Wednesday newspaper round-up: Pearson, Bank of England, Tesco
7th Nov 2012 07:16
Pearson, the FTSE 100 media group, is planning to explore a sale of the financial daily newspaper within months, Bloomberg reported, so that the company can focus on its fast-growing education division. Dame Majorie Scardino, the chief executive of Pearson, once said famously that the FT would be so
Read moreMonday broker round-up - UPDATE
22nd Oct 2012 08:19
888 Holdings: Morgan Stanley ups target from 125p to 130p, overweight rating kept. Aggreko: Jefferies cuts target from 2,800p to 2,535p, buy rating kept; HSBC downgrades to underweight, target cut from 2,350p to 1,750p; JPMorgan Cazenove cuts target from 2,360p to 2,165p, neutral rating kept; Barcl
Read moreBroker tips: Go-Ahead, Booker, Mothercare
18th Oct 2012 11:13
Jefferies has maintained its 'hold' rating and 1,220p target price for transport group Go-Ahead, saying that while the new target for bus profits should be well-received, there is still some uncertainty surrounding rail franchises. Go-Ahead said that bus operating profit should grow to £100m by 201
Read moreBroker snap: Mothercare still a 'sell' despite Q2 beat, says Seymour Pierce
18th Oct 2012 09:59
Seymour Pierce has retained its 'sell' recommendation for baby and mother products retailer Mothercare despite the group's well-received second quarter trading update on Thursday. Overall, Seymour Pierce admits that the trading for the 27 weeks to October 13th has been better than expected in the U
Read moreThursday broker round-up - UPDATE
18th Oct 2012 09:24
Ashtead: UBS raises target from 375p to 400p, buy rating kept. ASOS: Panmure Gordon keeps buy rating and 2,530p target. AZ Electronic Materials: Goldman Sachs upgrades to conviction buy. Booker: Panmure Gordon keeps buy rating and 108p target. Britvic: Panmure Gordon keeps hold rating and 380p t
Read moreMothercare UK sales return to growth
18th Oct 2012 07:38
Mothercare, the mother, baby and toddler products retailer, said UK like-for-like (LFL) sales have returned to underlying growth while international progress slowed a touch. UK LFL sales rose 0.3% for the 13 weeks to October 13th compared to a 3.4% decline in the first quarter. Total UK sales fell
Read moreThursday 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
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