Market Commentary - Housing, Infrastructure, Construction and Services 16th May 2017
Speedy Hire has reported its full year numbers for the period to March 2017 this morning. Crest Nicholson has updated the market and Civitas Social Housing has made another small acquisition. Speedy’s numbers show why its statements are now quite upbeat; it is signalling that the turnaround is down and it is now ready for sustainable growth. Morgan Sindall broke through 1200p rising 2.6% to 1232p. The last time the shares were at this level was November 2007 when the recession forced them downwards. The shares are up 66% YTD and yes it was one of our five picks for this year, the others were SIG up 23%, Costain up 34%, Forterra up 44% and MJ Gleeson up 15%. The FTSE All Share is up 5.3%.
Read more...Edison KOL call
Major Depression Disorder
The sixth in our KOL series, Edison sponsors an interview with Dr. Michael Thase of the Perelman School of Medicine of the University of Pennsylvania. The conversation featured a discussion on emerging depression treatments.
Read more...Market Commentary - Housing, Infrastructure, Construction and Services 15th May 2017
It’s a day for updates from sector tiddlers with Bilby and Mortice updating us on progress. We attended the SIG meet the top team event Friday last. We got a very positive impression from the new CEO. The sector performed weakly last week against a positive performance in the overall market.
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Earnings forecasts: a short-term support for markets
Rising estimates notable in continental Europe
While economic surprise indices may now be rolling over, US earnings forecasts for 2017 are effectively unchanged since January. In the UK and continental Europe forecasts have risen relatively sharply since the start of the year, reflecting in the UK a continued tailwind from sterling weakness and in continental Europe the long-awaited improvement in economic activity.
Read more...Microsoft BUILD – Enterprise remains the focus.
At Microsoft’s developer conference, it continued to emphasise its move away from being a platform for the consumption of content to one that is primarily for the creation of content. At the same time it cemented its move away from mobile with the migration of its strategy from cloud first, mobile first to intelligent cloud, intelligent edge.
Read more...Market Commentary - Housing, Infrastructure, Construction and Services 12th May 2017
Interserve and Tyman both have an AGM later today and have issued update this morning covering the year to date. Interserve’s news is very much a holding statement as the new CEO is not due to arrive from Sodexo until September. Tyman’s news is that all is as expected in the mainstream with some ups and a few downs balancing each other.
Read more...Market Commentary - Housing, Infrastructure, Construction and Services 11th May 2017
SIG and Keller have issued trading updates today and Fulcrum Utility Services has announced that CEO Martin Donnachie is leaving after four years in the job to be replaced by current FD Martin Harrison. The moves yesterday were in a narrow range. We spent an interesting morning yesterday at the launch of ilke Homes, a joint venture between Algeco Scotsman’s UK subsidiary Elliot and Keepmoat. The company intends to expand its production of offsite volumetric 2/3 bedroom homes over the next few years through building a number of factories each capable of 500+ homes a year on a one shift/5 day working cycle.
Read more...Market Commentary - Housing, Infrastructure, Construction and Services 10th May 2017
The interim numbers from Compass and trading updates from Michelmersh Brick, Barratt Developments and Marshalls are the attention grabbers today in the HICS sector. Shareholders in Compass will be pleased to see the company performing well in the first six months with organic revenue growth at CER of 3.6% and margins up by 20bps but the main eye-catcher will be the proposed 61p a share special dividend expected to be paid in July along with the 11.2p of interim payment. Carillion was the leader of the pack yesterday as it rose 5% to 226.5p. The stock goes XD tomorrow with a dividend payment of 12.7p so the rise yesterday on 10.5p was proportionate.
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