ANALYST VIEWS | DID IMPERIAL’S RESULTS PROVIDE SHAREHOLDERS WITH A QUICK HIT? July 24, 2012 MARTIN DEBOO INVESTEC The third quarter has come in below our expectations with an implied volume decline in the quarter of around one per cent. We are disappointed: there should have been decent share momentum out of the second quarter, and the third quarter presented the weakest volume comparative of the year. JONATHAN JACKSON KILLIK [...]
CITY MOVES WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS July 22, 2012 Avocet Mining David Cather has been appointed chief executive of the West Africa-focused gold mining and exploration firm. He joined the board as chief operating officer in May 2012 from European Goldfields, where he was also chief operating officer, and replaces Brett Richards. Cather has previously held senior positions at Anglo American and De Beers. [...]
ANALYST VIEWS | HOW SHOULD INVESTORS TAKE HALFORDS’ RESULTS? July 19, 2012 DAVID JEARY INVESTEC [This year] looks set to be tough, and clearly a change of CEO adds an element of uncertainty to the business. However, strategy is unchanged, cash generation remains strong, supporting our unchanged dividend forecast. AURELIE CASPAR BANK OF AMERICA MERRILL LYNCH We think the shares should react positively to newsflow today as [...]
Princess Highway just favoured in Oaks battle with Great Heavens July 19, 2012 WHEN John Gosden supplemented impressive Lancashire Oaks winner, Great Heavens, for Sunday’s Irish version (3.20pm) earlier this week, I was certain I’d be backing her with the testing conditions sure to play to her strengths. However, it’s all about the price in this game; I was expecting her to be around the 3/1 second favourite [...]
ANALYST VIEWS | WHAT DOES TODAY’S STATEMENT MEAN FOR LAND SECURITIES? July 18, 2012 ALAN CARTER INVESTEC Land Securities always does developments well, or at least that is what we have been told by them. This statement is going to need to hold true over the coming two years as developments come to fruition, at a time when the first signs of weakness are starting to appear. ‘Hold’. ALISON [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS July 18, 2012 Baroda Pioneer The asset management firm has appointed Jaideep Bhattacharya as its managing director. He joins from UTI Mutual Fund, where he was previously group president and chief marketing officer. Bhattacharya has also held senior roles at ICICI, the Indian bank. VTB Capital Peter Stonor has been appointed global head of infrastructure and transport for [...]
Entrepreneurs hopeful for 2013 July 17, 2012 British entrepreneurs have not yet shaken their gloom about the UK economy – but are increasingly confident about their own ventures, according to Investec data seen by City A.M. A third of entrepreneurs expect the economy to deteriorate in the next year, compared to 27 per cent who predict an uptick. But for their own [...]
Retail investors step in where others fear to tread July 16, 2012 With UK institutional shareholders effectively closing the door on supporting money-raising for anything that has the smell of risk about it, like an IPO or new issue for instance, some companies and their financial advisers have been scurrying around to find new methods of raising capital. One such instrument that has been gaining currency in [...]
ANALYST VIEWS | WHAT DOES THE FUTURE HOLD FOR SAGE? July 16, 2012 WILL WALLIS NUMIS While UK growth has been “good”, Europe overall is flat, implying that mainland Europe is into negative territory. It is appropriate to be cautious about Q4 and beyond and we pull our recommendation back to Hold from Add. JULIAN YATES INVESTEC While the US is slowly improving and emerging markets are solid, [...]
Cove Energy sale drags into its eighth month as Shell extends July 12, 2012 THE SALE of Cove Energy enters its eighth month today, with pursuer Shell extending its offer for a fourth time. So far Shell has persuaded just 3.27 per cent of investors to accept its £1.12m bid. Mozambique-focused Cove, which opened its data room to potential bidders on 13 December, is also fielding advances from Thai [...]