Best of the Brokers for 10 January 2014 January 9, 2014 WILLIAM HILL Barclays has cut William Hill from overweight to equalweight with a lower target of 420p. The broker thinks gambling firms will be hit by calls to crack down on gaming machines, but notes that William Hill makes 26 per cent of its earnings this way, compared to 43 per cent at Ladbrokes. TULLOW [...]
The Long View: Stop speaking like a corporate robot – for the sake of capitalism itself January 9, 2014 HERE’S a new year’s resolution for business: learn to speak human. The state of business language as a whole remains an abiding scandal. HSBC’s coinage of “demising” as a euphemism for “sacking” led last year’s pack, but corporate statements that resemble something delivered by an alien with a glitchy translator are hardly rare. I’ve written [...]
Analyst Views: What was your reaction to Sainsbury’s third quarter statement? January 8, 2014 GRAHAM JONES | PANMURE GORDONA very difficult October and November was made up by strong Christmas trading..we continue to view Sainsbury’s as the best placed of the UK food retailers, but our caution on the short-term sector outlook holds us back from having a more positive recommendation on the stock. JAMES GRZINIC | JEFFERIESKantar data [...]
HSBC plans share payments in response to Brussels’ bonus cap January 7, 2014 TOP STAFF at HSBC will receive quarterly payments of shares as part of their salaries, it emerged yesterday, as part of a plan to pay employees within the EU’s new bonus cap. The bank wants to pay some employees mainly in bonuses so it can vary pay easily depending on performance and can claw back the [...]
European cable operator Altice announces $1bn share sale plan January 7, 2014 ALTICE, a multinational cable and telecoms provider, yesterday outlined its intention to float on NYSE Euronext in Amsterdam. The company’s executive chairman Patrick Drahi, as well as other members of the management team, will sell sufficient shares to leave the group with a free float of around 25 per cent. Currently Drahi and some other [...]
London Report: Investors take punt on banks to drive FTSE up January 7, 2014 THE UK’S blue chip share index rose to a one-week high yesterday, with gains in financial stocks pushing the FTSE 100 towards major technical resistance levels. Lloyds rallied three per cent, as investors bought the stock on expectations that the bank will start paying dividends this year and that it will benefit from a recovering [...]
Fears mount over China economy amid bank crackdown January 6, 2014 CHINA’S services sector is slowing down more quickly than expected, sparking new fears over the fate of the world’s second largest economy through 2014. Influential business surveys released yesterday showed growth slowing to its weakest pace in more than two years in December. HSBC and Markit’s purchasing managers’ index (PMI) came in at 50.9 in [...]
Slight slowdown for emerging markets as new year kicks off January 6, 2014 THE RATE of growth in some of the world’s major developing economies slowed slightly as 2013 came to an end, with services lagging behind. HSBC’s emerging markets index dropped to 51.6 in December, down from 52.1 in November, suggesting weak growth in the developing world. The economies of Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC) all posted a [...]
Bargain Booze owner appoints former Jessops boss as chairman January 6, 2014 CONVIVIALITY Retail, the company behind the off-licence chain Bargain Booze, said yesterday it has appointed the former boss of camera chain Jessops as its new chairman. David Adams, who is currently a non-executive director at Conviviality, will take over at the end of January, replacing Roger Pedder who will retire after eight years in the [...]
Fear of financial risk drives China into new regulatory clampdown January 6, 2014 China has begun clamping down on its shadow banking industry in an attempt to head off a potential financial crisis, sources told Reuters. The new regulations issued by the State Council will strengthen rules governing off-balance sheet lending. The Peoples Bank of China will attempt to develop new methods to oversee the shadow banking sector [...]