Shares in London opened sharply lower on Monday morning as any central bank-induced confidence from last week drifted away sharply. Click here for The Trader Nicole Elliott's latest thoughts.
IC TIP UPDATES:
Managed IT services group Redcentric (RCN) has agreed to sell its fibre networks in Cambridge, Portsmouth and Southampton for £5m to CityFibre (CITY). CityFibre has also acquired network assets in four other UK cities from the company. Redcentric has signed a network access agreement with CityFibre; the deal promises to strengthen the group’s balance sheet, lower its capital costs and have a negligible impact on earnings. Buy.
Emerald and beryl specialist Gemfields (GEM) posted revenues of $193.1m for the year to June and post tax profits of $23.5m, up from $12.3m the previous year. Our recommendation is under review.
MJ Gleeson (GLE), which specialises in strategic land and housebuilding, enjoyed a strong trading performance in the year to June during which revenues rose by more than a fifth and pre-tax profit by 63 per cent to £28.2m. Buy.
KEY STORIES:
TulletPrebon’s (TLPR) takeover of ICAP’s (IAP) voice broking business has been dealt a blow by the news that Ken Pigaga, currently the global chief operating officer of ICAP has decided he will not take on a role in the merged business once the deal completes.
CityFibre (CITY), which builds and runs fibre optic networks in 40 UK towns and cities, grew sales by nearly 150 per cent in the first half of 2016, meaning it swung to an adjusted cash profit of £0.4m. It inked new contracts valued at nearly £54m, compared with £23.2m secured in 2015, and expanded its network by buying Redcentric’s fibre networks in three cities (see above).
Property business Capital & Counties (CAPC) is issuing new ten and 12 year loan notes to the tune of £175m to strengthen the capital structure of the subsidiary holding its Covent Garden assets.
