Builders and estate agents hit by property slowdown

FEARS of a property market slowdown spooked investors yesterday.

Builders’ merchants Travis Perkins was the worst-performing stock on the FTSE All Share, falling 10.5pc, or 150p, to a five-year low of 1285p.

The owner of the DIY chain Wickes reported a 10pc fall in profits last year, blaming a ‘challenging environment’ and falling consumer confidence.

It does not think things will get much better this year either.

Foxtons, the estate agents, blamed a slowdown in London’s property market for a 65pc slide in its profits. In its preliminary results for 2017, it claimed activity in the capital was ‘ near historic lows’ and said trading would remain tough in 2018.

However, broker Peel Hunt believes Foxtons’ problems run deeper than it is letting on and has hit it with a ‘sell’ rating.

It said: ‘While we accept London market transactions have fallen over the period, we do not believe the reduction has been of a similar magnitude to that experienced by Foxtons and therefore we think the group has lost market share.’ Shares fell 8.8pc, or 7.3p, to 76p. FTSE 100 housebuilder Taylor

Wimpey reported falling sales and a 5.8pc fall in profits for last year.

However, without the £130m it set aside to help customers paying onerous ground rents, it would have made a profit.

Either way, investors wanted out. At closing, the firm’s shares had dipped 4pc, or 7.75p, to 186p.

Meanwhile, the FTSE 100 dipped 0.69pc, or 50.54 points lower to 7231.91, while the FTSE 250 fell by 0.95pc, or 188.51 points, to 19,687.27. Investors dumped

Mothercare in their droves and there are fears it could follow rival Toys R Us and electronics chain Maplin into administration.

Traditional retailers have been struggling in the face of stiff competition from online rivals.

Eyebrows were raised last month when the early years retailer, which sells prams, baby clothes and toys, had a terrible Christmas. Investors got twitchy again after Toys R Us, a rival of Mothercare, slipped into administration.

Mothercare’s shares plunged 9.4pc, or 2.95p, to 28.35p. Andrew Croft, the boss of St

James’s Place, was bullish yesterday, claiming that the wealth manager could grow by between 15pc and 20pc this year.

He was speaking as it reported a 32pc uplift in profits last year, citing strong demand for face-toface advice.

Despite its reputation for high fees, customers gave SJP an extra £9.5bn to manage on their behalf in 2017, bringing the total to an all-time high of £90.7bn.

Those impressive results have prompted the company to increase its final dividend by 33pc to 27.45p a share.

It brings the full-year dividend to 42.86, up 30pc.

The company’s shares lifted 2.6pc, or 29p, to 1154.5p.

But shares in Safestyle have crashed to record lows after the PVCu window and door maker admitted that it was feeling the heat from its competitors.

In a trading update, the Bradfordbased firm warned 2018 would be very challenging amid competition from an ‘ aggressive new market entrant’, thought to be rival Safeglaze.

Safestyle, which makes more than 6,000 frames a week, told investors yesterday that profits in 2018 would be ‘ materially below 2017 levels’.

Analysts at broker Liberum Capital downgraded the firm’s rating from ‘ buy’ to ‘hold’. They also slashed its target price from 200p to 130p.

Safestyle’s shares plunged more than 25pc, or 38.4p, to 113.6p.