• Log in
• Register free
• Subscribe
• Help
• Tour & Trial IC Advantage

Monday's news and tips

Created:

12 January 2009

Written by:

Tanya Malick

■ The government will own about 43% of the new Lloyds Banking Group when dealing in the new shares begins next week as open offers by both Lloyds TSB and HBOS attracted very few takers.

■ Car dealer Inchcape has confirmed that it is considering an equity issue to cope with continued difficult trading conditions. (IC COMMENT)

■ Oil group Tullow Oil reported more positive news from its offshore Ghana operations, with drilling at the Hyedua-2 well in the Jubilee field showing that production will exceed 20,000 barrels a day.

■ Fund manager New Star confirmed that it is considering a number of indicative proposals from third parties.

■ Contracting and housebuilding group Galliford Try is halve its interim dividend in the face of the tough conditions for housing, though results overall are in line with forecasts made in November.

■ Pawnbroker H&T expects full year profits to exceed market expectations helped by strong Christmas trading and the high gold price.

Continues below...

■ Dick Evans, the chief executive of Rio Tinto's aluminium unit Alcan is retiring and will be replaced by Jacynthe Côté.

■ Land of Leather has appointed administrators, finally succumbing to the credit crisis and the downturn in consumer spending

■ Supermarket titan Tesco has hardly put a foot wrong since overtaking Sainsbury as Britain's biggest grocer in 1995, but tomorrow's trading update is expected to show signs that the crown may be slipping. Tesco has also today announced Patrick Cescau, former Unilever boss, as their new non-executive director.

■ Hirco postponed its EGM meeting, to discuss the potential proposed merger with Hirco Developments and the Hiranandani Investment Co, so that "all views" about the merger can be considered.

■ Property investment firm Carpathian said it made a pre-tax profit of about £11.2m over the lifetime of ownership of the Varyada Shopping Centre, which it sold at the end of 2008 for £46.7m.

■ Gas Turbine Efficiency (GTE) rallied today after the firm, which provides systems to enhance the performance of aviation and industrial gas turbines, said it nearly doubled revenue in 2008.

■ Metals Exploration, a natural resources exploration and development company, has raised £3.7m from a placing thanks to private equity fund Solomon Capital.

■ Mining group Sirius Exploration said it was not targeting 'marginal oil fields in Nigeria' as was reported in the weekend press.

■ Mobile Doctors' revenues last year rose by 30%, with sales in December, the first month of the current year, also a record for the personal injury claim assessor

■ Underwriter Amlin has written total income to date this year of £389m, a 30.6% increase on this time in 2008, and forecasts premium rates will harden further during the year.

■ Animal drug supplier Dechra expects an increase of 23% in overall first half revenue and a 9.5% hike on a like for like basis, which excludes last year's acquisition of VetXX.

■ Full year sales at Staffline will be "broadly the same" as last year, with profit in line with expectations, according to the recruitment and outsourced HR firm.

■ Industrial services Brammer's trading held up in the final weeks of 2008 and after good growth earlier in the year, full year results will be in line with targets.

■ Revenues and profit before tax for 2008 should be "comfortably" ahead of market expectations at Brady, says the AIM–listed financial software solutions company.

■ Tikit, a provider of IT products to accountancy and law firms, said second half trading was 'satisfactory' in spite of tough economic conditions.

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

■ Why not become a IC registered user - it's free, secure, takes just a few minutes - and gives you access to comprehensive company financial data, stock broker forecasts, our portfolio tool, share price and article alerts, and the stock screening tool. Register now!

■ Or access all areas with IC Advantage, our premium subscription product. Take a free, no-obligation trial to IC Advantage today.

NEWSPAPER SHARE TIPS (11 JANUARY 2009)

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

PRESS HEADLINES:

A Government guarantee for bonds backed by mortgages and other types of loan is set to be announced by Alistair Darling, the Chancellor.

Darling will move to offer Government insurance on behalf of banks wanting to securitise new mortgages, after being told by sector executives that this is the best way to enable them to increase lending to mortgage borrowers, reports the Independent.

Gordon Brown, meanwhile, will unveil a £500m, two-year plan on Monday to stop the recession creating an army of long-term unemployed. Employers will be paid up to £2,500 to recruit and train people, as part of a package of "intensive support" for those unemployed for more than six months. The measures, funded mainly from the Treasury's reserves, will also pay for training places, options and advice for volunteers and cash to help the jobless start businesses, reports the FT.

Premier Foods, the owner of the Hovis and Mr Kipling brands, is pushing lenders to sanction a ground-breaking rights issue in return for relaxing banking covenants on its £1.8bn debt mountain. Premier presented plans to its banking syndicate last week to sell about 40% of the company to private equity and hedge fund investors and to simultaneously launch a rights issue to existing shareholders in order to raise a total of £300m to pay down its debt, reports the Times.

Private equity groups and property investors are having a "pretty disastrous" impact on the British pub industry, the founder and chairman of JD Wetherspoon has warned. Tim Martin, an industry veteran of 30 years, said along with overzealous government regulation, the excessive debt taken on by private equity and property investors in the pub sector was "running down" the institution that is the British pub, reports the FT.

Private investors in Mapeley, the property group, are angry that they are being excluded from applying for new preference shares yielding 20%. They have accused the company of trying to bury the bad news by releasing details of the £45m capital-raising on Christmas Eve. It intends to issue £45m of convertible five-year bonds in order to pay back a £60m loan due in April. The bond pays 20% annual interest, reports the Times.

Oil traders are seeking to hire at least five more supertankers this month to hoard crude at sea, bringing the total amount being stored to enough to supply Britain for 35 days, according to the world's largest operator of the vessels. At least 25 supertankers are being used to store oil at sea, as traders and oil companies bet that prices are set to rebound this year, according to Jens Martin Jensen, temporary managing director and chief executive of Frontline, reports the Times.

The CBI, the UK's main business body, has called on the Government to speed up its plans to introduce a raft of radical measures to kick-start Britain's economy. Ian McCafferty, the CBI's chief economist, said the Government needed to employ "an innovative use of monetary policy tools". The CBI urged Downing Street to step on the accelerator as it unveiled gloomy findings in a survey of the financial services sector, reports the Telegraph.

The Government's proposed revaluation of business rates will add £1.6bn to shopkeepers' annual bills by 2011 – the equivalent to the average salaries of over 100,000 shop workers, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) has said. The BRC's stark assessment coincides with the second reading of the Business Rate Supplements Bill, which is due to take place in the House of Commons today, reports the Telegraph.

Reforms to controversial "pre-pack" administrations are to be considered by MPs following growing criticism about abuses of the system. The Business and Enterprise Regulatory Reform (BERR) committee is launching an investigation into the way failed businesses are being put into "pre-pack" – where a buyer is lined up before they go into administration – amid allegations that the practice enables them to escape debts and creditors, reports the Telegraph.

Citigroup is to reap a much-needed capital gain of up to $6bn, as well as a cash payment of $2.7bn if it clinches a deal to spin off its brokerage unit into a joint venture controlled by Morgan Stanley, people close to the situation said. The decision to cede control of Smith Barney in exchange for cash and a sizeable capital gain underlines Citi's need to bolster its balance sheet, reports the FT.

Rents for plush offices in Mayfair and St James's plunged almost 30% last year, hammered by the declining fortunes of many of their hedge funds tenants, according to the commercial property agency NB Real Estate, reports the Independent.

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

• Share Tips
• Companies
  • By sector
  • By event
  • A-Z listing
  • Announcements
  • Aim
• Markets and Sectors
• Columnists
• Stock Screens
• Funds and Finance
• Research Tools
• Investment guides
• Trading Game
• Events

requires IC Advantage

---

IC Advantage

The only way to access our daily share tips, analysis and profit making tools is with an IC Advantage subscription which starts from just £12.50 per month. Purchase yours here.

Subscribe to IC Advantage today, access starts from just £12.50