Charter shares tank after profit warning June 20, 2011 SHARES in Charter International, the tool and equipment maker, fell by as much as 28 per cent yesterday after it issued a profit warning. Charter said full-year results would likely fall short of expectations, hurt by weakness at its core welding tools unit ESAB. The firm said rising input costs combined with more competition hurt [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS June 20, 2011 PREMIER FARNELL UBS raises the electronic components distributor to “neutral” after weak first quarter results now leave less room for valuation downside. US slowdown and company-specific problems in Asia Pacific, where organic sales growth slowed from 11 per cent in the fourth quarter to fivr per cent, lead the broker to think growth will struggle [...]
Banks and commodities fall as Greek debt crisis lingers June 20, 2011 BANKS and commodity stocksdragged Britain’s top index lower yesterday, as Greece’s lingering debt crisis looks likely to stall the FTSE’s progress near-term, analysts said. Investors reacted negatively after European finance ministers postponed a final decision on extending a further €12bn in emergency loans to Greece. The International Monetary Fund weighed in, saying it needed to [...]
Why Greece is the new Lehman Bros June 16, 2011 IT is a tale of two economies and two very different responses to catastrophe. Last week, the Icelandic government borrowed $1bn on the bond markets, paying only just over 3 per cent interest. It is an astonishing recovery for a country that just two years ago was written off as a bankrupt, discredited pariah, its [...]
US rentals lift growth at hire firm Ashtead June 16, 2011 BRITISH industrial equipment hire company Ashtead said a continued shift to rentals from ownership left it well placed for 2012, after posting full-year pre-tax profit in line with expectations. The FTSE 250 company, which hires out equipment from diggers to small tools, yesterday said the trend of contractors renting rather than buying equipment had continued [...]
AGE STEALS A MARCH ON BEAUTY IN THE IMF LEADERSHIP CONTEST June 13, 2011 DO CITY insiders know something the rest of the world doesn’t about the IMF leadership race to replace the disgraced Dominique Strauss-Kahn? Ever since Stanley Fischer announced his bid on Saturday, the odds on the Bank of Israel governor have been steadily shortening to make him Paddy Power’s “biggest liability” – even though at 67, [...]
ANALYST VIEWS: HAVE MAJESTIC’S RESULTS BEATEN YOUR FORECASTS? June 13, 2011 JOHN DICKINSON | BREWIN DOLPHIN Profit before tax was £0.7m ahead of our estimate, which was at the top of expectations. Majestic has built a good branded business in a competitive market and benefited from the demise of a lot of its competitors. We expect to raise our current year PBT estimate by £0.5m on [...]
ANALYST VIEWS: HOW BAD WAS THE PERFORMANCE OF ARGOS? June 9, 2011 TOM GADSBY | MATRIX GROUP These are pretty dire figures. We expected another tricky quarter for Argos, but the like-for-like sales fall is well below the expected range. While the decline in profits over the past two years is cyclical rather than structural, a clear upturn in consumer demand would be needed for the shares [...]
FESTIVALS KING TO FLOAT FIRM ON AIM June 8, 2011 RELIEF at Music Festivals, the new live music venture from Mean Fiddler founder Vince Power, which will this morning announce its intention to achieve a £10m valuation by floating on the alternative investment market (AIM). So no more sleepless nights at Merchant Securities, the adviser on the deal, after Power managed to raise the £6.5m [...]
ANALYST VIEWS: WHAT WOULD A SALE OF SYNOVATE MEAN FOR AEGIS? June 6, 2011 STEVE LIECHTI | INVESTEC We see Synovate as a decent add-on to existing players rather than a strategically exciting asset, therefore while an auction might develop, we would not encourage this view. Bigger questions are what Aegis does with any possible proceeds or whether this stimulates interest in the whole group by third parties, bearing [...]