BEST OF THE BROKERS August 3, 2010 RENAULT Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BoAML) has confirmed its “buy” rating on French car manufacturer Renualt and raised its price target by €4 to €50. BoAML cites a solid performance in core business, and results ahead of consensus by affiliates Nissan and Volvo, and forecasts full-year net industrial debt will drop to €5.1bn. BNP [...]
Capital & Counties progresses August 3, 2010 Property developer Capital & Counties yesterday said it is making progress on getting planning consent to redevelop London concert and exhibition venues Earls Court and Olympia. The company hopes to begin work on a residential project after Earls Court is used to host events related to the 2012 Olympic Games.
Devro sees 86pc profit boost August 3, 2010 Scottish sausage skin maker Devro yesterday announced an 86 per cent rise in first-half profit, from £9.2m in 2009 to £17.1m this time around. The company, headed by chief executive Peter Page, also announced an increase in its interim dividend to shareholders of 40 per cent to 2.0p per share, up from 1.425p per share [...]
SDL bullish for rest of 2010 August 3, 2010 Translation software firm SDL yesterday posted a 13 per cent increase in first-half revenue and a nine per cent rise in profit. SDL said the growth came thanks to a recovery in demand from its major multinational customers. In a statement to the London Stock Exchange, the company said it is confident about the rest [...]
GOODHART: IF I WERE ON TODAY’S MPC, I’D WANT TO BE PUT TO SLEEP August 3, 2010 ATTENDEES at the London School of Economics’ (LSE) monetary policy conference yesterday morning were treated to an A-list talking heads line-up, with former members of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) Sir John Gieve and Charles Goodhart joining Fitch Ratings’ Brian Coulton to discuss interest rates. Unfortunately, the audience was not about to flatter its illustrious [...]
FSA fines RBS £5.6m over risk controls August 3, 2010 THE Financial Services Authority (FSA) fined Royal Bank of Scotland £5.6m for major breaches in its risk controls which could have facilitated terrorist financing. The FSA said that RBS, which is 83 per cent-owned by the British government, did not have adequate systems and controls in place to prevent breaches of UK financial sanctions. “By [...]
Construction slumps to a four-month low August 3, 2010 CONSTRUCTION sector activity in Britain slowed in July to a four-month low as firms’ confidence about the future deteriorated due to concerns about public spending cuts, a survey of purchasing managers showed. The Markit/Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply construction PMI fell to 54.1 in July from 58.4 in June, suggesting that expansion in the [...]
JC Flowers to take 50pc stake in Kent Reliance August 3, 2010 BUYOUT firm JC Flowers has said it would take a £50m stake in Kent Reliance as part of a restructuring plan. Under the deal, Kent Reliance’s assets and liabilities would be transferred to a new bank, which would become a subsidiary of a new mutual organisation, the Kent Reliance Provident Society. JC Flowers would receive [...]
Xstrata to pump $5bn into new mines August 3, 2010 Mining group Xstrata said it would pump over $5bn (£3.14bn) into new mines and keep targeting organic growth rather than acquisitions, after more than doubling first-half earnings per share on higher metals prices. Xstrata – the world’s biggest exporter of coal used in power plants – said it had approved $4.2bn to build the Las [...]
Taylor Wimpey returns to profit August 3, 2010 Housebuilder Taylor Wimpey swung to a first-half profit and said trading is satisfactory. The company kicked off first-half results from British housebuilders by posting a pretax profit before exceptional items of £19.6m, compared with a loss of £68.9m in the same period last year. After exceptional items, its profit reduced for the six months to [...]