Lookers plc returns from suspension and jumps 83%

Summary

In today’s podcast Adrian Lawrence our in house financial expert talks about Lookers plc and how their shares were relisted on Friday and straight away jumped 83%, there unsuspension was accompanied by an RNS which updated the market on trading, which has been ahead of expectations.

Lookers plc – stock code LSE:LOOK has had a rough time over the last year, a fraud was detected which led to the resignation of a number of its senior team including its CFO and chairman and there has been a change of auditors.   Better than expected trading combined with the appointment of a fresh experienced team has encouraged the market and resulted in the jump in the price.  It will be interesting to see how trading develops during February as the market gets closer to the re-opening of Lookers dealerships.

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Doctor Martens floats on the London Stock Exchange

Summary

In today’s podcast Adrian Lawrence talks about Dr Martens a british bootmaker who floated on the London Stock Market on Friday, they have something of a renaissance over recent years having being close to bankruptcy they were acquired by a private equity house, who built them back up.

Their price was set at £3.70 per share at opening they quickly moved to £4.25 and closed at around £4.50 representing a 22% rise on the day, this is a great result given the unsettled time for the UK economy and bodes well for other large floatations due soon including Moonpig plc.   The LSE code for Dr Martens is DOCS and its the largest IPO the London market has seen since September 2020.

To learn more about Reporting Accounts, please visit our website at https://www.reportingaccounts.com where you can find information and insights into more than 4.8million UK companies.

Reddit Day Traders send Gamestop shares through the roof

Summary

In today’s podcast our resident financial expert Adrian Lawrence talks about Reddit Day traders and how they have sent the shares of Gamestop rocking upwards.  Reddit is a social media platform where members can chat and discuss a wide range of topics a sub group with Reddit known as Wallstreetbets has sprung up and is frequented by tens of thousands of amateur investors and day traders, they have been egging each other one to buy more and more share in a stock called Gamestop and the resulting stock squeeze has sent its share price through the roof.

Some of the threads point to a revenge aspect to this activity in that hedge funds shorted stocks during the 2008 financial crisis and in so doing left many small investors badly out of pocket.  Now they have targetted Gamestop where short sellers had a large open position, by driving the share price upwards they have forced many of these funds to close their positions, causing them large losses and compounding the shortage of stock.

Sadly this is likely to end with large losses for the small investors concerned as the share price has moved outside of the range which is realistic for a stock like this, so investors should be very wary of following the crowd.

There is even talk of an overspill into UK stocks such as Cineworld.

If nothing else its a great story, the small investor versus the large Wall street funds.

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News from Reporting Accounts Tuesday 26th January 2021

Summary

In today’s podcast we talk about Rolls Royce the leading UK aero engine manufacturer and engineering company, last year it raised funds via a rights issue and today it announced a short fall of a further £2billion as a result of the lockdown and rhe continuing impact of the pandemic.

Rolls Royce is paid based on the number of hours its engines are in use, so clearly during this period of disruption its income has been significantly impacted.   The new variant of covid has also extended the period of expected disruption which has again weighed down on the business.

The share price dipped today to around 90p but recovered somewhat in later trading.   The company is seen as a good long term prospect and is supported by Government contracts but a recovery in its share price depends on a return to normal in the aviation industry not just in the UK but worldwide.

Rolls Royce has a number of divisions that includes its Rolls Royce Commercial Aero Engines.

It is therefore likely to be two to three years before normality returns to aviation and Rolls Royce’s share price is reacting to the updated news.

Reporting Accounts news from 25th January 2021

Summary

In today’s podcast Adrian Lawrence our in house financial expert talks about Dyson the vacuum cleaner and innovation company.  They are making a claim against the EU for £200m of damages.  The claim is based on flawed tests which favoured convential vacuum cleaners instead of dyson’s bagless versions, the test were based on empty bags which in a conventional vacuum takes more energy in the real world than in the test conditions.   

Because Dyson’s vacuum clearer are bagless they use a steady amount of energy if they are full or empty and hence their issues with the test used by the EU.

Dyson originally lost the case but won on appeal and the rating standard as annulled in a consumer victory, Dyson now want to get compensation for their lost sales.

To learn more about Reporting Accounts visit our website and browse our database which covers more than 4.8million UK companies.

News from Reporting Accounts Sunday 24th January 2021

Summary

In today’s podcast our resident financial expert Adrian Lawrence talks about a the living pension, this is a new concept which follows the example of the real living wage but applies to pensions.  The UK has a two tier pension system, the state pension which is fixed and based on a fixed amount for every year worked up to 35 years, the second tier is known as auto enrolment and is contribution based system currently set at 8% of a band of earnings.  5% comes from the employee (4% and 1% tax relief) and 3% from the employer.

The issue is that in order to get enjoy a good standard of living in retirement those contributions levels need to be 12% or more based on someone starting contributions at the age of 25.

The Government is already moving in this direction with a planned abolition of the earnings and age thresholds, but until the minimum contributions levels are increased this will be a long way short of enough to give a decent pension.

The idea of the living pension is for employers to lead by example and contribute more educating their employees to do so at the same time.

Reporting Accounts supports this approach and an increase in contributions to 12% provided it is phased in over a period of time to allow companies to adjust. Visit our website to learn more about our services and how you can find information on more than 4.8 million companies for free or on a pay as you go basis.

News from the Reporting Accounts team on Saturday 23rd January 2021

Summary

During today’s podcast Adrian Lawrence our in house financial expert talks about the latest news on Covid and that the UK mutant version is speculated to have a higher mortality rate as well as a higher infection rate.  Also the South African variation has been detected in the UK raising additional concerns as it appears to be resistant to the current versions of vaccines, the pharmaceutical companies behind the current versions are believing to already being working on a new variation that can cope with the variations.

The UK stock market has moved lower on these developments as share prices reflect sentiment and expectations for future earnings both of which will be impacted if companies in the retail, leisure and travel sectors are forced to remain closed for a longer period.

There will be a return to normal and better times ahead, though the impact on this summers holiday travel season remains uncertain.

Visit our website to view company accounts and get analysis covering more than 4.8million UK companies.

Reporting Accounts – News from the markets Tuesday 19th January 2021

Summary

In today’s podcast our resident financial professional Adrian Lawrence talks about the forthcoming floatation in the London stock market of Deliveroo, the company it is rumoured are preparing a £5billion April floatation.  Deliveroo is operated by Roofoods Ltd and is based in London.

They recently appointed Lord Simon Wolfson as chief executive and joins Claudia Arney their chairman who joined from Ocado towards the end of last year.

The company has seen huge expansion and covers 8000 towns and cities worldwide using a delivery network of 110,000 feelance delivery drivers.

The timing of their float is interesting as it will come after more than a year of disruptions to the UK economy due to Covid, whilst very damaging to the overall economy, home delivery is an area that has seen strong growth.   Their floatation is likely to be a success on the back of this but the UK and world economies are likely to begin a return to normal which means they are making the most of this opportunity.

Reporting Accounts news from Friday 15th January 2021

Summary

In today’s podcast Adrian Lawrence talks about an interesting news story this week. Pimlico Plumbers have announced that they will only employee new starters who have had a Covid Vaccine, and existing employees and subcontractors can only continue to work for them if they agree to have the vaccine.

This raises a number of HR questions and points, someone with less than two years of service can be dismissed for more or less any reason, but an employee with more than two years service can object for example if they are pregnant or have valid medical reasons not to have a vaccine, or religious objections.

It will be interesting to see if more companies follow the lead of Pimlico Plumbers and maybe even we won’t be able to travel abroad without proof of having receipted a vaccine.

You can find more information on Pimlico Plumbers within the reportingaccounts database.

Reporting Accounts – Welcome to 2021

Summary

Reporting Accounts the leading UK Business Intelligence provider welcomes in 2021 albeit on the back of a very tough financial year that has seen UK companies really suffering from the Covid Pandemic.

In this podcast Adrian Lawrence the CEO of Reporting Accounts, talks about last year and some of the new products that the company will be bringing to market in 2021.  In this short podcast Adrian talks about how the UK economy has been badly impacted by the pandemic.

There are positive developments to report internally from Reporting Accounts, who launched a number of successful features in 2020, firstly a Google android App which can be dowloaded from the play store, then towards the end of the year an MS edge app has been launched which means MS Edge users can now access the great free database of UK Companies from a single click on the MS edge toolbar.  

The development team are also working on Safari and Firefox versions which all being well will be live early in quarter one of 2021.

Not withstanding the tough business climate the team at Reporting Accounts are experiencing strong growth, users and page views increased by 50% between October and December and early indications suggest rapid growth will continue during 2021.

We continue to refine and develop our offering so we can compete effectively in the growing UK market place for Free and Pay as you go business credit report information.