Hargreaves’ asset values soar October 20, 2009 Stockbroker Hargreaves Lansdown said yesterday that it saw a 22 per cent increase in asset values in its first quarter, as the stock market rally encouraged investors. The firm said that total assets under administration stood at £14.5bn at 30 September, compared to £11.9bn at the end of June, while quarterly operating revenue rose 13 [...]
Autonomy shares drop amid margin concerns October 20, 2009 Shares in Autonomy dropped yesterday after the software firm said that the costs of meeting demand for its new database search product had hit its gross margin in the third quarter. Autonomy – which makes software that searches e-mail, telephone calls and documents for government departments – posted revenue of $191.6m (£116.4m) for the three [...]
Pearson says its full-year earnings rose October 20, 2009 PUBLISHING group Pearson raised its full-year guidance yesterday, saying it now expects adjusted earnings to be at or above 60p per share (EPS) following a strong performance from its education business. Pearson, the world’s largest education publisher and the owner of the Financial Times and Penguin Books, said nine-month sales were up two per cent [...]
Xstrata increases estimates of minerals at its Tampakan copper and gold mine October 20, 2009 XSTRATA, the mining group, has boosted an estimate of mineral resources at its $5.2bn (£2.8bn) Tampakan copper-gold project in the southern Philippines to 2.4bn tonnes from 2.2bn, it said yesterday. The mine, considered Southeast Asia’s largest undeveloped copper-gold prospect, is now estimated to contain 13.5m tonnes of copper and 15.8m ounces of gold, at a [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS October 20, 2009 CABLE & WIRELESSAfter a 45 per cent underperformance, Investec said that negative fundamentals are increasingly factored into the concensus for Cable & Wireless, making a share price re-rating overdue. The broker said that demerger hopes could move the shares higher and upgraded the stock to “hold” with a new target price of 140p. BLUEBAY ASSET [...]
CITY MOVES WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS October 20, 2009 St Modwen PropertiesThe property group has appointed Katherine Innes Ker, pictured, and Lesley James as non-executive directors. Innes Ker currently holds non-executive directorships at Taylor Wimpey and Tribal Group, while James, who also becomes chair of the remuneration committee, was formerly group human resources director at Tesco and a non-executive at retailers Liberty International and [...]
Greggs outlines store expansion plans as baguette sales increase October 20, 2009 Baker Greggs yesterday detailed plans to open 600 more stores, create 6,000 jobs, and upgrade its supply chain at a cost of up to £300m as it posted a rise in third-quarter sales. The firm, which sells sausage rolls, cakes and bread to over 6m customers a week from about 1,400 outlets, said it intended [...]
Gap is widening between best and worst brands October 20, 2009 THINGS have picked up on the high street over the last month, but it’s not a case of a rising tide lifting all boats: the recession seems to have made the customer more discerning. Of the 25 high street retailers which BrandIndex measures daily, we’ve taken three of our top-ranked, and compared them with three [...]
Finance M&A to jump October 20, 2009 The European financial services market is set for a wave of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity, according to Pricewaterhouse-Coopers. In its European Financial Markets M&A Insights report, the accountancy firm said that the “steady as she goes” ethos that has been prevalent throughout 2009 will give way to a “restructuring-led wave of deal activity” as [...]
CITY VIEWS: DO YOU HAVE ANY SYMPATHY WITH ROYAL MAIL WORKERS OVER THE IMPENDING STRIKE ACTION? October 20, 2009 JONATHAN POLIN SALANS“Any sympathy that the postal workers might have had, they have lost.The public are not going to sympathise with them if they are causing widespread disruption. But it won’t affect the City as much as you might think because of email, UPS and document exchange systems that are already in use across businesses.” [...]