Housebuilders in £150m boon March 21, 2012 HOUSEBUILDERS were among the biggest risers in the FTSE yesterday after the chancellor said the Get Britain Building fund, which provides upfront finance to construction companies, would be expanded. Shares in Barratt Development jumped 4.42 per cent while Bovis Homes’ shares closed 3.84 per cent higher as the government announced it will increase the fund [...]
FTSE posts slim gain after Budget March 21, 2012 London’s blue chip index posted a marginal gain on closing after a volatile session as strength in market heavyweight Vodafone countered weaker commodity stocks hit by below par US data which revived concerns over demand for metals. The UK blue chip index closed up 0.54 points, or 0.01 per cent, at 5,891.95, surrendering a 0.3 [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS March 14, 2012 May Gurney May Gurney, the support services business, has appointed Mark Hazlewood group finance director. He joined May Gurney in November 2010 as group corporate development director and led the successful acquisition of both Turiff and TransLinc. He has also held interim responsibility as finance director of the group’s regulated services division. Hazlewood previously worked [...]
THE WEEK AHEAD February 26, 2012 Today A diverse group of FTSE 100 reporters will kick off a busy week in the corporate calendar this morning, with banking giant HSBC likely to be top of many investors’ watch list. Analysts are expecting the bank’s geographical diversity to offset any potential weakness in it investment banking division, with profits expected to hit [...]
Barratt sees swing back into profits February 22, 2012 BARRATT Developments swung back into profit in the first half of the year thanks to its increased focus on higher margin regions, building houses rather than flats and developing low-cost land bought after the 2008 property crash. Shares, which are up almost 50 per cent since Christmas, rose almost eight per cent yesterday after the [...]
ANALYST VIEWS: CAN BARRATT BUILD ON ITS STRONG RESULTS? February 22, 2012 ROBIN HARDY | PEEL HUNT Barratt has risen 50 per cent in less than six weeks even though little has changed in its expected trading patterns and despite it making still unacceptably low returns. It risks being a case of better to travel than to arrive and we would now advise investors to carve out [...]
Barratt swings to profit February 22, 2012 Housebuilder Barratt swung into profit in the six months to 31 December as revenues climbed. Pre tax profits of of £21.6m compared with a loss of £4,6m in the same period the previous year, Revenues jumped by 8.6 per cent to £952.8m while the average selling price of its homes increased by 3.1 per cent [...]
THE WEEK AHEAD February 20, 2012 Today At this morning’s results for Bluetooth technology firm CSR, investors will be looking at how much value the company’s acquisition of peer Zoran in August last year brings. CSR is guiding that revenue for the first quarter will be between $230m and $250m (£145m and £158m), but analysts have a more cautious forecast of [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS February 8, 2012 BARCLAYS Citigroup released a note on UK banks yesterday, maintaining its overall overweight rating on the sector. The broker named Barclays its top pick in the sector, with a “buy” rating and an increase in its target price from 245p to 275p. In the same note, Citi maintained its “buy” rating on Lloyds, HSBC and [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS January 31, 2012 BARRATT DEVELOPMENTS Investec has initiated coverage of the UK housing market with a generally positive stance, seeing solid fundamentals supporting the sector. It rates housebuilder Barratt Developments as a “buy” with a target price of 180p. Though the broker expects Barratt to remain the most volatile of the group it also offers the greatest upside, [...]