Private label household products firm McBride (MCB) has warned of emerging signs of shortages in global supply chains. It also said it would raise prices or add surcharges to recover increases in its input costs. Shortages increasing The company, which makes own-label supermarket cleaning products, gave investors a first-hand account of the impact of the Middle East crisis. The firm said there was little effect on trading yet, but haulage costs had risen due to fuel price hikes. However, ‘these conditions have now started to change’, with the most heavily impacted chemical and packaging suppliers raising prices. This to cover…

Shares in plant and equipment rental group Speedy Hire (SDY) hit an all-time low of 18p after the firm lowered FY26 guidance. The company said market conditions had worsened in Q4 leading to customer delays which affected hire and service revenue. Lowered guidance Speedy said it had made ‘significant strategic progress’ during the year including a transformational deal with ProService. The firms signed an agreement in October 2025 which Speedy expects to generate £50-55 million of incremental revenue. The ProService tie-up is also expected to be ‘significantly’ earnings-accretive in the first full year of trading. However, before then the firm…

It has been a bumpy Q1 in markets, with quite a divergence in performance between UK large-caps and small/mid-caps. The FTSE index is 4.2% higher, and back above the 10,000 level again, while the FTSE 250 is down 3.9%. Partly this is down to the weight of energy and commodity stocks in the FTSE 100. It’s also partly down to M&A, with the top two large-cap performers both now takeover targets. FTSE 100 movers Excluding Beazley (BEZ) and Schroders (SDR), the big gainers are mostly up on the war in Iran and worsening geopolitics. Energy, mining and defence have been…

Residential construction firm Berkeley Group (BKG) announced a major strategic reset in light of the weakening housing market. The company confirmed its FY26 financial targets, but declined to update its FY27 guidance sending shares 15% lower. Slow market Berkeley develops brownfield sites in urban areas into new homes for sale and for rent where they are most needed. To do this requires ‘considerable upfront capital investment which in turn requires a stable, predictable and supportive operating environment’. In contrast, recent years have seen an unprecedented rise in cost and regulation and a fall in consumer confidence. Meanwhile, the new ‘gateway’…

Shares in media platform Future (FUTR) slumped more than 25% after the firm warned on FY26 earnings. The company said audience shifts from Google search had negatively impacted its higher-margin programmatic advertising and ecommerce revenue. Zero hour In an update for the six months to 31 March, the firm said its growth strategy was ‘making good progress’. This included its ‘Google-Zero strategy’ across its leading brands, which aims to attract high-value audiences across distribution platforms. Google-Zero refers to the point where Google evolves from a web search engine to an AI-powered ‘answer engine’. This means users receive direct answers from…

Shares in affordable computing company Raspberry Pi (RPI) leapt 25% after FY25 earnings topped forecasts. The firm also sounded more upbeat on the FY26 outlook than previousy, adding to investor enthusaism. Higher margins For the year to December, the company posted revenue of $323 million and EBITDA of $46.4 million. Both were ahead of the consensus, which had predicted revenue of $309 million and EBITDA of $45 million. In January, the firm issued a trading statement saying EBOTDA would be ‘not less than $45 million’. The consensus at the time was $40.9 million, so analysts duly upgraded their forecasts. Unit…

Shares in major lenders including Lloyds (LLOY) rallied after the FCA imposed a cap on motor finance payouts. The estimated total bill to firms involved in the scandal is now seen around £9.1 billion instead of £11 billion. Shrinking the bill The compensation scheme covers motor finance agreements from April 2007 to November 2024 where commission was payable by the lender to the broker. The FCA says it has tightened eligibility so only customers who were treated ‘unfairly’ receive compensation. That means agreements involving minimal commission or zero APRs aren’t included, while the threshold for high commission cases has been…

Payment management group PayPoint (PAY) said it expected to post record FY26 results while revealing a strategic revamp. The firm is reorganising itself into four divisions to create ‘a more transparent business with a simpler investment case’. New structure By reorganising itself into four divisions the firm hopes to ‘strengthen execution and its go-to-market strategy’. Having clearly defined areas of co-operation, cost savings, synergy and opportunity between businesses should drive growth. The largest business is Network Services which accounted for £91 million of FY26 revenue or just under half the group total. The businesses encompasses over 30,000 convenience stores, parcel…

Shares in litigation finance specialist Burford Capital (BUR) slumped 42% on Friday after a negative US appeal court ruling. The outcome reversed an earlier judgement in favour of Burford’s clients in their legal fight with Argentina over oil firm YPF. Historic claim Burford backed and funded litigation against Argentina over its nationalisation of YPF in 2012. In 2023, a US district sided with the plaintiffs, investors Peterson and Eton Court, ordering Argentina to pay $16.1 billion in compensation. In a press release published late on Friday, Burford said it expected Peterson and Eton Park to seek a second hearing. The…

It has been a busy week in the REIT (real estate investment trust) sector with two takeovers on the table. The commercial property sector has seen discounts to NAV largely narrow, but there is still a ‘long tail’ of sub-scale trusts ripe for consolidation. ‘Positive outcome’ First, diversified property trust AEW UK (AEWU) has made an indicative takeover approach for smaller specialist trust Alternative Income REIT (AIRE). The AEWU offer is based on a share exchange ratio to be determined by both funds’ NAVs with a 3% discount for AIRE. With a market cap of around £160 million, AEWU is…