If you'd invested in: GVC and Pets At Home

published 7 September 2018

If only...

Shares in e-gaming operator GVC (LSE: GVC) rose in March as the firm completed the £3.2bn acquisition of Ladbrokes Coral, which brought it 3,500 UK betting shops and retail operations in Italy, Belgium, Ireland and Spain. The share price jumped again in May after the US Supreme Court struck down a 26-year-long nationwide ban on sports betting, claiming it was unconstitutional. GVC's shares then soared in July as GVC sealed a 50/50 joint venture worth $200m with MGM Resorts International to create a sports-betting and online-gaming platform in the US.

Shares in Britain's biggest pet store Pets At Home (LSE: PETS) dived in October after private-equity firm KKR sold stock worth £119m. In May, the share price slid further as Pets At Home posted a 12.3% drop in underlying pre-tax profit to £84.5m, despite a 7.8% rise in revenue to £898.9m. The results came as the firm embarked on the second year of a three-year recovery plan involving cutting costs and attempting to win back customers. Many investors doubt it will work, however: the company remains the UK's most-shorted firm, with just over 13% of the shares out on loan.

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Alice grew up in Stockholm and studied at the University of the Arts London, where she gained a first-class BA in Journalism. She has written for several publications in Stockholm and London, and joined MoneyWeek in 2017.