BEST OF THE BROKERS October 19, 2010 LADBROKES Royal Bank of Scotland rates the betting group a “sell” with a target price of 90p. The broker says Ladbrokes is facing limited growth in betting shops as well as tighter European restrictions on internet gambling. RBS forecasts a 10 per cent growth in revenue over the next two years, but expects competition from [...]
Premier Foods shells out?£167m to simpify debts October 19, 2010 HOVIS and Mr Kipling owner Premier Foods has taken another step to simplify and reduce its debt pile, it announced yesterday, after agreeing to pay £167m to end derivatives contracts linked to interest rates. The company said yesterday the swaps from 2007 and 2008 could have meant a £450m fee if interest rates changed. The [...]
Bunzl sales move forward despite the tough trading climate in UK and Ireland October 19, 2010 DISTRIBUTOR Bunzl said third-quarter revenue was up, boosted by acquisitions and demand for H1N1 flu virus products, but sales at its UK business were below last year due to tough economic conditions. Bunzl, which supplies supermarkets, hospitals and hotels with products ranging from carrier bags to toilet rolls, said yesterday that group revenue for the [...]
QINETIQ LOSES FIGHT FOR DEFENCE CASH October 19, 2010 QINETIQ was one of the first to feel the government axe swinging yesterday, with news that a planned £14bn academy in Wales, combining army, navy and air force training, has been scrapped. QinetiQ, which was in a joint management venture with Sodexo, said it will write off £37m already spent on the project.
Unloved, unowned but undervalued: Emerging Europe shakes off its past October 19, 2010 SANDWICHED between the bright stars of emerging Asia and the fading light of the West lies Eastern Europe, an investment destination that is often forgotten and perennially unfashionable. This is partly because the region has struggled to shake off its Soviet legacy – at least in the minds of Western investors it is still tainted [...]
FUND MANAGEMENT NEWS October 19, 2010 INVESTORS REGAIN THEIR RISK APPETITE Investors are channeling most of their renewed risk appetite into global emerging market equities in the wake of an expected second wave of QE, according to the Bank of America Merrill Lynch October survey of fund managers. The level of risk that investors are taking in their portfolios rose more [...]
The true scale of QE is n still cloaked in mystery October 19, 2010 EXPECTATIONS about quantitative easing (QE) have now been driven so high – with the market anticipating between $500bn and $1 trillion of extra liquidity – that someone was soon bound to call a halt to the party. That killjoy has arrived, in the form of US broker BTIG’s Mike O’Rourke. “There are many who have [...]
DOLLAR-YEN IS READY FOR A REBOUND October 19, 2010 DIRECTOR OF CURRENCY RESEARCH, GFT WHY is the yen so strong? This is the most common question I am asked by anyone who follows the currency markets. It is easy to understand the perplexity. Japan has been mired in deflation and low growth for more than twenty years. Yet the price action in dollar-yen has [...]
This might look dramatic, but it’s all priced in October 19, 2010 TODAY is jam-packed with economic data: the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) minutes are released at 9.30am and George Osborne unveils the Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR) at 12.30pm. All this activity seems to have unnerved sterling traders. The pound dropped 0.2 per cent to $1.5844 and 0.1 per cent to 88.40p per euro yesterday morning. Some [...]
THE TIPSTER October 19, 2010 RECENT weakness in the dollar has been exaggerated by talk of another round of stimulus spending from the Fed. While this is increasingly likely to happen, the dollar is approaching what looks like a point of inflection. ETX Capital is quoting 77.51-77.59 for the Dollar Index December contract. Euro-dollar may have had a recent uptrend, [...]
