Friday tips round-up: Restaurant Group, Hargreaves Lansdown, Hays
2nd Sep 2011 06:48
Restaurant Group operates the Frankie & Benny's, Chiquito and Garfunkel's brands. It showed good form in the half year to early July, growing adjusted pre-tax profits by 7.7 per cent to £24.6m. The group also grew its sales on outlets open at least a year by 3%, adding it had continued this momentum
Read moreLondon close: Stocks close higher after choppy day
1st Sep 2011 16:39
The FTSE 100 finished in the blue having flitted between positive and negative territory for much of the day. Wealth manager Hargreaves Lansdown was the star performer after its results. Assets under administration climbed 41% in the year ended 30 June. The wealth management firm hiked its dividen
Read moreLondon midday: FTSE 100 falls but RBS leads banking surge
1st Sep 2011 12:30
London's leading share index has drifted into the red following strong gains earlier in the week, but there are still some notable risers. Wealth manager Hargreaves Lansdown has raced ahead. Assets under administration climbed 41% in the year ended 30 June. The wealth management firm hiked its div
Read moreLondon open: Miners drag Footsie lower
1st Sep 2011 08:30
The FTSE 100 began September trading on a dull note, falling lower in the opening minutes on Thursday, with the mining sector largely to blame. The mining sector dropped as copper, gold and silver prices declined. Fresnillo, Lonmin and Randgold Resources were among the worst performers. Sector pe
Read moreResilient performance at Restaurant Group
1st Sep 2011 07:16
Frankie & Benny's restaurant chain operator, The Restaurant Group, served up an 8% increase in pre-tax profit and said it is confident of another year of good progress in 2011. Adjusted pre-tax profit rose to £24.4m for the 26 weeks ending 3 July 2011 from £22.6m in 2010. Total revenue for the peri
Read moreThursday preview: Punch, Spirit, Restaurant Group
31st Aug 2011 17:20
Thursday will see Punch Taverns and Spirit Group issue their first trading update as separate entities since the two entities split up. Panmure Gordon recently slashed its target price for Punch Taverns by 42% from 19p to just 11p, given the economic uncertainty and the disposal of its non-core pub
Read moreWednesday tips round-up: Capita, Halma, Northumbrian Water...
29th Jun 2011 06:36
Capita bosses were doing the Lambeth walk yesterday as they picked up a £60m, 10-year contract with the London borough to deliver a range of services. The scope of the deal could be widened to make it worth up to £300m over time. While others reliant on Government work for revenues have been feeling
Read moreWhitbread's Richard Baker tops up
22nd Jun 2011 16:48
Non-executive director Richard Baker has added to his holding in the Costa Coffee and Premier Inn hotels group Whitbread, splashing out more than £50,000 despite a mixed trading update from the company. He paid 1,573p a time for 3,186 shares and now has 8,152. It is his first purchase of shares sin
Read moreLondon close: FTSE 100 back below 6,000
11th May 2011 16:51
After a calm start following good gains yesterday, shares took a sharp dive into the red as economic worries resurfaced. Despite a strong first start to the year, terrestrial broadcaster ITV, one of today's strugglers, has warned that it is facing tougher comparatives in the current quarter, meanin
Read moreFTSE 250 movers: Ocado fails to deliver
11th May 2011 15:25
Online grocery firm Ocado - which has a long-term delivery deal with Waitrose - has seen its share price drop after it said sales growth in the second quarter has, as expected, been lower than the first as a result of capacity constraints and the higher incidence of holidays. Garfunkel's and Frank
Read moreBroker snap: Restaurant Group downgraded to 'hold'
11th May 2011 12:56
After strong share price run, Restaurant Group's shares are now trading close to Peel Hunt's target price of 339p, who issues the stock with a 'hold' rating, from 'buy'. Also, weaker like-for-like sales (currently at +0.5%, down from the +3% reported in first nine weeks) were also a factor in the d
Read moreLondon midday: FTSE 100 pauses after rally
11th May 2011 12:13
Shares are seeking direction following yesterday's big gains, with stocks moving in both directions on the back of updates. Despite a strong first start to the year, terrestrial broadcaster ITV has warned that it is facing tougher comparatives in the current quarter, meaning that the firm could und
Read moreRestaurant Group cautious on consumer confidence
11th May 2011 09:03
Garfunkel's and Frankie & Benny's owner The Restaurant Group said it is trading 'in line' after a "satisfactory" performance in the first 18 weeks of 2011, but has expressed its caution in regards to the full year as consumer spending remains restricted. "Trading conditions during 2011 look set to
Read moreLock increases stake in Kofax
23rd Mar 2011 16:37
Kofax chairman Greg Lock has invested nearly £73,000 in the document software provider. Lock has acquired 15,000 shares at 484p each. That takes his stake to 465,000 shares. In 2010, Lock invested just over £320,000 in Kofax shares at 235p a share and 272.3p a share. The Lock family have been bu
Read moreHughes quadruples Restaurant Group stake
17th Mar 2011 16:49
Restaurant Group non-executive Tony Hughes has invested more than £900,000 in the company. Hughes has more than quadrupled his stake in the Garfunkels and Chiquito restaurants operator to 400,000 shares He bought 308,524 shares at 294.74p a share. By buying now Hughes will receive the 7.46p a shar
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