Private equity firm Apollo succeeding with its takeover of Restaurant Group (RTN) would represent a major turning point for the UK stock market. It would mean investors could no longer access a high street-focused casual dining chain operator on the London Stock Exchange of any scale.Restaurant Group's primary asset is Wagamama, a 165-strong nationwide chain offering Asian-style food....

London's FTSE 100 started 2022 on the front foot, led by travel, leisure and energy stocks as investors attempted to move on from worries about the economic impact of the Omicron variant.Gains for oil firms, airlines and hotel, pub and restaurant plays reflected diminishing concerns over the latest Covid variant amid hopes it is milder, if more transmissible, and therefore may have a limited...

UK stocks shrugged off concerns over the country's vaccine programme to continue their upward march so far this week.Medicines regulator the MHRA this afternoon stated under-30s should be offered an alternative to the AstraZeneca (AZN) jab where possible due to concerns over the link between the vaccine and blood clots.While this is better than an outright ban on use of the vaccine for...

London's FTSE 100 continued its strong momentum this week with a 0.8% gain to 6,877.86 by Wednesday lunchtime, following on from yesterday's 1.3% increase, as reopening optimism grows among investors.With the UK's lockdown set for another round of easing next Monday, businesses are gearing up for a resumption of trading that saw a flash PMI reading surge last month.The latest IHS Markit/CIPS...

The UK's major stocks started strongly on Wednesday as the nation starts its Moderna vaccine rollout, the third approved for Brits, reigniting reopening optimism among investors.With the UK's lockdown set for another round of easing next Monday, businesses are gearing up for a resumption of trading that saw a flash PMI reading surge last month. Later today investors will get an idea of the...

The FTSE 100 marked its worst monthly performance since March as the index chalked up a fifth straight day of losses, down 4.48 points to 5,577.27.Investors have become increasingly concerned this week over fears that lockdowns to tackle surging coronavirus cases would disrupt a nascent economic recovery, with pressure mounting on the UK to follow Germany and France and impose a second...

A stronger than expected recovery in the Eurozone economy was not enough to prevent a volatile FTSE 100 falling firmly back into the red by lunchtime, hit by concerns over a second lockdown and a rising pound.Economic activity for Eurozone countries as a whole between July and September was 12.7% higher than in the previous three months, beating expectations.But this failed to lift UK stocks...

UK stocks fell again in opening trade on Friday, with the FTSE 100 set for its worst monthly loss since March, on fears that lockdowns to tackle surging coronavirus cases would disrupt a nascent economic recovery.The benchmark FTSE 100 was showing a relatively modest 0.15% decline to 5573.40 at 9am, having initially plunged 0.8% in opening deals. Blue chips were dragged lower by mining,...

London's FTSE 100 started 2020 on the front foot, nudging 68.6 points higher to 7,611 as the markets eagerly await signature on a phase one trade agreement between the US and China, promised on 15 January. Miners were among the top performers and UK property investor British Land (BLND) was among the laggards.Shares in Africa-focused oil producer Tullow (TLW) shed 7% to 59.5p on the news 'net...

London's FTSE 100 cheapens 3.6 points to 7,320.4 early on, ahead of the US Federal Reserve's latest policy decision and amid chatter that top US trade officials will head to China next week for new trade talks.Home improvement giant Kingfisher (KGF) cheapens 1.3% to 242.1p on the news chief executive officer (CEO) Veronique Laury is downing tools having struggled to turn around the DIY store...

Restaurant operator Tasty (TAST:AIM) is struggling to whip up investor appetite after warning that the weak trading environment is continuing to impact sales and margins. Pre-tax profit before pre-opening costs and non-trade items has plummeted from approximately £1.6m to £210,000 in the 26 weeks to 2 July 2017.Sales increased 11.8% to approximately £24.4m, but that is only after opening...

The FTSE 100 opens in positive territory, up 8.8 points to 7,422.41 thanks in particular to gains in mining stocks and various financial services companies.At the top of the FTSE leaderboard is equipment rental firm Ashtead (AHT), rising 5.9% to £17.84 after releasing good results for its first quarter to 31 July and amid hopes it will benefit from hurricane clean-up work in the US.Its group...

Restaurants operator Richoux (RIC:AIM) is latest quoted casual dining firm to experience a bad start to 2017, following similar pains experienced by Comptoir (COM:AIM) and Tasty (TAST:AIM) Its shares fell 27% on 27 April in response to the news, not helped by saying it needs to raise more money. Former Prezzo boss Jonathan Kaye is now overseeing a revamp of its estate.

Failing to pick the right stocks is one of the biggest reasons why individual investors struggle to make money on the stock market. Don't despair; we are help to help.We believe an investment journey can be greatly enhanced by following a few simple steps in order to filter out the bad stocks and leave you with a universe of more interesting - and hopefully profitable - shares.In this article...

Middle Eastern-themed restaurant business Comptoir (COM:AIM) has become the second AIM-quoted casual dining stock to scale back expansion plans this year. This news, together with a poor start to trading this year, sends the share price falling 3.9% to 49p.There is too much supply in the casual dining industry, in our opinion. The proliferation of new brands and rapid expansion of existing...

A rise in personal debt and a fall in mortgage approvals could point towards more difficult times ahead in the UK. Investment bank Liberum says get out of retail and housebuilding stocks now.The BBA says consumer credit is expanding at an annual rate of 6.6% with growth being fuelled by credit card spending. I'm worried that fairly robust UK retail sales figures are a result of consumers...

Lebanese canteen group Comptoir is hoping to cook up a storm by floating on AIM in June.Investors should note the presence of highly-respected restaurateur Jonathan Kaye on the board. He is part of the family that founded ASK, Zizzi and Garfunkel's and is the former boss of Prezzo which was sold to private equity in 2015.We expect investors to show considerable interest in the stock given his...

Trying to stay on top of the highs and lows of London Stock Exchange-listed restaurants is almost as tricky as keeping up-to-date with the latest eating out fads. The upset caused by Restaurant Group's (RTN) negative trading statement in January was as unexpected as the 550% rise in the presence of macaroni cheese on menus since 2010.In theory the UK restaurant sector is a great one to invest...

Dubbed 'micro caps' by investors, the London stock market's smallest quoted company fry can be binary bets, as likely to 'turn turtle' as morph into a 'ten-bagger', the latter the holy grail of growth company investing. Yet despite their inherent risks, micro caps should form at least a portion of a well-diversified portfolio, since they offer potential for rapid-paced growth and abundant...

Restaurant group Tasty (TAST:AIM) plans to speed up its rate of expansion over the next 12 months which could provide a significant uplift in earnings.The £73.9 million cap currently has 39 restaurants in operation comprising 32 Wildwood and Wildwood Kitchens, six DimTs and one other. It added seven new sites in 2014 and since the year end a further three have been opened with several others...