UK firms from the retail, leisure, hospitality, manufacturing, logistics and housebuilding sectors have said they will incur additional costs due to the increases in the national living wage and employers' national insurance contributions announced in the Budget on 30 October. According to Reuters the total declared impact is now £1.1 billion.Some of the sectors most affected include retail (the

The UK stock market has performed robustly over the past year, with several companies standing out significantly. In this article, we will examine the top-performing large-cap, mid-cap, and small-cap stocks of 2024, dissected across four different market valuation categories.£5 BILLION+ MARKET CAPAfter a stellar 2023, aeronautical engineer Rolls-Royce (RR.) has once again rallied hard during 2024

UK indices slipped into the red on Tuesday as the London exodus continues, with Ashtead unveiling plans to shift its primary listing to the US.The FTSE 100 index closed down 71.72 points, 0.9%, at 8,280.36. The FTSE 250 ended down 75.33 points, 0.4%, at 20,973.94, and the AIM All-Share shed 3.28 points, 0.4%, at 737.57.The Cboe UK 100 ended down 0.8% at 831.35, the Cboe UK 250 closed down 0.5% at

London stocks opened mostly lower on Friday as house prices reach a record high, while Prime Minister Keir Starmer sets out his plan to improve UK growth.Starmer made living standards a key target as he outlined his 'next phase' on Thursday, saying he wanted to see real household disposable income rise by the next election.But in an interview with BBC Breakfast, Starmer said: 'I want people to fee

To date, a small, exclusive club of UK retailers have exceeded £1 billion in annual profits, a high street elite that includes Tesco (TSCO), Marks & Spencer (MKS) and Kingfisher (KGF). Some may view this £1 billion figure as merely symbolic, but breaching this barrier is no mean feat and demonstrates a retailer has a lasting place in consumers' affections and the scale to win in a competitive ma

Retail and hospitality companies have slammed the UK government's Budget as a raid on corporate coffers that will heap extra costs on already hard-pressed sectors, with Labour's 6.7% increase in the National Living Wage and uplift in employers' national insurance contributions (NICs) forecast to lead to job cuts and price hikes.Chancellor Rachel Reeves' lowering of the employers' NIC threshold to

Optima Health (OPT:AIM) 164.5pMarket Cap: £146.1 millionAs the UK's leading occupational health provider, Optima Health (OPT:AIM) is uniquely positioned to consolidate a fragmented market via bolt-on acquisitions as well as delivering organic growth faster than the underlying market.Analysts at RBC Capital Markets believe Optima Health's buy-and-build strategy can deliver a 23% compound annual gr

Half year pre-tax profit up 4.7%Tasty grocery performanceArgos sales disappointFirst half sales and profits rose at Sainsbury's (SBRY) as the UK's second biggest supermarket continued to secure market share gains in groceries, making up for a soft first quarter at Argos and in general merchandise.CEO Simon Roberts insisted Sainsbury's core food business is 'making the biggest market share gains in

I can't be the only person who walks down the aisle of a local convenience-style supermarket and finds their jaw dropping at some of the prices.For anyone without a car and/or uncomfortable with buying online, and therefore reliant on these outlets for their weekly grocery shop rather than just picking up bits and pieces, the extra cost is significant. Consumer group Which? reckons you're talking

Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) sells £306 million sharesSainsbury's shares fall nearly 5%Year-to-date Sainsbury's shares are down 7%Sainsbury's (SBRY) shares fell nearly 5% to 275p after the supermarket group said its biggest shareholder, the QIA (Qatar Investment Authority), had sold £306 million worth of shares at 280p each, a discount of around 3% to the prior closing price.Prior to the sal

Acquisition accretive to earningsShares placed at a discountSmaller REITs struggle to surviveThe divergence in fortunes between large listed commercial property companies and some of the smaller players was thrown into relief today with the announcement by British Land (BLND) it had raised capital for a large retail acquisition on the same day two small REITs (real estate investment trusts) reveal

Supermarket Income REIT (SUPR) 76pGain to date: 0%We suggested investing in the company in late March on the basis income was rising due to strong sales at supermarkets and the shares were yielding 8% with the dividend fully covered by earnings.While zero returns isn't quite what we'd hoped for, in the meantime investors have received two interim payments of 1.515p per share, one in mid-May and on

Tesco's (TSCO) shares have ticked up 35% over the past year, so Britain's biggest grocer by some stretch will need to deliver good news with first half results (3 October) to sustain its upwards stock price momentum. Steered by CEO Ken Murphy, Tesco is expected to update investors on another period of robust trading with further share gains in an ultra-competitive UK & Ireland market, where arch-r

Now the ballots have been cast at the general election, the UK could become the 'reassuringly boring' market, both politically and fiscally, when compared to the more extreme politics on the other side of the English Channel and Atlantic Ocean.So suggests Jean Roche, manager of the Schroder UK Mid Cap Fund (SCP), who notes capital allocators know more or less what to expect, which could explain th

European stocks were under pressure on Tuesday, while US equities are set to open lower, after eurozone inflation data veered towards being unfavourable, as core price pressure remains robust.The data may have given European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde some food for thought. Lagarde, and her Federal Reserve counterpart Jerome Powell, speak at a conference in Sintra, Portugal later.The

Grocery sales in lineArgos sales disappointNo change to forecastsThe UK's second-largest supermarket chain Sainsbury's (SBRY) delivered a first-quarter trading statement which was pretty much in line with expectations in terms of grocery sales and maintained its full-year profit and cash-flow forecasts.However, a slowdown in total like-for-like sales growth and the resulting lack of an upgrade saw

European stocks opened in the red on Tuesday, with eyes on eurozone inflation data, a US labour market report, and words from central bankers at a conference in Portugal.The FTSE 100 index traded 51.69 points lower, 0.6%, at 8,115.07. The FTSE 250 fell 75.96 points, 0.4%, at 20,146.12, and the AIM All-Share was down 1.67 points, 0.2%, at 763.51.The Cboe UK 100 was down 0.8% at 807.43, the Cboe UK

After arch-rival Tesco (TSCO) released forecast-beating quarterly sales earlier this month, with strong like-for-like growth across its UK stores, all eyes are on the next trading update from Sainsbury's (SBRY) on 2 July to see whether it has managed to maintain its recent momentum.!function(){"use strict";window.addEventListener("message",(function(a){if(void 0!==a.data["datawrapper-height"]){var

The UEFA Euro 2024 football tournament is likely to be one of the most-watched events of the year, on a par with the Olympic Games later this summer.According to broadcaster ITV (ITV), more than 10 million viewers tuned in to watch the opening match between Scotland and Germany, the highest peak audience of any opening to a major football tournament in a decade.The BBC reported the England vs Serb

Annual results beat expectationsTurnaround plan yielding resultsImproving sales trajectoryShares in N Brown (BWNG:AIM) rallied 18% to 17.6p after the online clothing and footwear retailer behind the JD Williams, Simply Be and Jacamo brands returned to statutory pre-tax profit and claimed it was positioned for 'sustainable growth' amid demonstrable progress with its multi-year turnaround strategy.T