Tuesday Tips Round Up: Two takes on Bovis
17th Jan 2012 06:55
The Times's Tempus column casts its eye over the home builder Bovis. Despite house prices remaining relatively flat the company has seen its sales price increase by 4.5% as a result of a focus on the south east. Bovis managed to build 2,045 homes last year, up 8% on 2010. Profits are predicted to
Read moreFTSE 250 movers: Inmarsat plummets on LightSquared issues
16th Jan 2012 14:49
Satellite group Inmarsat headed the fallers on the FTSE 250 on Monday after a government agency highlighted potential GPS-interference issues in its partner's (LightSquared) high-speed wireless network in the US. Inmarsat became involved with LightSquared in August 2010, when it agreed a plan "to e
Read moreLondon midday: Footsie flat as markets digest S&P move
16th Jan 2012 11:54
After a stint in the blue, and the red, the Footsie was trading flat by midday on Monday, as the markets digested the S&P move to downgrade nine Eurozone countries on Friday evening. Eyes are on France as the nation looks to issued €8.7bn in government debt today. Standard & Poor's (S&P) "finally"
Read moreMonday broker round-up - UPDATE
16th Jan 2012 08:48
Capita: Bank of America-Merrill Lynch downgrades to neutral from buy. Carnival: Credit Suisse keeps neutral rating and 2,285p target; Morgan Stanley downgrades to neutral from outperform, target cut from 2,700p to 1,800p. Amec: Goldman Sachs upgrades to buy from neutral. Morrisons: Deutsche Bank
Read moreLondon open: Footsie slips after S&P move, Carnival drops
16th Jan 2012 08:17
The Footsie slipped 0.2% in the opening minutes, following Friday's move by S&P to downgrade nine Eurozone nations. Meanwhile, cruise ship operator Carnival saw shares drop early on after releasing a statement relating to the grounding of a luxury liner off the Italian coast. Standard & Poor's (S&P
Read moreLondon pre-open: Footsie seen lower after S&P move
16th Jan 2012 07:25
London's benchmark index is expected to open slightly lower on Monday morning, tracking losses on Asian markets overnight, with Eurozone concerns in focus following the mass downgrade of several nations by S&P over the weekend. The FTSE 100 index is seen opening at around 5,627, 10 points lower tha
Read moreProfits in line at Bovis Homes
16th Jan 2012 07:01
FTSE 250 house builder Bovis Homes says it expects pre-tax profits for the year ended 31 December 2011 to be in line with market consensus and says that it is well positioned to improve returns further in 2012 and beyond. However, the firm warned that given continuing economic and employment uncer
Read moreWeek ahead: Retailers, US banks, Bovis Homes
13th Jan 2012 09:45
Next week is the middle part of January and although many of the Christmas trading updates from High Street operators are out of the way, there are still a few more to come, including Burberry, Carphone Warehouse, JD Wetherspoon, Kesa Electricals and Primark owner Associated British Foods. Keeping
Read moreWednesday broker round-up - UDPATE
21st Dec 2011 08:51
HSBC: Investec reiterates buy with 800p target. Barclays: Investec reiterates buy with 330p target. Tesco: Nomura maintains buy rating and 500p target. AstraZeneca: Nomura keeps reduce recommendation and 2,400p target. Thorntons: Investec puts 35p target under review, hold rating kept; Merchant
Read moreLondon close: Merkel comments weigh, Footsie pares gains
13th Dec 2011 16:21
London's blue chip index experienced a boost on Tuesday afternoon, helped by a strong Spanish bond auction and a better-than-expected German confidence survey. However, stocks began to retreat late on after some worrying comments from Angela Merkel and rumours of disruption to oil exports in the Per
Read moreFTSE 250 Movers: Domino Printing storms ahead
13th Dec 2011 15:12
Printing technologies firm Domino Printing Sciences soared 17% after reporting its best ever full year results following a strong global performance and the introduction of new products. Pre-tax profit rose 10% to £57.4m for the year ended 31 October 2011 while revenue increased 5% to £314.1m as cu
Read moreBroker tips: Petrofac, Carpetright, UK house-builders
13th Dec 2011 12:34
Investec has reiterated its buy rating on oilfield services giant Petrofac, following the group's pre-close trading update in which it said it expects to deliver like-for-like (LFL) profit growth in 2011 of at least 20%. "Petrofac continues to make good progress on all fronts and we maintain our po
Read moreLondon midday: Footsie jumps after Spanish auction, ZEW survey
13th Dec 2011 11:46
The Footsie has bounced back into positive territory after a strong Spanish bond auction and a better-than-expected German confidence survey lifted sentiment across the continent. London's blue chip index was up some 39 points at 5,467 by midday, a big swing from the intraday low of 5,416 it sank to
Read moreBroker snap: UBS warns of macro challenges for UK house-builders
13th Dec 2011 11:35
In its assessment of the UK house-building sector, UBS hails has warned that the upcoming year will be tough on stocks given the more challenging macro-economic outlook. UK house-builders have outperformed the FTSE All-Share index by 25% in 2011 so far, UBS notes, despite a difficult mortgage marke
Read moreWednesday tips round-up: Umeco and Bovis
9th Nov 2011 06:44
The Times's Tempus column assesses the prospects for Umeco, which provides services to the aerospace and defence industries but also has a rather interesting division making composite materials used in, among other things, Formula One cars. Tempus believes this business will be spun off in the near
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