Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley has had a good week, Rangers controversy aside.
On Saturday, the club managed to avoid relegation by beating a team managed by Sam Allardyce, a man Ashley sacked, and today, shares in his sporting goods chain Sports Direct International (LON:SPD) shot up as it said results will be ahead of market expectations.
The UK's leading sports retailer said underlying earnings for the year just ended totalled £380mln, in line with forecasts, while underlying pre-tax profits and earnings per share (EPS) were ahead of expectations.
Broker Liberum said it has not moved the posts for its forecast of £300mln pre-tax profits and EPS of 37.6p, which it says is “comfortably ahead of the current consensus of £288mln and 36p”.
Sports Direct was at the top of the FTSE 100 table today after climbing 4.15% to 685p.
Meanwhile, the FTSE 100 was 10 points higher to 7,043 despite confirmation that the UK’s GDP growth is slowing down.
Economists had been hoping the Office of National Statistics (ONS) would raise its estimate of UK growth from 0.3 per cent to 0.4 per cent when it announced its second reading of data this morning, but there has been no change on last month's first reading.
Meanwhile, mixed opinions on whether or not Greece will be able to secure funding before its payment to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) continues to loom over European markets.
In equity news, B&Q owner Kingfisher (LON:KGF) found itself near the top of the index. Shares advanced 3% to 378p in early deals as the home improvement retailer’s like-for-like sales figures improved.
Meanwhile, product testing firm Intertek (LON:ITRK) had its target price slashed to 2,654p from 2,725p by Deutsche Bank which also put a ‘hold’ rating on the stock. Shares fell 1.2% to 2,547p.
Away from the FTSE 100, sweetener expert Tate & Lyle (LON:TATE) warned that profits are likely to be flat this year, as it reported an 80% drop in pre-tax profit for 2014. Shares dropped 3% to 580p.
In better news, Paypoint (LON:PAY) is proposing to sell its mobile and online businesses, it revealed in its results statement this morning. Shares jumped 7% to 939p.
In small caps, Irish precious metals miner Connemara Mining (LON:CON) announced encouraging initial results from its prospecting programme at its Inishowen gold licences. Shares leapt 23% to 2p.
Conversely, Marimedia (LON:MARI), was the biggest faller today ahter the company said it has decided to run down its legacy display advertising business. Shares dived 39% to 71p.