Zoopla zooms higher on uSwitch acquisition
30th Apr 2015 08:22
Zoopla, the residential property website group, has agreed to acquire utility price comparison site uSwitch for up to £190m. Zoopla, which is 31.8%-owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT), said the purchase would create the "ultimate online property resource" with the purchase of uSwitch ow
Read moreUK's four major banks face further £19bn in litigation charges, S&P reveals
27th Apr 2015 12:19
The UK's four largest banks are expected to have £19bn more of litigation costs this year and next, said credit agency Standard & Poors, which said the quartet's credit ratings were safe for now. Although the credit agency said it thought the worst period for charges relating to payment protection p
Read moreMonday newspaper round-up: Housing, Primark, HSBC, Natural Gas
27th Apr 2015 06:54
Ed Miliband will today intensify a political offensive over housing with an offer to exempt first-time buyers from up to £5,000 in stamp duty using cash raised from tax crackdowns on rogue landlords and foreign investors. The promise to waive the sales tax on properties worth up to £300,000 for thos
Read moreSunday newspaper round-up: HSBC spinoff, Lloyds offer, Worldpay IPO
26th Apr 2015 15:16
HSBC could spin off its £20bn UK high street banking interests, the Sunday Times said, reviving the old Midland Bank brand which the group bought in 1992. Having on Friday mentioned it was looking at moving its headquarters overseas, a flotation of its British bank could speed its corporate exit fro
Read moreBritain cuts stake in Lloyds Banking Group
24th Apr 2015 13:47
Britain has cut its stake in Lloyds Banking Group by another 1% to 20.95%, as the government edges closer towards turning the bank fully private. The UK government owned 41% of the lender after a £20bn bailout during the financial crisis. The government, which has since halved its stake, plans to s
Read moreLondon open: Analysts sanguine on Greece, oil forecasts revised higher
24th Apr 2015 09:17
Stocks have begun the morning moving modestly higher on residual optimism over the Greek debt negotiations and on the coat-tails of overnight gains on Wall Street, which saw the Nasdaq Composite close above its previous early 2000 record highs. "Greece is cash-strapped, and the situation is worsenin
Read moreBroker tips: Lloyds, Vodafone, Pace
23rd Apr 2015 17:31
Deutsche Bank has named Lloyds as its "top pick" in the UK banking sector ahead of the first-quarter reporting season, saying that operating conditions across the sector have been good over the start of 2015. "Lloyds is our top pick, Barclays offers material valuation upside, Standard Chartered is a
Read moreMarket overview: Boston Fed president takes prudent approach
22nd Apr 2015 09:40
1333: Market commentary has picked up on cautious remarks from the Boston Fed´s Rosengren regarding the possibility that interest rate hikes could be postponed - not the most likely scenario in his opinion. 1253: Analyst at Jefferies have lowered their view on shares of Hargreaves Lansdown to hold f
Read moreTuesday tips round-up: UK supermarkets, Lloyds
21st Apr 2015 08:19
Do non-cash impairment charges matter? What if they run into the billions of pounds? After all, they all they can be dismissed as one-offs. Yet they do matter. Analysts at Deutsche Bank estimate Tesco could unveil a 15% - or 3bn pounds - writedown on the value of its propert assets. The value of pop
Read moreTuesday newspaper round-up: Labour, HSBC, Credit Suisse
21st Apr 2015 06:49
The latest poll by Populus has shown that Labour at 34% are two points ahead of the Conservatives who have dropped a percentage point since last week, the Financial Times said. HSBC's chairman Douglas Flint has said at a company meeting in Hong Kong that the time may come soon for the bank to review
Read moreBroker tips: Lloyds, Aldermore, Aveva
20th Apr 2015 11:20
News that the Conservatives want to sell discounted shares in Lloyds to the public if they win the election should not alter the investment case for the bank, according to Investec. However, the broker kept a 'hold' rating on the stock, saying that the inevitable sale of the government's stake, whoe
Read moreInvestec says government sale to constrain Lloyds' stock, regardless of election outcome
20th Apr 2015 10:57
News that the Conservatives want to sell discounted shares in Lloyds to the public if they win the election should not alter the investment case for the bank, according to Investec. However, the broker kept a 'hold' rating on the stock, saying that the inevitable sale of the government's stake, whoe
Read moreSunday newspaper round-up: Lloyds, HSBC, Tesco, Moneysupermarket
19th Apr 2015 16:45
Lloyds Banking Group is facing a legal attack over its calamitous takeover of HBOS in 2008. A class action lawsuit, bringing together more than 6,000 investors that owned shares at the time, has been planned to force the company to release emails and other documents dating back to the deal, "to find
Read moreSunday newspaper round-up: BAE Systems, Smurfitt Kappa, Marks & Spencer
12th Apr 2015 15:55
While a change of government remains a distinct possibility, defence and aerospace giant BAE Systems has recently approached senior government figures to ask permission to hire a foreign chief executive for the first time. According to the Sunday Times, the FTSE 100 group has petitioned defence secr
Read moreFriday tips round-up: UK Banks, Cranswick
10th Apr 2015 17:27
The loan loss ratio for UK banks stood at 0.14% at the end of 2014 according to Standard&Poor's, versus 0.69% in 2013 - a rare positive for the sector. It is a reflection of faster economic growth, low interest rates, higher property prices, banks' sale of dodgy property loans, lending deemed proble
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