Friends Prov offloads final F&C shares July 6, 2009 INSURER Friends Provident has finished demerging its 52 per cent stake in asset manager F&C, after it sold its final 11.7 per cent chunk into the market on behalf of a group of smaller shareholders yesterday. While bigger Friends Provident shareholders were recently handed shares of F&C as part of the demerger, to do with [...]
Unite Group lifted by UK student fund July 6, 2009 UNITE Group, Britain’s biggest developer of student housing, said the net asset value of its flagship fund rose 4.1 per cent in the second quarter, bucking turbulent conditions in the broader property market. The estimated net asset value (NAV) of the Unite UK Student Accommodation Fund at 30 June rose to 71.2p per unit versus [...]
St Modwen sinks into the red as losses hit 93.8m July 6, 2009 PROPERTY developer St Modwen yesterday sank into the red as it reported losses had quadrupled to £93.8m for the six months to the end of May. The group, which owns the Elephant & Castle shopping centre, warned that it had seen no pick up in rental values in the commercial sector, but the residential market [...]
Caledonia says assets rise as it gets investing July 6, 2009 INVESTMENT trust Caledonia Investments yesterday said its net assets rose to £994m in the three months to end-June, from £906m at the end of March. The group made investments of £23.2m in the quarter, including £9.5m in a rights issue by Indian-listed textiles firm Alok. It realised assets worth £2.2m over the period. The net [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS July 6, 2009 VICTREXKBC Peel Hunt has initiated coverage on Victrex, the high performance plastic manufacturers, with a “buy” recommendation and a target price of 650p, predicting strong profits growth for 2010. It says the current consensus is 8 per cent too low, and that should Victrex begin restocking then forecasts could be revised up again. AEGIS GROUPPanmure [...]
Pace on target for first-half July 6, 2009 Set-top box maker Pace yesterday said it was on target to meet management expectations when it unveils its results for the six months ended 30 June. It said the operating performance remained “strong”. The company, which makes devices for BSkyB, Comcast and Canal Plus, said in April it is benefiting from increased demand for digital [...]
Oxford Bio’s TroVax salvaged July 6, 2009 Gene therapy specialist Oxford BioMedica said yesterday that a ruling by US regulators has cleared the way for it to develop its lead drug in a range of cancers, following a review of a failed trial. TroVax, which is being developed with Sanofi-Aventis, missed a key goal in a Phase III renal cancer trial in [...]
Moneysupermarket is stable July 6, 2009 Moneysupermarket.com, the price comparison website, yesterday said it expected its results for the first half of 2009 to be in-line with previous expectations as it updated the market. The website said its financial performance has remained broadly consistent with the situation outlined in mid-April. In April the company said its revenues were one third lower [...]
Rio Tinto sale helps pay off its Alcan debt July 6, 2009 MINING giant Rio Tinto boosted its cash position yesterday, selling its Americas food packaging company to US group Bemis $1.2bn (£740m). Rio said that $200m of the sale proceeds may be in the form of Bemis shares.Rio, which last week raised $15.2bn through a massively discounted rights issue, is looking to slash the debt it [...]
Traders: Recovery is not near July 6, 2009 TWO thirds of traders say the economy is still at least 12 months away from recovery and have concerns over the ability of Britain’s politicians to guide the country out of the recession, according to a survey by spread-betting firm Capital Spreads. More than a quarter of the 2,200 traders polled believed that economic stability [...]