BEST OF THE BROKERS September 24, 2009 HALFORDS GROUPAhead of Halfords’ second-quarter trading update on 8 October, Investec upgraded its forecasts and its target price to 435p, from 400p. The broker believes a combination of better weather and more “staycations” than last year will deliver a more robust performance than previously expected, and says “buy”. WM MORRISONJefferies International upped its target price [...]
US airlines’ shares start to take off September 24, 2009 DELTA AIR LINES, AMR – which owns American Airlines – and UAL have seen their shares more than double in the US since March, in the latest sign that the stricken aviation sector is starting to recover. AMR was the highest gainer between the start of March and mid September for the world’s major airlines, [...]
VT Group sells off stake in its BVTFleet to BAE for 346m September 24, 2009 VT GROUP has sold off its 45 per cent share in the shipbuilding unit BVT Fleet to BAE Systems, it said yesterday, for £346m. The figure comes after adjustments for £600,000 of so-called “notional interests”, and deductions of £12.2m for pensions liabilities. Of the £346m, VT Group will put £43m into BVT for costs incurred [...]
Japan Airlines denied bailout on fears cost-cutting will not go far enough September 24, 2009 JAPANAIRLINES was yesterday denied its request for a government bailout, as the country’s new transport minister withheld financial support on fears the carrier’s cost-cutting plans would not go far enough. The request for a cash injection from the carrier’s chief executive Haruka Nishimatsu came as the airline’s shares tumbled 16 per cent to a record [...]
Germany expects Opel go ahead September 24, 2009 Germany will seek agreement from its European partners on its state aid plan for loss-making carmaker Opel, and does not expect any veto from Brussels, the economy minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg said yesterday. He was seeking to calm a growing political storm over the €4.5bn (£4.1bn) of aid it is set to give Opel now [...]
Gambling’s old world gent who has become a new media entrepreneur September 24, 2009 He likes to portray himself as an old school gent in an old world business, but in reality Victor Chandler’s operation – like most betting firms – is on the cutting edge of internet technology. At the nerve centre of the firm’s rambling and rather undistinguished four-storey Gibraltar office is its IT department, which has [...]
Sales jump at M&B as deals cheer punters September 24, 2009 Pubs and restaurants group Mitchells & Butlers yesterday said that it expected its full year earnings to beat current forecasts, after a return to bargain dining and cheap boozing boosted sales. The owner of All Bar One and O’Neill’s pubs chains reported a like-for-like sales growth of 2.6 per cent in the 10 weeks to [...]
Punch Taverns sells off 300 pubs as shareholder urges it to turn off taps September 24, 2009 SCHOCHRODERS fund manager Andrew Brough has said that pubs group Punch Taverns should consider winding up the business over the next 18 months. Brough, who owns a 3.4 per cent stake in the pub group through his Schroder Mid 250 fund, said it would be in investors’ interests if the struggling pub group called time [...]
Smartphone app developers are striking gold September 24, 2009 GOLD Rush. It’s not a phrase you hear much these days, but that’s how research firm Yankee described the market for smartphone apps earlier this week. Its analysts estimate that the US market will be worth some $4.2bn (£2.6bn) by the end of 2013 – over 10 times higher than the $343m it is expected [...]
EASY MONEY FOR STELIOS September 24, 2009 EASYJET founder Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou yesterday used 2m of his shares in the firm as security for a £7.5m loan. Stelios’s spokesman denied that the tycoon was in need of cash, saying the money is to be used for the expansion of his easyHotel and easyOffice businesses, and potentially an easyBus fleet.
