Best of the Brokers for 21 October 2015 October 21, 2015 To appear in Best of the Brokers, email your research to notes@cityam.com POUNDLAND Investec has initiated coverage of Poundland with a “hold” rating and a target price of 300p. The broker said near-term profit benefits from the integration of 99p Stores are expected to return Poundland to 20 per cent growth or more in 2017 [...]
Here’s why investors should’ve bet on stock market floats last year: IPOs beat the FTSE 100 in 2014 October 13, 2015 Plucky investors looking to make a quick buck should've stomached the risk and brought companies that floated last year, as their shares outperformed the FTSE 100. New research by accounting firm Deloitte shows that the 30 IPOs which completed in 2014 generated an average return of 12.4 per cent, outperforming the FTSE 100 by 14.4 [...]
Poundland’s share sale to fund purchase of 99p Stores hurts price September 25, 2015 Poundland yesterday placed £50m worth of new shares to fund its purchase of 99p Stores. The shares, which represent approximately 7.1 per cent of the company’s existing share capital prior to placing, were placed with institutional investors at 280p, which will be worth 275p to the company after expenses. JP Morgan Cazenove acted as sole [...]
Poundland’s share price climbs as it gets final clearance from competition watchdog for 99p Stores bid September 18, 2015 Poundland's share price rose this morning after saying it will complete its acquisition of rival 99p Stores by the end of this month, after receiving final clearance from Britain's competition watchdog today. The Competition Markets Authority (CMA) concluded that a merger between the two budget retailers wouldn't result in a substantial lessening of competition. It [...]
“Drastic Dave” Lewis is delivering at Tesco with £4.2bn sale of South Korean arm Homeplus to MBK September 7, 2015 Ever since Dave Lewis was appointed chief executive of Tesco last year, he has made strengthening the balance sheet a priority for the troubled retailer. Although Homeplus in South Korea was a profitable business, the focus has been on protecting Tesco’s UK market share in light of increasing competition from lower priced discounters, such as [...]
Supermarket wars hot up: Poundland launches online shopping trial September 1, 2015 Poundland is dipping a toe in the waters of online retailing, with the bargain chain launching a trial online shopping service today. The discount retailer’s website, will initially offer 2,000 products ranging from Poundland’s £1 Make Up Gallery cosmetics range to Toblerone bars and three-for-£1 cans of Coke. Poundland said the service will have no [...]
FTSE 100, Dax and Cac rise as hangover sets in after China stock market crash August 25, 2015 After making its worst losses since 2003 yesterday, the FTSE rose almost three per cent per cent in mid-morning trading, nudging back above 6,000. Meanwhile, the Dax rose 3.2 per cent and the Cac rose 3.1 per cent, suggesting that while European markets were nursing a hangover, the worst may be over. The rebound followed [...]
Poundland’s share price soars as discount retailer gets greenlight for 99p Stores takeover August 25, 2015 Poundland's acquisition of (more) budget rival 99p Stores has been given the provisional go-ahead by the competition watchdog, sending the listed company's share price soaring. The Competition and Markets Authority this morning said the merger “may not be expected to result in a substantial lessening of competition”. It said: "Along with Poundworld, [...]
Power play: How Duracell intends to capitalise on 2015 Rugby World Cup with ranking system August 23, 2015 A recent documentary on Britain’s double Tour de France winner Chris Froome, was subtitled “the untold story of power is the ability to go harder and longer than anyone else”. In the offices of Duracell batteries, the marketing team nodded sagely at each other. Power and longevity: their two watchwords. After all, that Duracell bunny [...]
Poundland’s bosses fail to get bonuses August 14, 2015 BOSSES at UK discount retailer Poundland did not receive a bonus for 2015, despite both sales and profits at the company improving last year. Poundland’s annual report said the bonus payments were “self-funding” and “as such, this year’s underlying profit after tax achievement of £33.95m did not trigger payment of bonuses to colleagues.” The company’s [...]