Thursday preview: SABMiller, UBM, retail sales ...
17th Oct 2012 16:13
There is the usual Thursday glut of trading announcements and this week a large proportion of them are heavy hitters. Lager brewer SABMiller's second quarter should see a slight slowing down in the growth of volumes from the first quarter (Q1). Credit Suisse thinks the main reasons for any slow-do
Read moreThursday broker round-up
19th Jul 2012 09:43
Afren: JP Morgan Cazenove reiterates overweight. Avocet: Westhouse Securities upgrades to buy. Barclays: Goldman Sachs upgrades to neutral, target cut from 250p to 220p. BG Group: Credit Suisse downgrades from outperform to neutral, target cut from 1,660p to 1,500p. British American Tobacco: Inv
Read moreMothercare continues to flourish abroad as UK struggles
19th Jul 2012 07:52
Weak trading at UK Mothercare stores weighed on its overall performance while international operations continued to go from strength to strength. The UK baby-wear and toddler goods firm said total group sales fell 4.4 per cent for the 15 weeks ended 14 July 2012. UK sales declined 10.2 per cent in
Read moreThursday preview: Bad weather a ready excuse for retailers
18th Jul 2012 15:53
Thursday has a retail theme with Kingfisher, Halfords, Sports Direct and Mothercare all set to update the market. Do-it-yourself retailer Kingfisher is expected by broker Jefferies to give a solid second quarter update, despite the lousy weather recently. "A c.1% LFL [like-for-like] gain in both F
Read moreFriday broker round-up
13th Jul 2012 09:11
Aegis: Exane BNP Paribas downgrades to neutral, target upped from 220p to 240p; UBS downgrades to neutral, target upped from 195p to 240p; HSBC downgrades to underweight, target upped from 180p to 240p. Anglo American: Liberum Capital downgrades to hold. Ashmore: Singer Capital Markets downgrades
Read moreBG boss sells without explanation
1st Jun 2012 11:59
The Chief Executive of BG Group, the FTSE 100 natural gas company, has offloaded more than £4.7m-worth of shares without an explanation, putting a serious dent in the share price. Sir Frank Chapman sold 368,185 at 1,285p each, reducing his stake to just over 1.5m shares, equal to 0.0446% of the iss
Read moreMonday broker round-up
28th May 2012 09:26
888 Holdings: Panmure Gordon reiterates buy rating and 93p target. Aggreko: AlphaValue upgrades from sell to add, target kept at 2,206.5p. Aveva: Panmure Gordon cuts target from 1,670p to 1,590p, hold rating unchanged; Merchant Securities keeps buy rating and 1,800p target. Britvic: UBS cuts targ
Read moreMothercare nurturing international growth
24th May 2012 10:46
Investors are looking beyond dramatically reduced profits at Mothercare to focus on the impressive performance of its international operation. It's not often a company reports a before tax loss of over £100m (albeit after exceptional charges of £104.4m) and sees its stock price rocket, but that is
Read moreLondon midday: Mid-caps set the pace
12th Apr 2012 11:49
The top share index spent the morning spinning its wheels with most of the excitement taking place among the mid-cap stocks. Last night, the Federal Reserve's April Beige Book survey encouraged the maintenance of the status quo. The Fed's survey revealed that overall activity "continued to expand a
Read moreThursday 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 more