Specialty recruitment firm SThree (STEM), which focuses on filling roles in science, technology, engineering and mathematics settings, posted a downbeat trading statement for the 12 months to November and drastically cut its forecast for earnings for the current year.The shares, which were previously down just 11% for the year, slumped as much as 39% intraday before recovering and now stand 34% be

Specialist business services firm FRP Advisory (FRP:AIM) is one of those businesses which many investors may have heard of but few are sure exactly what it does.Put simply, FRP helps companies through each stage of their development, giving advice on raising capital, managing debt, acquisitions, corporate finance and forensic accounting. It is probably best-known for 'crisis management' where it h

Pubs group JD Wetherspoon's (JDW) value credentials continue to shine through. According to fund manager Anna Farmbrough at Ninety One the company has doubled its average price advantage over competitors to 40% since the pandemic.Farmbrough notes that a few years ago there were three pubs in her local area while today there is just a single Wetherspoons, demonstrating its ability to benefit as con

Stock prices in London closed lower on Monday, as Canal+ shares slumped on their first day of London trading and Entain fell as it faces an Australian investigation.The FTSE 100 index closed down 38.28 points, 0.5%, at 8,262.05. The FTSE 250 ended 76.12 points lower, 0.4%, at 20,813.03, and the AIM All-Share gave back 3.87 points, 0.5%, at 729.49.The Cboe UK 100 ended down 0.5% at 828.87, the Cboe

Contract fee income stallsNo signs of improvementFY25 pre-tax forecast slashedSpecialist recruitment firm SThree (STEM) posted a downbeat full-year trading update and warned challenging trading conditions would persist through the current financial year.The shares dropped as much as 140p or 39% to 221p before recovering to stand down 88p or 24% at 273p by mid-morning. SUBSTANTIAL CUT TO GUI

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

Spare a thought for Laszlo Hanyecz. You may not have heard of him, but in 2010 he spent 10,000 Bitcoins on two pizzas, in one of the first ever 'real world' crypto transactions. The market value of those Bitcoins is now $950 million. Hanyecz is pretty stoic about it, but deep down he must know that no amount of melted cheese can make up for the vast fortune he might have had. Hanyecz, a computer p

Investors already have access to thousands of companies around the world. The choice can be overwhelming so do we really need the launch of yet another stock market? The answer might be 'yes' if it offers something different to what's already available and a new market called 'Pisces' certainly ticks the right boxes.Pisces is the name for the UK government's new vision for privately-owned companie

London stocks started the week mixed ahead of a 'pivotal' US jobs report on Friday, and after data showed the UK manufacturing sector enduring a sharper decline than expected last month.The FTSE 100 index rose 25.59 points, 0.3%, at 8,312.89. The FTSE 250 ended 2.52 points lower at 20,769.05, and the AIM All-Share rose 0.55 of a point, 0.1%, at 733.04.The Cboe UK 100 ended up 0.2% at 834.02, the C

London's FTSE 100 held modest gains around midday on Monday but there were mixed fortunes elsewhere in Europe, as the DAX 40 hit a new high while the CAC 40 faltered.The FTSE 100 index rose 13.07 points, 0.2%, to 8,300.37. The FTSE 250 slipped just 6.30 points at 20,765.27, and the AIM All-Share added only 0.18 of a point at 732.67.The Cboe UK 100 was up 0.2% at 833.95, the Cboe UK 250 lost 0.1% a

Fidelity Special Values (FSV) 311.5pMarket cap: £1.01 billionWider than the five and 10-year average of 4%, a near-9% share price discount to NAV (net asset value) at Fidelity Special Values (FSV) presents an attractive entry point into a fund with an impressive long-run record and a contrarian, value-focused investment philosophy that's proven to work.The trust, which recently celebrated its 30

Metro Bank director buys sharesLiontrust finance head buys sharesBeeks chief executive trims holdingCristina Ochoa, non-executive director of high street lender Metro Bank (MTRO), bought 155,723 shares at 90p for a total value of £139,646 on 19 November.Year-to-date the high street lender's shares have risen a stellar 152%.Ochoa's move comes at a tough time for the UK challenger bank after it was

London's stocks were mostly higher at Friday midday amid gloomy economic data which could boost expectations for interest rate cuts.The FTSE 100 index rose 52.48 points, 0.6%, at 8,201.52. The FTSE 250 climbed 170.72 points, 0.8%, at 20,520.41, and the AIM All-Share gained 4.33 points, 0.6%, at 730.07.The Cboe UK 100 was up 0.6% at 824.79, the Cboe UK 250 was up 1.1% at 17,998.02, and the Cboe Sma

Equities in Europe ended higher on Thursday, overcoming some earlier uncertain trade, as comments from a US official calmed some geopolitical worries which kept a lid on investor enthusiasm.Nonetheless, Brent remained above the $73 mark, supporting oil majors.Moscow's ambassador in London said Thursday Britain was 'now directly involved' in Russia's war with Ukraine, following reports Kyiv had fir

Stocks in Europe were mixed on Monday midday amid more staffing announcements by incoming US president Donald Trump, while the gold price continued to climb.'The FTSE 100 ticked higher on Monday, helped by a decent showing for resources and financial stocks,' commented AJ Bell's Russ Mould.Meanwhile in Europe, the eurozone's trade surplus with the rest of the world grew significantly in September,

Third quarter revenue €3.99 billionSpotify shares up 122% year-to-dateGained 14 million total monthly active users to 640 millionShares in Spotify (SPOT:NYSE) were up 5% to $419 in after-hours trading on Tuesday (12 Nov) despite the music streaming platform missing third quarter Wall Street estimates.The company reported third quarter EPS (earnings per share) of €1.45 on revenue of &euro

Takeover tilt by Italian rival expectedBurberry results due 14 NovemberAnalysts expect lurch into lossFirmly out of fashion with investors this year amid a slowdown in luxury goods demand, shares in Burberry (BRBY) rallied 2% to 822p on 11 November as excitement surrounding a bid from Italian outerwear rival Moncler (MONC:BIT) continued to build.According to correspondence viewed by The Mail on Su

JD Wetherspoon (JDW) 602pMarket cap: £732 millionThe market has a well-understood tendency to overshoot and undershoot, and in the case of pub group JD Wetherspoon (JDW) we think it has pushed the shares much too low given the qualities of the business and the risks it faces.Considering the company raised its earnings guidance last month and reinstated the dividend thanks to 'robust' like-for-lik

First quarter like-for-like sales up 5.9%Budget plans adds £60 million to costsIndustry primed for further price risesPub group JD Wetherspoon (JDW) continues to perform better than the hospitality industry with 5.9% like-for-like sales growth in the 14 weeks to 2 November, marking 25 consecutive months of outperformance.Investors cheered the news, with the shares gaining 3% to 606.5p, although t

City-based headhunter Hays (HAS) has had a rough time over the last 12 months, posting four consecutive quarters of negative growth in fee income. Worse still, the rate of decline actually accelerated over that period to stand at minus 17% at the end of June.Therefore, investors and analysts will be looking for less-bad news when the company updates the market on its first-quarter performance (Jul