Cadbury talks to Hershey to fend off Kraft January 6, 2010 CADBURY was last night locked in talks with Hershey in a bid to stave off Kraft’s hostile takeover attempt. The British confectionery giant is not only seeking a higher price than Kraft’s £10.5bn hostile offer, but also a merger partner that would let it have some say in a combined company, two sources familiar with [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS January 6, 2010 MENZIES Numis believes the shares are significantly undervalued and raised its target price from 411p to 423p on the back of a positive trading update. Management said Menzies Aviation had seen a slight improvement in fourth quarter trading, while Menzies Distribution saw the rate of decline for magazine sales slow. UK COAL Charles Kernot has [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS January 5, 2010 Carrs Milling FinnCap believes the agriculture, engineering, food and travel company has decent value and should return to profit after a disappointing second half last year. Fertiliser sales have been picking up since early december but the flour markets are proving very competitive and will negate some of the gains made by fertiliser. Carlsberg Evolution [...]
Sportech bags £91m funding January 4, 2010 GAMING group Sportech is targeting international expansion of its football pools business after tying up a new £91m funding deal. Sportech’s chief executive Ian Penrose said it is hoping to take the pools into Asia or elsewhere overseas, either on its own or with partners. The company has just renegotiated lending facilities with Lloyds Banking [...]
Execution ups stakes with Noble buyout December 20, 2009 STOCKBROKER Execution has bought its smaller rival Noble in a move the firm said would turn it into a major league player in the mid-cap investment banking and broking sector. The combined company, which will be named Execution Noble, will employ around 250 staff and will be led by Execution founder Nick Finegold, who will [...]
WHAT IS YOUR FORECAST FOR THE BRITISH ECONOMY IN 2010? December 20, 2009 MELISSA KIDD | LOMBARD STREET RESEARCH Our central forecast for GDP growth in 2010 is 1.4 per cent. We expect quite a strong fourth quarter of 2009 as consumers bring forward spending ahead of the VAT increase. But we then see subdued growth through much of 2010 with interest rates hitting 1.5 per cent by [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS December 20, 2009 FORTH PORTS Investec Securities kept its recommendation for Forth Ports as “buy”. Investec says the ports group should deliver robust business in a challenging economic environment, and praised the group’s resilience, thanks to a high level of contract cover and spread of commodities handled. The target price is 1,500p. ARIGHTMOVE Collins Stewart reiterated its “buy” [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS December 15, 2009 F&C ASSET MANAGEMENT Singer Capital Markets trimmed estimates on F&C yesterday following a pre-close briefing with the company, to reflect slightly higher variable staff costs. But the broker said the share price remains at a discount within the sector after a year of strong fund performance. It kept its “buy” rating with a target price [...]
THE TIPSTER December 14, 2009 SPORTS retailer Sports Direct is continuing to do well, rising to as high as 110p last week after opening Monday’s trading session at 102p. The stock lost some ground towards the end of the week, but there could be another recovery to come in the run up to Christmas. ShortsandLongs.com has a rolling spread of [...]
Stricken banks pull in the profits for Odey December 13, 2009 CRISPIN Odey, the hedge fund manager who made a killing over the course of the crisis by shorting stricken City banks, is set to pay himself a windfall of over £30m this year after profits at his firm soared by almost a quarter. Odey Asset Management is today expected to file accounts showing that it [...]