London midday: Stocks seeking direction
24th Nov 2011 12:02
As was the case yesterday morning (before it all went downhill in the afternoon session), equities have endured a dull session in London. Footsie spent much of the morning in positive territory, largely on the strength of good showings by banks and miners. Gains might have been a bit more impress
Read moreThursday broker round-up - UPDATE
24th Nov 2011 09:48
Weir: Peel Hunt upgrades from hold to buy, target cut from 2,100p to 2,000p. Weir: Investec maintains buy rating and 2,250p target. Compass: Panmure Gordon raises target from 643p to 658p, buy rating unchanged. Smith & Nephew: Panmure Gordon cuts target from 750p to 640p, buy rating kept. Dixons
Read moreWednesday broker round-up - UPDATE
23rd Nov 2011 09:22
Compass: Seymour Pierce reiterates buy rating and 650p target. Compass: Investec maintains buy and 630p target. Compass: Evolution Securities keeps buy rating and 640p target. Meggitt: UBS downgrades from neutral to sell, target cut from 340p to 330p. SABMiller: Investec upgrades from hold to bu
Read moreLondon close: Footsie extends losing streak
22nd Nov 2011 16:42
After spending almost all of the day in the blue and threatening to end a six-day losing streak, Footsie tumbled at the death to extend its miserable sequence. Disappointing third quarter gross domestic product data from the US played a part in London's late swoon. The second estimate for third qu
Read moreFTSE 250 Movers: Thomas Cook in talks with its bankers
22nd Nov 2011 13:15
Shares in travel firm Thomas Cook continued their downward spiral after the firm said it was in talks with its banks about borrowing more money. Shares dropped over 50% from the outset and were trading nearly 70% lower in the afternoon. Thomas Cook said it was going back to its banks because of a
Read moreLondon midday: Miners on the rise, defence stocks down on US fears
22nd Nov 2011 12:23
London's blue chip index held on to gains in morning trade, recovering after a six-day sell-off. While markets are still concerned with the ongoing troubles in the Eurozone, fears over the credit rating of the US eased after Standard & Poor's and Moody's reiterated their ratings last night. Neverth
Read moreLondon open: London recovers but Thomas Cook plummets
22nd Nov 2011 08:36
The Footsie opened moderately higher on Tuesday, following yesterdays mass sell-off which saw most major benchmarks across the globe losing around 2% of their value. However, likely to limit gains today is last night's confirmation by US bipartisan 'supercommittee' that they have not agreed on a pl
Read moreHomeserve hit by sales suspension
22nd Nov 2011 07:23
Repair services firm Homeserve posted a 2% rise in half year pre-tax profit as revenue jumped 25% and said it was confident for 2012 despite one-off restructuring costs of up to £10m in the second half. HomeServe, which has been hit by a string of broker downgrades after the recent mis-selling sca
Read moreBroker tips: Capita, Homeserve, Hamworthy
18th Nov 2011 11:36
Investec has reiterated its hold recommendation on business outsourcing company Capita, highlighting a "more cautious tone" to the group's interim management statement released on Friday. "The group has had a reasonable year in terms of contract wins but the expected pick-up in the second half is c
Read moreBroker snap: Immediate recovery at Homeserve unlikely, says Charles Stanley
18th Nov 2011 11:34
Charles Stanley has slashed its target price for Homeserve from 505p to 290p, saying that 2013 earnings and key performance indicators (KPIs) are "under threat". The stock is now down 44% since it announced that telesales and marketing activities were suspended over mis-selling issues on 31 October
Read moreFriday broker round-up - UPDATE
18th Nov 2011 09:42
Pennon: Deutsche Bank upgrades to buy from hold. Capita: Peel Hunt reiterates buy and 850p target. Capita: Investec slashes target to 630p from 725p, hold maintained. Chemring: finnCap downgrades from buy to hold, target slashes from 780p to 480p. ICAP: UBS cuts target from 380p to 328p, sell ra
Read moreWednesday broker round-up - UPDATE
16th Nov 2011 09:44
Michael Page: HSBC upgrades to overweight from neutral. Reckitt Banckiser: Citi reiterates buy. Cairn Energy: Societe Generale initiates at buy. Royal Bank of Scotland: AlphaValue downgraded to add from buy yesterday and lowered the price target to £24.60from £29.80. ARM Holdings: UBS raises t
Read moreLondon close: Late fall pushes Footsie into the red
10th Nov 2011 16:38
The Footsie swung between gains and losses on Thursday, but finished slightly in the red after US stocks retreated in mid-morning trade on Wall Street. US DATA OFFSET BY FRENCH CONCERNS Driving gains in the afternoon was economic news stateside. The US Labor Department said that initial unemployme
Read moreSector movers: HomeServe lifts support services sector
10th Nov 2011 16:12
A massive leap in the share price of HomeServe gave the support services sector a boost today. Shares in FTSE 250 repair services firm HomeServe roared higher today after it said it had restarted sales activity in a "limited way" following the suspending of its telesales operation 11 days ago. On
Read moreFTSE 250 Movers: Homeserve rises over 21%
10th Nov 2011 14:45
HomeServe rose over 21% after reporting that it has restarted its sales activity following the mis-selling scandal exposed on 31 October. However, Panmure Gordon has kept its sell rating on repair services firm saying, "The risk of mis-selling issues remains unknown but real." Panmure said it will
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