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Friday's news and tips

Created:

9 January 2009

Written by:

Tanya Malick

■ Housebuilder Bovis has scrapped it final dividend and cut 60% of its staff after sales volumes dropped 40% last year (IC COMMENT)

■ Computer games maker Eidos has revised down its revenue forecasts and cautioned it may need to renegotiate bank finances after disappointing sales of its new Lara Croft game

■ JD Sports Fashion is set to beat full year profit expectations after boosting like-for-like sales over the crucial Christmas period.

■ Vascular stent maker Lombard Medical has raised £6.1m through a placing and is launching an open offer to raise further £2.2m.

■ Curidium Medical is today recommending a £6.2m all share offer for the group from detection and analysis technology company Avacta.

■ Trading has been "consistent" with expectations at BBA Aviation since November's trading update, helping the aircraft services company meet its full year target.

Continues below...

■ Northern Rock's chief financial officer Ann Godbehere will leave the state-owned bank next month, having pocketed almost £1m during her time at there.

■ Mobile computer software firm Psion has appointed Fraser Park as chief financial officer with immediate effect.

■ Lloyd's insurer Advent Capital said it will incur a loss for the year due to an increase in estimated losses from Hurricane Ike.

■ Renewable energy firm Novera Energy expects revenue to have risen by 3% in 2008 thanks to the increase in the price received for production through long-term contracts.

■ Software provider for the recruitment industry Bond International said since its interim statement it has seen a deterioration in trading conditions in some of the market in which it operates.

■ Recruitment firm Hydrogen Group is confident that full-year pre-tax profits will be in line with market expectations.

■ Financial software firm Misys reported a rise in earnings in the six months to November, helped by customers using its products to control costs amid difficult economic conditions.

■ Camera retailer Jessops' sales picked up over the Christmas period, but heavy discounting meant margins came under pressure.

■ Drycleaner and work wear provider Johnson Service Group said it is trading satisfactorily in tough conditions, albeit with variations across and within different divisions.

■ Revenue fell 6% at paving blocks and tiles supplier Marshalls in 2008 as sales to the domestic market tumbled, although underlying full year trading results are seen in line with expectations.

■ Uniq has increased and extended its banking facilities as fourth quarter sales dropped 3.8%, although the convenience food group says operating result expectations for the year remain unchanged.

■ Business publisher Centaur's trading conditions worsened in November and December, though cost cutting will help it meet targets this half.

■ Real Hotel Group, the company behind the budget chain purplehotel, reported a 20% fall in revenue from continuing operations in the final 13 weeks of 2008

■ Composter TEG said 2008 revenues were in line with expectations, but reduced its 2009 growth expectations after difficulties obtaining finance delayed two private sector projects.

FOR A SUMMARY OF LATEST MOVEMENTS IN EQUITY, COMMODITY AND CURRENCY MARKETS, SEE FT.COM'S MARKETS PAGE.

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NEWSPAPER SHARE TIPS (09 JANUARY 2009)

Full round-up of newspaper share tips (sourced from Sharecast)

PRESS HEADLINES:

Wm Morrison and Asda emerged as the big winners for the Christmas period, according to industry data released by Nielsen, the market research group.

Sales at Morrisons climbed by 9.1% in the 12 weeks to 27 December and those at Asda rose by 6.7%. Both gained market share, Nielsen figures suggested. On Thursday Sainsbury's reported a 4.5% increase in like-for-like sales over the holiday period, the Times reports.

Foxtons, the London estate agency whose fleet of liveried Minis were synonymous with the property boom, has breached its banking covenants and its UK private equity backer has ruled out a bailout of the business. BC Partners, Foxtons' owner, has conceded that its decision to buy the company from Jon Hunt, the property magnate, for £360m just before the credit crunch hit was a mistake, reports the Times.

The lowest interest rate in the history of the Bank of England will deter savers from depositing money and further undermine troubled banks, it was claimed yesterday. Ben Thompson, mortgages director at Legal & General, said that the cut in rates could backfire by denying banks the flow of new deposits needed to fund fresh lending, reports the Times.

Justin King, chief executive of J Sainsbury, warned interest rate cuts are the "wrong focus" as the government tries to repair the economy, and called for a credit guarantee to get banks lending again. "The key issue is encouraging prudent borrowing by successful businesses, which clearly means some kind of credit guarantee," he said, reports the Telegraph.

German exports and industrial orders have both plunged at the steepest rate since modern records began and Spain's unemployment has surged above three million, capping one of the most disastrous days for Europe's economy since the Second World War. Joaquin Almunia, the European economics commissioner, warned that the picture would turn "dramatically worse" this year, writes the Telegraph.

KPS Capital Partners, a US private equity company, has signed a letter of intent to buy the "major assets" of Waterford Wedgwood from the administrators of the Ireland-based luxury tableware manufacturer. Deloitte, appointed receivers in Ireland and administrators to the UK operations, issued a statement last night confirming that talks were under way over a deal that would include "certain assets of Waterford, Wedgwood and Royal Doulton, amongst others," reports the FT.

Alexander Lebedev, a former lieutenant-colonel in the KGB and billionaire banker, approached Daily Mail & General Trust last month with an offer to buy the Evening Standard. The company rejected Lebedev's proposal without detailed discussion, a person with knowledge of the matter told the Financial Times. It is not known how much he offered for the paper.

The German government has stepped in to salvage a multibillion-euro merger between two of the country's largest banks, Commerzbank and Dresdner Bank, with a €10bn (£9bn) cash injection. The announcement, in effect a partial nationalisation of the combined group, came after several days of tense negotiations between executives from the two banks and state officials, reports the Independent.

Our press headlines summary is sourced from www.Sharecast.com