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Markets suffer as investors get the jitters over recession fears
Having seen an impressive run since March 9, the markets took a step back last week with the impact of gloomy economic data from the US hitting home.
Fears that the markets' latest rally was overdone, knocked investors' confidence with the possibility of a prolonged recession returning to people's minds.
Mining, financial and property sectors, all of which have been at the forefront of the latest rally, were hit hard.
Whether the optimism witnessed among investors in recent weeks returns to the markets in the near term remains to be seen.
Marshalls plc, the company involved in manufacturing and supplying landscaping products, announced a rights issue to raise around 34m in order to pay down debt and increase headroom on its banking covenants
The Huddersfield-based company, which has felt the effects of the economic downturn, would issue two shares for every five held, issuing around 56m shares at a price of 65p per share.
The company, which has seen like-for-like revenue decrease 19 per cent, to 103m, in the first quarter, will also utilise the funds raised to seek out potential acquisitions.
Although an encouraging trading period was witnessed over Easter, revenue from the public and commercial sector was described as 'subdued'.
Despite having to shut four sites and reduce capacity by 21 per cent in recent months, Chief Executive Graham Holden believes the company is well paced to bounce back when the economy recovers.
The Sheffield-based insulation and roofing group, SIG, has announced further job cuts to reduce costs as trading conditions remain challenging.
The company, which supplies to a number of countries throughout Europe, stated that like-for-like sales have fallen 13.3 per cent at constant currency rates over the year to May 12.
But, closer to home, like-for-like sales have fallen more dramatically, with the UK and Ireland down 21.9 per cent and 41.6 per cent respectively.
Since the deterioration in the construction and building industry, the company has cut 1,020 jobs and it now plans to close more branches in mainland Europe.
UK Coal, Britain's largest coal producer, announced that surface mine production at the start of the year had been hit by poor weather conditions but production is expected to recover throughout the year.
On a brighter note, deep mine production has continued to perform in line with expectations.
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Saturday 11 February 2012
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