Shares in Frasers Group rose nearly 4 per cent after the Sports Direct owner launched its latest share buyback programme.
The FTSE 100 fashion empire, which also owns Jack Wills and Flannels, will buy 10m shares so it can return £80million to investors. It is the company’s fifth share buyback in less than a year – taking the total to £325million since April 2022.
Fraser shares gained 3.2 per cent, or 24.5p, to 794p.
Buyback scheme: Frasers Group, which owns Sports Direct, Jack Wills and Flannels, will buy 10m shares so it can return £80m to investors
Frasers is just the latest blue chip company to outline plans to return cash to investors.
Banking giant NatWest (down 0.4 per cent, or 1.2p, to 283.4p) started its £800million share buyback programme yesterday.
Rival Barclays (up 1.4 per cent, or 2.38p, to 175.88p) and Guinness owner Diageo (up 0.2 per cent, or 8.5p, to 3569p) both announced £500million share buy backs last week.
The FTSE 100 rose 0.1 per cent, or 9.95 points, to 8014.31 and the FTSE 250 inched up 0.05 per cent, or 9.48 points, to 20098.41.
Mining stocks received a boost as hopes of increased demand in China pushed up metal prices.
Anglo American grew by 4 per cent, or 128p, to 3337.5p, Rio Tinto rose 2.9 per cent, or 174p, to 6277p, Glencore climbed 2 per cent, or 10p, to 519.7p and Antofagasta improved by 1.7 per cent, or 29.5p, to 1761p.
Heading in the other direction was DS Smith. The packaging firm sank 4.9 per cent, or 17.4p, to 336p after the stock was downgraded to ‘neutral’ from ‘buy’ by Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
Stock Watch – Trifast
Shares in Trifast tumbled after its boss stepped down and it warned profits would be lower than hoped.
The company, which makes screws, nuts and bolts, said Mark Belton resigned as chief executive on Saturday after 23 years at the company including eight at the helm.
The firm also said profits for the year to the end of March would be around £9million, which was well below the £14.3million expected by analysts.
Shares crashed 31.5 per cent, or 29p, to 63p.
Analysts at the bank said demand for boxes has past its peak. It also warned of higher energy and staff costs.
Tesco was in sharp focus after Sky News reported that the supermarket giant could look to sell the banking arm it launched in 1997. Shares inched up yesterday 0.1 per cent, or 0.3p, to 251.2p.
Engineering group Hill & Smith, which makes safety barriers, completed its takeover of the Texas-based fibreglass products developer Enduro for £28.7million. Shares advanced 1.5 per cent, or 20p, to 1370p.
Shares in law firm Keystone shot up 6.7 per cent, or 32.5p, to 520p after it said that its annual revenue and profit should come in ahead of expectations following a strong demand for its services throughout the year.
Harland & Wolff surged 3.9 per cent, or 0.58p, to 15.2p after the shipbuilder whose Belfast yard built the Titanic won six maintenance and fabrication contracts worth a total of more than £10million.
The contracts should be completed within the next 12 to 18 months, with four to start this month in Belfast.
Meanwhile disinfectant business Tristel gained 4.8 per cent, or 15p, to 330p following a positive six months which saw an increase in sales and entry into the North American market.
Revenues of £17.5million for the six months to December were 16 per cent higher than a year earlier.
It also swung back into a profit of £2.4million, having made a £1.2million loss 12 months ago.
Tristel launched its medical devices disinfectant in Canada during the period, with an approval decision from the US Food and Drug Administration expected in June.
Indivior, which makes drugs to treat opioid addiction, sank 6.1 per cent, or 103p, to 1582p after Jefferies cut its target price to 2115p from 2655p.
Last week the mid-cap specialty pharmaceuticals business set aside £242million to settle an ongoing litigation in the US though it warned the outcome may be ‘materially different’ from its provision.
Likewise, Spectris tumbled 3.8 per cent, or 124p, to 3112p after Berenberg brokers downgraded the supplier of precision instrumentation and controls to ‘hold’ from ‘buy’ and cut target price to 3470p from 3835p.
