London close: Footsie bounces after morning sell-off
9th Aug 2011 16:45
Following another steep decline in early trading, the Footsie clawed its way back, surging nearly 400 points since the mid-morning to finish 1.89% higher. The blue chip index closed up 96 points. All eyes are on the Federal Reserve's monetary policy meeting, with markets eagerly waiting to hear of
Read moreRetailers count costs of riots
9th Aug 2011 14:42
The British Retail Consortium (BRC) said it is seeking "urgent action" on the riots that have engulfed parts of London and other English cities. Many properties across the city lay in ruins after being set ablaze in a third night of riots that appear to have been sparked by the police shooting a ma
Read moreFTSE 250 Movers: New World bounces back
9th Aug 2011 12:44
In what has been a very volatile day of trading in London, a number of yesterday's big fallers are attracting the attention of bagain hunters. Among them is New World Resources, the central Europe focused coal miner, which is back on the up after its share price came tumbling down on Monday in line
Read moreLondon pre-open: Footsie set to dive below 5,000
9th Aug 2011 07:30
Investors had better get used to the value of the Footsie starting with the number four as the blue-chip index is set for a triple-digit dive at the outset, following last night's nightmare on Wall Street. City traders predict the top-share index will open at around 4,960, down 109 points from last
Read moreGreggs feels the pinch
9th Aug 2011 07:07
Even Greggs, the bakery chain famous for cheap takeaway snacks, is suffering from the tough consumer environment. Like-for-like sales in the 26 weeks to 2 July were up by just 0.4% from the same period a year ago. "Trading conditions have proved to be more challenging than we had expected and we
Read moreTuesday preview: Intl. Power, IHG, Greggs
8th Aug 2011 16:47
With stock markets heading south at a rate of knots, investors keen to retain some exposure to the equity markets often turn to utilities as safe investments, which makes the timing of the half-year results from International Power propitious. Credit Suisse thinks the company needs a large deal to
Read moreWeek Ahead: Standard Life, Greggs, InterContinental Hotels, TUI Travel
5th Aug 2011 11:41
The insurance sector interim results stream continues with figures from Standard Life on Thursday. Panmure Gordon, which thinks Standard Life is in a "period of change" is predicting operating profits of £209m and an interim dividend of 4.6p a share. Baked snacks vendor Greggs has proved resilient
Read moreThursday newspaper round-up: Greece, Santander, UK banks
21st Jul 2011 06:27
Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy held crisis talks in Berlin amid warnings that a failure to break the debt crisis deadlock within 24 hours would send shockwaves around the global economy. Late on Wednesday night it was announced that both parties were close to a deal to bail out Greece, the Telegr
Read moreTuesday newspaper round-up: Greece, C&W Worldwide, Tesco windows,
5th Jul 2011 06:03
Efforts to rescue Greece hit a new roadblock after Standard & Poor's declared that a French plan to involve the private sector would constitute a default by Athens. S&P said that proposals from the Fédération Bancaire Française to participate in a rollover of Greek debt would lead to a downgrade in
Read moreTwo Petropavlovsk directors up their stakes
27th May 2011 16:47
The chairman and chief executive of Russia-focused FTSE 250 miner Petropavlovsk each topped up their stakes in the firm after VMHY Holdings - a company in which they together have a 50% holding - bought shares. As a result of the transaction, they each received 105,000 ordinary shares (representing
Read moreGreggs boosted by Easter treats
11th May 2011 08:00
Solid Easter trading and favourable weather helped bakery chain Greggs report an 4.8% increase in total sales in the first 18 weeks of the year. The tradition of eating hot cross buns on Good Friday was warmly embraced this year. Greggs said over 3m of them were sold, up 23% from the same time last
Read moreTuesday newspaper round-up: Euro, Apple, Google
19th Apr 2011 06:05
The euro fell amid fears that a public backlash against "squanderer" member states could de-rail Brussels' radical plans to avert the mounting sovereign debt crises. The embattled currency fell to as low as $1.4155 at one point as traders ignored Greece's denials that it needs to restructure its deb
Read moreTasty founder takes a big bite
13th Apr 2011 17:20
Samuel Kaye, the multi-millionaire founder of the restaurant chain operator Tasty, has added to his stake in the company with the purchase of £93,000 of shares. He snapped up 300,000 shares at 31p a time and now has about 9.1m shares, or 19.1% of the company, which operates the oriental-themed DimT
Read moreFTSE 250 movers: Heritage Oil rises on rejected offer
17th Mar 2011 15:26
Heritage Oil is wanted after reports in the FT indicated the company has rejected an informal offer of 425p per share from an Abu Dhabi based investor. "This would represent a 47% premium to yesterday's close and a 25% premium to our current target price of 341p," said resources specialist Westhou
Read moreBroker tips: Greggs, Vodafone, Marston's
17th Mar 2011 13:32
Greggs made good progress in 2010 against its shop roll-out and cost control plans, and this is expected to continue into 2011 despite a challenging retail environment, according to UBS. The popular bakery chain announced 2010 results Wednesday that were broadly in line with the broker expectations
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