Welcome to our summary of the weekend's quality press tips, provided on Mondays by Weekend City Press Review.
PRESS TIPS:
The Times
■ Tempus: Martin Waller says Kingfisher (last IC view: Hold, 12 Sep 2012) looks high enough at 277p, especially if further updates show continuing weakness in France.
The long-term outlook for Brooks Macdonald (last IC view: Hold, 13 Sep 2012), £13, remains encouraging.
Blur, which runs websites allowing companies to trade services, looks 'interesting' but remains highly speculative at 142p.
Tate & Lyle's trading update on 1 February seems increasingly likely to be as positive as most analysts anticipate (last IC view: Hold, 16 Jan 2013).
The Independent
■ No Pain, No Gain: Derek Pain is encouraged by the upbeat trading statements so far this year from three of his key portfolio members): Booker (last IC view: Buy, 18 Oct 2012), Mears (last IC view: Buy, 23 Nov 2012) and Spirit Pub Company (last IC view: Buy, 16 Oct 2012).
The Sunday Times
■ Inside the City: Danny Fortson reports on market speculation that it might be time for oil industry veteran Aidan Heavey to step aside as Tullow Oil CEO as he may not be the best person to move the oil company on from exploration stage to primarily production (last IC view: Hold, 25 Jul 2012).
The Sunday Telegraph
■ Questor: Garry White says hold AstraZeneca, £31.56, ahead of Thursday's full-year results which are likely to show a slump in revenues and profits due to patent expiries. But no "major strategic shift" is expected (last IC view: Sell, 26 Oct 2012).
The Mail on Sunday
■ Midas: Joanne Hart reviews her 'Dogs of the Footsie' high-yield portfolio, with the only change this quarter being GlaxoSmithKline (last IC view: Hold, 25 Jul 2012) replacing Standard Life.
Business press headlines courtesy of Weekend City Press Review:
Net winner Twitter value hits $9bn
US investment company BlackRock is organising a $80m tender offer to a number of Twitter's early employees, valuing the business at more than $9bn. Twitter, which although facilitating the transaction will not raise capital for itself, is still expected to file for an IPO later this year or early in 2014. [Financial Times pp. 1, 15]
EasyJet's chairman quits after Stelios rows
EasyJet (last IC view: Sell, 20 Dec 2012) chairman Sir Michael Rake is to quit the budget airline in the summer after three years of "bruising battles" with Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou over expansion plans. Rake's decision to go has also been influenced by Easyjet's potential move back into the FTSE 100 index since he is also chairman of BT Group and corporate governance rules usually prohibit the same person being chair of two blue-chip companies. [Sunday Times p.3.1]
Crunch time for BlackBerry
BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion is this week launching two new mobile phones and an enhanced operating system in a last-ditch attempt to revive the brand, which has lost ground as a result of the popularity of Apple and Samsung smartphones. Analysts believe the BlackBerry relaunch is the "last throw of the dice" for the company. [Sunday Times p.3.2]
Barclays plots deal to raises billions
Barclays (last IC view: Sell, 5 Nov 2012) is reportedly planning a move "within weeks" to raise fresh capital on the bond markets to end uncertainty about its financial strength. The fundraising has been triggered by Bank of England concerns over the banking sector's capital position, with the Financial Services Authority due to report the findings of an investigation into the current position in early March. [Sunday Times p.3.3]
Americans cash in on £3bn Broadgate office deal
US private equity firm Blackstone is planning to sell its 50 per cent stake in the £3bn Broadgate development in the City, home to UBS, ICAP and lawyers Herbert Smith Freehills. Blackstone acquired the 50 per cent stake from British Land in 2009 for just £75m in a financial restructuring which enabled British Land to shift £2bn debt secured against Broadgate off its balance sheet. [Sunday Times p.3.1]
Bumi board hits back at Rothschild
Nat Rothschild's plans to oust the majority of the Bumi (last IC view: Hold, 11 Oct 2012) board as part of the latest manoeuvre in the escalating row with the Bakrie family could be hit by a countermove from Bumi CEO Nick von Shirnding. This would see a restructured board and the dropping of the Bumi name to make a clean break with the past. [Sunday Times p.3.1]
Carney to put growth top of list
Next Bank of England governor Mark Carney has signalled that he intends to make economic growth a key part of his remit in spite of the potential risk of higher inflation. Carney, speaking at the Davos World Economic Forum, said there were "tolerances" over the speed at which inflation could be reduced if the economy was struggling. Financial Services Authority chairman Lord Turner is also expected to echo Carney's view in a speech to the Cass Business School next month. [Sunday Telegraph p.B1]
Barclays brings in headhunter to help find three new directors
Barclays has hired veteran City headhunter Anna Mann to help find three new non-executive directors, including at least one woman director. Barclays' chairman Sir David Walker plans to bring in the new directors as part of a refocus of the bank's culture in the wake of recent scandals. [Sunday Telegraph p.B1]
BP's Libya drilling on hold
BP (last IC view: Buy, 31 Jul 2012) is reviewing plans to start drilling for oil and gas in Libya in the aftermath of the attack on its facility in neighbouring Algeria. BP signed an exploration and production deal with the then-Libyan government in 2007, although this was suspended when the civil war broke out. [Sunday Telegraph p.B2]
Insurance shake-up "costs £3bn"
Leading insurers claim they have spent more than £3bn preparing for new EU rules to ensure their financial strength even though they may never be implemented. The insurers believe the cost of preliminary compliance work for the so-called 'Solvency II' regulations have more than doubled from the initial £1.8bn estimate, although they think the new rules are unlikely to be much different in practice from the current regulatory regime. [Independent on Sunday p.85]
