London Report: Scotland and MPC minutes the main focus for the City September 14, 2014 ALL EYES will be on the result of Thursday’s Scottish referendum, with market watchers keen to know whether or not the 300-year-old union will continue. As far as more normal risk events are concerned, the main one will be Wednesday’s release of the latest set of MPC meeting minutes. That will be complemented by the [...]
Boohoo share price soars after reporting accelerating sales growth September 12, 2014 Boohoo's share price soared six per cent this morning after revealing revenues will be up nearly a third for its first half. The etailer, which went public in March, is expecting revenues to rise 31 per cent to £67m for the six months to August 31, it said in a trading update this morning, [...]
London listing to raise $2.1bn for AngloGold September 10, 2014 SOUTH African mining giant AngloGold Ashanti yesterday announced plans to raise $2.1bn (£1.3bn) in a rights issue and spin its international assets into a new London-listed company. The Johannesburg-based mining firm, created by a merger between AngloGold and Ashanti in 2004, revealed it would focus on its core South African operations after the asset spin [...]
Best of the Brokers for 11 September 2014 September 10, 2014 To appear in Best of the Brokers, email your research to notes@cityam.com ROYAL BANK OF SCOTLAND Investec has upgraded to “hold” from “sell”, and raised the target price to 355p from 340p. Investec expects a no vote in the Scottish referendum to ease recent share underperformance, and continues to expect a gradual recovery across RBS’s [...]
Best of the Brokers for 08 September 2014 September 7, 2014 To appear in Best of the Brokers, email your research to notes@cityam.com BP Investec has kept its “Hold” rating, but cut the target price to 440p from 460p. Investec thinks the market has moved quickly to factor in the likelihood of higher than expected fines as a result of the recent Deepwater Horizon ruling, but [...]
Analyst Views: What did you think of Supergroup’s recent trading performance? September 4, 2014 KATE CALVERT | INVESTEC SuperGroup’s slightly better-than-expected first quarter performance should reassure that the UK is solid and the long-term growth story intact. Encouragingly like-for-likes are positive in the second quarter to date…we believe the company is on the right trajectory to achieve our forecasts. JOHN STEVENSON | PEEL HUNT Like-for-like sales were in line [...]
Bank of England MPC votes to keep interest rates at record low September 4, 2014 The Bank of England's monetary policy committee has done just what everyone was expecting, and held rates where they are at 0.5 per cent. The minutes of last month's meeting revealed the nine-person panel had been split seven to two in favour of leaving rates at their historic lows, and it is considered unlikely that [...]
Eurozone PMI in graphs: Spain and Ireland report strong services growth, while France and Italy lag behind September 3, 2014 More economic problems for France and Italy. Both countries slipped in to contractionary territory in the Markit PMI stakes, recording composite (manufacturing and services) scores below the 50 point that indicates growth. The Eurozone overall posted at 52.5, revised down from 52.8. BNP Paribas has suggested that the downward revision points to mid-month events affecting [...]
Bank veteran Liz Airey to orbit Jupiter Fund Management as chair steps back September 2, 2014 Jupiter Fund Management swapped one investment banking veteran for another yesterday after its chairman was forced to retire due to ill health. Former SG Warburg financer Liz Airey was appointed chairman after incumbent Jamie Dundas, a former Morgan Grenfell banker, was forced to step down. Dundas, who is 63 and also a non-executive [...]
Barclays’ Spanish sell-off gets positive response despite loss September 1, 2014 BARCLAYS was given a generally positive response from analysts and shareholders yesterday to the sale of most of its Spanish arm, as the bank pursues a major restructuring including disposal of non-core assets. Spain’s third largest bank Caixabank will pay €800m for parts of Barclays Spanish business, but Barclays revealed it will make a £500m [...]