Travis Perkins to buy BSS July 5, 2010 Travis Perkins is to acquire BSS Group for £557.6m, making it the country’s biggest plumbing and heating chain. The offer – made up of cash and shares –?values each BSS share at 435.8 pence, a 4.7 per cent premium on Friday’s closing price of 416.2p. Travis Perkins charman Robert Walker said: “Our respective businesses are [...]
St Modwen is back in the black July 5, 2010 REGENERATION specialist St Modwen Properties reinstated dividend payments yesterday after going back into profit. The company, which owns Elephant and Castle shopping centre, announced an interim dividend of 1p a share. It is the first payment for two years. It also reported a profit of £26.7m in the first half of 2010 after losing £98.3m [...]
Clouds hover over the second half outlook July 5, 2010 THE last three months have seen a step-change in global markets. After a boom fuelled by fiscal stimuli, financial markets have fallen as governments plan to scale back their support, and the period has been punctuated by a flight to quality assets. So, what should contract for difference (CFD) traders concentrate on as we enter [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS July 5, 2010 SWIP The Scottish Widows Investment Partnership has appointed Ramsay Urquhart as its new finance director and part of the executive committee, reporting directly to managing director Dean Buckley. Urquhart joins from Barclays Wealth, where he has been head of investment operations since September 2006. Prior to that, he spent 14 years at Dutch financial services [...]
LABOUR DATA IS A WORRY FOR THE US July 5, 2010 CFD MARKET STRATEGIST, GFT FOR many investors the long weekend in the US couldn’t have come at a better time. On top of Europe’s sovereign debt problems, and signs that Chinese growth is slowing, recent data from the US suggests that the much-hyped economic recovery may be reversing. We have seen housing data sour following [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS July 5, 2010 TUI TRAVEL UBS upgrades TUI Travel from “neutral” to “buy” with a lower price target of 250p. UBS said that market risk aversion and concerns that a late collapse in summer 2010 sales will cause a significant earnings downgrade seem to have caused the shares to sharply underperform. UBS believes the stock now offers good [...]
Fears of a double-dip and the stress tests knock European stock indices July 5, 2010 WHAT a difference a year can make. This time last year we were all worrying about the resilience of the American banks should the economic outlook worsen further while cheering France and Germany’s ability to bounce out of recession in the second quarter. Twelve months down the line, the financial markets are worrying about the [...]
THE TIPSTER July 5, 2010 AMERICAN investors come back to the market place today after an extended weekend celebrating Independence Day. After the recent falls in global equities, this US public holiday could instigate a renewed sense of optimism and send stock indices higher, even if only temporarily – look to take advantage of a feel-good rally on the Dow [...]
Weak banks and miners hurt FTSE July 5, 2010 WEAK banks and miners, beset by doubts over the health of the global economic recovery, pulled down Britain’s top share yesterday, while BP rose on media reports it is seeking a strategic investor. By the close, the FTSE 100 index was down 14.56 points, or 0.3 per cent at 4,823.53, having ended 0.7 per cent [...]
GMG appoints new CEO as McCall quits July 5, 2010 GUARDIAN Media Group (GMG) has announced its chief financial officer will replace Carolyn McCall as chief executive of the struggling firm. Andrew Miller was among the favourites to take the top job after McCall announced she would take up the role of chief executive at easyJet. Amelia Fawcett, chair of GMG, said: “Andrew is the [...]
