensure the deal goes well. If an initial public offering (IPO) is a success, the shares swiftly rise above the issue price and everyone is happy: the company management, the new shareholders and the broker, who may drum up more business on the back of a