Gulfsands buys into Morocco December 19, 2012 Junior stock market-listed Gulfsands Petroleum has acquired a Moroccan oil explorer for around $30m (£18m). Cabre Maroc, acquired from Caitness Petroleum Limited, operates several “highly prospective” oil and gas licences in North Morocco. Completion of Gulfsands Petroleum’s acquisition is due to complete in January, and development and exploration activity will start next year. RBC Capital [...]
Jefferies finishes 2012 on a high, but it is tough out there December 17, 2012 There’s been anything but a gradual winding down towards the Christmas break for many of those who ply their trade at the London offices of Jefferies. Whilst for many rivals Christmas is truly coming early, with some executives already off for a touch of winter sun, many of the Jefferies teams are still much in [...]
Man needs more than a new head to spark Roman revival December 10, 2012 WHEN he looks back over his five years as chief executive of Man Group, Peter Clarke will probably want to focus solely on his first 18 months in charge. Stepping up from finance chief in early 2007 to lead the hedge fund that he had joined in 1993, Clarke must have thought he had an [...]
Why does Paragon want to buy Hampshire trust? December 3, 2012 PETER LENARDOS RBC CAPITAL MARKETS They could want the banking licence to offer term deposits to fund their consumer finance business. This would diversify Paragon’s sources of funding and make it less reliant on the wholesale funding markets. However, there would be a duration mismatch. GARY GREENWOOD SHORE CAPITAL I would expect the platform to [...]
Invensys ascent continues after Siemens deal November 29, 2012 SHARES in technology firm Invensys continued to climb yesterday, as investors reacted to news it had offloaded its rail division to Germany’s Siemens for £1.7bn. After rising more than 20 per cent in late trading on Wednesday afternoon, when the deal was announced, shares in Invensys gained another nine per cent yesterday, closing at 305.8p [...]
Sir John Ritblat latest to launch a retail bond November 27, 2012 SCHOOLS provider Alpha Plus, chaired by property grandee Sir John Ritblat, yesterday became the latest company to tap the retail bond market to help raise £40m and pay down shareholder debt. The group, owned by Delancey’s DV4 fund, announced plans to launch a seven-year retail bond paying 5.75 per cent and secured against part of [...]
What is your opinion on SABMiller going forward? November 22, 2012 EDDY HARGREAVES | CANACCORD GENUITY Our expectations were originally lowered due to weaker currencies and to an increased concern about European trading. However, Europe is not quite as bad as we feared and an improved performance in Russia looks positive. We believe the shares lack a catalyst, so we remain at ‘hold’. JAMES EDWARD JONES [...]
Best of the Brokers November 21, 2012 DIRECT LINE RBC has an “outperform” rating on the newly-listed insurer with a price target of 230p. The broker sees Direct Line as well placed to use its scale to fend off price comparison sites. BRITISH LAND Morgan Stanley has upgraded the property firm’s rating to “overweight” and hiked its target from 540p to 570p. [...]
Best of the Brokers November 19, 2012 AVEVA Panmure has cut its target price on the software group to 1838p from 1948p and kept its “hold” rating, after last week’s interim results caused the broker to trim its expectations slightly. BLINKX After last week’s strong interim results from the video streaming firm, Canaccord Genuity has a “buy” rating and target price of [...]
Best of the Brokers November 19, 2012 AVEVA Panmure has cut its target price on the software group to 1838p from 1948p and kept its “hold” rating, after last week’s interim results caused the broker to trim its expectations slightly. BLINKX After last week’s strong interim results from the video streaming firm, Canaccord Genuity has a “buy” rating and target price of [...]