Ladbrokes, Aviva and AA

“Equities were muted in early trading  after positive sessions on Wall Street and in Asia, with the market looking to the Bank of England's midday interest rate call when a cut is widely expected,” says AJ Bell Investment Director Russ Mould.

Investors were keen to take a punt on bookmaker Ladbrokes in early trading following better-than-expected first half results. Operating profits were ahead of market forecasts with the sporting gods generally being in the bookmaker’s corner. Ladbrokes delivered a good performance across all key customer metrics outlined in last year's strategic plan and remains confident while realising that a customer friendly run of results is likely to happen this year. Ladbrokes’ shares were up by more than 5% in early trading.

Aviva topped the blue-chip board after first half operating profits rose by 13% and the group increased its dividend by 10%. Aviva is expanding despite challenging market conditions and has been designed to be resilient to a low interest rate environment.

Motoring group AA has arrested the fall in membership and is trading in line with forecasts.  The turnaround reflects the success of brand advertising, improvements to the membership proposition and more sophisticated digital channels to market. The group is set to close the disposal of its Irish business shortly and expects Brexit to have a minimal effect on its trading.

These articles are for information purposes only and are not a personal recommendation or advice.