FTSE 100-listed Big Tech investor Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust PLC (LSE:SMT) returned to positive growth in its latest financial year thanks to a solid run on Nvidia and ASML shares.
But the trust’s significant investment in unquoted companies remains a bone of contention among stakeholders.
Marks and Spencer Group PLC (LSE:MKS) continues to receive plaudits and upgrades in equal measure from City analysts impressed with the retailer's latest numbers.
Deutsche Bank highlights how much the retailer’s stock has risen actually as well as reputationally over the past twelve months in a bullish follow-up note to yesterday’s update.
Aviva PLC's (LSE:AV.) first-quarter results were broadly in line with expectations, analysts said, though some metrics were higher than expected.
From a glance, analysts at KBW said the solvency ratio was "fractionally higher", the combined ratio "in line (maybe tougher in UK; reassuring in Canada)" and most volumes and rate commentary were "in line".
You can almost hear the scoffs among Hargreaves Lansdown PLC (LSE:HL.) management after receiving an "opportunistic", low-ball bid approach from a private equity consortium after Wednesday’s closing bell.
Priced at 985p per share, the offer by CVC Advisers, Nordic Capital and Platinum Ivy, a subsidiary of Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund, barely added a percentage point onto the trading platform’s Wednesday closing price.
JP Morgan has upgraded Unilever PLC (LSE:ULVR) from 'underweight' to 'overweight', setting a new share price target of €60/£51, up from the previous €41/$36.
This double upgrade was sparked by significant improvements in Unilever's operations and market strategy, the investment bank said in a note.
AJ Bell PLC's (LSE:AJB) interim results were “so far ahead of estimates that we made a moment of thinking that we were looking at the wrong company”, said gushing analysts at Panmure Gordon.
With revenues soaring 27% and assets under administration pumping up 13% to £85.8 billion, the trading and investment platform’s doors were “properly blown off”, analysts remarked, paraphrasing the fine words of Charlie Croker in the 1969 caper film 'The Italian Job'.