- Car dealer's profits jump as pandemic impact wanes- Earnings boosted by buoyant used car market- CEO is cautious over consumer confidenceShares in Caffyns (CFYN) motored 9.6% higher to 602.5p after the family-owned car dealership revved in with a 142% profit surge for the year to March 2022 and resumed paying a final dividend.However, chief executive Simon Caffyn warned he was 'mindful' of...

London's FTSE 100 slumped on Friday morning, led by sharp falls in travel and leisure stocks after the UK re-imposed travel restrictions on several African countries following a potentially more infectious strain of Covid-19.At 08:58 am, the blue chip benchmark was down 200 points, or 2.74%, to 7,110.22 with aero-engineer Rolls-Royce (RR.), British Airways-owner International Consolidated...

Quoted car retailers are enjoying an upgrade cycle fuelled by the highly unusual supply and demand dynamics seen in the UK automotive market since the summer of 2020.Post-lockdown, pent-up consumer demand is being released at the same time as the global semiconductor shortage impacts new car production, which is driving up second hand vehicle prices in particular and boosting sector-wide...

UK new car sales slumped by 97% in April to the lowest level of any month since February 1946 with factories and dealerships shut due to the COVID-19 outbreak.This is according to The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), which reported new car sales fell 97.3% year-on-year in April to just 4,321 vehicles. The industry trade body also downgraded its full year forecast to 1.68m...

Shares in family-owned car dealership Caffyns (CFYN) reversed 17% to 345p on Friday after the Eastbourne-based motor retailer reported a collapse in first half profits.One of the country's longest running dealerships, founded over 150 years ago, Caffyns has successfully traded through many an economic cycle, but hasn't been able to swerve the short term supply challenges and Brexit-related...

The FTSE 100 is on the front foot as European worries seem to have subsided from earlier this week. The index is up by 18 points to 7,707 after a strong showing on Wall Street overnight.Coach and rail company FirstGroup (FGP) sheds 13% to 96.2p as its full year results to 31 March show a pre-tax loss of £327m. The company has also parted with chief executive Tim O'Toole, who says 'the time is...

By: Steven Frazer, Daniel Coatsworth, James Crux, Tom SieberBuy family-run businesses if you want to beat the market. It's a bold statement and credible one, according to various bits of research we'll discuss later.Many of these studies categorise a family company as one where the family owns at least a 20% stake in the business and has at least one member on the board.Global brands such as...

FTSE 100 stocks open flat at 6,826 ahead of a UK third quarter GDP estimate update at 9.30am with most of the bigger movers at the small cap end of the market.Shares in Constellation Healthcare (CHT:AIM) are up 34% at 250p after a 270p a share takeover while Fastjet (FJET:AIM) sinks 19% to 13p as the African airline signals the need for more capital from shareholders.Constellation, which...

Firmer metal prices help miners to early gains in London as the FTSE 100 treads water ahead of a speech by Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen this evening.A second reading of US first quarter GDP at 12.30 BST could provide some clues on Yellen's outlook for interest rates in an address which is scheduled after markets close in the US.Overnight, stocks gained in Tokyo and Hong Kong but fell...

London's blue chip FTSE 100 index is dragged lower by ailing commodities stocks, falling 0.3% to 6,371. Asian exchanges traded lower overnight with ongoing economic concerns on China and a potential December US interest rate hike weighing on Hong Kong in particular. The Hang Seng index fell 1.9%. Sterling weakness continues into the end of the week. Trading at $1.505 it is around 2 cents...

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...

London shares remain flat in early trade on Wednesday with miners acting as a drag and offsetting consumer products gains. Wall Street faded overnight, while Asian markets are mixed and European bourses mildly lower this morning. The UK benchmark FTSE 100 is up just a single point at 6,929, although once again midcaps perform far more strongly, the FTSE 250 index rallying 79 points, or 0.4%,...

Despite the arrival of Black Friday shopping mania, investors are in anything but festive mood as the FTSE 100 falls 42.9 points to 6680.52, dragged lower by fresh declines in oil stocks. The sector is under significant pressure after producers' cartel OPEC failed to cut its output leading to an extension in the collapse in crude prices - BG (BG.) slips 7.5% to 911.3p, BP (BP.) is down 3.2% to...

According to the latest missive (5 Jun) from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), the UK new car market is now on its longest growth streak ever. May's 7.7% increase in new car registrations to 194,032 units represents the twenty-seventh consecutive monthly advance, breaking a record set back in the late 1980s. Registrations for 2014 overall passed the one million mark, up...

Satellite broadcaster British Sky Broadcasting (BSY) ticks down 1p to 886.5p as analysts at Berenberg expound on their negative interpretation of the company's talks with Twenty-First Century Fox (FOX:NDQ) to consolidate the firm's European pay TV assets. The broker's media experts Sarah Simon and Robert Berg slap a bearish 680p price target on the firm, arguing its plans to acquire Sky...

Car dealership Caffyns (CFYN) accelerates 11.1% to 602.5p on superb full-year results to end-March and a 50% dividend hike. The family-controlled company is the latest listed automotive retailer to report ongoing strength in the UK new car market.Helped by rising consumer confidence and support from vehicle manufacturers, the new car market continues to flourish. Given sluggish recovery in...

Anglo American (AAL) beats consensus forecasts with its full-year results. There's no growth in the dividend, unlike many of its FTSE 100 mining peer group, but it is good to see improvement in the general business performance with a focus on costs and profit margins. That explains the 1.5% rise in the share price to £15.56 yet we remain cautious on the stock. As we detailed in this article,...

Finnish nickel producer Talvivaara (TALV) soars 73.5% to 5.7p after investors show relief at the troubled miner being given extra timeto apply for a corporate restructuring, no doubt fueled by a short squeeze as people betting against the company are forced to close out their positions through margin calls.Speedy Hire (SDY) slumps 15.5% to 54.5p after discoveringaccounting irregularities which...