US rate warning hammers FTSE to April’s lowest close April 18, 2011 BRITAIN’S top shares fell sharply yesterday as ratings agency S&P cut its US credit outlook to negative, but some investors doubt this will spur a much more significant flight from risky assets than already seen. The FTSE 100 closed down 125.93 points, or 2.1 per cent, at 5,870.08, its lowest close since 23 March. Just [...]
S&P’s US downgrade sparks stock sell-off April 18, 2011 Alarm over deteriorating public finances in the US, Greece and other peripheral eurozone nations hit markets today, pushing the FTSE down to its lowest close in four weeks. Credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s cut its outlook on the US’ rating outlook to negative, from stable, citing a lack of decisive action to rein in [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS April 4, 2011 SERCO Morgan Stanley rates the outsourcing group “equal-weight” with a target price of 650p. The broker is disappointed by the small number of work and pensions contracts the firm picked up last week, and expects Serco’s revenues from welfare-to-work programmes to drop in the second-half of the year. While the impact on overall forecasts will [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS April 3, 2011 TATE & LYLE RBS rates the UK speciality food producer “buy” and ups its target price from 580p to 625p following a positive trading update and the sale of its Fort Dodge ethanol plant to Cargill for £36m. Though the sale is at a significant shortfall to the £234m of investment it had made, the [...]
Government awards prison contracts to G4S and Serco March 31, 2011 KEN CLARKE, the justice secretary, yesterday said he had awarded contracts to run two prisons to security services firm G4S and had given one prison contract to outsourcing group Serco. The Ministry of Justice gave no value for the deals, but said the outsourcing of the management of the three prisons would save £216m over [...]
Weak demand for commodity and bank shares drag on FTSE March 9, 2011 WEAK commodity and bank stocks dragged Britain’s leading shares index lower yesterday as oil prices climbed after intensified fighting in Libya. At the close, the FTSE 100 was down 37.46 points, or 0.6 per cent, at 5,937.30, having hit a low for the week at 5,922.66 in the afternoon before recovering. “Only a dyed-in-the-wool optimist [...]
Serco insists it will grow despite cuts March 2, 2011 OUTSOURCING group Serco posted a 21 per cent rise in full-year profit yesterday, helped by strong revenue growth in the Americas, as the firm insisted that UK government spending cuts will not damage the firm. Chief executive Chris Hyman told analysts yesterday that “if we’ve got the skills and capabilities, we will see the growth” [...]
FTSE slips lower but profits from StanChart help cheer March 2, 2011 RALLYING banks boosted by results from Standard Chartered helped Britain’s top share index pare losses yesterday, but the index still closed lower as geopolitical concerns continued to dog sentiment. The FTSE 100 closed down 20.87 points, or 0.4 per cent, at 5,914.89, as lingering political concerns in the Arab world continued to dent confidence and [...]
FTSE finishes in the red despite late rally March 2, 2011 The FTSE slumped below the 5,900 mark this morning on continued Middle East unrest fears, but recovered ground after a boost to Wall St. The FTSE 100 still closed the day below 6,000, though, 0.35 per cent down at 5,914.89. It has lost ground in eight of the last nine sessions. Michael Hewson said the [...]
Serco profit rises but warns over UK headwinds March 2, 2011 British outsourcing group Serco posted a 21 per cent rise in full-year profit, helped by strong revenue growth in the Americas, while it admitted government cuts were hitting the UK market. Serco, which runs London’s cycle-hire scheme, several prisons in Britain and Dubai’s metro, said pre-tax profit rose to £214m. Shares in the FTSE 100 [...]