In the third of our four-part series on small caps (you can read part two on UK small cap funds and trusts elsewhere in this issue), we get our data-crunching caps on and take a look at key metrics around value, income and growth in the smaller companies universe.To narrow things down we limited our search to London-listed companies with market valuations between £50 million and £500...

Digital business set to outperform says Panmure LiberumDue to report full year results on 4 MarchYear-to-date shares up 7%Shares in Reach (RCH) soared 25% to 90p in early morning trading as the newspaper publisher said it expects to deliver results ahead of current market expectations for the full year.Back in October 2024 the publisher said it was confident in delivering full-year guidance...

Group revenue year-on-year down 6.7%Print revenue down 6%Circulation revenue down 3.4%Shares in Reach (RCH) were up over 9% to 81p in morning trading as one of the UK?s biggest newspaper groups said it was ?on track? to deliver full year expectations.Investors seemed to ignore the 6.7% fall in group revenue with print revenue falling 6% and circulation revenue falling 3.4% in the first...

Revenue down 5.4% to £568.6 millionPrint circulation revenue up 2%Pre-tax profits down 10% to £92.7 millionShares in Reach (RCH) were up over 15% at one point in morning trading to 68p after annual profit came in slightly ahead of market expectations. The newspaper publisher reported a 5.4% fall in revenue to £568.6 million for the 53 weeks to 31 December 2023.The shares were also buoyed...

There is no hotter area to invest in today than artificial intelligence, or AI as it is commonly known. Ever since OpenAI's ChatGPT took the world by storm, investors have been racing to find winners from this explosive trend.Corporate leaders, meanwhile, have been scrambling to prove to investors that they are harnessing the technology to drive revenue growth, improve operational efficiency,...

First there was ChatGPT - the disruptive AI chatbot made by OpenAI (Chat Generative Pre-Trained Transformer) and now there are searches powered by AI (artificial intelligence) which could bring a revolution in digital advertising as well as spell the end of bog-standard online enquiries.REINVENTING SEARCHIn early February 2023, Microsoft (MSFT:NASDAQ) and OpenAI introduced AI-powered Bing and...

- Big drop in fourth quarter ad revenues- Print advertising income down more than 20%- Company targeting cost savings of £30 millionNewspaper publisher Reach (RCH) had a painful start to 2023 as a fourth quarter trading update revealed a big slowdown in advertising revenue.The gains the company made in 2021, when the shares traded above 400p, are now a long-distant memory with the stock down...

- Multi-cap trust underperforms due to small cap bias- Dividend cover restored- Cranswick and Marshalls among new purchasesJanus Henderson-managed Lowland (LWI) underperformed the FTSE All-Share in the year to September 2022 as the multi-cap trust's bias to higher-yielding shares and smaller companies lagged an index with a pronounced large cap bent.On the positive side of the ledger, the...

-Shares slump on 40% decline in digital advertising yield-Questions over sustainability of clickbait content-Earnings outlook cut for 2022 and 2023Shares in news publisher Reach (RCH) slumped 28% to 84.3p in early trading after highlighting a tough macro backdrop.Digital revenues have been impacted by a drop in the 'open market programmatic yield' that has been driven by the conflict in...

UK stocks closed marginally higher on Tuesday despite most European markets sinking deep into the red and a weak opening on Wall Street.Investors seemed to put their faith in the UK's booster vaccination programme, while European Covid cases rise sharply leading to the re-imposition of government measures to curb the virus's spread.In the US, the re-appointment of Fed chairman Jerome Powell...

Shares in Reach (RCH) fell 4.2% to 289p despite the news publisher announcing a positive trading update for the period from 28 June to 21 November, one that indicated revenue growth was ahead of full year expectations.Today's share price reaction is in part due to profit taking, as the business returns to a more normalised pattern of trading, following the relatively weak first half...

UK stocks traded marginally higher at lunchtime despite European markets sinking deep into the red and US futures pointing to a weak opening on Wall Street.Investors seemed to shrug off sharply rising European virus cases and the re-appointment of Fed chairman Jerome Powell, which stoked concerns the withdrawal of monetary stimulus would be accelerated to counter inflationary pressures.Brent...

UK stocks opened weaker on Tuesday after markets digested the re-appointment of Fed chairman Jerome Powell amid concerns that the rate of reduction in monetary stimulus would be accelerated to counter inflationary pressures.Brent crude futures were almost 1% lower at $79.2 a barrel while Gold was flat at $1,804 an ounce. Trading in Asia was quite with China's SE Composite and Japan's Nikkei...

Rising inflation expectations means that growth-hungry investors will need to be increasingly discerning and disciplined in terms of their stock picking in the months ahead.One sensible solution is to invest in a fund where the manager has pedigree in backing dynamic growth companies without overpaying to own the shares. Step forward Mark Slater, who has managed Slater Growth Fund (B7T0G90)...

There are lots of good reasons why investors should have allocations to the FTSE 250, London's high-flying index oriented to mid caps which provides a purer play on the domestic UK economy than the exporter-heavy FTSE 100.The FTSE 250 captures those growth stocks that have come up from the small cap ranks and therefore had a chance to establish themselves. And crucially, it can catch these...

For a business involved in the tricky task of selling newspapers in what is certainly a dwindling market, readers may be surprised to know that media group Reach (RCH) has seen its share price rise eightfold in the past 12 months.Key to its success has been strong growth in its digital interests and a resurgence in the advertising market.Reach is a news and lifestyle-focused content company,...

The UK's major stocks fell sharply on Tuesday following a sharp sell-off in Asia overnight as investors worry about the intensifying crackdown on technology companies by Chinese authorities.The benchmark FTSE 100 lost 1.15% at 6,944.5 with leisure, food and miners dragging on the market mood while poorly received updates from Reckitt Benckiser (RB.) and online greeting cards seller Moonpig...

UK shares started the new week and month in an optimistic mood, shrugging off recent inflation and bond market jitters as the focus shifted to a vaccine-led recovery and US fiscal stimulus.Trading in Asia was strong with the Nikkei 225 gaining 2.4% and the SE Composite adding 1.2%. Gold prices were 0.7% higher at $1,750 an ounce while Brent Crude added 0.25% to $62.63 a barrel. The pound was...

UK shares started the new in an optimistic mood, shrugging off recent inflation and bond market jitters as the focus shifted to a vaccine-led recovery and US fiscal stimulus.Trading in Asia was strong with the Nikkei 225 gaining 2.4% and the SE Composite adding 1.2%. Gold prices were 0.7% higher at $1,750 an ounce while Brent Crude added 0.25% to $62.63 a barrel. The pound was steady against...

UK shares opened the new month higher on Monday, shrugging off recent inflation and bond market jitters as the focus shifted to t0 vaccine-led recovery and US fiscal stimulus.Trading in Asia was strong with the Nikkei 225 gaining 2.4% and the SE Composite adding 1.2%. Gold prices were 0.7% higher at $1,750 an ounce while Brent Crude added 0.25% to $62.63 a barrel. The pound was steady against...