Carillion, Booker and Topps Tiles

“The FTSE 1000 confounded pessimistic forecasts and moved into positive territory after an opening dip despite US and Asian markets reacting negatively to the Bank of England’s financial stability update with the Nikkei particularly affected by the impact of falling bond yields,” says AJ Bell Investment Director Russ Mould.

Construction and support services group Carillion cheered investors with a confident update in a post-Brexit world. Carillion, which has no significant operations in Mainland Europe, carried out extensive work to assess the impact a Leave vote would have on its business before the referendum and has put robust plans in place to manage the outcome.

Carillion’s growth is being underpinned by support services rather than its construction arm. The support services business has clinched new orders worth £600m taking the total for the first half to around £2.5bn and is moving towards two-thirds of total underlying operating profit. Carillion’s shares were up in early trading.

Food wholesaler Booker’s first quarter sales were hit by price deflation and weak consumer demand while  its tobacco sales continue to suffer from the ban on small stores displaying products. Budgens and Londis joined the group last September and helped to drive overall sales up by 10% but like-for-like non-tobacco sales fell by 0.7% and tobacco sales were down by 7.7%. The group’s balance sheet remains strong and it plans to return around £57m to shareholders.

Topps Tiles edged higher in early trading after a 6.2% rise in third quarter like-for-like revenues. Growth is being built on its  'Out Specialising the Specialists' strategy with initiatives to extend the appeal of the Topps brand continuing to attract new customers.

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