Telecoms operator BT Group saw its shares continue to advance in early trade on Friday as the market clearly remained impressed with yesterday’s full year numbers. Extending the 16% rally posted on Thursday, the stock was sitting a further 1.7% ahead in the first hour of trade with those who had been building short positions in the company ahead of the earnings release still smarting. Gains for the week so far stand at a remarkable 27.4%.
Fire safety technology company FireAngel was the biggest riser in London on Friday morning, with the stock up by more than 35% following an update from the company. It’s currently in the process of an attempted sale, but this was suspended late last year on the basis that regulatory clearance in the shape of the National Security and Investment Act hadn’t been granted. Today’s update lists a series of remedial actions which will need to be conducted for takeover approval to be considered – investors clearly see this as a step in the right direction.
The commercial property developer and investment company issued its full year results this morning and despite an optimistic outlook along with declining losses, the market still failed to find the upside here. A modest uptick in the dividend didn’t help either and shares were left floundering towards the foot of the FTSE-100 leaderboard, down almost 2% just after 9am. The macroeconomic outlook may be improving but investors appear keen to wait for this to translate into hard numbers rather than mere sentiment.
