Compass buys Japanese care home caterer
6th Mar 2012 07:12
Acquisition-hungry caterer Compass is at it again, buying another company, this time in Japan. It has gobbled up NKS Kabushiki Kaisha and associated companies a provider of food services, primarily to the healthcare sector, in Japan. The business is based in Tokyo, operating around 200 units with o
Read moreCompass completes acquisition
6th Feb 2012 07:43
Compass, the food and support services firm, has announced the completion of its acquisition of foodservices provider DORA Gastro through its subsidiary Eurest, following clearance from the Office for the Protection of Competition in the Czech Republic. For the year ending December 31st 2010, DORA
Read moreLondon midday: Footsie flat despite mining strength, Xstrata surges
2nd Feb 2012 12:03
- Xstrata/Glencore surge on merger talks. - Mining strength outweighed by Astra, Unilever, Shell. - China considering increasing involvement in Eurozone rescue. The Footsie was broadly flat by lunchtime as poorly-received results from some big hitters outweighed strength in the mining sector. Mark
Read moreThursday broker round-up
2nd Feb 2012 09:15
AstraZeneca: Panmure Gordon maintains buy rating and 3,600p target. Imperial Tobacco: Nomura upgrades from reduce to neutral, 2,150p target unchanged. Compass Group: Panmure Gordon maintains buy rating and 675p target. Smith & Nephew: Panmure Gordon reiterates buy stance and 640p target. Unileve
Read moreLondon open: Stocks pull back but Xstrata soars
2nd Feb 2012 08:35
Stocks opened slightly lower on Thursday, pulling back from the +100 point gain for the Footsie yesterday as markets celebrated positive global macroeconomic data with manufacturing indices in the UK, Eurozone, US and China all showing an improvement in January. In other news, ratings agency Standa
Read moreLondon pre-open: Stocks to open slightly higher
2nd Feb 2012 07:45
City sources predict the FTSE 100 will open slightly higher, up 14 points from yesterday's close of 5,791, following strong gains in late trading on Wednesday. Fourth quarter sales at medical devices maker Smith and Nephew came in a touch shy of market expectations, but showed a modest improvemen
Read moreSolid start for Compass as organic revenues rise 4% - UPDATE
2nd Feb 2012 07:02
Food and support services firm Compass says that it has had a good first quarter and its expectations for the full-year remain unchanged, despite experiencing a continuing challenging macroeconomic environment in Europe. The group said that like-for-like volumes in North America and the Fast Growi
Read moreTuesday broker round-up - UPDATE
24th Jan 2012 09:09
Ashmore: Royal Bank of Scotland downgrades to hold from buy. Hargreaves Lansdown: Royal Bank of Scotland downgrades to sell from hold. Weir: Goldman Sachs reiterates buy. Vedanta Resources: HSBC cuts target price to 1,320p from 2,110p; Credit Suisse keeps neutral stance and 1,400p target. Pear
Read moreAnother Tesco director races to the checkout
23rd Jan 2012 16:35
Senior Independent Director of Tesco's, Patrick Cescau, has become the third director to hit the till with a trolley load of shares this month. Cescau footed a £60,247 bill having purchased 18,340 shares at 328.5p each. It's proved to be something of a trolley-dash in the past few weeks, with
Read moreLondon close: Banks lead rally
25th Nov 2011 17:12
Every day this week and last the Footsie has been stuck in reverse gear but today it jolted forward, thanks to a little help from Wall Street, which opened higher. Banks led the advance on hopes that there is truth in the rumours that European policy makers are set to drop the requirement for priva
Read moreFTSE 100 Movers: Vedanta leads the way lower on debt worries
25th Nov 2011 13:06
Miners are responsible for much of the loss on the top-share index, as copper prices head lower. Vedanta was the biggest faller, on news that the firm is coming under pressure to deal with its level of debt. Deutsche Bank has sparked the worries after it cut its target price on the stock from £21
Read moreLondon midday: The only way is down
25th Nov 2011 11:38
London experienced a quiet morning, but the trend remained down, with the US market expected to open lower when it resumes trading today after yesterday's Thanksgiving Day holiday. US markets will close early today to enable traders to join the throngs of shoppers enjoying - or enduring - 'Black Fri
Read moreLondon open: Miners drag down Footsie
25th Nov 2011 09:01
With the US closed yesterday for the Thanksgiving Day holiday, London has no lead to follow in terms of market direction so it has resorted to its default setting of 'reverse'. Mining stocks are taking the low road as metal prices soften, and are taking the blue-chip index with them. The biggest b
Read moreCompass acquires South African cleaning company
25th Nov 2011 07:38
Contract caterer Compass is looking to clean up in South Africa after agreeing to acquire Supercare Services Group, a South African cleaning company. Supercare, which has 4,000 contracts in the Business & Industry, Healthcare and Education sectors, generated revenue of about £63.6m for the year to
Read moreLondon pre-open: Strasbourg hangover
25th Nov 2011 07:16
Residual disappointment with the outcome of yesterday's meeting of German, French and Italian leaders in Strasbourg is set to dampen sentiment at the outset, with City sources predicting the FTSE 100 will open down 21 points from yesterday's close of 5,128. The markets had hoped the meeting would
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