Best of the Brokers for 18 November 2015 November 18, 2015 To appear in Best of the Brokers, email your research to notes@cityam.com STANDARD CHARTERED Jefferies believes the $17bn revenues implied in Standard Chartered’s 2018 returns on an equity target of eight per cent will be “tough to achieve”, given the ongoing pressure at the bank. Five per cent returns would be more achievable in 2018 [...]
The top 20 companies Brits want to work for – Google, Apple, John Lewis, and Asos top LinkedIn’s most in demand employers list October 22, 2015 People are scrambling to work at tech behemoth Google more than any other company in the UK, while high-street favourite John Lewis is the British company people most want to work for, according to figures published today. Google, famous for fun offices and free food among many perks, has topped LinkedIn's annual ranking of the most in demand employers [...]
FTSE 100 trading marginally up on Whitbread and InterContinental Hotels Group results October 20, 2015 The FTSE 100 is swinging between minor gains and falls this morning as Whitbread and InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) lead the pack, gaining 2.22 per cent and 3.72 per cent respectively at 9:00. Investors liked Whitbread's first half results, in which the company reported a pre-tax profit of £291.3m, up 13 per cent on the same period last year. [...]
Asos share price rises as sales smash through £1bn barrier October 20, 2015 The figures Group revenue rose 18 per cent to £1.15bn in the year to 31 August 2015, from £975.5m in 2014. This was helped by retail sales, which increased 17 per cent, from £955.3m to £1.12bn during this period. Pre-tax profit rose one per cent to £47.5m despite Asos investing in proposition, warehousing and people capabilities. These costs were partially offset by insurance proceeds [...]
Judge P2P firms on whether they’re profitable – not just on how much money they’ve lent October 19, 2015 Three years ago this week, the veteran venture capitalist Robin Klein made the case in these pages for greater support for UK high growth technology companies in their push into mainstream London capital markets. Over time, confidence grew and several good firms were helped onto the public markets through the London Stock Exchange’s High Growth [...]
Retail website StreetHub reveals $2.6m funding round led by Octopus Ventures October 19, 2015 StreetHub, a network of independent retailers, has announced a $2.6m (£1.7m) funding round, led by Octopus Ventures. The group also received investments from Index Ventures, which has stakes in online retailers Asos, Farfetch and Net-a-Porter, among others, as well as a number of other angel investors. The new funding round coincides with the launch of [...]
Public finance numbers could be back on track – London Report October 18, 2015 THE LATEST public finance figures, due out on Wednesday, are expected to have seen renewed year-on-year improvement in September after a particularly disappointing August. An improved September performance would help get the public finances back on track to reach George Osborne’s targets after taking a hit the previous month. Economists expect public sector net borrowing [...]
Best of the Brokers for 16 October 2015 October 16, 2015 To appear in Best of the Brokers, email your research to notes@cityam.com ASOS ASOS is still “overweight”, according to Barclays, but the broker says that while investor confidence remains low, thanks to under-performing the FTSE 250, it believes shares can “materially outperform” as sales accelerate on price investments, margins are unlikely to fall below four [...]
Aim awards 2015: Junior market reaches fever pitch at the London Stock Exchange October 9, 2015 Awards season is officially in full swing, and the team behind Aim at the London Stock Exchange sure know how to party. About 1,300 guests from Aim-listed companies, as well as brokers, bankers, analysts, corporate advisers and fund managers descended on Old Billingsgate to celebrate the secondary index’s 20th award ceremony, sponsored by PwC. Fancy [...]
Boris Johnson: £35m cost to host 2017 Tour de France in London better spent elsewhere September 29, 2015 Mayor of London Boris Johnson has taken responsibility for the capital's decision not to host the start of the 2017 Tour de France, arguing that it would be too expensive. Read more: London pulls out of hosting Tour de France Grand Départ in 2017 London had trumped competition from Manchester and cities in Germany to win [...]