BEST OF THE BROKERS June 15, 2010 RIO TINTO Citigroup maintains a “buy” recommendation on Rio Tinto and a price target of £42 but said that its preference among the large diversified miners remains for BHP Billiton and Xstrata. Iron ore remains the most important division for Rio Tinto and Citi expects it to deliver around 58 per cent of the company’s [...]
Bellway looks to stay south June 15, 2010 HOUSE builder Bellway is upbeat despite flat sales caused by the general election and continuing economic uncertainty, it said in an interim statement yesterday. The FTSE 250-listed company said sales rates stalled at around 100 homes a week in the 18 weeks to June, the same rate as this time last year. By focusing on [...]
Crystal Amber slams Camelot June 15, 2010 CRYSTAL AMBER, an investor in retail outfit PayPoint, launched a stinging attack on National Lottery operator Camelot yesterday over its plans to offer more services through its in-shop gambling terminals. Camelot wants to let customers pay utility and council tax bills through its lottery machines, as well as top up mobile phones with swipe cards. [...]
NewRiver posts a profit and promises expansion June 15, 2010 AIM-listed property firm NewRiver posted profits of £2.2m in its first annual results yesterday. The company, which began trading in September 2009, put its early gains down to increased valuations of its properties. It has also raised an additional £10.5m in funds with a view to speeding up growth. David Lockhart, non-executive director of NewRiver, [...]
Sara Lee sued by Nestle for patent abuse June 15, 2010 NESTLE is suing US food group Sara Lee in France for patent infringement of its Nespresso coffee system, the Swiss company said yesterday, aiming to protect its top-selling product. The premium coffee product, which has been growing at double-digit percentage rates, has recently been exposed to competition in France, where Sara Lee as well as [...]
ANALYST VIEWS: WHAT DO YOU THINK OF BELLWAY’S PERFORMANCE? June 15, 2010 JON BELL | SHORE CAPITAL “Encouragingly, circa 1,800 reservations have been taken for completion in the next financial year. The company has a very strong balance sheet (£55m of net cash) which will enable management to buy land at the correct price points. The discount to NAV (circa 25 per cent) is unwarranted.” CHRIS MILLINGTON [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS June 15, 2010 City Index The spread betting firm has appointed Sandy Jadeja as its new chief technical analyst. Jadeja has 23 years of experience in technical analysis, trading psychology and global financial markets commentary. Prior to joining City Index, he was the chief market strategist at FX-focused trading platform provider Capital Market Services. He has also worked [...]
Infineon mulls €1bn wireless unit sale June 15, 2010 GERMAN chipmaker Infineon has hired JP Morgan (JPM) to map out a possible divestment of its mobile phone chip unit. The US investment bank is looking into a range of options, including a sale, reports said yesterday. Industry sources said Infineon has already held talks with PC chip giant US-based Intel. Some analysts have said [...]
Outrage starting to ease in oil spill situation June 15, 2010 IN the last two weeks of this saga we have seen tensions in US-UK relations rise at the highest levels, with Obama accused of anti-British sentiment and Cameron called on to intervene, while BP chief executive officer Tony Hayward has been widely accused of callousness in the face of the environmental disaster. BrandIndex tracks the [...]
Ted Baker sees strong future as sales surge June 15, 2010 BRITISH retailer Ted Baker has seen an 18 per cent hike in revenue after store sales in the UK and overseas remained strong and ahead of the company’s expectations. Sales for the half-year period ending 12 June were up by 20.4 per cent from last year, while Ted Baker’s wholesale business saw an 8.2 per [...]
