BEST OF THE BROKERS March 28, 2012 OLD MUTUAL After the sale of its Nordic operations, Deutsche Bank has reinstated coverage of the bank with a “buy” rating and target price of 190p, seeing the valuation as attractive despite a 45 per cent rally since December. HENDERSON GROUP Investec has upgraded the fund manager to “buy” with a target price of 149p [...]
Resolution falls as breakup plan splits investors March 27, 2012 INVESTORS reacted badly to news that insurance firm Resolution plans to split itself in two, pushing shares in the FTSE 100 firm down by over five per cent. Resolution also shelved a promised £250m handout to shareholders because falling bond and stock prices had dented its finances. The developments signal a change in focus for the [...]
ANALYST VIEWS: IS EASYJET’S STRATEGY PROVING SOUND? March 26, 2012 JAMES HOLLINS | INVESTEC EasyJet is driving better-than-expected yields, as well as benefiting from the failure of competitors. The cost efficiencies have also helped. But there are a number of headwinds in the second half, including fuel costs. DOUGLAS MCNEIlL | CHARLES STANLEY Chief executive Carolyn McCall’s second full year in charge is shaping up [...]
BG and Ophir shares up on large gas find March 26, 2012 BRITISH gas producer BG Group and its partner Ophir Energy have discovered a bigger than expected gas deposit off the coast of Tanzania, the pair said yesterday. BG’s shares jumped 1.8 per cent after it said it had come closer to the minimum volumes required for a liquid natural gas development. The discovery made at [...]
FTSE posts a two-week high on upbeat data and US policy March 26, 2012 BRITAIN’S benchmark share index posted its biggest daily gain in two weeks yesterday, as expectations of looser US monetary policy and brighter German data gave investors fresh reason to push the market towards a retest of recent eight-month highs. The FTSE 100 closed up 47.81 points, or 0.8 per cent, at 5,902.70. A surprise improvement [...]
Storage tax to backfire March 22, 2012 BIG Yellow Group’s stock plunged four per cent on the Budget’s surprise announcement that self-storage units could from October no longer be exempt from value added tax. In the name of correcting VAT anomalies and closing loopholes, Osborne outlined that self-storage will be taxed as other forms of storage and no longer be classed as [...]
WHAT DO YOU MAKE OF NEXT’S PERFORMANCE? March 22, 2012 FREDDIE GEORGE | SEYMOUR PIERCE Next has been an outstanding performer over the last year and has risen over the last quarter by 13 per cent despite the slightly disappointing trading over Christmas…The company will continue with the share buyback programme, £200m planned in the full year to 2013, and we believe the company still [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS March 22, 2012 LAIRD UBS downgraded the engineer from “buy” to “neutral” and increased the target price from 190p to 198p after its recent sale of the loss-making handset antennae business in China for £20m. The Swiss bank added: “We note that the underlying growth drivers remain intact and as such expect continued momentum in the business, but [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS March 20, 2012 ARM HOLDINGS Barclays has upgraded the Cambridge-based chipmaker from “equalweight” to “overweight” and raised its target price to 725p, saying it sees smartphone and tablet growth driving an upside to its expectations, as well as a return to positive estimate momentum. The broker expects ARM to maintain the upper hand versus Intel in tablets, and [...]
Miners peg back FTSE as UK inflation dips again March 20, 2012 Miners pegged the FTSE 100 back in early trading as fears that demand from China for metals was falling sapped investor confidence. BHP Billiton, the world’s biggest miner, fell 1.9 per cent after saying it was seeing signs of “flattening” iron ore demand from China. The sector is pinning its hopes on continuing fast growth [...]