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“Blue-chips were down slightly in early trading after mixed performances on Wall Street and in Asia overnight, with investors looking ahead to a string of economic data. Mid-morning, traders are anticipating a raft of inflation and producer data, including CPI, from the UK,” says AJ Bell Investment Director Russ Mould.
“The 44% fall in Carpetright’s underlying pre-tax profits was not unexpected given the group’s trading update at the end of October which warned that like-for-like sales were down on a year ago but disappointed investors nonetheless. Carpetright has faced a challenging six months with the combination of an extremely competitive market and the impact of currency movements giving it substantial trading headwinds. The group, though, has made an encouraging start to the second half and is accelerating its store refurbishment programme following a positive impact at the initial 49 refurbished stores. Carpetright’s shares were down by more than 6.6% in early trading.
“Housebuilder Bellway continues to see robust demand for new homes and the group is on course to deliver volume growth of around 5%. Bellway has invested significantly in high quality land in recent years and work in progress and has grown its operational structure to 19 divisions, which have a capacity to deliver around 11,000 new homes a year. The investment has been achieved while maintaining a strong balance sheet and this, together with the supportive market fundamentals, ensures the group is well placed to continue its long term growth strategy.
“Hollywood Bowl's total revenues rose by 23.9% to £106.6m in the year to the end of September with the acquisition of Bowlplex adding 10 centres to the estate. The period from October through to the Easter holidays is a key trading period for any indoor leisure-based business but the new financial year has started well.”
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