Best of the Brokers for 29 September 2014 September 28, 2014 To appear in Best of the Brokers, email your research to notes@cityam.com BALFOUR BEATTY Deutsche Bank has upgraded to “Buy” from “Hold”, and raised the target price to 270p from 245p. The broker thinks overly negative market sentiment towards Balfour provides a buying opportunity, and Balfour’s sale of Parsons Brinckerhoff will help address balance sheet [...]
Best of the Brokers for 15 September 2014 September 14, 2014 To appear in Best of the Brokers, email your research to notes@cityam.com JD WETHERSPOON Investec has kept its “buy” rating, but upped the target price to 885p from 870p. The broker says full year results were just ahead of expectations, and that cash generation remains strong, while the current year has started well with a [...]
Analyst Views: What do you make of the delays to DMGT’s risk management software? September 17, 2014 IAN WHITTAKER | LIBERUM Management now realise they will be under intense pressure to deliver and they have taken the concrete step of impairing the assets and formulating a new timetable. Thus, for investors looking for the longer term, we would recommend buying at these levels. STEVE LIECHTI | INVESTEC The outlook was reconfirmed with [...]
Lloyds sells another £160m of TSB shares September 25, 2014 LLOYDS last night announced it would sell another 11.5 per cent of its shares in TSB, the spin-off bank it floated in June. The sale of an extra 57.5m shares will cut Lloyds’ holding in TSB to around 50.5 per cent. At last night’s closing price of 280p, the offering will net Lloyds £161m. Lloyds [...]
Investor fury at Balfour Beatty profit warning September 29, 2014 SHAREHOLDERS are angry and concerned over the latest trading update from beleaguered construction firm Balfour Beatty. The update, published yesterday, is the company’s third in five months, and revealed a £75m profit shortfall in its construction services UK business. Balfour’s share price fell by 20 per cent after the report and closed down 15.3 per [...]
King of spin Lord Tim Bell apologises for “aggravation” caused by Financial Times interview October 9, 2014 For one of the world’s best known PR men, Lord Bell really should have known better. After reading the interview he gave to the Financial Times yesterday, Bell was clearly inclined to agree. Apologising in a grovelling internal email to staff he concluded: “I am supposed to know how to deal with journalists, friendly or [...]
From Gotham City to Fidelity and Canaccord: The unfortunate tale of Quindell’s share price November 18, 2014 You'd be forgiven for forgetting the full detail behind the story of Quindell – here, we wrap up the last seven months of headache-inducing stories that kept the insurance outsourcer in the headlines. April 23 – Mysterious short seller Gotham City Research publishes a 74-page dossier, claiming Quindell had “magical… paper profits” and raising [...]
Magners owner defends Spirit bid as profits fall October 29, 2014 DUBLIN-BASED C&C Group continued to see its share price tumble yesterday as it defended its bid to buy Spirit Pubs. The company argued that it needs greater scale to battle competition in England as its profits dropped sharply. Shares fell 7.8 per cent to €3.39, down nearly 15 per cent since C&C confirmed it had [...]
Miner Rio Tinto transfers CEO Sam Walsh and CFO Chris Lynch to open-ended contracts October 23, 2014 Mining company Rio Tinto has extended the tenure of its chief executive Sam Walsh and chief financial officer Chris Lynch, the firm announced yesterday. Walsh, whose contract was due to end on 31 December 2015, with a break clause from 31 October 2014, and Lynch, whose contract was due to end on 28 February 2017, [...]
The name’s bond …retail bond as Bollywood’s Eros goes for cash September 25, 2014 Bollywood film company Eros International yesterday announced plans to tap the retail bond market, the first media company to use the burgeoning asset type to raise cash. Eros, which makes about 70 films a year and has a library of a back catalogue of about 2,300 films, will raise the cash through a seven-year bond [...]