Best of the Brokers for 11 April 2014 April 10, 2014 To appear in Best of the Brokers, email your research to notes@cityam.com ROYAL MAIL UBS has a “sell” rating and a target price of 450p on the newly-privatised postal firm. The broker is worried about the effects of Ofcom’s investigation into pre-sorted mail contracts, which make up 55 per cent of the UK letter market and [...]
Royal Mail’s facing a nasty threat, and it’s set to grow April 10, 2014 Royal Mail warned yesterday that an Ofcom review into wholesale mail prices will mean a period of uncertainty. This morning, shares in the FTSE 100 firm have fallen to 502p – down nearly three per cent. The investigation will look at Access market contract charges – Access mail is the type that’s pre-sorted, before being [...]
What the other papers say this morning – 10 April 2014 April 9, 2014 FINANCIAL TIMES Firms in the dark over pension charges Employers running final-salary pension schemes can be charged 10 times more than more efficient competitors, according to a new regulatory study that exposes a further lack of transparency in Britain’s investment industry. Research by The Pensions Regulator has also found that nearly a quarter of the [...]
Inside Track: HSBC to get one over on Barclays with capture of Moreno April 9, 2014 LIKE hands-on managers who get rebranded as directors of football, senior advisers at investment banks often find their august titles are merely stepping-stones on the way to a graceful exit. HSBC’s latest recruit suggests that theory is unfounded at Europe’s largest bank. City sources say it has signed up Glen Moreno, the chairman of Pearson, [...]
Vodafone challenges EE with 150 new stores April 2, 2014 VODAFONE is set to go on a high street spending spree, splashing £100m on opening 150 new retail stores over the next 12 months it announced today. Vodafone’s high street presence has lagged behind EE ever since the rival network was created from the merger of T-Mobile and Orange in 2010, leaving the new telecoms [...]
Bottom Line: Royal Mail proves markets trump politics March 31, 2014 ON ITS first day as a listed company in February, shares in AO.com rose by 33 per cent. Three weeks later, Poundland followed suit; jumping 23 per cent on its debut and making millionaires of several of its senior managers. Other players in London’s recent initial public offering (IPO) boom haven’t fared so well; Just [...]
Bottom Line: Ofgem probe is for all the wrong reasons March 28, 2014 THE UK’S regulatory authorities are supposed to be independent. Ofcom, Ofwat, Ofgem – all were set up to oversee our utilities markets and protect the interests of consumers. After yesterday’s referral of the energy market to the new Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) for a full-scale investigation, many will no longer see Ofgem as objective, [...]
Government rejects TV advert ban for payday loan companies March 24, 2014 PAYDAY lenders will not be banned from daytime and childrens’ television adverts, the government said yesterday. But they will have to include details of debt advice services, and warn customers of the consequences of failing to pay back loans, in the same way as alcohol adverts and tobacco packaging. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) also [...]
Britain tops European broadband league as average speed doubles March 12, 2014 BRITAIN has marched ahead of its European tech rivals with the lowest number of non-internet users and the highest take up of broadband, according to Ofcom’s second European Broadband Scorecard. The average home broadband speed has doubled in less than two years, reaching nearly 18 megabits per second (Mbps), putting the UK ahead of Germany, [...]
Britain is beating France, Germany, Italy and Spain in these 5 key tech metrics March 12, 2014 Britain has marched ahead of its European tech rivals with its internet connectivity with the lowest number of non-internet users and the highest take up of broadband, according to Ofcom’s European Broadband Scorecard. 1. Lowest proportion of people who have never used the internet, at just eight per centA drop from the 11 per cent [...]