Wednesday broker round-up - UPDATE
28th Mar 2012 08:24
Babcock: UBS ups target from 800p to 880p, reiterates buy rating. Compass Group: Nomura keeps buy rating and 800p target. GKN: Investec reiterates buy rating and 240p target. Hansteen: Jefferies reiterates hold recommendation and 80p target. Henderson: Investec upgrades from hold to buy. Qineti
Read moreWednesday preview: Steady progress expected at Topps Tiles
27th Mar 2012 15:49
Flooring specialist Topps Tiles is set to update the market on how trading has been going in the second quarter of the current financial year. Peel Hunt is not expecting the like-for-like (LFL) sales decline to improve all that much, it thinks the business has continued to make steady progress sinc
Read moreTopps Tiles shows slight improvement in first quarter
10th Jan 2012 14:24
Trading continues to be tough for flooring specialist Topps Tiles but the retailer's performance has showed a slight improvement in recent weeks. The firm said on Tuesday that like-for-like sales had fallen by 4.2% in the first quarter, but noted a slight pick-up from the 6.9% LFL revenue decline s
Read moreTuesday broker round-up - UPDATE
10th Jan 2012 09:15
Cairn Energy: Oriel upgrades to add from hold. Tesco: Bank of America Merrill Lynch downgrades to neutral from buy. Marks & Spencer: Panmure Gordon reiterates hold and 307p target; Peel Hunt maintains hold and 350p target. Barclays: UBS cuts target from 215p to 199p, neutral rating unchanged. R
Read moreNewly appointed C&W Worldwide chief shows faith
7th Dec 2011 13:37
Gavin Darby, the newly appointed chief executive at Cable & Wireless Worldwide has put his money where his mouth is and bought up £337,800-worth of shares in the telecoms firm. Darby, 55, who joined the firm on 28 November to replace John Pluthero, purchased two million shares at 16.89p each. Th
Read moreTopps Tiles hit by consumer squeeze
29th Nov 2011 14:52
Topps Tiles, the specialist tile and wood flooring retailer, saw full year profits fall amid 'very challenging trading conditions'. The firm said adjusted pre-tax profits came in at £13.9m in the 12 months to October, down from £16.3m the year before. Group revenue was £175.5m, down from £182.4m i
Read moreTuesday preview: Autumn statement, ITE, Topps Tiles
28th Nov 2011 15:45
The Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, makes his Autumn statement on Tuesday and, as usual, he will have had no shortage of lobbyists offering him advice on how to kick-start the UK economy and, while he is at it, get the Tories re-elected. The Chancellor is expected to begin his speech a
Read moreWednesday tips round-up: Topps Tiles, Albemarle & Bond, Hammerson
28th Sep 2011 06:34
In the good times, Topps Tiles saw as much as a quarter of sales coming from people moving house and upgrading the kitchen and bathroom. Today, the proportion is well below 10%, so it relies on discretionary purchases by existing home owners. Topps shares have now fallen to a level where, after yest
Read moreLondon close: Stocks soar as euro talks proceed
27th Sep 2011 16:33
The top share index surged in early dealings and continued heading higher towards the close amid optimism that European leaders will get to grips with the euro crisis. Talks are still ongoing about an expansion of the European Financial Stability Fund, with conflicting signals over whether an agree
Read moreLondon midday: Stocks advance on Euro hopes
27th Sep 2011 12:00
Stocks have built on their early morning gains as optimism that some kind of end to the Eurozone crisis is in sight continues. Talks are still ongoing about an expansion of the European Financial Stability Fund, with conflicting signals over whether an agreement is near failing to put investors of
Read moreTopps Tiles to meet expectations
27th Sep 2011 08:50
Shares in Topps Tiles soared after the tile and flooring retailer said it expects to report revenues of £175.7m for the year to 1 October, down from £182.4m the previous year. It also says like-for-like revenues will decrease by 1.9%. These negative figure are however deceptive because the firm ha
Read moreLondon open: London follows Wall Street higher
27th Sep 2011 08:24
London's leading share index is posting big gains following a strong performance from Wall Street overnight. RBS leads the way as banks continue their strong performance from yesterday, while silver specialist Fresnillo leads the mining sector's recovery. Optimism that European leaders are making
Read moreFirst broker round-up of the morning
27th Sep 2011 08:21
Fresnillo: Citi upgrades to 'hold' from 'sell'. Lonmin: Citi cuts target price 9% to £12.37. Burberrys: Credit Suisse says today, "We still see better risk-reward elsewhere in the space (e.g., Hugo Boss) at current levels." Ricardo: RBS stays at 'buy'. Easy Jet: RBS reiterates 'buy' and 450p t
Read moreTopps Tiles warns on profit
25th Aug 2011 07:22
Tile and wood flooring specialist Topps Tiles said group revenue fell 10.4% on a like-for-like basis in the first seven weeks of the fourth quarter and now expects full year earnings to be below the current range of analyst expectations. The group, which operates over 300 stores in the UK, has been
Read moreWednesday tips round-up: BHP Billiton, Serco, Pearson
10th Aug 2011 06:50
Funny how the same ideas come around again. Several decades ago, vertical integration ? owning every step of the production process ? was the norm. Then that gave way to employing contractors and squeezing them to gain efficiencies. Now, in mining, the old model is coming back into vogue: BHP Billit
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