Haadeeth and The Strig look good in Sprint Series Final February 23, 2012 THE Blue Square Sprint Series has been a tremendous initiative over the past two months and tomorrow’s £15,000 Grand Final (2.15pm) looks a cracking contest. All the key protagonists from the Series are lining up and any one of the 12 runners could quite feasibly land the prize. What seems certain is that there will [...]
ANALYST VIEWS: WERE SEGRO’S RESULTS ON TRACK? February 21, 2012 LI SUN | ORIEL SECURITIES Segro reported solid results… although adjusted net asset value of 340p was below our estimate of 352p due to higher than expected non-core asset write-down. Underlying operation remains solid with small improvements to occupancy and retention rate… We retain “add”. MIKE BESSELL | INVESTEC Segro’s results were in line with [...]
Hedge funds set to seize Travelodge February 20, 2012 BUDGET hotel chain Travelodge is set to fall into the hands of two US hedge funds as it struggles under the burden of interest payments on its £530m debt pile. Avenue Capital and Golden Tree Asset Management, who are among the major creditors that have bought up its loans, have joined forces with an unnamed [...]
Entrepreneurs brush off the blues to target profits February 20, 2012 ENTREPRENEURS are increasingly pessimistic about the UK’s economic outlook over the next 12 months, a report has revealed – yet these leading business-builders remain bullish over their own firms’ prospects. Nearly half of a surveyed group of Britain’s leading entrepreneurs expect the economy to deteriorate either slightly or considerably over the coming year, while only [...]
ANALYST VIEWS: HOW WELL IS KINGFISHER PERFORMING? February 16, 2012 PHILIP DORGAN | PANMURE GORDON Good underlying progress, but we need to shave our numbers for 2013 by £30m to £865m. We continue to believe that Kingfisher has a significant growth opportunity…At last, Kingfisher is beginning to extract benefits from having a group structure and is set to dramatically increase both common and direct sourcing. [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS February 16, 2012 ROLLS-ROYCE Investec rates the aerospace and defence giant “buy” with a target price of 850p. The broker has lifted its pre-tax profit forecasts by two per cent for this year, with defence and new acquisition Tognum more than offsetting lower profits at marine and energy. Investec now predicts pre-tax profit of £1.5bn in 2012. It [...]
ANALYST VIEWS: IS THORNTONS’ PLAN TO TURN ITSELF AROUND WORKING? February 15, 2012 DAVID JEARY | INVESTEC While there are some encouraging signs in various aspects of the early stages of the implementation of the group’s strategic plan, we believe a higher level of investor confidence requires positive forecast momentum to underpin Thornton’s progress on its strategic plan. AMISHA CHOHAN | MERCHANT SECURITIES The strategy to reduce their [...]
Weir stock is most shorted on FTSE 100 February 15, 2012 ENGINEERING firm Weir has become the most shorted stock on the FTSE 100, as investors bet the company’s share price will be dented by weak demand for specialist mining equipment. Information provided by Data Explorers showed that 13.48 per cent of shares are out on loan – double the amount that were shorted only three [...]
ANALYST VIEWS: CAN FIDESSA CONTINUE TO GROW AT ITS CURRENT RATE? February 13, 2012 DAVID TOMS | NUMIS Fidessa’s results are modestly ahead of our expectations. Management’s increasing confidence in the multi-asset opportunity and the potential for a new engine of growth from hosted platforms for larger customers continue to support our positive stance. JULIAN YATES | INVESTEC Unsurprisingly the company is seeing continued weakness in its SME customer [...]
Why Barclays Capital is set to go marching on February 13, 2012 WHENEVER I speak to a director at Goldman Sachs or Morgan Stanley about BarCap, Barclays Bank’s investment banking arm, I am reminded by them that it takes a very long time to build up a sustainable leading position in the equity markets. As Barclays geared up for publication of its financial results last Friday, questions [...]