Friday, September 4, 2009

Newspaper Watcher Alert (UK)

Friday newspaper round-up: Darling to bar rivals from state-controlled banks

Banks will be barred from buying Northern Rock or the taxpayer’s stakes in Lloyds Banking Group and Royal Bank of Scotland if they have big existing operations in the UK, Alistair Darling has signalled.

The chancellor told a CBI dinner in Glasgow that as the government scales back and ultimately removes support in the banking sector, it would do so in a way “that proactively encourages new entrants,” reports the FT.

World leaders on Thursday set out the first steps toward withdrawing emergency support for the global economy even though they warned that the crisis was not over. The US, UK, France and Germany called for work to start “on exit strategies to be implemented in a co-ordinated manner as soon as the crisis is over”. Tim Geithner, US Treasury secretary, said finance ministers should start to spell out how the “very successful policy response” to the economic crisis could be reversed, the FT reports.

Gordon Brown has joined forces with France and Germany to call on G20 leaders to impose a tough and "concrete" clampdown on bank bonuses when they meet in Pittsburgh at the end of the month. In a letter to Frederik Reinfeldt, the EU president, signed by the Prime Minister, the French President Nicolas Sarkozy, and the German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the leaders outline a set of measures which they would like to be agreed to stamp out "reprehensible practices" within the global banking system, the Telegraph reports.

Lord Turner's call for a Tobin tax is "irrelevant" and his recent outburst on investment banks' pay and bonuses are the "wrong issues", according to Richard Lambert, director-general of the CBI. Lambert used his speech at the CBI's annual dinner in the north-east of England last night to urge the chairman of the Financial Services Authority to concentrate instead on the "real" problems facing business such as credit lines and bank competition, the Telegraph reports.


Today's Headlines

Bovis Homes Group (BVS) | Price: 497.00p | Change: -2.26%Price Down | P/E: n/a | Div Yield: 1.0% Profile Prices News Charts Financials Broker Views

Bovis share offering to fund land buying
The Scotsman | 04-Sep-2009

BowLeven (BLVN) | Price: 84.25p | Change: -1.18%Price Down | P/E: n/a | Div Yield: 0.0% Profile Prices News Charts Financials Broker Views

Bowleven dips as well drilling is postponed
The Scotsman | 04-Sep-2009

Bowleven planning to start African drilling work next year
The Herald | 04-Sep-2009

British Airways (BAY) | Price: 184.10p | Change: 1.38%Price Up | P/E: n/a | Div Yield: 0.0% Profile Prices News Charts Financials Broker Views

Strike looms in BA job axe row
Sun | 04-Sep-2009

Diageo (DGE) | Price: 953.00p | Change: -1.60%Price Down | P/E: 14.3 | Div Yield: 3.8% Profile Prices News Charts Financials Broker Views

Pernod Ricard to focus on reducing debt
Telegraph | 04-Sep-2009

Go-Ahead Group (GOG) | Price: 1,363.00p | Change: 5.22%Price Up | P/E: 9.0 | Div Yield: 5.9% Profile Prices News Charts Financials Broker Views

A blow for 'Go'
Sun | 04-Sep-2009

Aviation gloom hurts Go-Ahead
The Scotsman | 04-Sep-2009

Go-Ahead warns of little growth until 2011
The Independent | 04-Sep-2009

HMV Group (HMV) | Price: 111.40p | Change: -2.79%Price Down | P/E: 10.0 | Div Yield: 6.6% Profile Prices News Charts Financials Broker Views

Game over
Sun | 04-Sep-2009

HMV buys half of 7digital to drive online expansion
The Independent | 04-Sep-2009

HMV doing well, thanks to demise of rivals
The Scotsman | 04-Sep-2009

Hays (HAS) | Price: 98.30p | Change: -1.75%Price Down | P/E: 12.7 | Div Yield: 5.9% Profile Prices News Charts Financials Broker Views

Boost as UK jobs 'stabilise'
Sun | 04-Sep-2009

Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) | Price: 342.30p | Change: 0.53%Price Up | P/E: 12.2 | Div Yield: 5.2% Profile Prices News Charts Financials Broker Views

Game over
Sun | 04-Sep-2009

Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) | Price: 55.00p | Change: 3.19%Price Up | P/E: n/a | Div Yield: 0.0% Profile Prices News Charts Financials Broker Views

RBS and Lloyds set to take stakes with property companies in repossessed sites
Times | 04-Sep-2009

RBS and Lloyds take Irish property hit
The Scotsman | 04-Sep-2009

Wincanton (WIN) | Price: 222.00p | Change: 2.91%Price Up | P/E: 9.0 | Div Yield: 6.7% Profile Prices News Charts Financials Broker Views

Game over
Sun | 04-Sep-2009

easyJet (EZJ) | Price: 315.30p | Change: 0.10%Price Up | P/E: 14.3 | Div Yield: 0.0% Profile Prices News Charts Financials Broker Views

Hundreds of jobs at risk as easyJet cuts flights
Times | 04-Sep-2009

Jobs threat as easyJet cuts 360 flights a week
The Independent | 04-Sep-2009

easyJet to close base and cut flights after Air Passenger Duty row
Telegraph | 04-Sep-2009
Posted by suprastock at 9/04/2009 10:37:00 AM 0 comments

Tips Watcher Alert (UK) LONDON

Friday tips round-up: Hays, BP, McBride

Recruiter Hays deserves credit for getting rid of its debt but the news that will be met with a cheer from everyone is that it can see light at the end of the unemployment tunnel.

The shares will tick up as the economy improves, but concerns on the dividend remain and for that reason hold says the Independent.

Shares in Hays have gained more than a third this year. While some lingering doubt remains over next year’s dividend and the outlook for recruitment firms remains determinedly fragile, investors with a longer-term time frame may wish to tuck away some Hays shares before an eventual recovery, adds the Times.

Own-label products are gradually shaking off their dowdy image and McBride is benefiting. Consumers are also becoming less blindly loyal to brands than they once were, which should also benefit the company in the long term. McBride is trading at about 10.4 times forward earnings and, with 15% earnings growth predicted for next year, now looks like a good time to buy says the Times.

Utility outsourcing group Spice is a well-run company and the stock has rebounded well after taking a bit of a thump earlier in the year. Yesterday's trading update said that everything was in line despite a challenging economic climate. Hold for now says the Independent.



Today's Headlines

BP (BP.) | Price: 536.45p | Change: -0.96%Price Down | P/E: 7.8 | Div Yield: 6.3% Profile Prices News Charts Financials Broker Views

Questor:BP
Telegraph | 04-Sep-2009

HMV Group (HMV) | Price: 111.40p | Change: -2.79%Price Down | P/E: 10.0 | Div Yield: 6.6% Profile Prices News Charts Financials Broker Views

Tempus:HMV
Times | 04-Sep-2009

Hays (HAS) | Price: 98.30p | Change: -1.75%Price Down | P/E: 12.7 | Div Yield: 5.9% Profile Prices News Charts Financials Broker Views

Investment Column:Hays
The Independent | 04-Sep-2009

Mcbride (MCB) | Price: 161.00p | Change: 3.69%Price Up | P/E: 12.4 | Div Yield: 3.8% Profile Prices News Charts Financials Broker Views

Tempus:McBride
Times | 04-Sep-2009

Melrose (MRO) | Price: 154.30p | Change: 1.51%Price Up | P/E: 9.2 | Div Yield: 4.5% Profile Prices News Charts Financials Broker Views

Questor:Melrose
Telegraph | 04-Sep-2009

Playtech (PTEC) | Price: 346.75p | Change: 4.51%Price Up | P/E: 11.5 | Div Yield: 3.8% Profile Prices News Charts Financials Broker Views

Investment Column:Playtech
The Independent | 04-Sep-2009

Spice (SPI) | Price: 71.25p | Change: 0.71%Price Up | P/E: 9.4 | Div Yield: 2.1% Profile Prices News Charts Financials Broker Views

Investment Column:Spice
The Independent | 04-Sep-2009
Posted by suprastock at 9/04/2009 10:34:00 AM 0 comments

LONDON Market Open Report

London open: Miners send Footsie higher

Last night’s gains on Wall Street have given London a lift early on with a renewed surge by the miners adding to the momentum.

This afternoon’s monthly non-farm payrolls will be key for direction later on as wil the G20 meetings and possible tightening of the purse strings, but for now the mood is upbeat.

Miners have followed up yesterday's gains with more rises today. Kazakhmys, Lonmin and Xstrata are the best performers as gold continues to threaten the $1,000 per ounce level.

Housebuilders are going on well on reports Lloyds is about to step in and support Gladedale with a debt-for-equity swap. Gladedale is one of the UK's largest private housebuilders, with 2,000 annual home sales and Ł1bn of debts. Barratt, Redrow and Persimmon are all higher on this latest boost to confidence in the sector.

RBS and Lloyds Banking are also ready to take equity stakes worth millions of pounds in joint ventures with other property companies on repossessed development projects, reports today suggested.

Wellstream, pipeline products maker for the oil and gas industry, is to offload its onshore Flexsteel business. Prime Natural Resources is paying $30m in cash for the business. Wellstream said that although Flexsteel is ‘enjoying rapid market acceptance and is positioned for growth’, it is a peripheral part of the company’s business.

A bumper summer in Continental Europe has convinced fruit supplier Fyffes to raise its full year earnings target, although selling prices must rise to offset higher costs and unfavourable exchange rates. Fyffes now predicts earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) for 2009 will be between €18m and €22m, more than the €16m-€20m it forecast back in June.
Posted by suprastock at 9/04/2009 10:31:00 AM 0 comments

Asia Market Report

Asia: Mixed end to poor week

Asian markets were mixed, with the Japanese market retreating while Hong Kong stocks were firmer on balance.

Japanese stocks eased back after capital spending by Japanese businesses fell for the ninth quarter in succession in the three months to end-June.

Investment house Daiwa tumbled after its banking partner Sumitomo Mitsui Financial divulged that the two companies are in tlks aimed at dissolving their partnership.

Silicon wafer maker Sumco crumbled after a newspaper report that it is cutting back production capacity.

On the bright side camera and printer maker Canon climbed after reasonable August sales figures from some US retailers.

The Nikkei 225 fell 27 points to 10,187.

In Hong Kong holding company China Resources Enterprise, which operates in many sectors including retailing and ports, was a stand-out after JP Morgan and Nomura Holdings both upgraded the stock. JP Morgan lifted its rating from ‘neutral’ to ‘overweight’ and Nomura upgraded the stock to ‘buy’.

Banking shares were wanted after China’s banking regulator watered down draft proposals on lenders’ capital bases. Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and China Construction Bank led the sector higher.

Property shares were also in fashion with China Vanke sharply higher after reporting improved year on year sales in August.

The Hang Seng index rose 556 points to breach the 20,000 level. It ended the week lower than it started it, however, at 20,318.
Posted by suprastock at 9/04/2009 10:28:00 AM 0 comments
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