Editor's Picks
London open: Admiral drags Footsie into the red
Wednesday 24 Aug 2011
Early gains proved short-lived as the blue chip index in London fell into the red by 08.32, dragged lower by Admiral and the miners, who were registering losses on the back of falling metals prices. Admiral was the worst performer on the FTSE 100, losing over 5% after despite pre-tax profits growing by 27%. However, according to a Thomson Reuters poll, the result was a slight miss though.
London open: Admiral drags Footsie into the red
Wednesday 24 Aug 2011
Early gains proved short-lived as the blue chip index in London fell into the red by 08.32, dragged lower by Admiral and the miners, who were registering losses on the back of falling metals prices.
Tullow Oil's results soar, but production forecasts cut
Wednesday 24 Aug 2011
Africa-focused oil giant Tullow Oil reported a huge surge in sales and profits in the six months ended 30 June, helped by increased production from the Jubilee field off Ghana and higher commodity prices.
Upbeat BHP Billiton cranks up the divi
Wednesday 24 Aug 2011
Cash is pouring in at mining giant BHP Billiton, prompting the company to whack its final dividend up by 22%.
Tullow Oil's results soar, but production forecasts cut
Wednesday 24 Aug 2011
Africa-focused oil giant Tullow Oil reported a huge surge in sales and profits in the six months ended 30 June, helped by increased production from the Jubilee field off Ghana and higher commodity prices.
WH Smith Travel boss to retire
Wednesday 24 Aug 2011
WH Smith is to bid farewell to Simon Marinker, managing director of the Travel Retail arm of the business, at the end of the year.
WPP's profits jump 37%
Wednesday 24 Aug 2011
Advertising and marketing group WPP, led by chief executive Sir Martin Sorrell, said the "post-Lehman bounce-back" has continued as it posted pre-tax profit growth of 37% on sales that grew 6.1% in the six months to 30 June. The group has now "achieved levels of pro-forma revenues and profitability beyond 2008," the firm said.
London pre-open: Footsie bandwagon rolls on
Wednesday 24 Aug 2011
Encouraged by Wall Street's solid showing overnight, UK shares are set to continue their recent revival, with City traders predicting the top-share index will open at around 5,174, up 45 points from last night's close. Car insurer Admira> announced record half-year figures, with profit before tax 27% ahead of last year at £160.6m, while turnover rose 53% to £1.1bn.
Wednesday tips round-up: G4S, Segro, Spirax-Sarco
Wednesday 24 Aug 2011
G4S, which notched up a resilient performance during the recession, is growing steadily in most of its markets, and that is likely to continue, according to the Investment Column at the Independent. Just look at the UK: the FTSE 100-listed business has lost its contract to transport prisoners to and from British courts. But it has picked up plenty of new work to offset that. With a coalition
Wednesday newspaper round-up: Greek bailout, BofA, Pension funds...
Wednesday 24 Aug 2011
Jyrki Katainen, the Finnish prime minister, has threatened to withdraw support for the Greek bailout in a move that could crush the fragile signs of recovery on global markets. Mr Katainen said that if Finland's bilateral agreement with Greece over collateral payments was overruled, the Nordic country could back out of the rescue programme, writes the Telegraph.
US close: Stocks soar as weak data prompts stimulus speculation
Tuesday 23 Aug 2011
US stocks finished with good gains, perversely due to weak economic data stoking speculation that the Federal Reserve will take action to help kindle growth.
QE3 depends on conditions at each meeting, says Fed official
Tuesday 23 Aug 2011
St. Louis Federal Reserve president James Bullard said that the central bank will only intervene if the economy weakens or deflation returns, according to an interview with Nikkei.
London close: Late rally pulls Footsie into the blue
Tuesday 23 Aug 2011
After a strong start on Wall Street – which saw the three benchmark indices gain at least 1.1% each – the Footsie ended in positive territory, despite dipping into the red in the afternoon. However, gains were only modest as volatile trade continued. Security services provider G4S was the high riser of the day, after seeing its organic revenue growth accelerate in ...
Margins squeezed at Heinz
Tuesday 23 Aug 2011
US condiment and food products giant Heinz beat consensus earnings estimates in the first quarter, but reported a slight miss on margins on the back of soaring raw materials costs. Adjusted earnings per share (EPS) rose from 78 cents in the three months ended 27 July, ahead of the 75 cents reported last year and the 76 cents expected.
Broker tips: Micro Focus, Persimmon, H&T
Tuesday 23 Aug 2011
Following Monday’s announcement that signalled the end to bid talks at legacy software firm Micro Focus International, Swiss investment bank UBS has slashed its target price on the stock from 450p to 380p.
Chime shrugs off downturn and Arab turmoil
Tuesday 23 Aug 2011
Marketing and PR group Chime Communications was affected by weak global economic conditions and the turmoil in the Arab world in the half year to 30 June, but still managed to post a rise in profits.
Sector movers: Fresnillo, Antofagasta drag miners lower
Tuesday 23 Aug 2011
Despite rising early on, the mining sector was in the red on Tuesday afternoon, led by silver and gold miner Fresnillo.
US open: Stocks move higher
Tuesday 23 Aug 2011
US stocks have opened higher as speculation that the Federal Reserve will act to spur the economic recovery stokes excitement.
Mortgage figures suggest squeeze is still on
Tuesday 23 Aug 2011
There was a slight sign of an uplift in mortgage lending activity in July, though the total amount lent to home buyers by banks remained the same as in June. Figures from the British Banking Association (BBA) indicated gross mortgage lending in August was unchanged from June's level of £7.6 billion.
US pre-open: Stocks set for gains
Tuesday 23 Aug 2011
US stocks are expected to open higher amid hopes that the Federal Reserve will act to spur the economic recovery.
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