DS Smith non-exec tops up his stake

30th Jan 2012 16:02

Chairman of the Audit Committee at DS Smith, Jonathan Nicholls, has bought £74,366-worth of shares in the recycled packaging firm. The purchase, which saw the non-executive buy 32,309 shares at 230.17p each, comes less than two weeks after the firm launched an agreed bid for the second largest pack

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Wednesday tips round-up: Big Yellow, Electrocomponents, Telecom Plus

23rd Nov 2011 06:11

The Times' Tempus column highlights Big Yellow's plans to halt further capital spending to improve debt. "If the capital spending tap is turned off, clearly there is potential for cash-flow...to rise considerably from the near-£30m each year at present," Martin Waller writes. Furthermore, while the

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Margins up at Telecom Plus

22nd Nov 2011 11:57

Utility services provider Telecom Plus saw profits shoot up by almost a third in the first half and has hiked its dividend by 25%, as promised. Profit before tax came in at £11.1m in the six months to the end of September, a 31% rise on the £8.5m recorded year before. Earnings per share rose to 12.

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Tuesday broker round-up - UPDATE

22nd Nov 2011 09:34

British Land: Bank of America-Merrill Lynch upgrades to buy from neutral. Centrica: Goldman Sachs keeps at Conviction Buy. Smith&Nephew: Citi cuts target to 492p from 507p, keeps at sell. Smith&Nephew: Citi reiterates neutral. Thomas Cook: Evolution Securities downgrades from neutral to sell, t

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UPDATE: Wednesday broker round-up

5th Oct 2011 09:12

Sainsbury: H2O Markets downgrades to hold. Tesco: Baadar Bank confirms buy rating and 500p target. Kingfisher: Investec keeps hold and 245p target. Wood Group: Investec places target under review, hold recommendation maintained. SuperGroup: Peel Hunt downgrades from buy to hold, target put unde

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Organic growth rate picks up at Telecom Plus

5th Oct 2011 08:29

Telecom Plus, the utility services provider that trades under the Utility Warehouse brand, saw organic growth accelerate in the second quarter, and expects its half-year figures will be significantly up on last year. This spells good news for shareholders, who can expect a significant increase in t

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Deputy Chairman Whittaker increases stake to 20%

17th Aug 2011 14:32

Billionaire property investor John Whittaker bought another round of shares in Capital Shopping Centres (CSC), bringing his total stake to more than 20%. Whittaker, who is deputy chairman and a non-executive director of CSC, purchased 306,500 shares of 50p each at an average price of 321.475p per

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Sunday tips round-up: Brewin Dolphin, Electrocomponents, IMPs, Telecom Plus, SVG

17th Jul 2011 09:17

Private client investment manager Brewin Dolphin can trace its roots to the mid-18th Century and was a founding member of the London Stock Exchange, writes Midas in the Mail On Sunday. It has more than 100,000 clients, and since the turn of the century the proportion of clients who are taking the f

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Thursday tips round-up: Icap, ITE, Morgan Crucible

14th Jul 2011 06:48

Another year or more of dithering in Brussels and then a catastrophic implosion that saw Greece, Ireland and Portugal expelled to set up their own volatile currencies is probably the ideal scenario for Icap, the world's biggest inter-dealer broker. The shares now sell on below 12 times this year's p

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Price rises on the way at Telecom Plus

13th Jul 2011 08:37

Utility services provider Telecom Plus has seen an organic growth spurt at the start of its financial year, but warned that it will soon have to fall in line with its competitors and hike prices. In respect of the period from 1 April to the end of June - the company's first quarter - overall custom

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Telecom Plus puts foot on the gas

25th May 2011 12:13

Utility services group Telecom Plus has announced a jump in profits due to increasing energy prices and record demand for gas during the cold winter. Revenues were also boosted by customers taking more services with the firm and fewer leaving for other providers, the firm said. The group, which of

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Broker snap: Telecom Plus upped to a 'buy'

30th Mar 2011 13:41

FinnCap upgrades utility services group Telecom Plus to a 'buy', from 'hold', after "some share price slippage" since February. After a cold winter and the beneficial gas and electricity pricing environment, the group reported pre-close trading update on Wednesday, in line with the broker's expecta

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Bglobal signs agreement with Opus Energy

22nd Feb 2011 14:27

AIM-quoted Bglobal has agreed to supply and install smart meters to customers of Opus Energy. Opus was named as 2010 Independent Energy Supplier of the Year and has fitted more than 14,000 smart meters in its customers' premises. Opus supplies energy to more than 80,000 properties for the UK. Inte

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London close: Flat finish for FTSE 100

14th Feb 2011 16:42

The top share index finished flat after a sluggish day's trading. Takeover talk pushed the price of engineering stalwarts Weir Group and Invensys higher, with engineering colossus Siemens said to have cash burning a hole in its pocket. The German company's chief financial officer, Joe Kaeser, sai

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London afternoon: Footsie in red despite miners

14th Feb 2011 14:29

Mining stocks are buoyant after China's economy grew 9.8% in the final quarter of 2010, but demand for miners has not prevented the blue-chip index from sliding into the red. Takeover talk is pushing the price of engineering stalwarts Weir Group and Invensys higher, with German engineering colossu

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