YP75: Quiet week as markets see months of growth continue

The St Leger horse race festival finished on Saturday in Doncaster and therefore the old stock market adage "sell in May go away, don't come back till St Leger day" may lead to increased volumes, but anyone following the saying will have missed out on a 90 point rise in the FTSE 100 index since the beginning of May.

On Monday, Straight plc, the Leeds-based recycling products and services group, announced interim results which helped the shares gain over the week. The half yearly figures were slightly lower; however, the company remains confident the second half will exceed expectations. Pre-tax profit for the six months ending June 30 was 847,000 compared to 951,000 in 2009. Turnover was lower due to a reduction in sales of plastic wheeled bins with figures of 13.2m compared to 17.2m the previous year. The company maintains a healthy order book and declared a dividend of 1.3p.

Avacta Group, which provides innovative, high value proprietary technologies and services to the pharmaceutical markets announced a distribution agreement on Monday, helping the shares gain over the week. Isogen Life Science has been appointed as the mainland Europe distributor for Optim 1000, its ultra low volume protein analysis system.

Thursday was a busy day in a generally quiet week for Yorkshire based companies as William Morrison supermarkets announced interim results. The number four UK grocer said it will open its first convenience stores in the next year and trial an online store in order to expand growth and close the gap on its main rivals. The company says it expects to meet its full year profit expectations in a low growth environment as it reported a rise in first half earnings due to higher sales. The company declared an interim dividend of 1.23p per share, up 14 per cent from the 1.08p dividend a year earlier. First half total sales rose to 8.1bn – a 9.1 per cent increase – and profit before tax and exceptional items rose to 412m for the six months ending August 2.

Premier Farnell, an international electronic products distributor, the same day announced second quarter results. The company reported an 83 per cent rise in first half pre-tax profit on strong sales growth but said it was still wary of the volatile economic back drop. For the first half, pre-tax profit increased to 46m from 25.2m with revenue for the second quarter at 252.1m. The company also increased the interim dividend to 4.4p per share from the previous 4.2p.

Zoo Digital Group, the Sheffield-based company, which provides software enabling businesses to create and deliver media to the global marketplace also updated the market on Thursday. The company said trading was in line with market expectations and it continues to be confident in the future.

Adrian Wasson, Assistant Investment Manager at Brewin Dolphin, Leeds