London open City sources predict FTSE 100 will open up 1 point from previous close of 5,320.
Stocks to Watch
Royal Dutch Shell has trumped forecasts by almost doubling earnings in the second quarter, in stark contrast to loss-making rival BP, and has exceeded targets set last year for costs and staff cuts. Earnings on a current cost of supplies (CCS) basis came in at $4.5bn, up from $2.3bn a year ago. Analysts had expected somewhere around the $4bn mark.
Defence firm BAE Systems continues to expect revenue growth in 2010 despite the threat of cutbacks in government spending. The company saw sales grow 9% in the first half of 2010 to Ł10,643m from Ł9,747m the year before. On a like-for-like (LFL) basis, sales increased by 7%. Underlying earnings before interest, tax and amortisation improved 14% to Ł1,114m from Ł978m a year earlier.
Pay TV and internet service provider British Sky Broadcasting posted slightly better than expected full-year figures but warned that the economic outlook remains uncertain. Underlying operating profits were up by 10% in the 12 months ended 30 June to Ł855m, while revenue rose to Ł5,912m from Ł5,359m.
In the Press
BP has fired the starting gun on a $30 billion fire sale, holding talks with TNK-BP, its Russian joint venture, about the sale of a $1 billion package of oil projects in Venezuela, the Times has learnt. The talks, part of a programme of disposals designed to shore up BP’s finances in the wake of the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster, are understood to revolve around BP’s minority stakes in two exploration and production joint ventures in Venezuela with Petroleos de Venezuela, the South American nation’s state-owned oil producer.
Russia is aiming to raise up to $29bn (€22.3bn) through asset sales on the open market over the next three years in the biggest privatisation programme since the chaotic asset sales of the 1990s, according to the FT.
European banks have amassed €30 trillion in liabilities and face a serious funding threat over the next two years as authorities withdraw emergency support, according to a new report by Standard & Poor's, writes the Telegraph.
Newspaper Tips
BP unveiled a $32.2bn (Ł20.7bn) charge related to the oil spill on Tuesday. This is not a full and final figure for the costs involved in the catastrophe, but a rough assessment. The Telegraph feels that a hold rating on the shares is appropriate. If you want to put new money into the sector and generate income, buy Royal Dutch Shell.
BG shares have underperformed over the past 18 months, held back by the low gas price. Analysts have them on about 14 times’ this year’s earnings and on a 25 per cent discount to net assets. Hold, tuck away on further weakness, says the Times.
There is an opportunity for profiting from Sage: as the market recovers as the group has lagged its peers since the last quarter of 2009. Jefferies puts its price at just 12.9 times forecast full-year earnings, a 40 per cent discount to rivals. Take the hint. Buy, says the Independent.
US close
US stocks slipped lower after an unexpected drop in June durable goods orders.
Orders for durable goods fell 1% in June after a revised 0.8% drop in May and versus expectations of a 1% gain. However, that is mainly down to aircraft orders. Orders for capital equipment, excluding aircraft, were higher. That suggests that companies are more confident about investing for the future.
Elsewhere, Boeing, the world’s second biggest aircraft-maker, posted a forecast-beating quarterly profit and reaffirmed its 2010 outlook.
Sprint Nextel gained subscribers in its second quarter, for the first time in three years, while losses came in lower than feared.
ConocoPhillips reported a surge in profit in its latest quarter to $4.16bn from $982m last time as oil prices increased.
(Source:Digitallook)
No comments:
Post a Comment