BEST OF THE BROKERS September 5, 2010 BAE SYSTEMS Execution Noble retains a “hold” rating on the defence giant, with a fair value price of 325p. The broker has looked at the possible outcomes of the UK strategic defence review out in October, and believes the firm will see EPS rise once the spending cuts are made public. WM MORRISON Seymour Pierce [...]
WM Morrison to start selling groceries online September 2, 2010 WM MORRISON, Britain’s fourth largest supermarket chain, is expected to announce next week that it will start selling groceries online. According to the Financial Times, the retailer’s newly appointed chief executive Dalton Philips is set to make his business plan for Morrison’s future, including offering groceries online to its customers, public next week. In his [...]
FTSE begins to recoup losses as miners and banks advance August 26, 2010 BRITAIN’S top share index rose yesterday, boosted by a rebound in commodity stocks and helped by better-than-expected economic data from the US. The FTSE 100 closed up 46.44 points, or 0.9 per cent, at 5,155.84, as London’s blue chips rallied from a seven-week closing low on Wednesday. Weekly jobless claims in the United States declined [...]
Swannell set to win M&S chairmanship August 22, 2010 ROBERT SWANNELL, the veteran investment banker and HMV boss, is expected to be confirmed as Sir Stuart Rose’s replacement at the chair of Marks & Spencer this week. Swannell spent the weekend thrashing out an agreement with M&S, friends said, and while his appointment was not sealed last night he is understood to be in [...]
More steam left in the bond rally August 22, 2010 IT’S A case of how low they can go for bond yields. After another week marked by disappointing jobs and manufacturing data in the US, investors ploughed into the relative safety of government debt, pushing yields to record lows. But is this an opportunity for spread betters? While it’s true that bonds have been in [...]
Intel in $8bn McAfee buy August 19, 2010 INTEL continued a run of big money technology deals yesterday when it announced it will buy security software maker McAfee for $7.7bn (£4.9bn) – its biggest ever acquisition. The chip-maker will pay $48 per share in cash, a 60 per cent premium on McAfee’s closing price. The purchase, which marries a hardware and software maker, [...]
FTSE falls to lowest level in a month on US jobless figures August 19, 2010 BRITAIN’S top share index fell to its lowest close in a month yesterday, as weak US labour and other data cast further doubt on the strength of the global recovery and as oil stocks fell on lower crude prices. The FTSE 100 fell 91.58 points, or 1.7 per cent, to 5,211.29 points, the lowest close [...]
Asda warns of shopper misery as sales drop August 17, 2010 SUPERMARKET chain Asda said yesterday shoppers were being hit in the pocket by government cuts as like-for-like sales excluding fuel fell 0.4 per cent in the second quarter. The chain said its market share had reduced in the 12 weeks to 11 July as total sales crept up “in the low single digits”. Chief executive [...]
M&S hires new finance boss to help Bolland’s revolution August 3, 2010 MARKS and Spencer has hired former WH Smith executive Alan Stewart to help new chief Marc Bolland ring the changes at the company. Stewart, 50, who has held a series of senior posts at public companies, will join the retailer in October. He will be the right hand man to Bolland, who joined in May [...]
Don’t bet on strong bank earnings July 18, 2010 REACTIONS were mixed as the first of the season’s US bank earnings rolled in last week. Some analysts – like GFT’s David Morrison – were blaming poor revenue growth reported by Citigroup and Bank of America-Merrill Lynch (BoA-ML) on Friday for the subsequent dip in the S&P 500 as it plunged 2.09 per cent in [...]