The American consumer grew a bit more confidence in October, the results of the most closely followed gauge for confidence across the country revealed. A preliminary reading for the University of Michigan‘s consumer confidence index in October improved to a reading of 81.2 after printing at 80.4 in September. Economists …
Read More »Broker tips: Whitbread, JD Sports, Dixons Carphone
Analysts at Berenberg upgraded their rating on hotel operator Whitbread from ‘hold’ to ‘buy’ on Friday, stating the current price of the stock left the group undervalued given its real estate portfolio. Berenberg said that following Whitbread’s recent weakness, it believes that the risk-reward balance on the company had shifted …
Read More »BoE’s Bailey warns of downside risks to UK
The Governor of the Bank of England said risks to Britain’s economy were “very much on the downside” and that the BoE was ready to take aggressive action to limit the impact of a resurgence in coronavirus cases. “There is an unprecedented level of uncertainty at the moment. And the …
Read More »Tekcapital portfolio firm Salarius signs US distribution deal
Intellectual property investment company Tekcapital announced on Wednesday that its portfolio company Salarius has signed a distribution agreement with Gehring-Montgomery, a United States ingredient distributor, in a bid to expand business-to-business sales of ‘MicroSalt’ across the US. The AIM-traded firm described Gehring-Montgomery as a “leading distributor” of food and raw …
Read More »FTSE 250 movers: Energean gushes higher; TUI travels lower
Oil and gas exploration company Energean was the top gainer on the index after securing two new gas sale agreements for its flagship Karish project off Israel. Berenberg said: “This is a clear positive for Energean, which delivers on expectations firmly set at the interim results last week. It is …
Read More »Director dealings: Sirius Real Estate CEO sells shares
Sirius Real Estate revealed on Wednesday that chief executive Andrew Coombs had disposed of 719,166 ordinary shares in the FTSE 250-listed property company. Coombs, who joined Sirius in 2010, sold the shares on Tuesday at an average price of 74.99p each, for a total value of £539,281.01. Back in June, …
Read More »FTSE 250 movers: G4S surges on bid; Wetherspoons retreats
Shares of security services firm G4S surged after privately-owned Canadian rival GardaWorld announced a hostile 190p per share possible offer valuing the company at £2.96bn. The offer price is 30% premium to Friday’s closing share price and an 86% premium to the price prior to its first approach in June. …
Read More »Royal Mail rallies after JPMorgan upgrade
Royal Mail shares rallied on Friday after JPMorgan Cazenove upgraded its rating to ‘neutral’ from ‘underweight’. It said that while the UK turnaround is far from certain, stronger short-run trading has at least bought some time, and should prevent a build-up of net debt. “The CWU negotiations appear to be …
Read More »Liberum hikes target price on Team17
Analysts at Liberum raised their target price on video games developer Team17 from 500.0p to 750.0p on Friday, stating the firm was “moving up”. Liberum said Team17 had, unsurprisingly, enjoyed some “very strong” first-half trading, which drove major upgrades to its earnings forecasts and target price. “We had already expected …
Read More »Broker tips: Rolls-Royce, Travis Perkins, Avast, Royal Mail
Analysts at Berenberg slashed their target price on aerospace and defence manufacturer Rolls-Royce from 890.0p to 270.0p on Friday but upped their rating on the firm from ‘hold’ to ‘buy’, stating nothing was priced in for a turnaround. Berenberg said the market appears to have given up on Rolls-Royce, with …
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