Purplebricks, CVS Group and Beazley

“The FTSE100 opened the final session of the trading week in positive territory following on from a strong showing on Wall Street and in Asia. A key focus for investors will be a raft of economic news due later this morning, including quarterly GDP figures, details of the current account deficit and house price data,” says AJ Bell Investment Director Russ Mould.

“Purplebricks was an early riser after a bullish update on its trading since the start of its financial year at the beginning of May. First half revenues in the UK are set to be more than double and the group’s Australian business continues to grow exponentially. Purplebricks has also made its first foray into the US and continues to invest in infrastructure and teams to support its rapid growth. The group’s shares were up by more than 2.7%.

“Veterinary services provider CVS Group’s shares rose after a 58.4% jump in interim pre-tax profits. The group is confident that the characteristics of its business make it relatively resilient despite uncertainty about the pace of growth in the economy over the next couple of years. It believes the greatest impact of Brexit for the group could be in the employment of European vets although it has not seen any significant effect on employment so far. CVS’s shares were up by over 6.3%.

“Beazley’s shares felt the impact of hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria and earthquakes in Mexico after the group estimated the aggregate net cost of the recent catastrophes would be between $175m and $275m. The company estimates that at the midpoint these losses will reduce 2017 earnings by approximately $150m. Beazley’s shares were down by more than 3% in early trading.”

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