Pizzas, insurers and builders

Indices slipped back in early trading with investors taking their cue from a fairly lacklustre overnight performance on Wall Street and mixed trading in Asia.

“The British appetite for pizza seems insatiable with Domino’s seeing double-digit like-for-like sales in 2015,” says AJ Bell Investment Director Russ Mould.

“The UK performance continues to underpin the group’s growth with like-for-like sales up for nine consecutive quarters. The group is also seeing a massive increase in online orders with e-commerce sales now representing 77.7% of all delivered sales in the UK. 

“Insurance group Admiral topped the blue chip board in early trading after it booked record pre-tax profits of £377m. Admiral cheered investors by raising its dividend target. It now plans to pay 65% of post-tax profits to shareholders, compared with 45% previously.

“Building materials group CRH was another strong riser after pre-tax profits jumped 36% to €1.03bn. Its US sales have benefited from the weak euro and the group is bullish about its prospects for this year despite some uncertainty over the pace of global growth.”

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