Northgate boss hands in his keys
6th Apr 2010 07:02
Steve Smith, chief executive of Northgate, the vehicle hire group, is to step down from the board. The move brings an end to a 23 year stint at the group for Smith, who agreed last year to stay on as boss of Northgate beyond his scheduled retirement on 1 August 2009. Paul Tallantine, deputy chief
Read moreLondon close: Gains pared at the close
17th Mar 2010 16:48
London's gains were trimmed just before the close as traders took a few profits before heading off to celebrate St. Patrick's Day. Nevertheless, it was the highest close for the Footsie since the middle of 2008. Mining stocks led the advance, despite conflicting views in the broking community on th
Read moreLondon afternoon: Brokers in miners disagreement
17th Mar 2010 14:29
A firm opening by Wall Street gave UK shares an additional fillip over the lunchtime trading session. Miners are leading the advance, despite conflicting views in the broking community on their merits. Societe Generale is in the bearish camp, cutting sector giants BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto from 'b
Read moreLondon midday: Arriva bid lifts mood
17th Mar 2010 12:02
London is now handily higher, with the strength of transport groups and miners cancelling out the subdued performance of ex-dividend stocks such as HSBC, Standard Life and Thomas Cook. The main point of interest is confirmation from bus and rail group Arriva that it has had an unsolicited bid appr
Read moreLondon open: Footsie pushes on
17th Mar 2010 08:47
London has pushed on again this morning following strength on Wall Street late yesterday as US interest rates remained on hold. Miners have picked up as the dollar weakened after the decision by the Federal Reserve. Best performers so far include silver miner Fresnillo, Xstrata and ENRC. Aquarius P
Read moreLondon pre-open: Footsie to climb higher
17th Mar 2010 07:41
Footsie is expected to make further progress in early dealings following strength on Wall Street late yesterday. Military decoy specialist Chemring has radioed in a 5% increase in trade during the four months to the end of February at constant currency despite taking a hit from snow storms in both
Read moreNorthgate sees improvement in fleet hire
17th Mar 2010 07:06
Vehicle hire group Northgate reported an improvement in utilisation rates of its fleets in the four months to 28 February in the UK and Spain. In the UK, it achieved an average utilisation rate of 91% during the period, a 5% improvement on the rate achieved for the same period the previous year. In
Read moreWednesday tips round-up: Tesco, ENRC, Northgate
9th Dec 2009 06:39
London-listed businesses with good overseas exposure should be winners in the next few years. The UK economy is likely to remain sluggish for some time, but there are good opportunities in emerging markets all over the globe. Tesco's trading update yesterday highlighted the importance of this trend.
Read moreLondon close: Glum faces as stocks slide
8th Dec 2009 16:40
A weak start on Wall Street and serious concerns about Greece's public finances and Dubai's debt restructuring ensured London ended deep in the red Tuesday. Fears over the solvency of Greece reached new levels after Fitch downgraded its outlook on the country by one rating to 'negative'. Fellow rat
Read moreLondon afternoon: US slump adds to Footsie woes
8th Dec 2009 15:04
Footsie's losses have widened further after a poor start on Wall Street. The leading share index had already fallen sharply, with Royal Bank of Scotland in focus. Trading in the state-controlled bank briefly stopped trading and it went into 'auction' as the price tumbled below 30p, though it has s
Read moreLondon midday: RBS dominates as rumours fly
8th Dec 2009 12:16
Footsie has turned down sharply with Royal Bank of Scotland dominating the morning. Trading in the state-controlled bank briefly stopped trading and it went into 'auction' as the price tumbled below 30p, though it has since recovered a little. The auction process is used when a company's share p
Read moreLondon open: Retailers lead fallers
8th Dec 2009 08:19
London's blue chips are slightly lower after the open on Tuesday with Tesco and Game among the main fallers after the retailers updated the market. Supermarket giant Tesco is leading the FTSE 100 fallers despite reporting strong sales in the third quarter as its Clubcard reward scheme helped it dr
Read moreNorthgate profit down, confident outlook
8th Dec 2009 07:46
Van hire group Northgate reported a drop in half year pre-tax profits but said it looks forward with increased confidence. Underlying pre-tax profits fell to £22m in the six month ended 31 October compared with a profit of £26.5m the year before. Group revenue decreased by 4.1% to £375.9m or 8.0%
Read moreEnCore founder reduces stake
28th Oct 2009 16:09
EnCore Oil finance director Eugene Whyms raised £289,000 from the sale of 2m shares in the oil and gas explorer at 14.45p each. That leaves him with 7.4m shares. Whyms is a founder of EnCore, which reversed into AIM-quoted Oil Quest Resources in March 2006. At that point, Whyms owned just over 8.5
Read morePhilip Rogerson to chair Bunzl
16th Oct 2009 07:52
Distribution and outsourcing group Bunzl has made Philip Rogerson its new chairman and announced the retirement of interim chairman Jeff Harris. Rogerson will join the board as chairman designate on 1 January next year and take up the role in full at the start of March. He'll give up his current p
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