Barclays bounces back to lead the market rally May 13, 2009 BARCLAYS is sitting pretty at the top of the UK’s rebounding stocks over the last three months, new figures from Motley Fool (Fool.co.uk) showed yesterday. The bank’s share price has soared from 61p on 9 March to 281p as of Monday’s closing price, a gain of 360 per cent, as UK lenders began to claw [...]
Rising profits on the menu for Compass May 13, 2009 COMPASS Group, the world’s largest catering group, yesterday posted a 40 per cent jump in first half profit, driven by new high-profile contract wins and the positive impact of currency movements. Group revenue grew 23.9 per cent to £6.9bn over the six months to March, while operating profit soared 40.7 per cent to £453m. Compass [...]
Dire drop in Eurozone first quarter GDP expected as output plummets in March May 13, 2009 EUROZONE industrial production plummeted by more than a fifth year-on-year in March, data yesterday showed, setting a record and indicating first quarter economic output could have contracted more than expected. Industrial production in the 16 countries using the euro fell two per cent month-on-month and 20.2 per cent year-on-year, the European Union’s statistics office, Eurostat, [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS May 13, 2009 WELLSTREAM HOLDINGS“It’s grim up north” said analysts at Citigroup, as they reduced their earnings per share estimates for Wellstream by 19 per cent for 2009. The broker said that the most solid and consistent part of the business has suffered over recent months, which will lead to earnings of £7-8m this year. Citi recommends investors [...]
CITY MOVES WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS May 13, 2009 Frontier IP GroupTim Cockroft, chief executive of broker Singer Capital Markets, has joined the board of the university IP commercialisation specialist as a non-executive director. Cockroft was formerly chief executive of KBC Peel Hunt. In 2006, he became head of capital markets at Kaupthing, owner of Singer & Friedlander, and bought back the business from [...]
Current account surplus boosts outlook for Japan May 13, 2009 JAPAN’S current account surplus fell by a smaller-than-expected 48.8 per cent in March from a year earlier, a sign that export demand may be stabilising after a slump in the wake of the financial crisis. The country is enduring its worst recession since World War Two but exports and output have shown some signs of [...]
J Sainsbury in bullish mood May 13, 2009 J SAINSBURY has pledged to dominate the grocery sector over the next decade, after reporting a stellar 11.3 per cent pre-tax profit hike to £543m in the year to 21 March. Chief executive Justin King said the group now has “the greatest growth potential of any grocery retailer in the next ten years”. Sainsbury’s has [...]
DID THE RESULTS BOOST YOUR CONFIDENCE IN J SAINSBURY? May 13, 2009 NICK BUBB PALI INTERNATIONAL“The market may be disappointed that there was no new growth plan or strategy today, but management are excited about what “more of the same” can do to market share and profits in the future. And investors should be excited that the freehold property portfolio is still valued at over £7.5bn.” ANDREW [...]
J Sainsbury in bullish mood May 13, 2009 J Sainsbury boss Justin King ruled out rumours he will move to rival Marks & Spencer, saying he is proud of his performance so far and the “best part lies ahead”
ING rocked by new loss May 13, 2009 DUTCH financial services group ING reported a worse-than-expected first-quarter net loss as its insurance operation suffered from impairments on its equity and property investments. The group posted a net loss of €793m (£711m) for the three months, well below an analysts’ consensus of a €553m loss and a dramatic turnaround from last year’s €1.54bn profit in the [...]
