Wednesday broker round-up - UPDATE
11th Jan 2012 08:56
Unilever: Bank of America Merrill Lynch downgrades to underweight from neutral. Aggreko: Credit Suisse downgrades to neutral from outperform. Capita: Citi upgrades to buy from neutral. Reckitt Benckiser: Morgan Stanley upgrades to overweight from neutral. Rentokil: RBC upgrades to top-pick fr
Read moreFriday tips round-up: Hansteen and Spirent
23rd Dec 2011 06:53
The Times's Tempus column looks at property investment firm Hansteen which yesterday announced a £150m deal to buy the assets of a (possibly) distressed industrial property company. Tempus does a good job of explaining the rather complicated holding structure for Hansteen's purchase but the essence
Read moreTuesday broker round-up - UPDATE
20th Dec 2011 09:34
SABMiller: Nomura reiterates buy recommendation and 2,500p target. British Polythene Industries: Investec reiterates buy rating and 400p target. Renewable Energy Generation: Evolution Securities keeps buy stance and 90p target. Geong International: Evolution Securities maintains buy and 50p targe
Read moreTuesday broker round-up - UPDATE
13th Dec 2011 09:54
Amec: Citi upgrades to buy from sell. Royal Dutch Shell: Citi downgrades to neutral from buy. Petrofac: Investec reiterates buy, 1,705p target under review. Petrofac: Evolution Securities reiterates add and 1,700p target. Whitbread: Evolution Securities keeps buy rating and 1,800p target. Whitb
Read moreBuyBuy for TalkTalk non-exec
21st Nov 2011 12:27
A non-executive director of both broadband provider TalkTalk and mobile phone seller Carphone Warehouse has made a double purchase, phoning in orders for shares in both firms. John Allwood bought 10,000 shares at 134.80p for a total of £13,480 in TalkTalk, and 3,500 shares at 311.00p in Carphone Wa
Read moreFTSE 250 movers: C&W Comms jumps after first half results
3rd Nov 2011 16:25
Telecoms group Cable & Wireless Communications soared higher on Thursday after reporting a 24% rise in half-year revenue and signs of "stablisation" in the all-important Caribbean division. Waste management firm Shanks jumped as it delivered a 20% increase in underlying half-year profit, upped its
Read moreSpirent Comms on track to meet expectations
3rd Nov 2011 15:08
Communications technology firm Spirent said profits increased by 7% to $31.1m in the three months to the start of November. Revenue grew by 6% to $130.2m, with basic earnings per share rising 11% to 3.23 cents. Spirent said it was on track to meet full year expectations. The firm said it had seen
Read moreFirst broker round-up of the morning: BT, Cairn, Spirent, Aurelian
19th Sep 2011 10:15
BT Group: RBS retains Buy rating, but trims target price to 210p. Cairn Energy: Alpha Value upgrades to Buy from Add. Rolls Royce: Citi reiterates Buy rating and 730p target, adding that, "Rolls Royce remains our Most Preferred stock in CIRA's Best Ideas database." Dairy Crest: Panmure Gordon
Read moreSpirent foresees slowdown in rapid growth
4th Aug 2011 07:21
Pre-tax profit for the communications technology company Spirent Communications rose 14% to $55.8m (£34.2m)for the six months ended 3 July 2011. The company also boasted growth across all lines of business with revenue up 15% to $260.4m (£159m) and order intake up 10% with a book to bill ratio of
Read moreSector movers: Vodafone lifts telecoms sector
17th May 2011 16:00
Telecoms giant Vodafone is edging higher on the Footsie, helping gains in the mobile telecommunications sector. Strong growth in the emerging markets and the increasing popularity of smartphones helped Vodafone post higher revenues and profits in the year to 31 March. Meanwhile, the technology har
Read moreThursday tips round-up: Sage, Rightmove, BBA
5th May 2011 06:28
Sage makes software for small and medium-sized enterprises, allowing them to keep track of the books. Revenues fell by 5% the year before last and were pretty well flat last year, although they began to pick up in the second half. The shares are on almost 15 times' this year's earnings, hard to just
Read moreSpirent wilts
4th May 2011 15:15
Results from telecoms testing group Spirent Communications came in shy of market forecasts, prompting a sharp decline in the company share price. During the first quarter of 2011 revenue rose 14% from a year earlier to $122.8m, with reported operating profit up by 16%, to $23.7 million. Group ord
Read moreSector movers: Next props up the retailers
4th May 2011 14:22
Retailers are in demand on the back of some sentiment-lifting first quarter results from Next. Fashion retailer Next saw shares leap after a strong first quarter, which saw sales increase more than expected. Total sales for the period excluding VAT were up by 5.2% from the same period the previous
Read moreTechMARK movers: Ark valued at discount to NAV
9th Mar 2011 14:59
Drug developer Ark Therapeutics has fallen after announcing a £10.7m cash outflow from operations in 2010. Net cash has fallen to £7.07m, from £14.1m in June, which is £1m less than the market value of Ark. The cash does not include the money received for the sale of Ark's wound care business, whi
Read moreLondon close: Shares soar on Libya deal hopes
3rd Mar 2011 16:39
Reports that the Libyan situation might be resolved through mediation rather than violence sent UK shares sharply higher. The Arab League is said to be considering a proposal to end the fighting in Libya sending oil prices higher. Heavy oil users such as airline International Consolidated Airlines
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