STOCK WATCH: Will Redknapp help Dowgate keep its eye on the ball?

Stockbrokers have come under pressure in the coronavirus crisis as deals have dried up.

Smaller stockbrokers such as Dowgate Capital and its listed rivals Cenkos, FinnCap, Arden Partners and WH Ireland, rely on companies floating and doing other deals to make commission.

Dowgate, a private broker backed by the controversial Saracens rugby club owner Nigel Wray, had a good first three months of the year, with turnover up 24 per cent.

Last year wasn’t quite so good with turnover and profits down, according to accounts recently filed at Companies House, although chief executive David Poutney said it followed a strong year where Dowgate helped Sir Martin Sorrell to raise £250million.

Poutney blamed a rise in stock market regulation for putting off firms, explaining: ‘For many smaller companies, whether on AIM or the main market, the direct and indirect costs of being listed are simply not worth the effort.’

Perhaps Dowgate should enlist the services of one of its shareholders who has a knack for a deal.

Former football manager Harry Redknapp has held a stake in Dowgate for years, it has emerged.

Royal Mail

Beleaguered investors in Royal Mail will be eager to see the company unveil its plans to revive its fortunes later this week.

But can it deliver the goods? The company, which ejected chief executive Rico Back after a poor performance, has said it has been talking to key stakeholders about a ‘package of potential measures’ to minimise losses and make sure it can survive long term.

Exactly what measures are being considered – perhaps office closures or job cuts – should become clearer when Royal Mail gives an update on the plans, which it will do alongside revealing its annual results this Thursday. 

Tesco 

There is a sense that investors have been gobbling up shares in supermarket groups during the pandemic, when in fact that has not quite been the case.

Shares in Tesco are actually lower than where they were in February, with parts of the business, such as Booker, the wholesale arm, struggling.

On Friday, Tesco will give a trading update covering the months of March, April and May.

Clive Black, at Shore Capital, estimates that like-for-like retail sales across the group have risen 4.8 per cent in the period, helped by a 9 per cent rise in the UK supermarket division. However, the fall in sales at Booker is likely to be heavy with no caterers to supply.

Crest Nicholson 

Housebuilder Crest Nicholson will give the housing market a health check on Wednesday when it unveils its half-year results.

The numbers themselves are unlikely to be particularly surprising, given what has happened in recent months.

Housebuilder Crest Nicholson will give the housing market a health check on Wednesday

But they will offer a sense of how things have been going in recent weeks – and, crucially, how many people are ordering new homes or cancelling existing orders.

Scribblers at the Swiss bank UBS have pencilled in a 31 per cent fall in turnover to £747million for Crest Nicholson’s full-year, which ends in October, suggesting the housebuilder would still make a £40million profit.