Wednesday tips round-up: Experian, Hiscox
13th May 2015 14:14
Experian believes consumer spending in the UK and US began to recover towards the end of 2012. However, the company's financial year to the end of March was a sluggish one. On an organic basis sales grew by just 3% after a flat turnout over the previous three quarters. The firm, which provides credi
Read moreSector movers: Tobacco, financial stocks tumble as market retreats from election highs
12th May 2015 15:04
Most sectors were in the red as the London market pulled back from post-election highs on Tuesday with the FTSE 100 back below the 7,000 mark. At 15:51 BST, the blue chip index was trading down 103.87 points or 1.48% at 6925.98, with the bounce received from the election of a Conservative majority g
Read moreFTSE 250 movers: Thomas Cook upgraded, pub stocks rebound
12th May 2015 13:11
Thomas Cook Group led the risers after Credit Suisse said it sees an attractive risk-reward balance at the tour operator upgrading its rating from 'neutral' to 'outperform'. Greene King rebounded from Monday's losses, which came as the Competition and Markets Authority said that its bid for sector p
Read moreLondon midday: Bond sell-off and Greek uncertainty hammer stock markets
12th May 2015 11:26
UK stocks dropped sharply on Tuesday as a sell-off on sovereign debt markets and ongoing fears about Greece's finances hammered sentiment. The FTSE 100 was down 1.63% at 6,915.17 by midday, with Easyjet leading the decline with a 10% share-price fall following its interim results. The Footsie hit a
Read moreLondon open: Greek concerns hit stocks, Easyjet sinks
12th May 2015 09:05
UK stocks plunged into the red on Tuesday morning on concerns about Greece and bond-market volatility, while blue chip budget airline Easyjet disappointed investors with its full-year outlook. The FTSE 100 was trading 1.04% lower at 6,956.41 early on ahead of data which is forecast to show that UK i
Read moreLondon pre-open: Greek concerns to weigh on stocks early on
12th May 2015 07:40
UK stocks are set for a lower open on Tuesday as concerns about Greece continue to dampen investor sentiment. City sources predict the FTSE 100 will open 10 points lower than Monday's close of 7,029.85. Athens met the latest deadline to repay the International Monetary Fund €750m, though that didn'
Read moreHiscox buoyed in first quarter by performance of US unit
12th May 2015 07:32
Insurance group Hiscox saw gross premiums rise by 12% to reach £561.7m in the first quarter of 2015, led by the performance put in by its US operations. In local currency terms, gross written premiums at its Hiscox USA rose by 16% to reach $95.8m. When converted into a stream in sterling they increa
Read moreFTSE 250 movers: Indivior surges on schizophrenia drug success, insurers lower
5th May 2015 13:22
Indivior topped the risers despite pre-tax profit dipping in the first quarter, as its RBP-7000 schizophrenia drug met the primary and secondary endpoints in its phase 3 trial. Just Eat was making gains as it unveiled strong first quarter results, where like-for-like orders grew 47%. Miners includ
Read moreFTSE 250 movers: Tullow Oil surges on upgrade, Poundland higher on strong annual sales
14th Apr 2015 14:05
Tullow Oil's topped the risers after Citigroup raised its rating on the stock from 'neutral' to 'buy', saying that the oil group's portfolio quality was "undervalued" by the market. Poundland was making gains after a trading update showed the discount retailer had topped a billion pounds of annual s
Read moreHiscox's long-running CFO to joint ICAP
13th Apr 2015 07:58
Hiscox's chief financial officer (CFO) of 16 years is to leave the specialist insurance group to join interdealer broker ICAP. Stuart Bridges, who joined Hiscox in 1999, will remain in office until the end of August and the search for a successor is already underway. Chairman Robert Childs said Bri
Read moreTuesday broker round-up
3rd Mar 2015 16:59
St. James's Place: Morgan Stanley ups target to 1,097p from 963p while reiterating overweight stance. AO World: Cannacord Genuity lowers target to 170p from 220p and reiterates hold. British American Tobacco: Jefferies raises target to 4,440p from 4,140p and reiterates buy. Kaz Minerals: Exane BNP
Read moreSector movers: RSA, Jardine Lloyd Thompson and Direct Line drag non-life insurers lower
3rd Mar 2015 15:28
Non-life insurers were out of favour on Tuesday as a broker downgrade at RSA and a cool reaction to results from Jardine Lloyd Thompson and Direct Line weighed on sentiment. General insurer RSA was trading 2.7% lower after analysts at Bernstein lowered their rating on the stock from 'outperform' to
Read moreSector movers: RSA drags non-life insurers lower as results underwhelm
26th Feb 2015 15:14
Underwhelming results from RSA were weighing down on the non-life insurance sector on Thursday despite the FTSE 100 company swinging to a profit and recommencing its dividend payment. RSA, the third-largest insurer in the UK, reported a pre-tax profit of £275m for 2014, compared with a £244m loss th
Read moreTuesday tips round-up: Serco, Hiscox
11th Nov 2014 07:31
Take a step back to keep forging ahead, that was yesterday´s message from Serco´s chief, Rupert Soames, as he announced a 1.5bn pound write-off related to a review of goodwill and mispriced contracts. Understandably, given that it wiped 40% off of next year´s consensus forecast for earnings, the sha
Read moreHiscox's gross written premiums stable in first nine months of 2014
10th Nov 2014 15:00
Specialist insurer Hiscox said gross written premiums were largely stable in the first nine months of 2014. The firm said gross written premiums amounted to £1.36bn, compared to £1.37bn in the corresponding period of 2013, as a controlled approach in reinsurance was offset by solid growth in insuran
Read more