Savills has seen shares jump after the estate agency said it saw the UK commercial and residential markets pick up after last month's general election.
The real estate business said its full-year results for 2019 will be at the "upper end" of expectations, following an "excellent" performance in the UK.
It said Brexit uncertainty had restrained UK growth until mid-December, but saw "a strong close to the year as confidence to transact returned to the market".
READ MORE: How Paws for Plastic is cleaning up Scotland
The London-listed firm also said it was particularly "resilient" as it faced challenging backdrops in both the UK and Hong Kong.
In Hong Kong, Savills said the political unrest had a severe impact on trading from the middle of 2019 and continues to press on performance in the region.
It said that, as a result of the political backdrop, its Asia Pacific region has performed "slightly below" expectations, while the company has also seen an increase in the time taken for its Australian business to bear fruit.
In the trading update, Savills said: "Despite the backdrop of uncertainty, the UK performed well across all business lines, latterly benefiting from improved investor sentiment in both commercial and residential markets.
"Our residential business continued to outperform the overall market conditions, in particular taking share in the core London market."
Savills said it believes increased political stability in the UK means it "should maintain improved sentiment", but said it remains cautious until the full impact of Brexit is better understood.
Shares in the company increased by 7.1% to 1,231p in early trading on Monday.
Drugs giant AstraZeneca said it will take a $100 million write-down after trials found a heart disease treatment was ineffective in treating certain conditions.
The London-listed business said it will stop running trials on the drug Epanova after receiving the disappointing results.
READ MORE: Distiller bids to make early mark after theatrical launch
As a result, AstraZeneca said it would carry out a review into the drug's $533 million value on its balance sheet.
Epanova is used in the US to treat hypertriglyceridemia - a condition which involves high levels of certain fats in the bloodstream and can be a forerunner to heart disease.
The company said it was testing to see if the drug would work for patients with mixed dyslipidemia, another condition which can elevate heart disease risk.
Shares in AstraZeneca were down 0.3% at 7,619.8p.
Building materials group Travis Perkins has announced the sale of its wholesale plumbing and heating business for £46 million.
The company, which is in the process of spinning off its Wickes retail arm, said it has sold the Primaflow F&P division to specialist distribution group Newbury Investments.
READ MORE: Love of curry inspired Scot to start spice firm in East Lothian kitchen
The disposal is the latest move by Travis Perkins to simplify the group and focus on its trade supply business.
It said the deal will be completed by the end of January and the proceeds will be used to reduce to company's net debt.
The Primaflow business, which has been part of the Travis Perkins group since 2010, reported profits after adjusting items of £5 million in 2018.
Shares in Travis Perkins were 1.2% higher at 1,587p after the sale was announced.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article