Investors cheer Home Retail Group
19th Jun 2012 08:56
Shares in Home Retail Group leapt on Tuesday after Argos sales held up, delighting investors who expected them to be hit by bad weather. The stock jumped 16% in early trading after Argos revenues came in at £819m for the quarter, down 0.2% on a like-for-like basis. The City consensus was for a 4%
Read moreLondon open: Whitbread, Home Retail provide a boost early on
19th Jun 2012 08:30
- Leaders to take 'all necessary policy measures' - Whitbread provides a lift on the Footsie after strong Q1 - Greece, Spain and FOMC in focus The FTSE 100 index advanced in early trading on Tuesday morning after euro members pledged to 'safeguard' the region. According to a leaked draft communiqu
Read moreTuesday broker round-up
19th Jun 2012 08:16
APR Energy: UBS slashes target from 860p to 690p, sell rating unchanged. BHP Billiton: Jefferies keeps buy rating. Bumi: JP Morgan Cazenove initiates coverage with buy rating and 520p target. Computacenter: UBS cuts target from 530p to 465p, buy recommendation kept. Dixons Retail: Bank of Americ
Read moreDIY sales a washout for Home Retail Group
19th Jun 2012 07:23
Home Retail Group was hit by an eight per cent fall in sales at Homebase after the wettest April in 100 years. Like-for-like sales at the DIY chain declined by 8.3% in the three months to June, driven down by seasonal products, which make up almost half of total sales and dropped by 15%. The firm
Read moreTuesday preview: Whitbread, Home Retail, Chemring, inflation
18th Jun 2012 15:32
Whitbread holds its annual general meeting on Tuesday, and is likely to give shareholders an update on trading in its first quarter. Aided by relatively easy comparisons from a year ago, broker Jefferies thinks Whitbread will pour out like-for-like (LFL) sales growth of around 3%, with the Premier
Read moreWeek Ahead: Elections, BoE minutes, Whitbread
15th Jun 2012 08:02
Unusually, focus next week will be more on polling stations than stock markets, with Greece, France and Egypt all holding elections over the week-end. The key one for the future of the Eurozone is Greece, although a Socialist victory in France could also have interesting repercussions for the futur
Read moreThursday broker round-up
31st May 2012 09:26
Aviva: Nomura cuts target from 600p to 540p, buy rating unchanged. Babcock: Panmure Gordon downgrades from buy to hold, target left at 940p. BG Group: Jefferies reiterates buy stance and 2,000p target. BHP Billiton: Credit Suisse maintains outperform rating and 2,460p target. BT Group: Nomura ke
Read moreDialight Chairman makes first sale since company listed
28th May 2012 15:59
The Chairman of Dialight, the LED lighting developer, has sold his first batch of shares in the company since the company was listed in 1993. Harry Tee, who made the sale in order to fund an existing financial commitment, earned 955p for each of the 425,000 shares, bagging himself total of £4,058,
Read moreWednesday broker round-up - UPDATE
16th May 2012 08:26
Babcock: UBS raises target from 880p to 950p, buy recommendation unchanged. Barclays: UBS upgrades from neuter lot buy, target cut from 272p to 215p. Cineworld: Merchant Securities maintains buy rating and 244p target. Compass Group: Numis upgrades from add to buy, target left at 750p. Experian:
Read moreCentral Asia Metals founder drops 640,000 shares
14th May 2012 15:31
A founder and Non-Executive Director of Central Asia Metals, Robert Cathery, together with his wife, sold a total of 640,000 shares at 96.00p in the exploration and development company. The £614,400 transaction takes the Catherys' collective stake to 3,631,445 shares. The sale comes about a mont
Read moreFriday broker round-up
4th May 2012 09:21
AstraZeneca: UBS raises target from 3,400p to 3,500p, buy rating unchanged. BG Group: Nomura cuts target from 1,950p to 1,850p, buy rating kept. British Land: Jefferies upgrades British Land from hold to buy, targetupped from 517p to 543p. Dairy Crest: Jefferies initiates coverage with a buy reco
Read moreLondon close: Footsie drops one per cent after gloomy data
2nd May 2012 16:38
- US ADP data well below expectations - Eurozone manufacturing, employment figures weigh on sentiment - Banks, miners among worst performers in London The Footsie finished close to its lowest levels of the day on Wednesday, nearly erasing its impressive rise the day before, as some worse-than-expec
Read moreFTSE 250 movers: Home Retail settles into bottom spot
2nd May 2012 14:43
Argos and Homebase owner Home Retail dropped into the bottom spot after it revealed a nine per cent decline in like-for-like sales as pre-tax profit plunged 60 per cent after particular weakness in consumer electronics. Fund manager Henderson was another big faller after seeing net outflows in the
Read moreLondon midday: Eurozone data dampens sentiment
2nd May 2012 11:42
- Eurozone jobless rate matches 1997-high - Eurozone manufacturing takes a hammering - Banks among the fallers, StanChart falls after first-quarter update London's blue chips slumped on Wednesday morning while most other major European markets traded moderately higher as they reacted to yesterday's
Read moreBroker tips: StanChart, BSkyB, Home Retail
2nd May 2012 11:07
In spite of the negative market reaction to Standard Chartered's first-quarter update on Wednesday morning, Investec has maintained its positive view on the bank saying that it sees a 'very clear buying opportunity'. "Ahead of today's 'no numbers' Q1 interim management statement, the market had dev
Read more