Analyst Views: What did you make of SSE’s price freeze and business plan? March 26, 2014 PETER ATHERTON | LIBERUM SSE are battening down the hatches. The price freeze won’t cost them that much; the big variable is wholesale power prices that could eat into earnings. ANGELOS ANASTASIOU | WHITMAN HOWARD The price freeze will lock SSE into lower returns, but by being proactive the firm has reduced the fear of political interference [...]
Analyst Views: What is your view of Centamin following yesterday’s results? March 24, 2014 JONATHAN GUY | RBC CAPITAL MARKETSCentamin’s scale of resource and production, in conjunction with a diverse shareholder base, could make it one of the more credible acquisition targets among the gold miners. [But] any bid for the company is unlikely to materialise whilst the political situation in Egypt remains challenging. CAILEY BARKER | NUMISFull-year results [...]
Annuity market to collapse by £8bn because of rule switch March 20, 2014 SAVERS fleeing the pension annuity market will cause it to collapse by two-thirds over the next 18 months, analysts predict, as the fallout from the Budget continued to hit markets. Barclays analysts said the annuity market could shrink from £12bn a year to just £4bn by September 2015, due to changes announced in the Budget, [...]
Budget 2014: What to watch out for today March 18, 2014 WHO: GEORGE OSBORNEWHEN: 12.30PM TODAYWHERE: HOUSE OF COMMONS WHAT WE ALREADY KNOWA facelift for the pound coinOsborne will announce plans to give the £1 coin a facelift in his Budget today. This will see a new two-coloured 12-sided coin introduced in 2017 after a consultation. Help to buy extended to 2020The equity loan scheme set up to [...]
Best of the Brokers for 19 March 2014 March 18, 2014 To appear in Best of the Brokers, email your research to notes@cityam.com CARNIVAL UBS keeps its “buy” rating on the cruise operator and raises its target from £25 to £26. The broker expects Carnival to post a $0.09 loss per share in its quarterly results next week, but believes the firm’s Costa ships will ride [...]
London Report: Shares lifted by Putin’s speech despite tension March 18, 2014 THE UK’S top share index rose yesterday as stock markets rebounded after a speech by Russian President Vladimir Putin on Ukraine, which some traders interpreted as being less aggressive in tone than had been expected. The blue-chip FTSE 100 index closed up 0.6 per cent, or 36.93 points, at 6,605.28 points – marking only the [...]
Wishes and predictions for Osborne’s budget March 17, 2014 Business and accountancy advisers BDO has drawn up a wishlist for neglected middle-market firms, looking for a tax allowance for spending on factories and a reduction in employers’ national insurance for manufacturers. BDO also believes that the chancellor could reform business rates in a revenue neutral fashion and announce a fresh review. BDO say that [...]
Caracal unveils £1.08bn merger with TransGlobe March 17, 2014 AFRICA-FOCUSED oil explorers Caracal Energy and TransGlobe yesterday said they have agreed to a $1.8bn (£1.08bn) merger, which will create the third largest independent oil producer in Africa. The deal will expand FTSE-listed Caracal’s reach beyond Chad into Yemen and Egypt and add a lower-risk drilling programme to its portfolio. The newly merged company will [...]
African Barrick Gold dives on 10pc stake sale March 11, 2014 AFRICAN Barrick Gold (ABG)’s shares tumbled almost 19 per cent in London trading yesterday, after its parent company Barrick Gold sold off 10 per cent of the struggling miner’s stock. Canada’s Barrick Gold raised £113m by selling 41m shares in its FTSE 250-quoted subsidiary, bringing its interest down to around 64 per cent. “ABG has [...]
Seplat plans London and Lagos float to fund acquisition drive March 11, 2014 NIGERIAN oil and gas explorer Seplat yesterday said it is planning to float on the Nigerian and London stock exchanges to raise $500m (£301m). The company, which is one of the largest indigenous independent oil and gas operators in Nigeria, plans to use part of the proceeds to buy up more oil and gas assets [...]