LONDON -- The FTSE 100 (INDEX: ^FTSE) is picking up a little today, having risen 0.6% to break through the 6,300 level and land at 6,314 as of 8:45 a.m. EST. There is little happening in world markets at the moment, especially in Asia following the Chinese New Year holiday, so this kind of general sideways movement is not really surprising.
But there are individual companies whose shares are climbing to new levels every day. We look at three that are reaching new records, two of which are soaring.
Workspace (WKP -0.61%)
Workspace Group shares closed on a new 52-week high of 336.5 pence yesterday, and they're up another 0.4% to 338 pence as I write. That's nearly 60% up on last May's 52-week low of 213 pence, which marked the start of the current bull run.
Workspace is a real-estate investment trust, which provides business accommodation in London and the South of England, and in an update last week the firm told us of a 4.5% rise in its like-for-like rent roll for the past nine months, with like-for-like occupancy up to 89.6%.
The forward price-to-earnings ratio looks perhaps a bit high at the moment at 28, but there will be a lot of future London property-pricing figured into the current price.
Topps Tiles (TPT -1.22%)
The Topps Tiles price has been rising strongly, having risen 28% in February alone to hit a 52-week high of 69 pence today. The firm, which manufacturers tiles and wood flooring, told us last month that it had enjoyed a 1.6% rise in like-for-like revenue for the 13 weeks to the end of December and that things were in line with management expectations.
Forecasts currently put the shares on a forward P/E of an undemanding 12, with 6% earnings growth expected this year and double-digit growth predicted for the following year. There is another trading update due on March 27, covering the 26 weeks to March 30, ahead of the company's close period.
Bango (BGO -0.71%)
Shares in Bango are also flying, up more than 60% over the past year to reach a 12-month high of 245 pence today. Bango, which provides mobile Web-payment technology and mobile-phone analytics, placed 3.25 million new shares at 200 pence apiece last week to raise 6.5 million pounds in order to expand its business capacity. The new shareholders have already done well.
Like a lot of up-and-coming technology shares, Bango at this stage has not recorded a profit, and we don't have any forecasts available right now. It really is one for growth investors.
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