Mastercard said to plan £1bn Vocalink takeover bid
3rd Mar 2016 13:02
(ShareCast News) - US-based credit card issuer Mastercard has reportedly drawn up secret pans for a takeover of international payment systems provider Vocalink. According to Sky News, Mastercard has approached the board of bank-owned Vocalink about a deal that could be worth more than £1bn. More th
Read moreMonday broker round-up
29th Feb 2016 13:16
(ShareCast News) - IMI: JP Morgan reiterates overweight with a target price of 850p, Credit Suisse and Canaccord stays at underperform, Investec and HSBC keep at buy, 920p and 1000p target respectively, Exane BNP Paribas maintains neutral and Societe Generale reiterates hold. Jupiter Fund Management
Read moreFriday broker round-up
26th Feb 2016 14:05
(ShareCast News) - Burberry: Nomura upgrades to buy with a target price of 1500p. Anglo American: Canaccord downgrades to sell with a target price of 350. South32: UBS reiterates neutral with a target price of 67p, Citigroup stays at buy, 75p target and Exane BNP Paribas keeps at outperform, 70p ta
Read moreBroker tips: Burberry, Lloyds, Britvic
26th Feb 2016 12:48
(ShareCast News) - Nomura upgraded Burberry to 'buy' from 'neutral' and lifted the price target to 1,500p from 1,450p. It said since the company announced a review of the global market, its initiatives, efficiency programmes, productivity and capital allocation, expectations have risen in anticipati
Read moreUBS reaffirms Lloyds as top-pick, highlights high dividend yield
26th Feb 2016 12:08
(ShareCast News) - UBS reaffirmed Lloyd´s Banking Group as its 'top-pick' on Friday thanks to the lender´s capital generation targets, which in its opinion underwrote a dividend yield of over 8% in a Footsie that was "increasingly starved" of payouts. Analyst Jason Napier highlighted that the total
Read moreBroker tips: Petrofac, Lloyds, Next
25th Feb 2016 15:35
(ShareCast News) - Jefferies upgraded Petrofac to 'buy' from 'hold' and lifted the price target to 855p from 745p. It said the company's 2015 results emphasised the return to Petrofac's original and still core business offering, Onshore E&C, in the Middle East. On Wednesday, the oilfield services p
Read moreFTSE 100 movers: Lloyds leads index back over 6,000
25th Feb 2016 14:15
(ShareCast News) - The FTSE 100 was back over 6,000 on Thursday, erasing losses from the previous two days. The blue-chip index was up 146.76 points (2.50%) to 6,013.94 by mid-afternoon. Lloyds Banking Group was the big riser, after it saw underlying profit increase 5% to £8.1bn during the year, wi
Read moreInvestec and ShoreCap positive on Lloyds, reaffirm buys
25th Feb 2016 14:05
(ShareCast News) - Statutory profits at Lloyds took a hit from another £2.1bn provision for payment protection insurance in the last three months of 2015 but the shares were trading at a hefty discount to their 'fair value', Shore Capital said. The PPI hit was "disappointing" but not "materially out
Read moreIncome up, statutory earnings down at Lloyds Banking Group
25th Feb 2016 07:15
(ShareCast News) - Robustness was a key theme in the annual financials for Lloyds Banking Group on Thursday, with the company reporting rises in income and underlying earnings for the 2015 calendar year, though statutory profit fell. The FTSE 100 bank saw underlying profit increase 5% to £8.1bn duri
Read moreThursday preview: Lloyds Banking Group's full year earnings in focus
24th Feb 2016 12:46
(ShareCast News) - Lloyds Banking Group is expected to report a sharp decline in full year profit on Thursday as the company sets aside further provisions for the mis-selling of payment protection insurance (PPI). UBS estimates that the bank will book a provision for PPI of £2.9bn in the fourth quar
Read moreSell-off in banks has been overdone, Credit Suisse says
23rd Feb 2016 11:02
(ShareCast News) - The recent 'sell-off' in the banking sector had been overdone, with high-yield spreads pricing in about a 70% possibility of a recession, which was too much, Credit Suisse said in a research report sent to clients. Among the factors which were in banks´ favour on a 'tactical' basi
Read moreLloyds tops PPI complaints list at financial ombudsman
23rd Feb 2016 08:50
(ShareCast News) - Complaints about payment protection insurance continue to be made against major high street banks, data from the financial ombudsman showed, with Lloyds Banking Group a serial offender. Of the total new cases referred to the ombudsman in the six months to 31 December, 56% were
Read moreSunday newspaper round-up: GSK, Sainsbury's, BT, Imagination Technologies
21st Feb 2016 17:23
(ShareCast News) - Financial institutions in the City of London are fairly pleased with David Cameron's agreement with the European Union ahead of June's referendum as it looks to have secured the Square Mile from excessive further Brussels red tape. A potentially painful sticking point has been avo
Read moreCitySprint wins LDC cash to speed same-day delivery, Dunedin IT to wind down
18th Feb 2016 15:55
(ShareCast News) - CitySprint, the same-day delivery company, has completed a secondary buyout that values it at £175m, with owner private equity owner Dunedin selling a stake to Lloyds' private equity arm LDC. CitySprint, which claims to operate the UK's largest privately-owned national delivery ne
Read moreThursday newspaper share tips: Steer clear of banking sector
11th Feb 2016 11:35
(ShareCast News) - The Telegraph's Questor wasn't so hot on the UK banking sector as it published an in-depth look into it on Thursday The column noted that shares in the sector have fallen over 20% so far this year, due to fears about how it would cope in another downturn. It said there is an elem
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