Emergency home repair giant hits a record high
Emergency repairs firm Home
serve hit an all-time high yesterday after beating expectations with a 24pc surge in revenues for the year ended march 31.
The FTSE 250 firm added £234.5m to its value, leading the pack in a strong day of results for medium-sized companies.
Turnover rose to £785m from last year’s £633.2m, while profits rose 20pc to £104.7m.
The firm was given a major boost by its purchase of a 40pc stake in online tradesman directory checkatrade for £24m in December. It made the purchase as part of an ongoing effort to offer a more complete home repair and improvement service.
Analysts at broker Liberum praised the investment and said it will give Homeserve access to a currently untapped market.
Investors were further enlivened by a shake-up at the company’s board. Tom rusin, chief executive of Homeserve USA, was made executive director while former Hastings Insurance chief execu- tive Edward Fitzmaurice joined as a non-executive director. Shares rose 10.8pc, or 75.5p, to 777.5p.
A whole host of other British shares joined Homeserve to hit new highs as traders bet on continued economic strength – with £51bn added to small listed firms since the Brexit vote.
The FTSE 250 index, which tracks smaller companies than the blue chip FTSE 100, achieved a new record close and is on the cusp of smashing through 20,000 points for the first time.
Fears of a looming slowdown in consumer spending and the manchester terror attack did nothing to deter traders, who sent the index up 0.04pc, or 7.57 points to 19,920.12. The FTSE 250 now stands nearly 2587 points above its close on the eve of the European Union ballot, the equivalent of around £51bn.
The FTSE 100 fell 0.1pc, or 11.5 points to 7485.29. global healthcare company
UDG Healthcare also hit a record high following stellar results in the six months to march 31.
The company saw profits rise 19pc year-on-year to £40.7m, while revenues jumped 8pc to £445.8m.
UDg was bolstered by its acquisition of pharmaceutical auditor STEm marketing last October in a deal worth up to £84m.
The firm raised its full-year earnings estimates by 2pc, while chief executive Brendan mcAtamney said he may spend around £462m on acquisitions in the near future. But analysts at Bell Pottinger cut the stock to ‘hold’ from ‘buy’, citing recent weakness in the dollar – the US is one of UDg’s key markets. Shares rose 2.9pc, or 22p, to 788p.
Electrocomponents, the computing parts seller dubbed ‘Ama- zon for engineers’, hit a 16-year high after reporting a 62pc jump in profits for the year to march 31. Profits hit £133.2m, up from £82m, while revenues jumped to £1.5bn, up 17pc on last year’s £1.3bn.
The company, which trades under the brand names rS components and Allied Electronics, offers more than 550,000 parts through the internet, by phone, in catalogues and over the counter.
Its results surpassed expectations, with strong growth momentum continuing into the beginning of the current financial year.
Last year, the firm launched a new strategy which saw it make more effort to focus on customers. Shares rose 1.7pc, or 9p, to 547.5p.
Venture capital firm IP Group was knocked back after its £500m bid for fellow intellectual technology company Touchstone group was rejected. IP group said a merger of the two businesses would make them an ‘international leader’ in the start-up sector, but Touchstone wasn’t interested. Shares fell 0.5pc, or 0.7p, to 142.3p.