Stock exchange: mixed picture for legal shares
Redde plc – the AIM-listed accident management company that owns NewLaw Solicitors – has seen its share price bounce back following the post-referendum stock market falls, with the help of a positive trading statement.
Redde closed at 157p yesterday, up 6.5% on the day and ahead of the 155p it was before the vote closed last Thursday. On Monday it had fallen to 137p.
The company announced yesterday that trading for the final quarter ending 30 June 2016 “has continued the positive trend shown in the first nine months of the year. Indications are that the operating results before exceptional costs for the financial year ending 30 June 2016 are likely to slightly exceed market expectations”.
Redde has already paid an interim dividend of 4.5p per share and said that when it published its year-end results in September would expect to announce “a further dividend at that time of not less than 5p per share”. The total of 9.5p for the year would be 15% more than was paid last year.
Other legal shares have recovered some of their ground – Fairpoint, which owns Simpson Millar and is now a predominantly legal services business – closed at 106.5p last night, having fallen post-referendum from 109p to 99p, while NAHL, which owns National Accident Helpline, jumped 7% to 206.5p, but was still lagging some way off the 241p it closed at last Thursday.
But shares in Countrywide plc – owner of alternative business structure Countrywide Property Lawyers – have no recovered, as gloom continues to pervade the property market. The estate agency and property services group closed on Thursday at 350p but closed yesterday at 246p.
Listed law firm Gateley has seen little movement in its share price since listing at 95p just over a year ago, and closed at 100.5p yesterday. Last Thursday it was 104p, while a few days previously Gateley reached its all-time high share price of 108.5p.
