BEST OF THE BROKERS January 17, 2010 ASSOCIATED BRITISH FOODS Evolution Securities has upgraded its target price to 950p on its “buy” recommendation of ABF. Despite a recent rally, Evo said the company “still looks compelling value” with earnings forecast at 66p. It said all three of ABF’s largest divisions (Primark, Grocery and Sugar) are firing on all cylinders, and expects further [...]
Media Corp is buoyed by Google truce January 17, 2010 INTERNET advertising company Media Corporation will announce strong first quarter trading numbers today after search giant Google lifted a penalty on two of its websites. The group, which is expected to report a £1.3m loss for the year to September 2009, said pre-tax profits swung from the red to £370,000 in the three months to [...]
SHOULD THE MPC PAY ATTENTION TO THE STRONG UPTREND IN UK INFLATION ? January 17, 2010 MICHAEL SAUNDERS | CITIGROUP I doubt the MPC will totally dismiss the inflation upsurge because of the risk that its anti-inflation credibility continues to erode. Outside recession, an inflation targeting central bank cannot credibly ignore such large and repeated upside surprises in inflation data. PHILIP SHAW | INVESTEC We do not envisage significant concerns here, [...]
JP Morgan profits soar January 15, 2010 J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.’s fourth-quarter earnings quadrupled as the banking giant showed it was coming out of the financial crisis strongly. For the quarter to 31 December the bank posted a profit of $3.28bn (£2bn) up from $702m in the equivalent period in 2008. Staff at the bank’s 25,000-strong investment banking division – 5,000 [...]
Man Group assets take a hit January 15, 2010 THE world’s largest listed hedge fund manager Man Group has said assets have slipped back with a poor performance from its flagship AHL strategy. In the autumn Man’s assets began to recover from the effects of the credit crisis but the latest figures are a blow to the recovery. The company said that AHL saw [...]
Bovis boost to housing market January 14, 2010 BOVIS is the latest housebuilder to issue upbeat figures fuelling hopes of a recovery in the housing market. The company said profit forecasts were on target with the average sales price up 2.5 per cent on 2008 to £154,600 in 2009. Bovis completed 1,803 homes compared with 1,817 in 2008 – with 1,527 of those [...]
Pearson puts information company on market January 14, 2010 Pearson, the publisher of the Financial Times, has put its majority-owned financial information subsidiary on the market. Interactive Data Corporation (IDC) – which is 61 per cent-owned by the publishing group – has a market value of £1.5bn and is listed in New York. The company said in a statement: “Pearson and Interactive Data Corporation [...]
RBS earmarks £1bn for manufacturers January 14, 2010 ROYAL Bank of Scotland has set aside £1bn in new loans to help fuel a recovery in the UK’s manufacturing industry. The lender said it had “ring-fenced a fund specifically for the manufacturing sector”. The loans, ranging from £250,000 to £25m, will be offered on “competitive fixed rates and with the option to defer repayments [...]
Obama’s tax risks new credit crunch January 14, 2010 IT is clear that Barack Obama’s latest scheme to tax the banks, just like Gordon Brown’s own super-tax, will go down well with the electorate. But both will do little to make the economy more stable and will hurt the very people they are meant to be helping. Obama wants a 0.15% annual levy on [...]
Experian revenue up January 14, 2010 THE world’s largest credit information company Experian plc met expectations with a one per cent rise in third quarter revenue. Experian it had seen “further stabilisation” in North America, which accounts for more than 60 per cent of its profit, but remained cautious on Britain, where a recovery has been slower. Its strongest performing division [...]