BAE gets £127m to design new warship
25th Mar 2010 15:57
BAE Systems has won a contract worth £127m over four years to design a 'next generation' warship for the Royal Navy. Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth said the company had been asked to come up with a design for a new Type 26 Combat ship. The group has also been told to start building another Astute
Read moreLondon close: Further boost for shares
23rd Mar 2010 16:43
Rising commodity prices, US strength and some well-received company updates sent London to a fresh 21-month closing high Tuesday. The leading index hasn't finished up at this level since 19 June 2008 and is just one decent session away from breaking through 5,700. Cairn Energy was easily the most
Read moreLondon afternoon: Full steam ahead for Carnival
23rd Mar 2010 14:15
London's leading shares consolidated gains over the lunch-time trading session after notching up solid gains in the morning. Cairn Energy remains the stand-out performer among blue-chips by some distance. The oil group raised its forecast for peak production from its Indian assets by over a third t
Read moreLondon midday: Cairn caps a good morning
23rd Mar 2010 11:57
Some of the steam has gone out of Footsie after a bright start, but it is still posting decent gains. Cairn Energy is the stand-out performer by some distance. The oil group raised its forecast for peak production from its Indian assets by over a third to 240,000 barrels per day, plus it also boost
Read moreBAE misses out on £4bn tanks deal
23rd Mar 2010 10:38
The UK government has handed a £4bn armoured vehicle contract to US defence giant General Dynamics (GD), putting hundreds of jobs at BAE Systems in jeopardy. BAE warned last week that its tank factory in Newcastle may have to close if the British army decided not to hand it the deal to build new li
Read moreBAE jobs in danger if £4bn bid fails
16th Mar 2010 09:22
BAE Systems has put in a revised bid for a £4bn armoured vehicle contract and warned the government that its tank factory in Newcastle may have to close if its bid fails. The company has promised to create and protect 800 jobs if the Ministry of Defence goes with the UK firm, although it has stiff
Read moreTuesday paper round-up: Royal Bank of Scotland, British Airways, BAE Systems
16th Mar 2010 06:31
Royal Bank of Scotland is planning a vast balance sheet restructuring in an attempt to boost its capital strength and its standing with bond investors. The move could involve at least £10bn (€11bn) of the bank's £28bn of debt being bought back at a bought back at a premium to current prices. This w
Read moreSunday newspaper round-up: Lloyds, EMI, Vedanta
14th Mar 2010 11:01
Lloyds Banking is believed to be considering plans to hive off a portion of its giant commercial property portfolio into a separate, tax-efficient company. Senior figures within the bank are thought to have put forward the idea, which would see some of the £50bn to £75bn worth of assets and loans in
Read moreLondon open: Footsie rising again
5th Mar 2010 08:47
UK equities have opened firmly helped by another good session on Wall St and more gains for the banks. Schroders, Royal Bank of Scotland, Barclays and Standard Chartered lead the financials higher, while Fresnillo, Lonmin and Xstrata are strong among the miners. Swiss group Glencore International
Read moreBAE halves stake in Saab
5th Mar 2010 07:58
Defence company BAE Systems has halved its stake in Swedish aerospace group contractor Saab. BAE will convert 1.05m Saab ‘A’ shares in to Saab ‘B’ shares and will then sell 11.2m Saab ‘B’ shares to Swedish investment company Investor AB for SEK 1,066m, equivalent to 95.50 Swedish krona (SEK) per s
Read moreWednesday paper round-up: Prudential, Food prices, BAE Systems
3rd Mar 2010 06:36
Prudential has lost a fifth of its stock market value in just two days as Britain's biggest insurer battles to convince UK investors to pay up for its $35.5bn Asian expansion. Amid frenetic trading yesterday, shares in the Pru slumped a further 8% after dropping more than 12% on Monday, when it con
Read moreTuesday paper round-up: Sterling, Prudential, HSBC
2nd Mar 2010 06:38
The pound suffered its biggest one-day fall for more than a year yesterday amid the prospect of a hung Parliament and growing fears that this will prevent swift and decisive action being taken over Britain's public finances. Sterling crashed by more than four cents at one stage against the US dolla
Read moreLondon close: Blue chips surge forward
26th Feb 2010 16:52
Footsie surged forward and closed in buoyant mood as buyers returned across a number of sectors despite disappointment with Lloyds Banking's results. Serco remains the best performer among Footsie stocks. The outsourcing group increased the dividend by a quarter as it ramped up profits by almost a
Read moreBroker tips: Income stocks, AB Foods, Reed Elsevier
22nd Feb 2010 13:11
Barclays Capital is advising its clients to buy 'high quality dividend stocks' as dividend yields trade close to historical highs relative to bond yields. Barclays Capital (BarCap) has identified 20 European high quality dividend stocks, a list that includes UK stocks Cable & Wireless, RSA, BP, Ast
Read moreBroker snap: Divi stocks back in vogue
22nd Feb 2010 13:06
Barclays Capital is advising its clients to buy 'high quality dividend stocks' as dividend yields trade close to historical highs relative to bond yields. 'After the 60% rally since March 2009 led by financials and cyclicals, we have seen a reversal in style in the market over the last four weeks.
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