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Russ Mould, AJ Bell Investment Director comments:
Domino's Pizza
“The cold weather spell towards the end of last year appears to have been a key sales driver for Domino's Pizza as it reports strong numbers for the 13 weeks to 24 December 2017. That's driven people to stay indoors, put their feet up and watch the telly with a takeaway. Domino's says the start of the X Factor final on 2 December was the catalyst for its biggest day of sales for the year.
“It sounds exciting – but is the business really firing on all cylinders? Like-for-like sales in the UK, excluding stores in split territories, grew by 6.1%. That actually represents a slowdown from the previous quarter's 8.1% growth.
Informa
“Media firm Informa has confirmed the terms of its £3.9bn takeover of rival UBM. The deal is intended to create a global leader in the business-to-business events space and Informa is targeting £60m worth of cost savings from the tie-up.
“However, question marks continue to be raised about the price tag. Informa shares are now down around 8% since news of the deal first emerged on 17 January.
Greencore
“It is all about the outlook at sandwich and soup supplier Greencore which flags its continuing expectation for a ‘year of strong growth’ in a first quarter trading update. The positive tone helps to drive the shares higher.
“Investors should however keep a keen eye on the impact of currency movements. If the current weakness in the dollar persists it could hit earnings, given the company derives around 40% of its sales from the US.”
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