London midday: Dull morning for Footsie
4th Aug 2009 12:03
Stocks remain stuck in the red after a poor morning session with shares undermined by miners slipping back and financials under pressure. Insurer Legal & General set the tone, by slashing its interim dividend by 45% after posting a loss of £1bn on a European embedded value (EEV) basis. The half-yea
Read moreBroker snap: Bullish Weir impresses KBC Peel
4th Aug 2009 10:53
Weir Group's prediction that it will achieve profits at the upper end of its previous guidance has cheered KBC Peel Hunt and the broker lifts its price target on the engineer to 690p from 550p. Weir's cheery outlook came as it posted a 12% rise in both pre-tax profits and revenues, helped by a stro
Read moreWeir lifts dividend after profit hike
4th Aug 2009 08:43
Weir Group's chairman Lord Smith of Kelvin hailed the pump and valve maker's strategy to focus on sectors that are not vulnerable to discretionary spending cuts as it posted a rise in profits and revenues and lifted its dividend. In the half year to June 26, pre-tax profits climbed by 12% from the
Read moreWeir on track after strong Q1
13th May 2009 08:25
A strong first quarter has made engineer Weir confident of meeting expectations for the full year. It is still predicting an annual profit before tax and intangibles amortisation from continuing operations of between £140m and £169m. Order input fell 4% during the 13 weeks ending 27 March versus t
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