Funding threat to $10bn HSBC insurance sale January 8, 2013 THE SALE of HSBC’s stake in a major Chinese insurer could be at risk of collapsing, it emerged yesterday, as the bank funding the purchaser could pull out of the deal. Thai conglomerate Charoen Pophand (CP) Group is part way through acquiring HSBC’s 15.6 per cent stake in Chinese insurer Ping An for $9.4bn (£5.96bn). [...]
Analyst Views | Did Debenhams fare as well this Christmas as you expected? January 8, 2013 JEAN ROCHE PANMURE GORDON We anticipated a weak performance from Debenhams shares [yesterday], as a better than expected top line is likely to be more than overshadowed by weak gross margins…This shows that Debenhams is suffering from the extremely promotional backdrop we saw pre-Christmas and are continuing to see. BETHANY HOCKING INVESTEC The Christmas statement [...]
UK Mail delivers soaring sales during online shopping rush January 8, 2013 PARCEL delivery company UK Mail Group said yesterday its trading in the third quarter exceeded its expectations, boosted by higher volumes during Christmas. UK Mail, the largest independent parcels, mail and logistics services company in the UK, said underlying revenue increased about eight per cent for the three-months to 31 December, after adjusting for an [...]
Grocers set to unveil festive trading figures January 7, 2013 TESCO is expected to emerge as the winner of a tough Christmas trading period for Britain’s big four supermarkets as weak consumer confidence, falling real incomes and rising real prices put pressure on the sector. Analysts predict the grocer will on Thursday post a one per cent rise in UK like-for-like sales for the six [...]
More money printing off the menu for cautious rate-setters January 7, 2013 BANK of England policymakers will keep the printing presses out of action again in January, analysts predicted over the weekend. A more positive raft of data releases, combined with renewed concerns about the effectiveness of the quantitative easing (QE) programme, will stay a new bout of monetary expansion, according to market observers. “We expect the [...]
Analyst Views | Has next’s statement made a change to your recommendation? January 3, 2013 JEAN ROCHE PANMURE GORDON Next has published a strong trading statement for the period with sales and margins better than expected.. On the back of the statement, we have raised our Directory revenue growth forecast for 2013 to 10.5 per cent from 10 per cent and our Next Retail revenue growth forecast to 0.6 from [...]
Peppa Pig firm gets go-ahead for movie deal January 3, 2013 THE INDEPENDENT film company behind Peppa Pig and the Twilight films will close its purchase of movie distributor Alliance Films imminently, after the London-listed company won approval from Canadian competition authorities. Entertainment One is likely to complete the C$225m (£141.2m) deal next week, sources close to the deal said. The company said yesterday that it [...]
Best of the Brokers January 3, 2013 COMPASS Espirito Santo yesterday downgraded the food services group from “buy” to “neutral”, believing the company’s shares outperformed in 2012. According to the analysts, this encapsulates the gloomy short-term potential in the company due to limited organic growth caused by cyclical pressure in Europe. However, Espirito Santo has raised its fair value by 50p to [...]
IMIC confirms Afferro approach January 2, 2013 BIDDING for junior stockmarket-listed Afferro Mining hotted up yesterday, as fellow AIM-listed International Mining & Infrastructure Corporation (IMIC) confirmed that it had approached the miner with regards to a possible takeover offer. IMIC has proposed an offer at between 115p and 140p for each Afferro share, which would value the iron ore miner at around [...]
Thank you for reading us in ever greater numbers in 2012 December 20, 2012 The common complaint about City A.M. in its infancy was that it was hard to pick up outside the City, Canary Wharf and Mayfair. Readers generally loved the paper but wanted to read it on their way into work rather than when they arrived at their destination. So, over the past couple of years we [...]