Thursday broker round-up
12th Apr 2012 09:30
African Minerals: Jefferies keeps buy rating and 1,100p target. Aggreko: Investec maintains buy rating. Cairn Energy: Nomura cuts target from 500p to 434p, buy rating kept. Faroe Petroleum: Nomura cuts target from 213p to 209p, buy rating kept. FirstGroup: Jefferies downgrades from buy to hold,
Read moreMothercare bins divi, plans more store closures
12th Apr 2012 07:25
Sales in the UK estate of baby and toddler products seller Mothercare remain on the crest of a slump, prompting the company to announce the closure of 111 stores in the UK. Mothercare plans to reshape its UK operations around a profitable core of 200 stores, comprising 95 out of town stores and 105
Read moreLOVEFiLM's Calver to take helm at Mothercare
8th Feb 2012 08:22
Shares of Mothercare rallied 4% after it confirmed the appointment of Simon Calver as its new chief executive officer. Calver, 47, will join the Mothercare board as CEO on 30 April 2012 at which time Alan Parker will resume his role as non-executive chairman, the group confirmed in a company statem
Read moreLondon close: Stocks erase gains, Tesco falls 16%
12th Jan 2012 16:24
Gains were pared in afternoon trade on Thursday following a poor start on Wall Street, meaning that the FTSE 100 finished in the red for the second day in a row. It was a busy day on the corporate news front, with Tesco and RBS grabbing the headlines, while central banks did what was expected and ke
Read moreMothercare cuts margins to slow UK sales slide
12th Jan 2012 13:37
Remedial action by management to stop the slump at baby and toddler products seller Mothercare appears to be paying off. Total group sales were up 2% and worldwide network sales were up 4.5% in the 13 weeks to January 7th. International retail sales were up 15.5% for the same period, while worldw
Read moreThursday broker round-up - UPDATE
12th Jan 2012 09:08
Reckitt Benckiser: J.P. Morgan Cazenove downgrades to neutral from overweight. Tesco: Nomura reiterates buy rating and 500p target; Panmure Gordon cuts target from 500p to 440p, buy rating unchanged. Royal Bank of Scotland: Shore Capital reiterates sell. Tesco: Shore Capital downgrades to hold fr
Read moreLondon close: Footsie drops 1.8% on Eurozone worries
12th Dec 2011 16:46
London's Footsie finished at its lowest levels of the day after Wall Street bourses opened sharply in the red. The Eurozone crisis appeared to be weighing heavily on investors' minds (as usual) following some downbeat comments from Moody's. The FTSE 100 finished 1.8% down at 5,428, some 101 points o
Read moreFTSE 250 Movers: CSR soars into first place
12th Dec 2011 16:03
Wireless technology and computer chip company CSR roared higher after announcing that it will be discontinuing investment in the areas of digital television systems-on-a-chip and silicon tuners. CSR expects to realise, on an annualised basis, $60m of operating cost reductions as a result of these
Read moreLondon midday: Stocks continue to fall, banks tumble
12th Dec 2011 11:49
The Footsie was trading just below the 5,500 level at midday, with banks and miners providing a drag on London's blue chip index. It seems that markets across Europe have given a lukewarm reaction to the 'fiscal compact' agreed by (some) EU leaders late last week, with indices in Paris, Frankfurt an
Read moreLondon open: Banks and miners drag down Footsie
12th Dec 2011 08:44
Mining stocks are dragging the Footsie down in early going, while banks are also weak as investors bank profits after the sector shot up on Friday. Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) is one of the big fallers in the banking sector after the long-awaited report from the Financial Services Authority (FSA)
Read moreSunday newspaper round-up: American growth, France, RBS, Gold
11th Dec 2011 15:05
Three months ago Barack Obama was firmly in the dock over news that no net jobs were created in August. Some gloomy people even saw a double-dip recession on the way. America, it turns out, was not on the verge of recession, and it still isn't. Fears that the government might shut down on December 1
Read moreLondon close: Stocks plummet after ECB
8th Dec 2011 16:43
The Footsie took a tumble in the afternoon as initial optimism following the European Central Bank (ECB) decision to cut rates quickly faded after a press conference with its president Mario Draghi. In the last two-or-so hours of trade, London's blue chip index dropped more than 100 points from its
Read moreFTSE 250 Movers: PZ Cussons share price down the drain
8th Dec 2011 15:53
'Imperial Leather' soap maker PZ Cussons was the biggest faller after it warned that overall profit in the six months to the end of November will come in below expectations. The firm said high raw material costs and adverse exchange rate movement had continued to impact margins in the first half of
Read moreLondon close: Footsie falls back below 5,500
1st Dec 2011 16:35
Despite a strong rise before on the back of some better-than-expected manufacturing data from the US, London's benchmark index pulled back to finish close to its lowest levels of the day. Nevertheless, after yesterday's eye-watering rally which saw benchmark indices across the globe jump between 3-5
Read moreBroker tips: Kingfisher, Cairn Energy, Retailers
1st Dec 2011 12:49
While B&Q and Screwfix owner Kingfisher reported third quarter profits ahead of Investec's forecasts, the broker has reiterated its hold rating given the "undemanding valuation metrics". "We have...cut our outer year forecasts in anticipation of negative LFLs [like-for-likes] in France next year, a
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