Dairy Crest, Finsbury Food and Hiscox

“Blue-chips opened on the front foot after US markets reached record levels on Friday. Stocks in Asia also advanced this morning, as the appetite for equities started to return,” says AJ Bell Investment Director Russ Mould.

“Dairy Crest edged up in early trading as the popularity of its key brands, Cathedral City, Clover, Country Life and Frylight, continues to grow. Combined volumes for these brands are expected to be ahead of last year at the halfway mark with Cathedral City, the UK's leading cheese brand, set to deliver double-digit volume growth. But the group has cut back on promotional activity of Country Life due to higher cream prices, which determine input costs for the butter business. Dairy Crest's shares were up by over 0.5%.

“Finsbury Food opened lower despite a resilient full-year performance with the impact of UK retail food market deflation offset by growth in its speciality bakery ranges. Group revenue was flat on a like-for-like basis but adjusted operating profit margins improved and pre-tax profits increased. Finsbury Food’s aim is to become a leading speciality bakery group but changing consumer and customer dynamics and the challenging economic environment for food manufacturers are making the journey slower and harder than expected. Finsbury Food’s shares were down by over 0.7%.

“Insurance group Hiscox was down in early trading following the first estimate of claims from the impact of Hurricane Harvey. Hiscox has estimated net claims of around $150m based on an insured market loss of $25bn which excludes the US government-backed National Flood Insurance Programme. The estimate is within the group's modelled range of claims for an event of this nature, and reinsurance protections for the group remain substantially intact. The group’s shares were down by more than 1.1%.”

These articles are for information purposes only and are not a personal recommendation or advice.