Silver surprises at Fresnillo but gold production fails to glisten January 28, 2014 IT WAS a tale of two metals for Mexican-focused miner Fresnillo yesterday, as its quarterly update showed a decline in gold production but a strong silver performance. The FTSE 100-quoted firm’s share price slid over three per cent on the update, as a temporary explosives ban for two of its mines continued to impede gold [...]
Greencore sales lifted by boom in convenience January 28, 2014 BRITAIN’S fast-growing convenience market helped boost sales at sandwiches to Yorkshire puddings-maker Greencore. The group’s convenience arm, which makes products such as salads for retailers including Marks & Spencer, posted a 9.1 per cent jump in like-for-like sales for the 13 weeks to 27 December. This helped boost overall sales by 7.2 per cent on [...]
Pfizer beats earnings guidance January 28, 2014 Pfizer reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter results yesterday, helped by higher sales of drugs for cancer, nerve pain and arthritis, and forecast 2014 earnings in line with Wall Street estimates. The biggest US drugmaker said it earned $2.57bn in the fourth quarter. That compared with $6.32bn in the year-earlier quarter, when the company recorded a $4.8bn gain [...]
Afren output hits top of guidance January 28, 2014 Shares in Africa-focused oil explorer Afren yesterday rose more than four per cent after the firm reported 2013 output of 47,112 barrels of oil per day, at the upper end of guidance, and revenue of $1.65bn (£1bn). The firm said it plans to increase investment in the Ebok field in Nigeria in the coming year. [...]
London construction jobs to rise January 28, 2014 6,450 more construction jobs are set to be created in London over the next five years, according to new research released yesterday by training body CITB. Construction of Crossrail, the Thameslink and Victoria station upgrades and the Thames Tideway tunnel will all contribute to the increase, as will demand for new homes. “The government’s Help [...]
Best of the Brokers for 29 January 2014 January 28, 2014 To appear in Best of the Brokers, email your research to notes@cityam.com ROYAL BANK OF SCOTLAND Espirito Santo has a “neutral” rating and a fair value of 365p for the banking group, despite additional litigation and conduct costs amounting to £3.1bn. The broker expects that RBS will have sufficient capital to cover anything coming down [...]
London Report: FTSE buoyed by fall in emerging market worries January 28, 2014 THE UK’S blue chip share index picked up yesterday from five-week lows after finding strong technical support in the face of easing tensions in emerging markets and prospects of mergers and acquisitions. Emerging market assets steadied after a three-day slump, reviving confidence in global risk assets and reassuring investors worried that companies will be hit [...]
New York Report: US stock index given boost by good results January 28, 2014 US stocks rebounded yesterday after Pfizer’s upbeat results gave investors some relief from the pain of the Dow’s five-day losing streak, and the focus turned to the Federal Reserve’s next move on stimulus. The market’s advance, which also broke the S&P 500’s three-day slide, came after heavy losses tied to concerns about the withdrawal of [...]
The grave crises facing Putin’s Russia lay bare its fundamental weaknesses January 28, 2014 CHAOS in Kiev must feel uncomfortably close to Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Ukrainian parliament yesterday annulled laws that sought to clear the streets of protesters against Ukraine’s increasingly authoritarian pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych. Ukraine’s prime minister and government have quit, and the country stands perilously on the edge of deeper conflict – prompted initially [...]
Against the Grain: Facebook’s imminent collapse is possible – but not because it’s a bad product January 28, 2014 SO FAREWELL, then, Facebook! That is the conclusion of a highly technical paper by two Princeton researchers John Cannarella and Joshua Spechler, which received a lot of publicity in the press last week. The authors conclude that “Facebook will undergo a rapid decline in the coming years, losing 80 per cent of its peak user [...]
