London midday: Stocks boosted by Chinese lending figures ahead of US inflation
15th Oct 2015 11:09
(ShareCast News) - London stocks were on the front foot on Thursday, buoyed by a higher than expected increase in Chinese lending figures. China's banks issued 1.05trn yuan in new yuan loans in September, compared to 809.6bn yuan in August and analysts' expectations of 850bn yuan. "Although this wi
Read moreThursday broker round-up
15th Oct 2015 10:40
(ShareCast News) - Serco Group: HSBC downgrades to reduce, cuts target price to 77.00p. Burberry Group: Bank of America downgrades to neutral. Target price: 1500.00p. Nomura reiterates to buy, cuts target price to 1700.00p. WH Smith: Peel Hunt Limited downgrades to add, raises target price to 1680.
Read morePeel Hunt upgrades WH Smith to 'add' after results
15th Oct 2015 09:27
(ShareCast News) - Peel Hunt upgraded WH Smith to 'add' from 'hold' and lifted the price target to 1,680p from 1,500p following the company's full-year results. "WH Smith is taking full advantage of positive macro trends in Travel, continuing to find cost savings on the high street but crucially is
Read moreWH Smith full-year profit boosted by travel business
15th Oct 2015 07:23
(ShareCast News) - Shares in WH Smith rallied after the retailer posted a rise in pre-tax profit for the year on the back of a good performance across the group, with the travel business in particular providing a boost. For the year ended 31 August, pre-tax profit increased 8% to £121m, while total
Read moreWH Smith pledges to cut prices in hospital outlets
23rd Sep 2015 08:29
(ShareCast News) - Retailer WH Smith has agreed to slash prices in its hospital shops after coming under pressure from MPs. The group, Britain's biggest high street retailer, was accused of profiting at the expenses of sick patients after an investigation last month revealed cards and flowers can be
Read moreJPMorgan lifts WH Smith price target after 'strong' update
21st Aug 2015 12:21
(ShareCast News) - JPMorgan Cazenove lifted its price target for WH Smith to 1,700p from 1,520p following the company's "strong" pre-close update on Thursday, in which it said it expects full-year results to be slightly ahead of current expectations. With the current consensus for full-year pre-tax
Read moreWH Smith expects full-year to be slightly ahead of consensus expectations
20th Aug 2015 07:34
(ShareCast News) - Stationer and newsagent WH Smith expects its full-year results to be slightly ahead of consensus expectations. In a brief trading update on Thursday, the company said its travel business continued to deliver a strong performance in the second half, with solid sales across all of i
Read moreFTSE 250 movers: Cineworld leads risers while Ophir tumbles
13th Aug 2015 14:04
(ShareCast News) - London's FTSE 250 was up slightly by Thursday afternoon as the markets cooled after the People's Bank of China said it would stop fiddling with the yuan. The index was up by 0.65% at 17550.78 at 1407 BST. Leading the risers was Cineworld Group, which reported a revenue rise off s
Read moreWH Smith's chairman increases stake
14th Jul 2015 17:00
(ShareCast News) - WH Smith's chairman increased his stake in the British chain after a connected person purchased new shares. Karen Staunton, a connected person to Henry Staunton, purchased 20,000 shares for an individual price of £1.598, spending a total of £319,656 in the transaction. Following
Read moreFTSE 250 movers: Workspace Group and WH Smith surge on strong results
3rd Jun 2015 13:25
Mid-caps tracked the FTSE 100's gains on Wednesday afternoon despite mixed US data, as strength in the construction and engineering sectors buoyed the market. As of 15:30 BST, the FTSE 250 was trading 0.4% higher at 18,294. Workspace Group led the risers after beating full-year forecasts for profit
Read moreWH Smith up 3% as revenue rises on solid travel business performance
3rd Jun 2015 07:33
Shares in WH Smith rose 3% on Wednesday after the company said total sales in the 13 weeks to May 30 rose, as the performance of the company's shops based in stations and airports offset a disappointing performance in its high street stores. Total group sales were up 1% compared to the same period l
Read moreFTSE 250 movers: Miners lower, WH Smith continues higher on franchise partner offers
17th Apr 2015 13:33
Mining stocks were trading lower, a result of widespread fluctuation in metal prices and Credit Suisse revealing that industrial metals performed poorly in March. Evraz, Vedanta Resources and Petra Diamonds were all in the red. Serco Group dipped as Fitch Ratings warned that the general election wou
Read moreWH Smith first half profit edges higher
16th Apr 2015 09:55
Retail group WH Smith said its first half pre-tax profit edged higher on the back of a sharp improvement in margins. The company said its pre-tax profit in the six months to the end of February climbed 4.3% to £72m, even though revenue declined 0.3% to £611m, as a 5% fall in its high street division
Read moreThursday tips round-up: Bellway, CardFactory
26th Mar 2015 17:45
There is no sign that housing is cooling off, homebuilder Bellway told investors. Since January its reservations were up by 10%, despite the uncertainty surrounding the upcoming elections. In the latest half-year, ended in January, the company increased its spend on land by 48% to hit £355m - althou
Read moreThursday broker round-up
5th Mar 2015 12:41
Rightmove: Credit Suisse lifts target price to 3220p from 2700p but cuts to neutral. Aviva: Panmure Gordon reiterates buy - with a 660p target, as does Westhouse Securities. Standard Chartered: UBS increases target price to 1000p from 980p and reiterates neutral view. Asos: Nomura ups target to 3,
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