Stock prices in London were in the red on Tuesday morning, as non-food sales in the UK remained in decline, while retail sales edged up only mildly in May.The FTSE 100 index opened down 31.15 points, or 0.4%, at 8,229.30. The FTSE 250 was down 105.98 points, or 0.5%, at 20,794.74, and the AIM All-Share was down 1.27 points, or 0.2%, at 803.84.The Cboe UK 100 was down 0.4% at 821.19, the Cboe UK 25

We kick off this month with two more takeovers, or attempted takeovers, of UK small-cap firms.On 21 May Singapore-based but UK-listed specialist engineer XP Power (XPP) rejected a bid from Denver, Colorado-based rival Advanced Energy Industries (AEIS:NASDAQ).The firm said it had received a series of 'highly conditional, opportunistic, indicative proposals' from the US company, the latest at £19.5

Brave Bison made all-share bidApproach deemed ?opportunistic? Board open to a higher offerShares in The Mission Group (TMG:AIM) were marked up 5.7% to 24p on Monday after the digital media-to-advertising minnow revealed it has rejected a takeover offer from Brave Bison (BBSN:AIM), a rival which snapped up the Steven Bartlett-founded social media advertising practice SocialChain in early 2023.The b

Given the hundreds of stock market announcements issued every day by UK-listed companies, it's very easy to narrow your focus either to just the shares you own or the big household names in order to keep track of what's going on. However, smaller companies can often be the 'canaries in the coal mine' of trouble ahead because changes in the economy tend to impact them much quicker than they do big

Global advertising spend expected to grow by 3%Sporting events and US presidential election gave ad spend a boostEmerging digital categories to experience high growth in 2023Global advertising spend is expected to grow by 3.3% in 2023 with inflation driving the increase to reach $727.9 billion, according to the latest Dentsu Global Ad Spend Forecasts report.This boosted ad spend is being driven by

There was a notable excess of selling by insiders in the latest weekly director dealings, both in terms of the number of trades and the overall size.The biggest insider trade of the last week was the sale of 700,000 shares of Israeli gas producer Energean (ENOG) at 800p by its chief financial officer, Panos Benos, netting him a cool £5.6 million.Having started the year well, Energean shares have

Online fashion retailer Asos (ASC:AIM) has been riding high over the past year with its shares having surged well above pre-pandemic levels as its profit soars.Given the tough comparatives it has laid down with the 275% surge in first half profit it reported in April, perhaps it's no surprise chief executive Nick Beighton has decided to cash in some of his shares.Beighton sold 29,558 shares at the

The stock market's smallest and riskiest companies have always held fascination for private investors. On the premise that 'elephants don't gallop, but fleas leap,' to borrow Jim Slater's often quoted phrase, it's easier for a tiny company to double its size, and investor's money, than for a big one. Let's face it, a blue chip company worth £1 billion will find it much harder to double or even tr