Barratt sales hurt by lack of mortgages January 12, 2011 HOUSEBUILDER Barratt Develop-ments said sales fell 4.4 per cent in the last six months of the year, a loss the company pinned partly on the lack of mortgage lending. Chief executive Mark Clare said house sales during autumn were disappointing, as potential customers were also deterred by the government’s spending review and later by the [...]
Analyst views: How can Barratt build on yesterday’s trading update? January 12, 2011 CHRIS MILLINGTON | NUMIS SECURITIES We are expecting a much better six months ahead, with more points of sale and improved margins. Barratt isn’t massively out of step with other property firms. LUCIAN COOK | SAVILLS Barratt is right to be cautious, as we continue to see a lower transaction market. Its efforts with Hitachi [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS January 11, 2011 BARRATT DEVELOPMENTS Panmure Gordon rates the housebuilder “buy” at a 147p target price as it believes the stock is the lowest-valued in the sector. It says Barratt has improved its operating performance, reduced costs and improved the quality of its offering since 2007, and the broker expects Barratt’s share price to rise to reflect this [...]
THE TIPSTER January 10, 2011 THE share price of Tullow Oil continues to eye the £14 mark, a move that would take the stock to fresh all-time highs. Buoyant crude prices are doubtless helping the sector as a whole but with some recent positive drilling updates having also been seen, the company is certainly starting the new year on the [...]
Qualcomm to buy Atheros in $3.1bn deal January 5, 2011 QUALCOMM plans to buy Atheros Communications for roughly $3.2bn (£2.1bn) in cash, showing its determination to become a major player in supplying chips for smartphones and tablet computers. Qualcomm is clearly betting that the deal – at a 21.6 per cent premium to Atheros’ share price before talk of the takeover began to circulate – [...]
The UK’s largest housebuilder says the road to recovery will be long December 19, 2010 PERSIMMON chief executive Mike Farley is not looking for a magic bullet. The boss of the country’s largest housebuilder is clear that the sector has endured its worst slump since World War Two and faces at least a two-year road to recovery. The industry tends to listen when Farley speaks. Not just because he runs [...]
City warns over rights issue rip off December 13, 2010 INVESTMENT banks have been slammed by the City’s top institutional investors for charging unfairly high fees to companies raising capital through rights issues. An inquiry commissioned by the Institutional Investor Council, backed by the Association of British Insurers and the National Association of Pension Funds, lashes out at investment banks today for charging underwriting fees [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING December 12, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES CREDIT SUISSE TO ISSUE COCOS EARLY Credit Suisse’s chief executive said he hoped to begin issuing billions of dollars in contingent-capital bonds in the next year to help shore up the bank’s financial strength well ahead of new Swiss regulations. Brady Dougan also defended Credit Suisse’s decision to award one-off payments to about [...]
PROPERTY NEWS December 9, 2010 DEMAND FOR PROPERTY AT QUARTER’S HIGH Demand for property is on the rise for the first time in four months, according to the National Association of Estate Agents. House-hunters increased in November, attracted to falling prices, while supply remains static. Close to Christmas, there are usually fewer sales to avoid family disruption; people also tend [...]
Builder of the Gherkin to move into house market December 9, 2010 NORDIC building firm Skanska launched a UK housebuilding arm yesterday in an effort to cash in on what it sees as a gap in supply. The builder of the Gherkin and Heron Tower skyscrapers said it hopes to sell 800 homes a year by 2015. “The financial crisis and the dramatic decline in the housing [...]