Retail sector and Sirius Minerals

“After a patchy start to the week, the FTSE 100 has subsequently managed to keep its chin up and is on track to end the five-day session approximately 0.5% ahead at 7,700.

“Unilever is the best performing FTSE 100 stock over the past week with a 4.1% gain, closely followed by Ocado which is up 4%. The worst performer is WPP, down 7.4%,” says Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell.

Retail sectors

“For all the talk that Amazon now dominates the retail sector and consumers are shunning other providers, stock market data would suggest there is still plenty of mileage in competing retail businesses, at least in terms of rewarding shareholders.

“Cars, sofas and fishing rods would have been some of the best places to put your money over the past 12 months judging by the share price performance of UK-listed retail stocks.

“At the top is second-hand car seller Motorpoint which has delivered 80% gain in share price and dividend terms in the past year. It is closely followed by little-known fashion retailer Sosander, up 78%.

“Both of these stocks have delivered a better return than Amazon, up 76% over the same period.

“Clothing expert Next, home shopping group Findel and sofas seller SCS are the next best retail performers on the UK stock market, up between 50% and 68%. Close behind is Angling Direct, up 38%.

“And the worst? Carpets, baby products and double glazing would have been the worst investments. Carpetright is down 85% over the past year, Mothercare has fallen by 80% and SafeStyle has lost investors 79%.”

Sirius Minerals

“Sirius Minerals has aspirations to build Britain’s biggest mining project in a very long time, employing more than 1,000 people once its Woodsmith polyhalite mine in Yorkshire is in production. It believes the project will generate £100bn for the UK economy over the next 50 years.

“Mining projects are never straightforward ventures as they can cost a lot of money to build and can be tricky to run once operations are underway. Obtaining the money is typically subject to lots of complicated terms and conditions – essentially companies like Sirius have to jump through many hoops before they can get their shovels ready and start digging.

“Sirius is currently trying to raise up to $3bn in debt finance to help support construction of the large project and banks won’t lend it the money until it has secured more future supply agreements.

“Fortunately it is nearly over the hurdle thanks to two new offtakes deals with Chinese parties. The target for the current financing round is to lock in future supply deals accounting for 6m to 7m tonnes per year of Poly4, Sirius’ multi-nutrient fertiliser made from polyhalite. The latest deals now take the total to 5.7m tonnes.

“The company has had a lot of critics over the years doubting it could get permission to mine inside a national park, secure finance and find any buyers for an untraditional product.

“It has so far proved them wrong by getting all the necessary permits, raising $1.2bn to pay for the sinking of two deep shafts and lining up future customers. Getting another $3bn may not be easy but Sirius’ luck has been on its side so far.

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