Attention turns to the pub as leisure sector steps out October 11, 2009 This week will give us a glimpse of how consumers are spending their time, with Whitbread, Punch Taverns and PartyGaming all reporting. But it will be opinion-polling firm YouGov that gets a reaction from investors today, as it reports its full-year results. The company said in July that it was beginning to see the benefits [...]
BUILDERS GO CAP IN HAND FOR 850M September 22, 2009 HOUSEBUILDERS Barratt and Redrow are today expected to tap shareholders for a total of £850m to shore up balance sheets that have been battered by the property slump. Barratt is set to unveil plans to raise £700m in a placing and open offer through its house broker UBS. And rival Redrow is expected to launch [...]
Bellway provides renewed optimism as it launches placing to buy new sites August 6, 2009 HOUSEBUILDER Bellway yesterday supported growing confidence in the housing sector by posting a positive trading update and announced a share placing that aims to raise over £40m to buy new land. The group yesterday said it placed 5.7m new shares, equivalent to around five per cent of its current issued capital, at 779p, a small [...]
Miners give support as they rise to recoup their losses July 7, 2009 MINERS were the saviour of the FTSE 100 yesterday, offsetting falling oil stocks and disappointing UK industrial output data to keep the index flat, or just 7.91 points lower, at 4,187. Data showed that UK manufacturing output unexpectedly shrank in May, falling 0.5 per cent on the month, making it less likely the economy returned [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS June 22, 2009 BELLWAYUBS upgraded Bellway to “buy” after its trading update confirms a stabilising market. The broker has factored in write-downs in 2010 of £54m, and has new earnings per shares estimates of 15.27p in 2009 and 1.19p in 2010. GO-AHEAD GROUPGo-Ahead’s pre-close update has shown the company to be on track for Royal Bank of Scotland’s [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS June 7, 2009 CARPHONE WAREHOUSEInvestec said that Carphone Warehouse’s full year 2009 results were in line, once adjusted to take a new accounting standard into consideration, but are relatively lacklustre as revenues declined 2.7 per cent year-on-year. The demerger deadline has been pushed back to July 2010. The broker reiterates “sell” with a 140p target price. BELLWAYBellway’s interim [...]
Double dose of corporate woe leaves City investors reeling July 3, 2008 The city was left reeling yesterday after retail giant Marks & Spencer issued a shock profits warning and Britain’s largest housebuilder Taylor Wimpey admitted it had been unable to secure £500m in funding. The bleak news from M&S, an industry bellwether, that the consumer downturn was likely to be “longer and harder fought” than previously [...]
Despite the gloomy market, investors still have something to cheer about July 3, 2008 Look beyond the doom-mongering, and there is still money to be made in property, says Alex Delmar-Morgan Property is a subject close to the hearts of the British people, and many home-owners have been chuffed over the past few years to see the prices of their properties increasing at massive rates. Surely, though, even the [...]
Westbury hit by slump in house sector October 26, 2005 Housebuilder Westbury reported a slump in first-half profits yesterday amid tough times for the British housing sector. It revealed that pre-tax profits for the half year to 31 August fell by 26 per cent to £45.4m on falling sales. It sold £415m of homes compared to £427 last year. Chairman Geoffrey Maddrell, said: “The market [...]
House prices to stay static October 19, 2005 John Watson, chief executive of Bellway, the housebuilder, yesterday dampened expectations of a significant increase in house prices between now and next summer. Commenting as the company delivered otherwise impressive annual results, he said: “My feeling is that it is right to assume nil house price inflation in our next financial year, which is to [...]