London midday: Footsie slides below 5700
27th Apr 2010 12:04
Footsie has given up all of yesterday's gains and more and has dipped below the 5700 level. Barely a dozen of the blue-chip index's constituents are in the blue, with miners featuring prominently among the laggards. Vedanta, Rio Tinto, Kazakhmys and Xstrata are the worst performers in the mining s
Read moreXchanging says sales momentum encouraging
27th Apr 2010 08:19
Offshoring specialist Xchanging expects to meet full-year forecasts and said sales momentum since the start of the year has been encouraging. The group added that it expects growth to be weighted towards the second half of 2010 due to the time it takes to conclude deals in these markets. "We have
Read moreCHEP chooses Xchanging
7th Apr 2010 07:34
CHEP, the pallet and container pooling services firm, has signed up to use outsourcing specialist Xchanging's procurement processing platform for a five year period. Xchanging will manage £75m of CHEP's European spend per annum and will assist in integrating and standardising procurement processes
Read moreRexam executives add to holdings
16th Mar 2010 16:46
Can maker Rexam's new chief executive and finance director have both increased their shareholdings in the company. Chief executive Graham Chipchase bought 47,811 shares at 291.9p a share. This £140,000 investment took his stake to 164,345 shares. Chipchase originally joined Rexam as finance direc
Read morePersimmon's Jonathan Davie lays foundations
5th Mar 2010 16:23
Persimmon non-executive Jonathan Davie started building a stake in the housebuilder with the purchase of £42,000 in shares. Davie, who was appointed to the board on January 1, bought 10,000 shares at 419.9p a time. His purchase comes soon after the company said it completed 8,976 house sales last
Read moreTuesday tips round-up: Amlin, Goals Soccer, SDL
2nd Mar 2010 06:44
In common with its sector, underwriter Amlin will struggle to replicate 2009's strong investment returns. With about half its portfolio sitting in short-dated government bonds or cash, the best hope lies with the company's ability to take advantage of any rise in interest rates. At 404½p, the shar
Read moreXchanging still sees contract delays
1st Mar 2010 08:22
Acquisitions helped offshoring specialist Xchanging lift revenues by 35% last year, though underlying earnings grew by a more modest 7% and its bigger contracts are being delayed by the economic conditions. Pre-tax profits in 2009 tumbled from £49.2m to £19.5m, including adjustments for options, on
Read moreBroker snap: Deals to lift Xchanging
1st Feb 2010 13:12
Shares in outsourcing specialist Xchanging now sit at a discount to the IT services sector after the company experienced a tough 2009, prompting Piper Jaffray to upgrade the stock. The broker is shifting to an overweight position in the stock with a price target of 237p, in anticipation of an impro
Read moreBroker tips: BSkyB, Schroders, Xchanging
1st Feb 2010 12:53
Despite reporting some of its best results in the last year to year and a half, regulatory uncertainty is likely to continue weighing on broadcaster BSkyB, according to broker JP Morgan. The broker thinks BSkyB will, however, continue to perform strongly and raises its target price on the firm to 6
Read moreThursday tips round-up: GKN, Drax, Xchanging
17th Dec 2009 06:10
GKN yesterday delivered its first upgrade to profit forecasts this year ? but you might not guess it from the shares in the aerospace and automotive engineer, which actually fell on the day. At 113½p, or eight times the best guess of 2011 earnings, the shares trade at a steep discount to US peers. B
Read moreXchanging switches 480 jobs to India
16th Dec 2009 07:39
Offshoring specialist Xchanging has applied its expertise to its own business and will switch 480 positions from Europe to India over the next two years. Some 250 roles will be removed in 2009 and a further 230 positions will be offshored in 2010. The positions affected are currently based in Germa
Read moreXchanging appoints chief of UK operations
17th Nov 2009 09:37
Business processing outsourcing company Xchanging has added another new face to the management board, with the appointment of the had of its UK region. Following on from the appointment of former Hewlett Packard man Kerry Purcell as Head of the Asia Pacific region, announced at the beginning of Nov
Read moreXchanging creates Head of Asia Pacific role
3rd Nov 2009 08:18
Business processing outsourcing company Xchanging has created a new position of Head of the Asia Pacific and put former Hewlett Packard man Kerry Purcell in the role. Fluent Japanese speaker Purcell is a former vice-president and managing director of HP-EDS (Hewlett Packard – Electronic Data System
Read moreAlterian's Johnston sells shares
14th Sep 2009 16:10
Iain Johnston, a director at the marketing software provider Alterian, has cut his holding in the firm, selling 100,000 shares at 150p each. He still has 1.19m shares in the firm, which is more than 2%. Shares in Alterian, whose products include Dynamic Messenger, an email marketing tool, have ra
Read moreBroker tips: Serco, Xchanging, Admiral
11th Aug 2009 12:14
The recent tendency of investors to favour cyclical stocks over defensives has gone too far according to Charles Stanley, which has lifted its target price on the outsourcing group Serco to 460p from 440p. Charles Stanley expects Serco, whose projects include running London's Docklands Light Railwa
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