London midday: HSBC rolls higher on train sale rumours
24th Feb 2010 12:04
Banks are leading the market's advance today, more than offsetting weakness among miners. HSBC was the morning's top performer as reports circulate that the company is preparing to sell its train leasing business for around £2bn. Sentiment towards the bank is also sweetened by reports that the boar
Read moreLondon open: Early gains for blue chips
24th Feb 2010 08:54
Financials are keeping Footsie moving forward this morning. Standard Life, HSBC and Aviva are all in demand despite the 100-point fall on the Dow overnight. Reckitt Benckiser is lower again on worries over the inquiry into its sales methods for Gaviscon heartburn products. Mining giant BHP Billit
Read moreLondon pre-open: Small loss likely
24th Feb 2010 07:38
A three-figure slump on Wall Street overnight looks like keeping London in check this morning, with confidence still dented by yesterday's weak US confidence data. Futures prices indicate a small loss for the leading index when trading starts at 8am. Mining giant BHP Billiton's chairman Don Argus
Read moreOrder book solid at Kier
24th Feb 2010 07:09
Contractor and housebuilder Kier delivered profits in line with expectations as it continued to focus on winning work ‘at the right price.’ Profit before tax virtually halved to £16.7m in the six months to 31 December 2009 from £31.6m in the corresponding period of 2008. However, that was after tak
Read moreKier wins £110m Barnsley council deal
14th Dec 2009 14:45
Contractor and housebuilder Kier has been awarded a contract by Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council to repair and maintain 9,000 houses in the borough under a contract with a potential value of £110m. The contract was won in competitive tender when the existing contract with Inspace came up for
Read moreThursday newspaper round-up:RBS, Barclays, BofA
3rd Dec 2009 06:21
Alistair Darling is heading for a potentially disastrous showdown with Royal Bank of Scotland over plans to pay £1.5bn in bonuses to its staff. Darling is to be granted the right to veto bonus payments at the bank, which will soon be 84% owned by the taxpayer, but has been warned that doing so could
Read moreRightmove chairman's £1.24m gain
1st Dec 2009 15:06
Scott Forbes, chairman of residential property website operator Rightmove, has exercised options over 600,000 shares and immediately sold them all. The exercise price was 335p a share so there was a gain of 206.32p a share. That is an overall profit of £1.24m. Forbes retains 619,000 shares, or 0
Read moreLondon close: Footsie ends weakly
19th Nov 2009 16:46
Footsie turned sharply lower at the close after a very poor start on Wall Street with the Dow down by more than 150 points in the first few hours. Miners bore the brunt of the selling with Antofagasta, Anglo American, Xstrata, Randgold Resources, Rio Tinto and Vedanta all lower. Platinum refiner J
Read moreLondon afternoon: Footsie stuck in the red
19th Nov 2009 14:06
Footsie is bumbling along close to its low for the day ahead of what is expected to be a weak start on Wall Street. Futures point to falls of anything between 50-70 points for the Dow when US trading starts, with weak metal prices likely to be a key theme. Here, lower metals have already hit the
Read moreLondon noon: Miners drag Footsie down
19th Nov 2009 12:00
Barely a fifth of the FTSE 100 constituents are in positive territory, but the fall on the blue-chip index is still modest, given the weakness of miners. With metals prices softening, the likes of Antofagasta, Anglo American, Xstrata, Randgold Resources, Rio Tinto and Vedanta are on the slide, as i
Read moreLondon open: Miners lead Footsie lower
19th Nov 2009 08:19
Miners are leading London's top stocks lower in early dealings on Thursday, while investors also have a stream of company updates to consider. Nine out of the ten worst performers are miners. Fresnillo, Xstrata, Antofagasta, Rio Tinto, Anglo American, Vedanta Resources, Eurasian Natural Resources,
Read moreSheffield named new Kier chief exec
19th Nov 2009 07:30
Building and civil engineering contractor Kier has announced the appointment of Paul Sheffield to succeed John Dodds as chief executive. After nearly forty years with the group, Dodds intends to step down at the end of March 2010. Sheffield will then take over as chief executive in April. Sheffi
Read moreTuesday tips round-up: G4S, IMI, Hiscox
10th Nov 2009 06:05
Security firm G4S reported organic growth, which excludes the impact of acquisitions, down slightly to 4.2pc for the first nine months of the year, compared with 4.8pc in the first half. This is still a good result considering the current climate. They still look good value at around 12 times next y
Read moreKier's housing division stablilises
9th Nov 2009 07:32
Contractor and housebuilder Kier is seeing a more stable picture emerge at its housebuilding arm with prices rising in selective areas. Kier said that overall first quarter trading has continued in-line expectations with cash balances at healthy levels, adding that while it remains cautious on the
Read morePost merger buying at African Aura
21st Oct 2009 15:31
African Aura Mining Inc's main shareholder and director Guy Pas has increased his stake to 9.38%. He bought 560,250 shares at 61.5p a share on 20 October. African Aura Mining was formed when AIM and TSX Venture Exchange-quoted Mano River Resources merged with TSX Venture Exchange-quoted African A
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