Bostock reduces stake in Marks and Spencer before exit
17th Aug 2012 16:12
Kate Bostock, who is quitting her role as Executive Director of General Merchandise at Marks and Spencer, has taken advantage of the recent rise in the retailer's share price with a double sale of shares late on Thursday. Bostock, who announced her exit in July but will stay on until October, sold
Read moreLSL hammered by professional indemnity claims
31st Jul 2012 10:44
LSL Property Services, the owners of the Marsh and Parsons chain of estate agents, has dropped sharply after revealing a pre-tax loss for the first six months of the year. In the six months to the end of June the firm took a loss of £7.9m compared to a profit of £6.5m in 2011. The loss came despit
Read moreBroker tips: Retailers, European Goldfields, LSL
22nd Dec 2011 11:15
Credit Suisse has reassessed its forecasts across the European General Retail sectorahead of the January 2012 trading statement season. "Demand conditions for 2012 remain uncertain, although we are cautiously optimistic on the UK environment versus the rest of Europe," the Swiss broker said. "An
Read moreBroker snap: finnCap downgrades LSL to hold
22nd Dec 2011 11:12
finnCap has downgraded LSL Property Services from buy to hold and reduced its target price from 270p to 250p. "Weak markets remain the biggest frustration for the group and the recent FSA paper on mortgages will hardly help," said analyst Duncan Hall. The broker said that the inactive UK housing m
Read moreThursday broker round-up - UPDATE
22nd Dec 2011 08:21
Kingfisher: Credit Suisse reiterates outperform rating and 310p target. Next: Credit Suisse maintains outperform rating and 3,000p target. Marks & Spencer: Credit Suisse cuts target from 345p to 334p, neutral rating unchanged. Home Retail: Credit Suisse cuts target from 85p to 70p, keeps underper
Read moreThursday tips round-up: Prezzo, LSL Property, Misys
7th Apr 2011 06:33
Prezzo appears to be doing rather well. Yesterday's results showed a 37% rise in full-year pre-tax profits, beating market hopes and boosting the restaurant chain's shares. At 13.1 times forward earnings for this year, falling to 11.7 times on the estimates for next year, the Independent thinks Prez
Read moreSmall caps round-up: LSL Property Services, MacFarlane, Oxford Biomedica ...
2nd Mar 2011 13:31
Estate agent and surveyor LSL Property Services said it is cautious on the market for 2011 given the shortage of mortgage finance and other economic challenges but confident it can continue gaining market share. For the year to 31 December, revenue at LSL, which operates Britain's biggest estate ag
Read moreResults round-up: Psion, Penna, 4imprint ...
4th Nov 2010 16:48
International mobile computing solutions company Psion said that trading is being negatively affected by current exchange rates affecting revenues and gross margins when compared with the first half. However, CEO John Conoley said the group has seen stronger demands for new products - with several
Read moreSmall caps round-up: Fitbug, Renewable Energy, NCC...
19th Oct 2010 14:03
Online weight loss programme group Fitbug is raising £600,000 through a placing to fund growth projects. Renewable Energy Generation, which operates nine wind projects in Cambridgeshire, Cornwall, County Durham, Yorkshire, Cumbria and Gwynedd, said the renewable energy scene in 2009/10 has been 're
Read moreSmall caps round-up: Sterling Energy, SnackTime, LSL Property Services
7th May 2010 18:44
Oil and gas exploration company Sterling Energy said adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation totalled $2,1m in the first quarter of 2001. The company made a loss after tax of $1.3m on revenue from oil sales of $4.76m. Cash as at 30 April 2010 of $109.3m. The company sa
Read moreThursday tips round-up: Bunzl, FirstGroup, Autonomy
22nd Apr 2010 06:09
Bunzl, which distributes a variety of products, including food packaging and catering equipment, posted what read as a rather dull update yesterday. Not that dull is bad: when dull means improving margins following cost reductions, dull is pretty good. Indicators are steadily turning positive, and,
Read moreFormer UKFI boss buys Lloyds shares
23rd Mar 2010 16:38
Glen Moreno has bought his first shares in Lloyds Banking Group since he was appointed senior independent non-executive director of the company on 1 March. He has bought 50,000 ADRs, which is the equivalent of 200,000 shares, at $3.69 each. That is equivalent to just over 61p a share, making the c
Read moreLSL resumes divis after turnaround
3rd Mar 2010 15:04
Residential property services provider LSL Property Services moved back into the black in 2009 with both the surveying and estate agency divisions ending the year in much better shape. The company made a pre-tax profit in 2009 of £16.61m compared to a loss of £5.14m in 2008. The turnaround was due
Read moreLondon close: Strong run continues
5th Jan 2010 16:40
Strength in the financial sector helped Footsie continue its strong start to 2009, closing near its highest levels in more than a year. RBS added to yesterday's stellar gains and is joined higher by fellow banks Barclays and Lloyds. The latter pair have been selected by Deutsche Bank as the best t
Read moreLondon afternoon: Cadbury melts as Nestle withdraws
5th Jan 2010 14:26
The Footsie moved sideways over the lunch time session, with strength in financials and miners continuing to offset weakness among retailers. RBS adds to yesterday's stellar gains and is joined higher by fellow banks Barclays and Lloyds. The latter pair have been selected by Deutsche Bank as the b
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