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

Tuesday's news and tips

Created:

7 April 2009

Written by:

ShareCast

■ Gross profit fell 32% at recruitment firm Michael Page during the first quarter, hurt by a 39% slump in the UK as the impact of the financial crisis hit nearly all its markets (IC COMMENT).

■ Plastics group Victrex saw first half sales volume drop 40% due to lower demand in the group's Victrex PEEK unit.

■ Business and IT consultancy Charteris said first half pre-tax profit almost halved amid difficult trading conditions however its pipeline of future sales 'remains encouraging'.

■ Shareholders showed faith in battered property company Segro today as 95.27% of them took part in the £500m rights issue announced last month.

■ PartyGaming has reached an agreement with the United States authorities that will protect the online gaming group from being prosecuted for providing internet gambling services to customers in the region.

■ Struggling sportswear retailer JJB Sports has proposed a compulsory voluntary agreement (CVA) with its landlords to ease its rental payments burden and settle amounts outstanding on closed shops (IC COMMENT).

Continues below...

■ A further 9,000 staff at Royal Bank of Scotland could lose their jobs over the next two years, half of them in the UK, the part-nationalised lender has announced. Meanwhile, the failure of their £5bn open offer to attract support from shareholders has left the government owning over 70% of the bank.

■ The number of people flying with Irish airline Aer Lingus dropped by 7% to 835,000 in March, according to travel statistics out today.

■ News of increased US spending on fighter jets has sent defence stocks to the top of the FTSE 100 leader board.

■ Rio Tinto is to slow construction of the Yarwun alumina refinery expansion in Gladstone and cut annual bauxite production at its Weipa mine to 15m tonnes from 19.4m.

■ AstraZeneca has filed a lawsuit in the US against Canadian firm Apotex in an attempt to try and stop it selling a generic version of Astra's Pulmicort Respules asthma medicine.

■ Technical plastic components supplier Carclo said full year results will be in line with company expectations and it has seen early signs of stabilisation of schedules and demand.

■ John Fingleton, chief executive of the Office of Fair Trading, has warned the government that favourable treatment for recently rescued UK banks could lead to a poor deal for bank customers if it stifles new market entrants.

■ Severn Trent Water has submitted its final business plan to Ofwat for the period 2010-15, with the average household bills set to rise by 4% in real terms, or 0.8% a year, by the end of the period.

■ Intermediate Capital expects core income for the year to 31 March to be in line with expectations, though the mezzanine finance lender said it anticipates provisions for the second half of the year to be materially higher than in the first half.

■ Commercial real estate consultancy firm Colliers reported an annual pre-tax loss but said transaction levels since last month has start to show signs of improvement.

■ Porvair lost more than a quarter of its value today after the industrial filter maker warned it is likely to report a first-half loss due mainly to redundancy costs in the US.

■ Devro, the maker of sausage skins, has appointed Steve Hannam as non-executive chairman to take over from Pat Barrett who'll retire at the AGM in May.

■ Engineering support services group Redhall said it continues to trade in line with expectations and has been awarded an engineering services contract at an onshore oil installation expected to be worth over £4m.

.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 (07 APRIL 2009):

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

PRESS HEADLINES:

British Airways has proposed a shake-up of employee pay and conditions in a move that could lead to substantial cuts in remuneration and holidays for its 13,500 cabin crew.

The proposals are believed to be at the forefront of a cost-cutting drive under which BA wants to reduce its in-flight budget of £567.9m by £82m, reports the Times.

Toxic debts racked up by banks and insurers could spiral to $4trn, new forecasts from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) are set to suggest. The IMF said in January that it expected the deterioration in US-originated assets to reach $2.2trn by the end of next year, but it is understood to be looking at raising that to $3.1trn in its next assessment of the global economy. In addition, it is likely to boost that total by $900bn for toxic assets originated in Europe and Asia, reports the Times.

ITV believes that it can raise up to £500m through a rights issue after meetings with its leading shareholders. The broadcaster thinks that it can raise the money even without the support of BSkyB, its largest single investor, whose stance is described by insiders as "enigmatic". The mood among investors canvassed by ITV is said to be "neutral to positive", leaving its board to decide whether to proceed, reports the Times.

The government may have to find an additional £39bn a year in tax rises and spending cuts to plug the black hole in the public finances, which are being ravaged by recession. The Institute for Fiscal Studies estimated that the sum would have to be found by 2015-2016, if spiralling Government borrowing is to be brought under control again after lower tax revenues and higher spending on recession-related benefits, reports the Telegraph.

The still fragile state of the economy is highlighted today by the British Chambers of Commerce, which predicts unemployment will soar to 3.2m next year – levels not seen since the 1980s. The BCC's latest survey of business sentiment among member firms through the UK will remind ministers in the final stages of preparing the Budget due on 22 April that "the recession is still very serious, and is likely to continue for some time," reports the Independent.

Sir Allen Stanford, in his first interview since he was accused of running a huge Ponzi scheme, said that he "would die and go to hell" if it was proven that he had been running such a scheme, where money from later investors is used to repay earlier investors. The financier was accused by the US Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission of running such a scheme in separate criminal and civil court filings in February, reports the Telegraph.

Robert Gates, US defence secretary, unveiled a sweeping overhaul of defence priorities on Monday, taking an axe to several high-profile weapons programmes as part of his spending proposals. Mr Gates said the Pentagon would place more emphasis on "irregular" warfare as he outlined a series of cuts and changes as part of President Barack Obama's $534bn defence budget, reports the FT.

The Times adds that a contract to provide President Obama with a fleet of new helicopters that had been awarded in part to the British company Westland was scrapped last night amid swingeing cuts to the Pentagon's weapons programmes. Robert Gates, Mr Obama's Defence Secretary, said he was scrapping the contract to build a new generation of presidential helicopters as part of a "fundamental overhaul" of America's weapons programmes aimed at cutting costs and scaling back.

The recession began to bite in the past few months as companies around the world, and especially in the UK, embarked on pay freezes and headcount culls, according to a global survey of 2,000 companies by the Hay Group consultancy. About 37% of the UK companies surveyed told Hay Group they were cutting headcount last month, nearly double the share in November, and 38% said they had put a wage freeze in place, reports the FT.

Globe Pub Company, the struggling operator owned by Robert Tchenguiz, is facing an uncertain future after the company defaulted on a £257m asset-backed loan. The default comes after the company, which owns more than 400 pubs, failed to remedy a breach of its banking covenants last month. As a result, bondholders can now seek the appointment of an administrative receiver to run the business, reports the FT.

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

requires IC Advantage

---

Win £1000

You could win a grand by voting in the IC/FT Wealth Management Awards

Click here to vote