PUB CHAIN TYCOONS IN CONCERT AT THE RACES September 27, 2011 ON Monday, the issue of concert parties on the shareholder register of Mitchells & Butlers resurfaced, after racing tycoons John Magnier and Derrick Smith issued a statement disclosing the size of their combined shareholding. Behind the scenes, the long-standing business associates – who have co-owned a string of racehorses – will get the chance to catch [...]
ANALYST VIEWS: WHAT DID YOU TAKE FROM DMGT’S RESULTS? September 27, 2011 LORNA TILBIAN | NUMIS The tone of DMGT’s conference call was one of cautious optimism. Management’s downgrading of guidance to the ‘lower end of the range’ was due to cover price discounting at the Mail on Sunday following NotW’s closure. JONATHAN JACKSON | KILLIK & CO The group has delivered a solid revenue performance, driven [...]
ANALYST VIEWS: ARE IMPERIAL TOBACCO SHARES GOOD VALUE? September 21, 2011 TINA COOK | CHARLES STANLEY The firm benefits from cost savings, supportive £500m share buyback and a commitment to progressively raise the dividend payout ratio from 50 per cent in 2011. Volumes have stabilised and pricing momentum remains intact. We remain comfortable with our accumulate recommendation. MARTIN DEBOO | INVESTEC Imperial needed to post a [...]
ANALYSTS’ VIEWS: IS THE BANK OF ENGLAND LEANING TOWARDS MORE QE? September 18, 2011 PHILIP SHAW | INVESTEC “We envisage the MPC restarting QE and see little reason to wait until November’s forecasting round. Expect the go ahead next month.” SAMUEL TOMBS | CAPITAL ECONOMICS “This week’s public debt figures should show the fiscal consolidation process being hampered by weak growth. That underlines the need for QE.” PHILIP RUSH [...]
Banks granted liquidity boost September 16, 2011 A POTENTIALLY unlimited amount of dollar liquidity is to be injected into banking markets throughout the world, five central banks announced yesterday. It is hoped the measure will boost money markets in the wake of the Eurozone debt crisis. The Bank of England, European Central Bank (ECB), US Federal Reserve, Bank of Japan and Swiss [...]
Snow slashes his £2.6m Evo share award September 16, 2011 ALEX Snow, chief executive of investment manager Evolution Group, has slashed a generous award of share options allocated to him just days before sale talks became public. Snow asked Evolution’s remuneration committee to reduce a gift of shares granted to him under its executive share incentive plan from 2m to just 1.29m after it swiftly [...]
Public sector jobs slashed at record rate September 14, 2011 NEW jobs in the private sector failed to offset major declines in state sector employment in the second quarter of the year, figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed yesterday. With chancellor George Osborne’s austerity plans beginning to kick in, government roles were down by 111,000 in the three months to June — [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS September 13, 2011 CENTRICA Morgan Stanley rates the utilities company as “overweight” and sets a target price of 360p, saying that developments at British Gas in UK upstream gas and power assets are underappreciated. The broker says Centrica will grow at seven per cent per year, even in an economic slowdown, or 15 per cent if it uses [...]
Asset manager list shows who is best in class September 11, 2011 A NEW list of the top young asset managers has highlighted the growing importance of emerging markets. More than a quarter of the young asset managers who made the Financial News “40 under 40” list either invest directly in emerging markets or have spent time working or researching in developing countries. The list also reflects [...]
Investec buys Evolution Group for £233m September 9, 2011 South African banking group Investec has tabled a recommended offer for broking and wealth management group Evolution that values the group at £233m. Investec, which had been competing against Canadian group Canaccord Financial for Evolution, said would pay 100.24p per share, a 6.6 per cent premium on yesterday’s closing price – but almost a 45 [...]