Weir renews Ludowici offer March 1, 2012 Engineer Weir Group yesterday renewed its $10 a share bid for Ludowici, as it tries to beat rival FLSmidth to a deal. The board of Ludowici, said yesterday it continued to recommend the FLSmidth bid to shareholders in the absence of a higher offer. However Weir has appealed against a decision by the Australian takeovers [...]
Chemring has record order book March 1, 2012 Defence contractor Chemring said yesterday it has a record order book of £997m. Revenue during the first three months was £137m, in line with the board’s expectations but sales have been flat while the company, which makes ejector seats and pyrotechnic decoys for military aircraft, reported delays with contracts.
Howden restores its dividend March 1, 2012 British kitchen supplier Howden Joinery said yesterday that it would pay its first dividend for four years as it met forecasts with a nine per cent rise in 2011 profit. The firm, which emerged from the old MFI Furniture business, said yesterday that after ending the year with net cash of £57.1m it would pay [...]
Enegi Oil boosted by update March 1, 2012 Shares in AIM-listed oil and gas group Enegi Oil soared by up to 14 per cent after it confirmed positive preliminary analysis results at its operations in Garden Hill South, Western Newfoundland. The company says the well will now be flowed to bring it back online at controlled rates over the following days.
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS March 1, 2012 Hanson Green The board level search firm has appointed two new directors. Graham Jones and Abdul Bhanji are founder members of The Inzito Partnership, an executive search firm founded in 2009 by partners from Blackwood Group, PwC and Whitehead Mann. Before moving into recruitment, Jones worked at IBM and PwC, where he specialised in technology, [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS March 1, 2012 RESTAURANT GROUP Citigroup has maintained its “buy” rating on the Frankie & Benny’s owner but upped its target price from £3.65 to £4 following a good set of full year results earlier in the week. The broker has updated its estimates and says that a premium is deserved given the estimated 10-year earnings per share [...]
FTSE lifted by strong corporate results March 1, 2012 The FTSE 100 edged up this morning led by the financial and energy sectors, while heavyweights WPP and Man Group reporting strong results. London’s blue chip index gained despite losses in the US and Asia triggered by the Fed failing to signal and more stimulus measures and mixed economic data out of China. Factory figures [...]
Three arrested in insider dealing probe March 1, 2012 Three people have been arrested and are being held in custody in Britain in relation to an insider-dealing investigation, the Financial Services Authority (FSA) regulator has said. “The Financial Services Authority, with the assistance of Cheshire and Lancashire Constabularies, has this morning executed three search warrants at premises in Northwich and Rossendale,” the FSA said [...]
Man Group lifted by more buoyant 2012 March 1, 2012 Man Group, the world’s biggest listed hedge fund firm, cheered investors with news of lower fund outflows in a more buoyant 2012 for financial markets and said clients could begin to return after recent heavy withdrawals. The firm, whose shares have halved over the past year on concerns over outflows and the performance of its [...]
UK manufacturing sector growth slows March 1, 2012 Britain’s manufacturing sector grew in February, albeit at a slower pace than in the previous month, raising chances the sector will be a driver of growth for the overall economy in the first quarter. The Markit/CIPS Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) ticked down to 51.2 from a slightly downwardly revised 52.0 in January, which was [...]