Good old Stobart. You can always count on them doing something that will hit the headlines. What was somewhat overshadowed yesterday - when it was revealed that Avril Palmer-Baunack would be leaving the role that was created for her in January - is some welcome financial news.
Firstly: Stobart Group - having suffered several reporting periods in the doldrums - said that come 16 May it expects to report results moderately ahead of market expectations.
Secondly: Stobart revealed it had signed a new three-year contract with Tesco, which runs until 29 February 2016.This formalises its role as primary and secondary distribution service provider having worked with Tesco on a “pay as you go” basis for the past eight years.
The sideshow of who actually is in charge at Stobart Group was suitably ignored by investors. the share price took a nice swing upwards, from 81.5p this time last week, to 83p as of this morning. Clearly it restored a little faith in Stobart, but it is worth remembering that at the end of January this year, when the MT Tracker began, a share is Stobart was worth 100.2p (see chart below). There is still a long way to go to get backing for this horse.
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Compare its performance over the past three months with our basket of shares: it's gone in the opposite direction.
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And here are the combined market caps of our basket of transport shares:
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