London open: Blue chips head lower
8th Dec 2010 08:57
London has opened lower as a bullish mood in the US following a two-year extension to tax cuts faded by the close last night. Smith & Nephew is the best performer by some distance, while Royal Dutch Shell is also higher after an upgrade to equal-weight from underweight from Morgan Stanley. The dea
Read moreLondon pre-open: Early retreat predicted
8th Dec 2010 07:40
A late sell-off on Wall Street is set to take London back below 5,800. Futures prices currently indicate a 40-point drop for the FTSE 100. The bullish mood in the US following a two-year extension to tax cuts faded by the close. Contractor and support services specialist Carillion expects good gro
Read moreCarillion expects progress despite 'tough' UK
8th Dec 2010 07:13
Contractor and support services specialist Carillion expects good growth in underlying profits this year despite tough market conditions in the UK. Profit growth should more than offset the effects of selling non-core businesses and stakes in Public Private Partnership (PPP) projects in 2009, which
Read moreMonday newspaper round-up: BHP Billiton, Ireland, eBay...
15th Nov 2010 06:23
BHP Billiton has abandoned its $39bn bid for Canadian fertilizer company Potash and agreed to return $4.2bn to shareholders through a previously suspended buyback programme. Announcing its decision to drop the takeover bid, Australian-based BHP had said that the concessions demanded by the Canadian
Read moreCarillion bags Oman contracts
5th Nov 2010 07:41
Carillion has won contracts worth more than £100m for construction work and facilities management in Oman. The support services and construction company said the largest of the three construction contracts its Carillion Alawi unit has won is for the Ministry of Transport and Communication, and enta
Read moreFriday tips round-up: Colt, William Hill, Go-Ahead...
22nd Oct 2010 06:50
Long-term watchers of Colt Group could be mistaken for thinking of the telecoms company as a perpetual restructuring machine. Over the past decade, and under various chief executives, the business has cut costs and restructured itself on numerous occasions in order to complete its transition to a
Read moreBroker tips: Mid-cap income plays, Carnival, Speedy Hire
8th Oct 2010 13:15
Broker Charles Stanley has run the microscope over constituents of the FTSE 250 index looking for key income buys and come up with five likely candidates. Though the broker was looking at stocks primarily for their attractive yields, it makes a good case for diving into the FTSE 250 for capital app
Read moreBroker snap: Key FTSE 250 income plays
8th Oct 2010 12:58
Broker Charles Stanley has run the microscope over constituents of the FTSE 250 index looking for key income buys and come up with five likely candidates. Though the broker was looking at stocks primarily for their attractive yields, it makes a good case for diving into the FTSE 250 for capital app
Read moreLondon close: Footsie closes on low note
7th Oct 2010 16:52
Footsie turned down in the afternoon session despite better than expected US jobs and retail sales figures. US shares did not respond to the economic data and by midday the Dow was showing strongly red. In Europe, interest rates were left on hold by both the Bank of England and European Central ba
Read moreLondon afternoon: BoNY-M stalking Man
7th Oct 2010 14:37
Better than expected US jobless figures have given the UK market a lift, with the Footsie now knocking on the door of 5700. Mining stocks are, by and large, still refusing the join the party. Copper miners Kazakhmys and Antofagasta lead the sector lower. Indian miner Vedanta is holding up though
Read moreLondon midday: Status quo maintained
7th Oct 2010 12:14
The Bank of England announcement on interest rate and quantitative easing (QE) policy was a non-event, with the Bank's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) electing to maintain the status quo. Leaving the base lending rate unchanged was no surprise but there was a slight possibility that QE would be res
Read morePublic sector penny pinching a boon for Carillion
7th Oct 2010 08:12
Construction and engineering group Carillion says it has its strongest ever pipeline of contract opportunities as Britain's public sector looks to cut back on costs by outsourcing work. Support services, the firm's largest division in terms of profits, continues to have good visibility. 'We have o
Read moreMARKET TALK: Deutsche Initiates Carillion At Buy
23rd Jul 2010 07:06
0606 GMT [Dow Jones] Deutsche Bank initiates Carillion (CLLN.LN) at buy with 393p target. Says in response to the UK Government's 30% cut to capital expenditure by the end of the current parliament, Carillion is phasing down its UK construction revenues by GBP600M over the next three years. Expects
Read moreUK MARKET TALK ROUNDUP: BROKERS COMMENTS
23rd Jul 2010 07:06
Broker comments in the UK today. Compiled by Dow Jones Newswires Markets Desk, [email protected] Contact us in London. +44-20-7842-9464 [email protected] 0606 GMT [Dow Jones] Deutsche Bank initiates Carillion (CLLN.LN) at buy with 393p target. Says in response to the UK Governm
Read moreThursday tips round-up: Carillion, Xstrata, Big Yellow
8th Jul 2010 06:17
Carillion has been working to shed its traditional image as a construction company and accelerated the shift towards support services. The strategy appears to be paying dividends, at least according to yesterday's trading update. While economic uncertainties remain a worry for almost any business yo
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