The FTSE 100 (FTSEINDICES: ^FTSE) ended last week on a positive note as signs of a temporary truce over the US budget deadlock started to surface, and it finished 33 points up at 6,487. Today it’s marginally ahead of that, up 9 points to 6,496 approaching midday, although there’s really no concrete news so far.
While the FTSE was just creeping into positive territory last week, a number of individual shares were putting in big gains. Here are three that rewarded shareholders well:
Persimmon
The UK’s housebuilders got a boost from the latest phase of the government’s ‘Help to Buy’ scheme last week, which was supported further when Barclays agreed to join — two thirds of the country’s mortgage lenders are now on board.
FTSE 100 constituent Persimmon (LSE: PSN) was the biggest winner, with a gain of 120p (11%) to end Friday on 1,197p, taking its share price up more than 60% over the past 12 months and up 140% over two years. The others came close, with Taylor Wimpey up 9p (9%) to 109p, Barratt Developments up 20p (6.6%) to 332p, Bovis Homes up 45.5p (6.3%) 767p, Bellway up 77p (6%) to 1,355p, and Redrow up 13p (5.6%) to 248p.
Telecom plus
A first-half update gave Telecom plus (LSE: TEP) a nice boost, and the price finished the week with a 154p (12.4%) jump to 1,396p. That’s nearly 60% over the past 12 months and more than 300% over five years.
The company told us of “significant acceleration in new customer and service growth“, with an additional 20,536 net customers and a rise of 101,447 in total services taken — which represents annualised gains of 17% and 24% respectively.
Looking forward, chief executive Andrew Lindsay said that “Ofgem’s Retail Market Review over the coming months will create an exciting opportunity for us…“.
Ladbrokes
Bid rumours sent Ladbrokes (LSE: LAD) shares up 29.7p (11.5%) over the week, to 190.7p. After a buyer invested £37m in the shares on Wednesday, to take their stake up to nearly 3%, the price spiked. And it stayed up — today it’s at 190p.
Although the stake has not reached the 3% ceiling that would require the disclosure of the purchaser’s identity, various sources identify the investor as Teddy Sagi, founder of Playtech. Playtech is already in a business deal with Ladbrokes to supply its gaming platforms in an attempt to boost the business.