Equities jumped out of the blocks in early trading this morning as investors expressed relief at the Scottish independence referendum result. Click here for the Trader Nicole Elliott’s take on the markets.
IC TIP UPDATES:
Standard Life (SL.) has issued a statement welcoming the decision of the majority of the Scottish people to remain within the United Kingdom. The financial services giant has Scottish heritage and significant Scottish operations but had admitted that it had prepared contingency plans to move its domicile south of the border. We keep our buy rating.
Petroceltic International (PCI) has, in joint venture with Edison International, been awarded a licence for a gas block offshore the Nile delta in Egypt. We keep our buy.
Pallet specialist RM2 International (RM2) has posted modest results for the first half of the year as the company remains in the early stages of building up production and orders for its composite pallets. Revenues were $780,000 and losses $22.2m and the company had cash of $115.5m at the end of June. The company has admitted that the move to a larger production facility has held back output and will mean full year pallet production will be lower than at the time of the IPO last Christmas. Our recommendation is under review.
Recent Simon Thompson recommendation Avation (AVAP) has announced the purchase of another ATR 72-600 aircraft which has been immediately leased out to a European airline for ten years.
KEY STORIES:
Advertising giant WPP (WPP) has agreed to acquire the creative and research operation of MCS Holdings, one of Mogolia’s largest conglomerates for an undisclosed sum.
Final results from veterinary practice operator CVS Group (CVSG) showed a 19 per cent rise in revenues for the year to June with profits coming in 14.5 per cent higher. Like for like sales were 6.9 per cent better with a strong performance from the Animed Direct medicines business. Meanwhile, Healthy Pet Club membership rose by 45,000 to 162,000.
Domino Printing Sciences (DNO) has reported continued good progress in sales growth after the first ten months of its financial year with underlying growth in the core business 9 per cent ahead. But management has cautioned that a competitive pricing environment and extra investment is likely to dampen next year’s performance, keeping it in line with this year.
