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 [...]
ANALYST VIEWS: WILL WE SEE SALES IMPROVE AT HOME RETAILL ? March 15, 2012 PHILIP DORGAN | PANMURE GORDON There is not much to see here. The period has been short and is low volume. The figures are poor, but not unexpected. Argos may benefit from the demise of Game, but there are plenty of other retailers competing for the same business. DAVID JEARY | INVESTEC The news is [...]
Investec eyes upturn as deals drought hits profit March 15, 2012 THE DIRE performance of the investment banking industry claimed another scalp yesterday as Investec warned that earnings would fall by up to 27 per cent. The bank, a Test cricket sponsor with a London listing, was hit by the global slump in primary deals, particularly in its South Africa homeland. It experienced mixed results across [...]
EVOLUTION’S GRIFFITH HEADS TOWARDS ORIEL March 15, 2012 It’s not all about cutbacks at Oriel Securities, the independent UK corporate and institutional stockbroker. Earlier this week it emerged that Oriel was trimming its staff by letting go of around 15 people but yesterday the firm showed that it is in hiring mode also. Oriel has taken on Richard Griffith, the former Evolution oil [...]