�鶹��Ƶ

Dr Martens’ (DOCS) shares rose 7 per cent in early trading on signs the bootmaker’s turnaround may be gathering pace, with adjusted pre-tax profit soaring by 61 per cent in the year to 29 March.

Despite sales falling slightly to £764.9mn, this was in line with guidance as part of Docs’ wider efforts to reduce its reliance on discounting and clearance shoes under new chief executive Ije Nwokorie’s strategy revamp.

“In this year of pivot, our focus was to prioritise quality of revenue and profitability growth,” the company said. FY27 will see the company enter its “scale phase”, as the group expects to reap the benefits of operational leverage.

The shares are up almost a fifth over the past 12 months.

Standard Chartered (STAN) plans to slash thousands of jobs over the next four years as it accelerates the use of AI. The Asia and Africa-focused bank also set out new profit targets, after it hit medium-term 2026 goals a year early.

Chief executive Bill Winters wants to cut corporate functions roles by more than 15 per cent by 2030 and raise income per employee by a fifth by 2028, helped by “scaling practical uses of automation, advanced analytics and artificial intelligence” across the group.

The bank’s new financial targets include a return on tangible equity of more than 15 per cent in 2028, compared to guidance of more than 12 per cent for 2026, and around 18 per cent in 2030.

Other goals include cutting the cost-to-income ratio to 57 per cent in 2028, from 63 per cent last year, and delivering a dividend payout ratio of at least 30 per cent.

Shares in Currys (CURY) climbed 12 per cent this morning, after the electronics retailer said it expects 2026 profit to beat guidance.

The FTSE 250 company told the market in a pre-close update that it expects to report like-for-like sales growth of 4 per cent for the year to 2 May, alongside adjusted pre-tax profit of £191mn. Management had previously guided £180mn to £190mn.

The group expects to finish the year with net cash of more than £170mn, and said that the search for a new chief executive continued. Current boss Alex Baldock announced his plans to step down in March, though he will remain in the role until a successor is found.

“Recent trading has been very solid”, Baldock said. “We’ve not yet seen an impact from the Middle East conflict, and our energy costs are well hedged for the coming year,” he added.

Full-year results are expected on 2 July.

Shares in Forterra (FORT) fell 6 per cent after the brickmaker issued a gloomy trading statement warning of a double-digit fall in revenues, and withdrew 2026 guidance.

The company said it had experienced “challenging” trading conditions during the first four months of 2026, and that revenue had fallen by 11 per cent versus the prior year on a like-for-like basis, in line with the wider sector.

The company has deferred some production until the second half of the year due to increased energy costs, increasing the weighting of its profits until the second half of the year. It added that it had implemented surcharges on its own products.

While it noted that events in the Middle East were yet to materially impact demand, the uncertainty is sufficient that the company has withdrawn its full-year guidance.

Housebuilder Crest Nicholson (CRST) has postponed its interim results for the half-year to April until 16 July, as it seeks a temporary relaxation of its banking covenants in place with lenders. 

The housebuilder, whose shares fell 40 per cent last month when it initially disclosed that discussions were ongoing and slashed its profit guidance, had been scheduled to report on 11 June. Shares fell 2 per cent in early trading.

Self-storage giant Big Yellow Group (BYG) said it was focused on improving occupancy after like-for-like closing occupancy fell 2 percentage points to 77 per cent, as at 31 March.

The company has subsequently improved this by 0.6 percentage points, although it noted that the improvement had slowed in recent weeks amid a more challenging macro environment. Outgoing chief executive Jim Gibson told Investors’ Chronicle that this was the “one key objective” of the company.

The company reported adjusted profit before tax of £118mn on revenues of £209mn for the year ended, both up 2 per cent versus the prior year. It did not issue numerical guidance for 2027.

The dividend per share increased 2 per cent to 47.2p, while Gibson and his successor John Hunter both ruled out share buybacks. Shares were flat in early trading.

Electronics components manufacturer DiscoverIE (DSCV) has bought a 90 per cent stake in US-based 3Gmetalworx for $67.5mn (£50mn).

3G designs and manufactures electromagnetic shielding equipment, similar to Discover’s MTC brand, although the latter mainly operates in Europe. Last year, 3G generated sales of $19.6mn and an adjusted operating margin that was “well ahead” of DiscoverIE’s own medium-term target of 17 per cent. 3G’s management retains a 10 per cent interest and will stay with the business, DiscoverIE said.

The acquisition will be funded by debt, which will push DiscoverIE’s net debt up to 2.2 times adjusted Ebitda, but the company said it expects this to reduce to 1.8 times by the end of the current financial year. The shares rose by 1 per cent.