Pets at Home shares (LON:PETS) rose on Tuesday after the UK’s largest pet supplies retailer saw its profits increase for the half year. Shares in the company were up almost 10% during Tuesday morning trading. Pets at Home said it had a “strong” first half period over the 28 weeks to 10 October. Group underlying profit before tax on a comparable basis increased by 18.9% year-on-year, amounting to £45 million. Group revenue was up by 9.4%, with vet group revenue increasing by 19.6%. Pets at Home added that, because of its strong first half performance, the business remains confident about its full year outlook. Indeed, it expects full year profit towards the top end of current market consensus, despite the prevailing consumer uncertainty. Indeed, as the nation has been granted yet another extension to its deadline to depart from the European Union, uncertainty among consumers continues to weigh on some businesses. “I am very pleased with what we have achieved in the first half of the year,” said Peter Pritchard, Group Chief Executive Officer. “We have executed our plans well, and this has been reflected in the strong customer sales growth across the Group,” the Group Chief Executive Officer continued. “Our commitment, and that of the Group’s Joint Venture Partners, is to make sure pets and their owners get the very best advice, care and products; and this has led to record levels of VIPs, First Opinion practice clients and subscription customers. In short, our pet care strategy is working.” Peter Pritchard said: “We have seen sustained momentum in Retail, with a 2-year like-for-like of 13%. This has been complemented by a meticulous delivery of our Vet Group recalibration. The programme to buy out a number of Joint Venture practices is already complete, whilst changes we have made to the fee arrangements for ongoing practices are already showing signs of positive progress and will be followed by further planned adjustments in the second half of the year.” Shares in Pets at Home Group plc (LON:PETS) were up on Tuesday, trading at +8.97% as of 08:48 GMT.

Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA) have seen their shares climb on Monday after the firm reported strong sales for its new Cybertruck.

Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk tweeted that the company had received over 200,000 orders for its Cybertruck pick up, which seems to be a hit with consumers.

Shares in Tesla climbed 2.58% after the weekend’s news broke out and shares trade at $341. 25/11/19 15:05BST.

The global automotive industry has seen slumps and many firms have struggled to stimulate business amid cut throat market trading conditions.

Volkswagen (ETR: VOW3) and Nissan (TYO: 7201) saw their shares dip last week after they updated shareholders with a gloomy annual outlook.

Global rival such as Suzuki (TYO: 7269) have not been so lucky, seeing major slumps in Indian business.

Whilst firms have attempted to combat slow business through mergers, as seen with Fiat Chrysler (NYSE: FCAU) and Peugeot (EPA: UG).

Tesla opened preorders immediately, and allowed potential buyers to book the truck by depositing just $100, compared to the $1,000 Tesla charged for booking Model 3 sedans in 2016, drawing the flood of reservations and sending the company’s shares back up on Monday, according to Reuters.

The carmaker received 325,000 orders for the Model 3 in the first week of bookings three years prior, and the initial excitement for the trucks suggest that preorders could beat that figure.

“Better truck than an F-150, faster than a Porsche 911,” he tweeted here over the weekend, posting a video of the Cybertruck dragging the F-150 uphill.

Elon Musk had hit news headlines after he used his vast twitter fan base to promote Tesla products, but appeared controversial las year when he pledged to take Tesla private.

Tesla have updated shareholders that they plan to start manufacturing operations for the Cybertruck around late 2021.

Consumers seem very excited about the new product developments made by Tesla, however not all orders will translate into sales as many orders are likely to be cancelled.

However, it has been proven that once again Elon Musk has managed to promote Tesla products via twitter using his fanbase holding over 30 million followers.

Transport for London announced on Monday that it will not be renewing Uber’s (NYSE:UBER) licence to continue to operate in the nation’s capital. Uber is not “fit and proper,” said the body responsible for travel in London. TFL recognised that Uber has made several positive changes to its culture, leadership and systems since it was granted a license in June 2018. However, TFL said that “a pattern of failures” have occurred. These failures include “several breaches that placed passengers and their safety at risk,” TFL said. Uber is not “fit and proper” at this time, TFL said, and the body responsible for travel in London added that it has little confidence that these issues will not take place again in the future. An example identified by TFL was that unauthorised drivers could upload their photos to other Uber driver accounts, allowing them to pick up passengers as if they were the booked driver. This occurred for at least 14,000 trips. Another safety and security breach was that dismissed or suspended drivers could create an Uber account and carry passengers. The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, commented on the news in a Tweet:

My statement on TfL’s Uber decision. pic.twitter.com/uMDjoIlqOW

— Mayor of London (@MayorofLondon) November 25, 2019

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js “As the regulator of private hire services in London we are required to make a decision today on whether Uber is fit and proper to hold a licence,” Helen Chapman, Director of Licensing, Regulation and Charging at TfL, said in a statement. “Safety is our absolute top priority. While we recognise Uber has made improvements, it is unacceptable that Uber has allowed passengers to get into minicabs with drivers who are potentially unlicensed and uninsured.” “It is clearly concerning that these issues arose, but it is also concerning that we cannot be confident that similar issues won’t happen again in future.” “If they choose to appeal, Uber will have the opportunity to publicly demonstrate to a magistrate whether it has put in place sufficient measures to ensure potential safety risks to passengers are eliminated.” Helen Chapman continued: “If they do appeal, Uber can continue to operate and we will closely scrutinise the company to ensure the management has robust controls in place to ensure safety is not compromised during any changes to the app.” Earlier this year in May, Uber drivers in the UK were set to strike against pay and work conditions just days before the company launched its initial public offering. The ride-hailing app’s past is filled with controversies; from its poor workplace culture to the treatment of its drivers.

EBay (NASDAQ: EBAY) have announced that they have sold StubHub to Swiss ticket vendor Viagogo.

News broke out on Monday afternoon that the deal proposed was valued at $4.05 billion in cash.

The deal is expected to close by the first quarter of financial 2020, subject to clearance from financial authorities and competition regulation.

Neither firm is new to the world of investigation. One year go eBay launched a US lawsuit against Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) following competition breaches.

“We believe this transaction is a great outcome and maximizes long-term value for eBay shareholders,” said Scott Schenkel, interim chief executive officer of eBay Inc.

“Over the past several months, eBay’s leadership team and Board of Directors have been engaged in a thorough review of our current strategies and portfolio, and we concluded that this was the best path forward for both eBay and StubHub,” he said.

When combined, StubHub and Viagogo will sell tickets across more than 70 countries, “giving fans seamless access to a wider selection of inventory around the world, while sellers, teams and artists will have the ability to more effectively reach a broader global audience,” the release said.

Viagogo’s founder and CEO Eric Baker left StubhHub when it was sold to eBay for $310 million in 2007.

“It has long been my wish to unite the two companies,” Baker said.

Bringing StubHub and viagogo together will allow us to drive further expansion and innovation, and create a more competitive offering for live event fans globally,” said Sukhinder Singh Cassidy, president of StubHub. “This provides a great opportunity to expand our business, pursue new partnerships and execute our strategy. We expect a seamless transition for all our employees, partners and customers, and we are excited for what the future holds.”

Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) is acting as a financial advisor to eBay, whilst J.P. Morgan (NYSE: JPM) is acting as sole financial advisor and sole underwriter of the committed debt and preferred equity financings for Viagogo.

Thor Mining (LON: THR) have updated shareholders on Monday about its Bonya project, adjacent to its Molyhill project in Northern Australia.

Shares of Thor Mining are currently trading at 0.25p, and have spiked 9.6% on Monday. 25/11/19 14:25BST.

Thor Mining have been in and out of investor headlines, as the firm reported a new discovery at the start of this month.

Additionally, rival firm Metal Tiger Plc (LON: MTR) announced it had bought shares in Thor Mining buying 22.5 million shares valued at £45,000.

The opportunity for Metal Tiger to buy shares in Thor came after Thor used a share placing plan to raise £510,000 in late October.

The Bonya project is held in joint venture between Arafura Resources Ltd (ASX: ARU), which owns 60%, and Thor, which owns 40% and acts as project manager, with each party contributing to the cost according to their equity.

The mining firm said that eleven holes were drilled at the White Violet deposit, and a further eight holes at Samarkand.

Thor added that the completion of the program would lead to 1,386 meters drilled in total.

Mick Billing, executive chair of Thor Mining, said: “Our consistent objective for drilling at Bonya is to add to the Molyhil area mining inventory, and aim for a minimum life of ten years open pit mining and processing.”

“These results, subject to assay and follow up resource work, area very positive step towards that objective,” Billing added.

There have been updates in the mining sector, and firms have been active amid periods of volatility in shares.

Firms such as Bluejay Mining (LON: JAY) and Amur Minerals (LON: AMC) have also used share placing to raise funds for projects.

Established names such as Hochschild Mining (LON: HOC) have seen their shares crash since Friday after they cut their annual profit expectations.

Certainly, the update provided will please shareholders of Thor Mining. After the full report is published, it will be then deduced as to whether the Bonya operations delivered as Thor expected.

Mitsubishi Corp (TYO: 8058) have purchased Eneco in a deal valuing the Dutch energy firm at 4.1 billion euros.

This is a noteworthy deal for both parties, as Eneco reported that Mitsubishi bears rival bids from Shell (LON: RDSA) and private equity firm (NYSE: KKR).

Shares in Mitsubishi Corp jumped 1.71% on Monday afternoon to 2,889JPY.

Eneco, is a company owned by 44 Dutch municipalities and with a strong focus on renewable energy, said it had been swayed by Mitsubishi’s plans to allow the company to continue its strategy and retain its corporate identity.

There was no surprise that Shell had expressed interest in Eneco, after the global titan purchased wind farm specialist EOLFI as it plans to expand into the renewable energy sector.

Eneco said Mitsubishi’s group had “made the best offer for shareholders and all other stakeholders of Eneco, including employees.”

Misubishi have pledged to invest 1 billion euros in Eneco’s European operations, which mainly reside in Netherlands, Germany and Belgium.

The deal will give Mitsubishi 80% of Eneco and its partner Chubu (TYO: 9502) a 20% stake.

“Eneco fits perfectly with our current energy activities and offers us a platform from which to grow further in the European market,” Mitsubishi Chief Executive Takehiko Kakiuchi said in a statement.

Mitsubishi already owned 400 megawatts (MW) of Dutch offshore wind power and would combine those operations with Eneco, the Dutch company said.

In a highly competitive industry, many of the big firms are looking to diversify into other markets. Shell updated shareholders that they were looking into new acquisitions in the renewable energy sector, after the firm suffered a slip in its profits following poor trading and volatile oil prices. This will come as good news for shareholders of Mitsubishi, and the added fact of beating main rivals to this purchase will make the deal even sweeter. Mitsubishi seem to have given Eneco freedom to continue their operations and keep their identity, which was one of the reasons why Eneco chose the Japanese titan. Certainly, this seems like a shrewd piece of business and could exploit long term benefits if Mitsubishi are able to expand into the renewables market.

Personal Assets Trust PLC (LON: PNL) have updated shareholders with a cautious view, as they tread carefully in what that the firm described as a ‘benign’ first half of its financial year.

Net asset value per share over the six months to October 31 was £415.16, rose 2.5% from the figure recorded at the end of April.

This compares to a 1.8% fall for the FTSE All-Share Index over the same time.

PAT’s investment income rose 34% to £12.1 million, with pretax profit also rising 34%, to £30.3 million.

“Despite the modest fall in the FTSE, the environment has been relatively supportive amid falling bond yields and a resilient US stock market,” said the investment trust.

The FTSE250 (INDEXFTSE: MCX) listed investment fund said that holdings in blue chip stocks drove its performance.

PAT holds investment in many big names, such as Microsoft Inc (NASDAQ: MSFT), Coca Cola HBC AG (LON: CCH), Nestle SA (SWX: NESN) and Procter & Gamble Co (NYSE: PG).

Looking ahead, PAT said: “As regards specific political events such as Brexit, the UK general election or the US 2020 presidential election, short-term tactical decision-making is likely to fail. We try to take account of, and protect against, substantive risks to the portfolio.

“This requires an appreciation and understanding of multifarious political outcomes. However, we spend a much greater part of our time identifying and analysing businesses which should perform well regardless of the wider political and macroeconomic backdrop.”

PAT are not the only firm that have alluded to the tough market conditions which have contributed to the global slump of trading and declining consumer confidence. The UK will wait till the 12th December for the next chapter in the Brexit saga, to find out if there will be any progress made on the tense relationship between Britain and the European Union. Additionally, the ongoing trade war between China and the United States has led to knock on effects for the global economy, and has not been helped by the ongoing crisis in Hong Kong.

Restaurant Group PLC (LON: RTN) have seen their shares crash on Monday, despite a strong performance from subsidiary brand Wagamama.

The Restaurant Group is a leading name in the casual dining market, and boasts a portfolio of over 650 restaurants. The firm owns household names such as Wagamama, Frankie & Benny’s, Chiquito and Brunning & Price.

Shares of the Restaurant Group crashed 5.68% to 137p. 25/11/19 12:43BST.

The FTSE250 (INDEXFTSE: MCX) listed firm reported that Wagamama had continued to outperform the market in tough trading conditions, but this did not seem to be enough to suffice shareholder appetite.

Earlier this year, the Restaurant Group announced the acquisition of Wagamama into its group and this had an immediate effect.

It seems that now the Japanese food branch is the leader for the Restaurant Group as other brands slip from tough retail conditions.

The deal cost the Restaurant Group £357 million to acquire Wagamama, and after skepticism from shareholders the deal was finalized earlier this year.

Including Wagamama’s debt, the deal had an enterprise value £559 million, and Restaurant Group used a £315 million rights issue and a £220 million bank loan for the acquisition.

Wagamama reported strong second quarter gains, as revenues rose 11% year-on-year to GBP93.5 million, with like-for-like revenue growth coming in at 6.3%. Restaurant Group’s own financial year aligns with the calendar year.

Overall, the brand delivered a 5.1% outperformance of the UK market, the company said, and has consistently outperformed over the past five years.

Wagamama Chief Executive Emma Woods said: “Great businesses are built from dedicated people, a commitment to always be on the side of their customers and a galvanising sense of purpose.

“Wagamama has always followed this model, and I am thrilled to say has delivered another quarter of strong outperformance versus the market with a number of record restaurant sales weeks.

“We look forward to 2020, and whilst we don’t expect to be immune to the various headwinds facing our industry, we will stay true to our positive culture and growth mindset,” Woods continued.

The food and drink market has seen mixed results and shares have fluctuated across tough trading conditions.

Established names such as J D Wetherspoon plc (LON: JDW) have seen their shares rally after a period of strong trading.

The performance has not been quite matched by rivals such as Greene King (LON: GNK) and Whitbread (LON: WTB) have been hit headlines of slowing business and takeover bids.

Additionally, Slug and Lettuce owner Stonegate agreed to buy Ei Group (LON: EIG) for £1.27 billion which may give the Restaurant Group further competition.

Despite the strong performance of Wagamama, it seems that the other chains are living off the back of Wagamama success.

Seniority will have to address this issue as shareholders do not seem fully appeased following the stock price crash this morning.