Good morning, it's Paul here.
Apologies for yesterday's lack of report - there were hardly any results or trading updates within my remit, so I decided to have a duvet day.
Well, I'm raring to go today, but there's literally nothing on the RNS in my remit, in terms of trading updates or results.
SRT Marine Systems (LON:SRT) reports a contract win, but it sounds not material in size;
...Whilst a small project, we are delighted to have the opportunity to work with the FAO to help another nation build their maritime domain awareness and management capabilities."
EU settlement rights - an interesting article in today's papers says that Theresa May has offered to give European citizens settlement rights in the UK. Whatever the politics of it, I think this should be reassuring for companies which employ a lot of European workers, either directly, or through agencies.
If you recall last year, there was a big drop in the price of Staffline (LON:STAF) to c.750p per share, as most of its workers are E.European. That would have been an excellent buying opportunity, as fears about Brexit limiting the numbers of European workers proved unfounded.
Also, from discussing this issue with lots of people, there is definitely a sense of hurt, and worry, amongst European workers. One friend, who runs a small chain of pizza restaurants, employs mostly Italians. He said that they're likely to stay in the UK, but they feel less welcome here now.
So I think Theresa May making it clear that there won't be any expulsion of European people from the UK, is just the right, decent thing to do. People should never be used as a bargaining chip, so the UK is right to make a fair offer on this issue.
It also means that there's less likely to be a shock to earnings of UK companies employing Europeans. I've always thought that, in practical terms, very little is likely to change after Brexit. All the doom-mongerers on this issue are mainly just trying to justify their own position, by continuing to argue that Brexit was a terrible mistake. I don't think there will be any trade barriers, because neither side wants them. So this could be a good time to revisit sectors which have been hit by worries over Brexit. I might look at…
