JD Wetherspoon [LSE: JDW]
Half year results from the high street pub group Wetherspoon covering the Christmas period have been published this morning and the company continues to flourish. The Chairman Tim Martin devotes much of the statement to one of his favourite causes – Brexit – and how this won’t be bad for the UK economy. Certainly these numbers don’t reflect any consumer downturn with revenues rising above inflation and Earnings Per Share racing ahead by more than one third.
MITIE Group [LSE: MTO]
Outsourcing companies have been very much in focus over the last few months so this morning’s update from MITIE Group – the UK’s leading facilities management company – can expect to be closely followed. The company is keen to stress that debt levels remain well within the allowable limits set by its banks and new contracts are being won. This is a pre-close update, which is the company’s last chance to provide an update before they go into the closed period ahead of full year results being issued. The challenge for the sector however isn’t about the work being done, it’s about the margins being made and this aspect seems lacking.
SThree [LSE: STHR]
The Science and Technology recruitment business SThree has produced its first quarter trading update this morning. Falling across the Christmas period which is apparently a quiet one for the company, a largely solid set of results appear to have been tabled. The company is well diversified internationally with the UK only accounting for around 20% of gross profits – and this may be no bad thing as it’s the only territory that saw profits fall in the period. The decline was however far less marked that in any of the quarters last year – maybe this is a sign that the Brexit uncertainty is abating? Wetherspoon (above) would certainly raise a glass to that.
