S&P ups rating for Irish bonds February 11, 2013 STANDARD & Poor’s joined Fitch yesterday by lifting Ireland’s sovereign debt rating outlook to stable, after Dublin struck a bank debt deal that improved its chances of exiting its bailout programme by the end of 2013. S&P’s move on Ireland’s BBB-plus debt, leaves Moody’s as the only major rating agency with a negative outlook on [...]
Bond markets off to sluggish start to the year February 11, 2013 UK DEBT markets have got off to their worst start to the year since 2008, hinting at a slowdown in appetite for debt deals from investors, figures showed yesterday. Debt market volumes fell to $27.2bn (£17.4bn) for the period 1 January up until yesterday, down from $67.4bn in the same period last year, according to [...]
Analyst views | What next for Fidessa? February 11, 2013 DAVID TOMS | NUMIS Fidessa remains a world class company suffering from cyclically depressed end markets where early signs of improvement are just starting to appear. Whilst waiting to see if this continues, investors still benefit from a yield underpinned by a robust business model. ROGER PHILLIPS MERCHANT SECURITIES We continue with our long term [...]
Fidessa boss predicts future equity revival February 11, 2013 SOFTWARE group Fidessa, the biggest supplier of trading software to the City, yesterday gave an upbeat forecast for equity markets amid hopes the decline in the market has finally bottomed out. The group, listed on the FTSE 250, reported flat revenues and a small dip in pre-tax profits for the year ending December 2012 yesterday [...]
NYSE Euronext in derivatives trading boom February 11, 2013 EXCHANGE group NYSE Euronext yesterday revealed the growing importance of its derivatives business as it announced a 27 per cent year-on-year rise to 9.5m contracts traded per day during January. In contrast its traditional equities business suffered, with US volumes falling 14 per cent to 1.6bn shares a day over the same period. The improvement [...]
Better Capital tees up policy shift to widen investment net February 11, 2013 BETTER Capital, the private equity house run by seasoned investor Jon Moulton, yesterday announced plans to change its investment policy so it can invest in companies outside of the UK. The firm’s second fund, Becap 12, currently has two investments – fashion house Jaeger and double glazing firm Everest – but it wants to change [...]
HICL in demand as Nav rises February 11, 2013 HICL Infrastructure Company yesterday announced strong figures for the last six months after its net asset value increased close to three per cent. Shares in the fund now trade at 6.7 per cent premium to the Nav, a sign of increasing demand for the fund. HICL, which invests in roads and hospitals, said it planned [...]
RWS Holdings upbeat at AGM February 11, 2013 RWS Holdings, which provides intellectual property services to FTSE firms, yesterday predicted another years of group sales growth for 2013. Speaking at the business’s annual meeting, executive chairman Andrew Brode hailed an “encouraging” three months for the business as it looks to secure its tenth successive year of growth. The firm bought online patent filing [...]
GHG looks at debt restructuring February 11, 2013 Lenders to General Healthcare Group are in talks on a restructuring of its around £2bn debt pile, banking sources said yesterday, in a process which threatens to leave them nursing heavy losses. The company, one of Britain’s largest independent healthcare services providers, was bought in 2006 by a consortium comprising Apax Partners, Brockton Capital, London [...]
Blackberry falls as Home Depot chooses iPhone February 11, 2013 SHARES in Blackberry plummeted by as much as six per cent during early trading yesterday, after one of the US’s biggest retailers said it was replacing its employee handsets with Apple’s rival iPhone. A spokesman for DIY-chain Home Depot said as many as 10,000 of its management and corporate employees would switch their Blackberry models [...]