Equities have given up a chunk of the decent gains posted yesterday as uncertainty remain rife in the markets. Click here for The Trader Nicole Elliott’s latest take on the global indices.
IC TIP UPDATES:
Babcock International (BAB) has confirmed the exchange of contracts on the acquisition of Defence Support Group from the Ministry of Defence for £140m which forms part of the deal Babcock won to provide maintenance, repair and overhaul to military vehicles. We keep our buy rating.
Simon Thompson recommendation First Property (FPO) has acquired two special purpose vehicles which own office buildings in Poland from a fund which it manages for a total of £3.9m.
Animal feeds, logistics and fuel business NWF (NWF) says its first half profits are likely to come in below last year’s record levels due to weaker commodity prices which have hit margins in its feeds business and the lower oil price which has affected revenues in its fuels operations. Our recommendation is under review.
Mobile payments specialist Monitise (MONI) has announced a five year contract with an unnamed business process outsourcer to create mobile money services. We keep our buy.
Educational software and systems provider Tribal (TRB) has admitted that some contracts it was expecting to conclude before the end of this financial year will now slip into next year, meaning it will undershoot expectations for this year but looks well set for next year. Our recommendation is under review.
KEY STORIES:
Dixons Carphone (DC.) has posted interim results for the 31 weeks to 1 November, including pro-forma figures for the combined businesses. Group revenues rose 5 per cent on a like for like basis with second quarter sales up 9 per cent with group proforma headline profits up 30 per cent to £78m.
Saga (SAGA) says current trading is in line with expectations and that chief financial officer designate Jonathan Hill will join in April 2015.
OTHER COMPANY NEWS:
Ceramic printing specialist Xaar (XAR) says that trading in its Chinese end markets has settled down and management now expects full year revenues to be in the region of £108m with profits now expected to exceed forecasts. But management remains downbeat about its prospects for 2015 with forward visibility low and total sales not expected to exceed £100m.
