HOW ENCOURAGING ARE THE EARLY PROFIT FIGURES FROM KINGFISHER? September 8, 2009 NICK BUBB PALI INTERNATIONAL “Next year may well be a big disappointment to fans of the ‘V-shaped’ recovery in the UK, but Kingfisher has a proven track record, balance sheet and self-help programme. We think it’s safe to push up our target price from 250p to 270p, given further upgrade potential on B&Q.” MATTHEW MCEACHRAN [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS September 8, 2009 MARKS & SPENCERAfter reviewing the autumn merchandise and its own forecasts, Investec raised its full-year 2010 pre-tax profit estimate for Marks & Spencer to £530m, from £475m, based on stronger gross margin progress than in previous guidance. However, the broker believes that some of the margin recovery booked in 2009/10 will make 2010/11 progress harder, [...]
CITY MOVES Who’s switching jobs September 8, 2009 LazardThe financial advisory and asset management group has appointed Charles Foreman as a managing director in the UK capital markets advisory and M&A team. Foreman, 47, joins from Deutsche Bank, where he was a managing director in the UK coverage team. His recent assignments include advising the government on stabilising the UK banking system in [...]
Kraft flexes its muscles in Cadbury fight September 8, 2009 KRAFT Foods chairman and chief executive Irene Rosenfeld yesterday hinted the US food giant is ready to get tough in its bid to take over Cadbury, a day after the chocolate maker rejected its initial £10.2bn indicative offer. Rosenfeld told US analysts in a conference call that Kraft “has been and will continue to be [...]
CADBURY RIVALS SET FOR BID WAR September 7, 2009 CADBURY, the maker of some of Britain’s best-loved confectionery brands, yesterday rejected a £10.2bn takeover approach from Kraft Foods, sparking speculation that the US food giant and its rivals may soon enter a spiralling bidding war for the firm. Kraft Foods, which owns confectionery brands Toblerone, Milka and Oreo, said a deal would create a [...]
ARE YOU IMPRESSED BY WHITBREAD’S MANAGEMENT TEAM? September 7, 2009 SAM HART CHARLES STANLEY“Whitbread’s trading update was slightly better than expected. Going forward, we expect the trading environment to gradually improve as the UK economic recovery gathers momentum.” MATTHEW GERARD INVESTEC“The decline in Premier Inn has stabilised and management is making significant progress on cost savings, which is leading us to upgrade our full year [...]
How to profit by turning the FTSE changes on their heads September 7, 2009 TOMORROW evening after the market close the FTSE 100 will undergo its quarterly reshuffle, which sees the UK’s leading blue-chip index updated to reflect fully the changing market capitalisation and liquidity of Britain’s listed companies. While the process is deliberately as transparent as possible and well publicised in advance in order to minimise any dramatic [...]
ANALYST VIEWS: WHEN MIGHT THE MPC START TO TIGHTEN POLICY? September 6, 2009 HOWARD ARCHER IHS GLOBAL INSIGHTWe suspect that divisions will remain within the MPC on whether or not to extend QE, and to what extent. While we do not expect any change in QE this month, we certainly would not rule out an eventual further extension. What is much clearer is that interest rates will remain [...]
ANALYST VIEWS: WHAT DID YOU MAKE OF YESTERDAY’S TRADING UPDATE FROM HMV? September 3, 2009 DAVID JEARY INVESTECThe acquisition of a 50 per cent stake in 7digital looks a good complementary strategic acquisition to increase the group’s digital profile and footprint. Trading in the core HMV UK division was slightly ahead of our expectations, offsetting a weaker than forecast international part. TONY SHIRET CREDIT SUISSEThe debate is whether after a [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS September 2, 2009 ARRIVANomura downgraded its 2009 earnings estimates for Arriva, but upgraded its estimates for 2010, saying 2009 “looks set to be the earnings low point”. The broker said that the first half results highlighted a solid performance across divisions, and has a “neutral” stance on the stock with a price target of 473.4p. JD WETHERSPOONInvestec said [...]