Friday’s Master Investor Market Report

– The FTSE 100 closed the day at 6,042.92, a decrease of 151.18 points.
– The FTSE 250 fell by 279.22 points to 16,808.02.
– The FTSE All Share dropped by 76.47 points to 3,334.37.
– The FTSE AIM All Share finished at 733.01, down 1.73 points.

UK retail sales dropped by 4.3% year on year in August as bad weather and a rise in overseas travel kept people away from the high street. This is the biggest drop since 2008 and was particularly severe in electrical appliances where purchases were down by 9.3% from the 2014 level.

GVC (GVC) has won the takeover contest for Bwin.party (BPTY), beating the rival bid from 888 (888) with an offer of 25p and 0.231 new GVC shares that valued Bwin at around £1.2 billion and a premium of c. 12.5% on yesterday’s closing price. Management said that Bwin’s operations would be merged with its existing gambling arms going forward. Shares in GVC dropped 5.2% to 435p, Bwin’s fell 4.51% to 110p and 888’s climbed by 1.08% to 163.75p.

Mining heavyweight Anglo American (AAL) has confirmed that its South African subsidiary is in talks regarding the potential sale of its Rustenberg site with Sibanye Gold. No transaction is guaranteed and Anglo American’s strategy remains unchanged. The shares plummeted 56.5p to 668.5p.

Healthcare software developer EMIS (EMIS) posted a 17% rise in revenues to £77.4 million for the first half of 2015 as recurring revenues rose particularly quickly and the company successfully integrated its recent acquisitions. Management said that trading was in line with expectations and that full year results are on track to meet targets. EMIS shares rose by 62.5p to close at 999.5p.

Crop improvement specialist Plant Impact (PIM) has released a trading update explaining that it now expects to break even after taxation in the financial year ended 31st July. Revenues almost doubled from £2.5 million to £4.5 million despite disappointing performances in some Northern European regions, as new products did not meet expectations and Russia continued to boycott European agricultural goods. The shares grew 10.19% to 56.75p.

Monday’s news today

Dechra Pharmaceuticals (DPH) and Avation (AVAP) will publish final results at the start of next week, while Brady (BRY) will put out its interims.

Quote of the day

“The best preparation for good work tomorrow is to do good work today.”
– Elbert Hubbard