Shares round-up: Howden Joinery, Entain, Jet2
Updates from these three companies help quell investor fears. City writer Graeme Evans has the details.
29th April 2025 15:43
by Graeme Evans from interactive investor
Buyers targeted opportunities at Howden Joinery Group (LSE:HWDN), Entain (LSE:ENT) and Jet2 Ordinary Shares (LSE:JET2) today after the trio emerged as the pick of a packed session for corporate earnings and updates.
Their performances allayed the worst-case fears of investors amid signs of continued robust consumer demand for gaming, home improvement projects or summer holidays.
- Invest with ii: Open a Low Cost SIPP | What is a SIPP | Interactive investor Offers
AIM-listed Jet2 was the best performing of the three after it accompanied its year-end update with the surprise announcement of a £250 million share buyback programme.
The confidence-boosting move by the airline and package holidays operator represented 9% of its market capitalisation and will help to bolster future earnings per share.
It is doing so at a time when shares are trading on a low multiple of seven times earnings.
Chief executive Steve Heapy said the company had achieved another year of healthy profit growth, which underlined the “resilience, flexibility and popularity of our product offering”.
He added: “Although still very early in the 2026 financial year, we are satisfied with progress for summer 2025 so far.”
While a late booking profile continues to limit visibility, the group said its business model meant it retained the ability to balance average load factor, pricing and product mix.
Pricing remains stable, with the package holiday product seeing a modest average increase and flight‐only a slight increase to help mitigate previously announced input cost increases.
Bookings for the company’s two new bases at Bournemouth and Luton have been encouraging.
For the financial year just ended, the company nudged up the lower end of its guidance from £560 million to £565 million.
Peel Hunt, which has a share price target two-thirds higher than last night’s level at 2,250p, viewed the buyback as a measure of the company’s confidence.
It added: “We are pleased with the progress and are encouraged that bookings and pricing are developing as we expected, despite the geopolitical headwinds and unusually warm weather in the UK.”
- Shares for the future: why this stock’s still in my top five
- Insider: director buys FTSE 250 stock at ‘huge discount’
- Sign up to our free newsletter for investment ideas, latest news and award-winning analysis
Kitchens specialist Howden Joinery occupied the top spot in the FTSE 100 index after it reported sales growth of 1.8% on a same depot basis in the 16 weeks to 19 April.
This was against a strong prior year comparator and followed the implementation of price rises across its trading geographies at the start of the period.
The company, which ended last year with 869 depots in the UK as well as 78 in France, Belgium and Ireland, recorded overall sales growth of 3% for the period.
It also confirmed plans to add 20-25 new stores in the UK and to revamp 60 older branches over the course of this year. Chief executive Andrew Livingston added: “Our approach continues to deliver sustainable market share gains, and we are on track with our outlook for 2025.”
Shares rose 43p to 782p, returning the stock to where it started the year.
- Stockwatch: should you buy into L&G’s dividend dip?
- What City thinks of BP shares after profit slip-up
- Trading Strategies: a top FTSE 100 stock with long-term potential
Entain, the FTSE 100-listed sports betting and gaming group, rallied 12.2p to 640.4p after a combination of strong online volumes and operator-friendly sports results helped it report a better-than-expected start to the year.
The Ladbrokes, Foxy Bingo and PartyPoker business reiterates its expectation for online net gaming revenue growth of mid-single-digit per cent in 2025 on a constant currency basis.
The company’s US BetMGM joint venture has also enjoyed a strong start to the year, which has increased confidence it will meet full-year revenue expectations of $2.4-$2.5 billion (£2-£2.1 billion).
Entain confirmed Stella David as chief executive, having been in temporary charge since February and a member of the board since March 2021. David said: “Entain has a clear strategy and we are making great strides in strengthening our operational capabilities.”
Peel Hunt has a price target of 1,100p, while counterparts at Jefferies are at 1,140p and Barclays at 800p.
These articles are provided for information purposes only. Occasionally, an opinion about whether to buy or sell a specific investment may be provided by third parties. The content is not intended to be a personal recommendation to buy or sell any financial instrument or product, or to adopt any investment strategy as it is not provided based on an assessment of your investing knowledge and experience, your financial situation or your investment objectives. The value of your investments, and the income derived from them, may go down as well as up. You may not get back all the money that you invest. The investments referred to in this article may not be suitable for all investors, and if in doubt, an investor should seek advice from a qualified investment adviser.
Full performance can be found on the company or index summary page on the interactive investor website. Simply click on the company's or index name highlighted in the article.