Debenhams, Barclays and BT

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“The FTSE100 was in negative territory in early trading after a mixed performance on Wall Street overnight and falls on Asia,” says AJ Bell Investment Director Russ Mould.

Debenhams’ shares surged after a solid full year performance in line with forecasts. The high street giant, which is a bellwether for the retail sector, saw like-for-like sales rise by 0.7% on a constant currency basis. Former Amazon executive Sergio Bucher took over as chief executive earlier this month and will set out his strategy for the next phase of Debenhams' development in the spring.

Barclays opened strongly after core pre-tax profits rose by 4% in the third quarter. The group remains on track to close non-core operations in 2017 and has made strong progress on business disposals while a revival in bond trading helped to offset the provision of a further £600m to cover payment protection insurance mis-selling claims.

BT’s sales have soared since its takeover of mobile operator EE and pre-tax profits rose by 5% in the third quarter but an increasing pensions black hole took some of the gilt off the gingerbread. BT’s pension deficit jumped by £3.3bn to £9.5bn in the period and could put future dividends at risk.”

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