Best of the Brokers for 03 July 2014 July 2, 2014 To appear in Best of the Brokers, email your research to notes@cityam.com OCADO GROUP Deutsche Bank has upped Ocado to “hold” after six months on a “sell” rating, reducing the target price to 330p from 350p. The broker thinks while there has been a slowdown in sales growth, expectations are more realistic, and there is [...]
London Report: FTSE ends on a high on strong economic data July 2, 2014 Britain’s top share index hit a one-week high yesterday, with upbeat economic data from the US and China improving investor sentiment and boosting cyclical sectors such as banks and miners and carmakers. The FTSE 100 index closed 0.2 per cent firmer at 6,816.37 points, after climbing to a high of 6,829.49, the highest level since [...]
Ocado delivers a profit but sales growth slowing July 1, 2014 Shares in Ocado slid 4.3 per cent yesterday despite the online grocer moving into the black in the first half, paving the way for its first annual profit in its 13-year history. The company said pre-tax profits totalled £7.5m for the 24 weeks to 18 May, following a £3.8m loss last year, thanks [...]
Bottom Line: Ocado thinks above and beyond Morrisons July 1, 2014 Ocado has understandably been coy over the last year about its plans beyond its tie-up with Morrisons. Running the supermarket’s online groceries business was a leap into the unknown and both companies needed time to bed down. The challenging part was copying the online platform it used to run its own grocery business and creating [...]
London Report: Miners lead way as second half kicks off with a jump July 1, 2014 LONDON’S leading shares yester-day kicked off the month and the second half of the year on a positive note, as investors looked to a mixed bag of global manufacturing surveys. The FTSE 100 ended up 0.87 per cent at 6,802.92. The FTSE 100 is still 1.3 percent off its 2014 peak of 6,894.88 in May, [...]
As Ocado posts a half-year profit, will the business now go from strength to strength? July 1, 2014 Jonathan Jackson, a partner and head of equities at Killik & Co, says Yes. Ocado offers a unique way to play the expected strong growth in the UK online grocery market. The group offers investors the potential to benefit from its industry-leading intellectual property, built up over 13 years of investment in technology, to more [...]
Ocado share price dives on half-year results July 1, 2014 Online grocer Ocado has seen its share price drop 4.7 per cent after releasing half-year results for the 24 weeks ended 18 May. The fall comes as the company announced it was on track for its first ever annual pre-tax profit. The company swung back into the black with pre-tax profits reaching £7.5m compared to [...]
Ocado earnings jump 79pc after Morrisons tie-up July 1, 2014 Online grocer Ocado has reported a rise in gross sales of 15.6 per cent for the 24 weeks ended 18 May, broadly in line with what had been expected. Analysts at Deutsche Bank had forecast that Ocado would report that gross retail sales in the second quarter grew by 15.3 per cent, compared to 18 [...]
London Report: Mortgage lending down but price of houses still rising June 29, 2014 MORTGAGE approval numbers are expected to fall to a 10-month low of 62,000 for May, after the introduction of tough new rules in the Mortgage Market Review (MMR) in April. Howard Archer, of IHS Global Insight, said: “This would be down from 62,918 in April, 66,563 in March and a 74-month high of 75,838 in [...]
Accelerating competition: How to level the playing field for challenger banks June 24, 2014 THERE is something that politicians and bankers both agree upon – we believe that greater competition improves the service and the products that customers get. We’ve heard ideas about increasing competition in banking from across the political spectrum. Today, the BBA is adding to that debate with some new ideas on promoting competition by levelling [...]