Best of the Brokers for 10 October 2013 October 9, 2013 To appear in Best of the Brokers, email your research to notes@cityam.com CREST NICHOLSON Goldman Sachs has started covering the housebuilder with a “buy” rating and a 530p target, as it lifts its forecasts for the entire industry. While GS thinks Rightmove, Persimmon and Talyor Wimpey are the best plays on the UK housing recovery, [...]
Robert Walters is enjoying the recovery in the UK jobs market October 8, 2013 THE JOBS market in Britain is continuing to recover, according to recruiter Robert Walters, which yesterday posted a 21 per cent jump in fees generated in the country. Good growth in the resources sector, as well as signs of an upswing in the regions, were behind the surge in net fee income to £15.8m in [...]
Analyst Views: Is Cranswick well placed to handle rising prices? October 7, 2013 DAMIAN MCNEELA PANMURE GORDON Cranswick delivered an acceleration in second quarter sales growth…But continued high pig prices during the period has weighed on margins…We would expect the company to make good progress in recovering the inflation in the second half. NICOLA MALLARD INVESTEC The two things to note are that the top line growth in [...]
Analyst Views: What did you make of William Hill’s mixed financial results? October 3, 2013 SIMON FRENCH PANMURE GORDONManagement indicate that there can be no certainty of recovery in the fourth quarter 2013 to meet market consensus estimates; however, we believe there are positive signs that the underlying business continues to remain strong. We retain our buy recommendation and 518p target price. JAMES WHEATCROFT JEFFERIESThe two main upsides are: stronger-than-expected [...]
City Moves for 3 October 2013 | Who’s switching jobs October 2, 2013 ICAEW The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales has appointed Liz Rylatt as executive director for finance, operations and members. Rylatt was a chartered accountant at KPMG before joining the BBC, where she was chief management accountant. Coutts The bank has hired Hans Prottey as a corporate finance specialist and executive director in its strategic [...]
City Moves for 2 October 2013 | Who’s switching jobs October 1, 2013 Ernst & Young The professional services firm has announced the appointment of Marc Middleton as a partner in its telecoms, media and technology transaction team. Middleton was most recently at Rothschild, where he was a partner and managing director. Investec Specialist Bank The specialist bank has appointed Joanna Turney to its growth and acquisition finance division. She [...]
British boom in online shopping delivers revenue rise for UK Mail September 25, 2013 DELIVERY COMPANY UK Mail said a boom in online shopping has helped its sales beat forecasts in the six months to the end of September. UK Mail said parcel volumes were 25 per cent ahead of the same time last year, as internet orders helped the firm diversify away from its traditional business-to-business deliveries. The [...]
Analyst Views: What do you make of Premier Food’s surprise new hire? September 24, 2013 MARTIN DEBOO INVESTECMurray is straight out of central casting for a finance chief of Premier Foods …But lack of continuity is unhelpful to our eyes … Murray’s qualities aside, we see the news as unhelpful to Premier’s efforts to rehabilitate itself in the eyes of the market. DARREN SHIRLEY SHORE CAPITALWe do not believe there [...]
Best of the Brokers for 25 September 2013 September 24, 2013 AMEC UBS has cut its rating on the engineering group to “neutral” and lowered its price target from 1,200p to 1,145p. The broker raises concerns about a possible slowdown in Amec’s end-markets and believes earnings momentum, once acquisitions are stripped out, is likely to head lower. CAPITA Panmure Gordon keeps its “hold” recommendation and 950p [...]
Coalition talks start after clear Merkel triumph September 23, 2013 CHANCELLOR Angela Merkel’s impressive victory in Sunday’s federal election was confirmed yesterday morning, with her party polling 41.5 per cent of the vote, the highest in nearly two decades. Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) has already contacted the Social Democratic Party (SPD) to initiate coalition talks. The CDU came just shy of an overall majority [...]