Wednesday preview: Diageo, MPC minutes
16th Oct 2012 16:04
Drinks brands leviathan Diageo will be going up against tough comparative figures from a year ago when it unveils fiscal first-quarter figures on Wednesday. Nomura thinks the Guinness brewer will still manage to churn out organic revenue growth of 5%. with strong growth in emerging markets and resi
Read moreLondon pre-open: FTSE to extend Wednesday's losses
11th Oct 2012 07:31
City sources predict the FTSE 100 will open down eight points from yesterday's close of 5,777, after investor sentiment was dampened by a less that dazzling start to earnings season in America. The largest US aluminium producer, Alcoa, cut its forecast for growth in global consumption of the metal
Read moreThursday tips round-up: Avanti, Diageo, Providence Resources
11th Oct 2012 06:43
"Three...two... one... letdown" was probably how some investors in the British satellite group, Avanti Communications, felt yesterday after the company unveiled a far from explosive set of full-year numbers. Avanti's pre-tax losses widened from £12.7m to £16m in the year ending June 30th, with rev
Read moreFriday broker round-up
5th Oct 2012 08:19
Anglo American: AlphaValue upgrades from add to buy. Betfair: Panmure Gordon cuts target from 1,000p to 977p, buy rating kept. BHP Billiton: AlphaValue downgrades from add to reduce. Burberry: Morgan Stanley upgrades to overweight, target kept at 1,190p; UBS keeps neutral rating and 1,170p target
Read moreFriday tips round-up: Compass, Kingfisher, Diageo
28th Sep 2012 07:17
Compass, the world's largest catering company, has proved an impressive investment through the financial crisis, with the shares up almost 200 per cent from their 2008 lows, but even this most defensive of companies cannot escape the fallout from the Eurozone debt crisis. Compass has responding by s
Read moreDomino's director slices off 100,000 shares
27th Sep 2012 17:30
Patricia Thomas, the Operations Director at Domino's Pizza UK & Ireland, the main operating subsidiary of Domino's Pizza, sold 100,000 ordinary shares in the company on the same day it reported a slowdown in like-for-like sales growth in the third quarter. Thomas disposed of the shares at an avera
Read moreWednesday tips round-up: Petra Diamonds, Diageo, Close Brothers
26th Sep 2012 07:21
In the Telegraph, Questor continues to bat for long time favourite, Petra Diamonds. The company has been hit hard by this year's 20% drop in diamond prices and technical problems at its Finsch mine. Petra also has a lot of money to raise to pay for expansion projects. On the plus side, demand for di
Read moreLondon close: Equities cruise higher
25th Sep 2012 16:45
US consumer confidence data lit a small fire under equities in the afternoon session, after a drab morning in which leading shares moved mostly sideways. The Conference Board's measure of US consumer confidence rose more than expected in September to its highest level in seven months. M&A activity
Read moreSector movers: Curried Guinness not on the agenda
25th Sep 2012 16:20
British booze giant, Diageo, has confirmed it is in talks to invest in Indian outfit United Spirits. United Spirits is listed on the National Stock Exchange in Mumbai and rumours of the transaction have seen the shares rise 8% since Monday. That, in turn, has seen the Beverages sector edge up a co
Read moreFTSE 100 movers: Weir leads risers on bid speculation
25th Sep 2012 15:49
Weir is leading the risers on the back of speculation that GE, which yesterday said it was keeping an eye out for potential acquisitions, might be about to make a bid for the engineering giant. Hot on its tail, Carnival rose after reporting continuing strength in fleetwide booking volumes and pric
Read moreLondon midday: End to restructuring in sight at RBS
25th Sep 2012 11:59
The Footsie moved within a narrow band throughout the morning session, in the absence of any market-moving economic data. There is not a lot of macro data in prospect in the afternoon session, either, with only second-tier economic indicators due out this afternoon Stateside. "US consumer confide
Read moreDiageo confirms Indian interest
25th Sep 2012 07:34
British booze giant, Diageo, has confirmed it is in talks to invest in Indian outfit United Spirits. United Spirits is listed on the National Stock Exchange in Mumbai and rumours of the transaction have seen the shares rise 8% since Monday. United's market cap is currently around 141bn rupees, or
Read moreLondon close: Stocks finish flat, Sterling up but overbought
21st Sep 2012 16:48
Footsie's movements were being directed by the Grand Old Duke of York today and, as in the old nursery rhyme, ended the day more or less neither up nor down. Extra time often leads to penalties What was set up to be the big item of the day, the decision from the independent directors of mining gr
Read moreDiageo in advanced talks to acquire stake in Indian concern
21st Sep 2012 15:11
The world´s largest alcoholics drinks maker, Diageo, is in advanced talks to buy a stake in Indian outfit United Spirits, four people with knowledge of the matter have told Bloomberg. Such a transaction would fit in well with Diageo´s strategy of increasing its portfolio of emerging market assets;
Read moreFTSE 100 movers: Aviva falls on downgrade
18th Sep 2012 14:39
Broker downgrades put insurance titan Aviva on the skids, pushing the stock's dividend yield beyond seven per cent; BofA Merrill Lynch has downgraded Aviva to 'underperform', although the target price has been raised to 360p from 330p, while Deutsche bank has moved to a 'hold' recommendation and edg
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