Turmoil hits Aberdeen’s fund flows January 19, 2012 INVESTORS pulled a net £2.8bn from Aberdeen Asset Management in the final three months of last year as fears mounted over the Eurozone crisis. Shares in the Granite City firm slipped 1.65 per cent to 226.1p yesterday after it said withdrawals had quickened since the £1.7bn reported in the third quarter. But Aberdeen is not [...]
ANALYST VIEWS: IS ASSOCIATED BRITISH FOODS ON TRACK? January 19, 2012 GRAHAM JONES | PANMURE GORDON Associated British Food is our top large-cap pick for 2012, and believe this statement supports our thesis of strong earnings per share growth this year, albeit second-half weighted. We strongly reiterate our “buy” recommendation. MARTIN DEBOO | INVESTEC This felt like a decent quarter to us, with Primark and Sugars [...]
SABMiller beer volumes rise January 19, 2012 SABMiller has reported a three per cent rise in beer volumes in the last three months of 2011, as growth in African and Latin American markets helped offset falls in North America and Europe. The world’s second-largest brewer and maker of Miller Lite, Peroni and Grolsch said beer price rises helped the group to push [...]
ANALYST VIEWS: HOW HAS WETHERSPOON FARED AGAINST RISING COSTS? January 18, 2012 PATRICK COFFEY | LIBERUM CAPITAL Despite JD Wetherspoon’s investment for the future, we believe the company’s valuation is inconsistent with a sector under pressure from rising costs and macro-uncertainty… We reiterate our “sell” recommendation. PAUL HICKMAN | PEEL HUNT Posting a good second quarter result shows Wetherspoon robustly on course for our modest earnings growth [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS January 18, 2012 Aberdeen Asset Management Peter Elston, an Asian investment strategist based in Singapore, has been promoted to the newly created role of head of Asia Pacific strategy and asset allocation. Elston has been a member of the global strategy team and the Asia Pacific multi-asset fund tactical asset allocation team since 2009. He joined Aberdeen as [...]
Soft landing in China as euro hits exports January 17, 2012 ECONOMIC growth in China slowed to a two and a half year low in the fourth quarter of 2011, though the data points to a “soft landing” rather than the hard deterioration economists feared. Chinese GDP grew by 8.9 per cent in the year, compared with 9.1 per cent in the 12 months to the third [...]
Wiseman brothers to lap up £100m from sale to Müller January 16, 2012 THE family behind Robert Wiseman Dairies is set for a windfall of nearly £100m after agreeing the sale of the firm to German group Müller. Four members of the family – brothers Robert, Alan and Gavin Wiseman and Alan’s wife Margaret – who own 35 per cent of the milk producer, will pocket £98.1m from [...]
Five weeks for Hoare Govett to learn its fate January 16, 2012 HOARE Govett, the stockbroker being sold by the beleaguered RBS bank, has already lost two blue chip clients in GlaxoSmithKline and Amlin as clients fret over its fate, so it is comforting to learn that it might know its new home in around five weeks time. Of course, in an ideal world, its future would [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS January 15, 2012 TED BAKER Numis rates the fashion retailer as a “hold” with a target price of 700p, after a strong performance from the brand over Christmas trading. The broker says this was achieved despite no significant pre-Christmas discounting, but will not be chasing the stock due to a share price of 15x earnings. EROS INTERNATIONAL Investec [...]
Multi-million pound properties on the up as London prices soar January 12, 2012 PROPERTY prices in the capital are booming, and show no sign of slowing as a side effect of economic gloom, two separate studies released this morning have shown. According to LSL Property Services, London house prices are 3.1 per cent higher than last year, bucking the overall downward trend that saw property prices slump 0.5 [...]