Serco completes sale of Great Southern Rail
29th May 2015 07:57
Outsourcing group Serco has completed the sale of "luxury" long-distance rail service Great Southern Rail for £2.5m to Australian private equity firm Allegro. The FTSE 250 group, which issued two profit warnings in 2014, had originally announced the deal on 30 March, citing the need to narrow its fo
Read moreFTSE 250 movers: Paypoint surges on strong profits, Synergy Health hit by waning takeover speculation
28th May 2015 13:10
UK stocks were subdued on Thursday, following weak economic data and continued investor uncertainty on Greek developments. Sector-wise, strong performances from technology and retail was outweighed by weakness in telecommunications and mining. As of 15:00 BST, the FTSE 250 was trading 0.012% lower a
Read moreSerco appoints Roy Gardner as new non-executive chairman
28th May 2015 08:03
International service provider Serco said on Thursday that it has named Sir Roy Gardner as its new non-executive chairman. Gardner, who is the former chairman of Compass Group, will join the board on 1 June and take over from current chairman Alastair Lyons on 1 July. Chief executive officer Rupert
Read moreSerco in talks to sell Indian division
19th May 2015 12:39
Struggling outsourcing group Serco is on the verge of completing the sale of its Indian unit to CVC Capital Partners for approximately £250m. According to Sky News, advisers to the FTSE 250 group have begun negotiations to sell Intelenet, an India-based process outsourcing operation to Philippine se
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 moreSerco's £555m rights issue wins backing of shareholders
17th Apr 2015 11:04
Shares in outsourcing company Serco dipped into the red on Friday after shareholders approved a rights issue, throwing their weight behind the board's plans to turn the group around. The £555m rights issue, which nearly all shareholders voted in favour of, was announced last month alongside a refina
Read moreFTSE 250 movers: Evraz higher on pledge to buy back shares, RPC reverses
1st Apr 2015 13:19
Russia-focused steelmaker Evraz surged after pledging to buy-back shares despite reporting a net loss of $1.28bn last year. FirstGroup rose strongly after saying trading for the year to the end of March had remained in line with expectations, with progress continuing on its medium-term transformatio
Read moreFTSE 250 movers: Mitie dips on profit warning, Serco higher on railway sale
31st Mar 2015 13:22
Outsourcing services group Mitie fell after warning that it expects full-year profits to be pushed slightly lower than forecast by margin pressures in the homecare and social housing businesses. Petrofac was in the red following a downgrade from Canaccord Genuity who dropped their rating from 'buy'
Read moreSerco sells Great Southern Rail for £2.5m
30th Mar 2015 09:54
Outsorcing group Serco has announced it will sell "luxury" long-distance rail service Great Southern Rail for £2.5m to Australian private equity firm Allegro. The group, which issued two profit warnings in 2014, said it had agreed to a sale as it aimed to narrow its focus. Rupert Soames, the group
Read moreThursday broker round-up
26th Mar 2015 17:39
Reckitt Benckiser: JP Morgan ups target price to 2,750p from 2,400p, reiterates underweight. Premier Farnell: UBS hikes target to 190p from 165p, reiterates neutral. Serco Group: Credit Suisse lowers target to 171p from 208p, reiterates neutral. Land Securities: Morgan Stanley ups target to 1,470p
Read moreMonday broker round-up
23rd Mar 2015 13:51
RBS: Nomura reiterates buy and lowers target to 350p from 370p. WPP: Westhouse Securities reiterates add lifts target to 1732p from 1577p. HSBC: Nomura reiterates neutral and shaves target to 590p. StanChart: JP Morgan upgrades to overweight. Citi reiterates buy and lifts target to 1300p from 1250
Read moreThursday broker round-up
19th Mar 2015 15:59
Smiths Group: Charles Stanley downgrades to reduce while Nomura reiterates buy recommendation. Weir Group: Barclays reiterates equalweight and 1,700p target. Prudential: Barclays reiterates overweight and lifts target to 1,868p. Serco: Jefferies reiterates hold but trims target to 185p from 195p.
Read moreSerco swings to annual loss amid rising costs, set to raise £555m
12th Mar 2015 08:04
Serco swung to an annual pre-tax loss as asset impairments and expensive contract provisions weighed on results. The group, which said revenue and profitability were in line with lowered expectations, reported a pre-tax loss of £1.35bn from a previous profit of £108.3m, while revenue fell 7.47% to £
Read moreLondon close: FTSE sets fresh 15-year high on Greek optimism
20th Feb 2015 16:38
UK stocks settled at a new 15-year high on Friday afternoon as improving economic data from the Eurozone and optimism about a deal being agreed on Greek debt offset weak retail sales data in Britain. Eurozone finance ministers met in Brussels on Friday afternoon to discuss a loan extension request b
Read moreBroker tips: Standard Life, Serco, Oil stocks
20th Feb 2015 11:54
Panmure Gordon has reiterated its 'buy' recommendation for Standard Life after the insurer beat forecasts with its 2014 results on Friday, saying it expects the shares to rally. "These results were ahead of expectations and we anticipate that the strong underlying performance that suggests that ther
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