Halfords, Daily Mail and General Trust and Headlam

“The blue-chip index was close to a record high in early trading with easyJet and British Airways parent International Consolidated Airlines Group among the top risers following strong results by budget carrier Wizz Air. Investors will be looking to the UK's Q1 second-estimate GDP growth figure out mid-morning, along with the index of services and BBA mortgage approvals figures,” says AJ Bell Investment Director Russ Mould.

“Halfords edged up in early trading despite a fall in pre-tax profits. The car parts, bikes and camping retailer’s full-year figures were hit by the fall in the pound which drove up its import costs. The group’s fundamentals, though, remain strong with like-for-like sales up and market share gains in both motoring and cycling. Halfords has also continued to make progress with its  'Moving Up A Gear' strategy with sustained growth in service-related sales. Halfords was up by over 0.6%.          

“Daily Mail and General Trust’s shares fell after a 76% drop in first half statutory pre-tax profits.  The group’s overall performance was broadly in line with forecasts with underlying revenues up 1% and adjusted pre-tax profits down 8% at £105m. Investors, though, will be concerned that challenging market conditions for some of the group’s businesses are expected to continue in the second half. DMGT’s shares were down by more than 4.1% in early trading.

“Floorcoverings group Headlam’s total revenues rose by 2.2% to £221.2m in the four months to the end of April.  The UK accounted for 86.0% of total revenue compared with 87.3% a year ago. UK like-for-like revenue growth was 1.9%, an uplift on the strong comparable of 4.0% growth in the corresponding period last year. Headlam increased its operations last month with the acquisition of Scottish-based McMillan Flooring Distributors and overall trading remains in line with full-year forecasts.” 

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