Cycles, shopping and parcels

The blue-chip index opened on the front foot with bargain hunters looking to snap up value plays following yesterday's hefty sell-off, despite further overnight falls on Wall Street and in Asia.

“The wheel has turned full circle for cycle sales at Halfords (LSE:HFD),” says AJ Bell Investment Director Russ Mould.

“Sales, which had sagged in the summer due to bad weather, rebounded over the 15 weeks to 15 January with the exceptionally mild winter enticing more people out on to two wheels. The upturn has put Halfords back on track to hit full year profit expectations of £78m-£82m.

“Home shopping group N Brown’s (LSE:BWNG) shares rose strongly in early trading after it saw double-digit growth from its three ‘power brands’ - JD Williams, Simply Be and Jacamo - while digital marketing initiatives boosted results over the cyber weekend in November.

“Investors were also impressed by Royal Mail’s (LSE:RMG) latest update. The group’s trading over the past nine months fully met its forecasts. Parcel volumes in December rose by 6% as it handled 130 million packages over the Christmas period. And while letter volumes were down, Royal Mail saw a slight improvement over the first half.”

Thursday 21 January 2016

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