Tuesday’s Master Investor Market Report

The FTSE 100 closed the day at 6,333.80, an increase of 34.88 points.

The FTSE 250 rose by 23.91 points to finish at 17,134.19.

The FTSE All Share climbed by 16.42 points to 3,473.02.

The FTSE AIM All Share finished at 733.55, down by 0.15 points.
Fashion house Ted Baker (TED) has reported revenues of £226.8 million for the 28 weeks ended 15th August, a 24.5% increase over the save period of 2014 that was driven by an exceptional online performance and good sales in UK markets. Pre-tax profits rose by 14.6% to £17.8 million. Meanwhile, the analysts at Hargreaves Lansdown said raising the interim divided to 13.2p was a welcome development and that the firm still have plenty of room to grow. The shares dropped by 82p to 3,196p.

Bakery chain Greggs (GRG) performed slightly ahead of expectations during the 13 weeks ended 3rd October with total sales up by 5% relative to the quarter of last year due to a number of product initiatives. Overall market conditions remain favourable with low inflation, but management expressed concerns that changes to the minimum wage would have a negative impact on the business. The shares rose 7.34% to 1,155p.

Brewer SABMiller (SAB) has said that it is likely to reject any takeover offer from Anheuser-Busch with management leaning towards fighting against a bid. Following the news shares dropped by 141p to 3,623p, but continue to trade significantly above the level that they did when the approach was revealed. In more positive news, sales volumes were up by 2% over the course of the six months ended 30th September.

AIM listed miner Acacia Mining (ACA) saw its shares drop by 15.48% to 220p after it failed to meet production targets for the third quarter and cut its full year guidance. Problems at its Tanzanian mines were deemed responsible for the drop. However, analysts at Investec were more concerned by the firm’s diminishing cash reserves and said that more needed to be done to cut costs.

Tomorrow’s news today

Wednesday’s news is likely to be centred around Tesco’s (TSCO) interim results.

Quote of the day

“Knowledge is power only if man knows what facts not to bother with.”
– Robert Staughton Lynd