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Thursday's news and tips

Created:

18 June 2009

Written by:

ShareCast

■ Pub group and real ale brewer Marston's announced a fully underwritten 11 for 10 rights issue to raise gross proceeds of approximately £176m.

■ Engineer GKN has proposed a 6 for 5 rights issue to raise £423m and said it posted a management pre-tax loss for the first five months to May (IC COMMENT).

■ SIG, supplier of construction products, said due to the continuing difficult market conditions, it now expects underlying pre-tax profit for the year to be around the bottom end of expectations.

■ Industrial equipment rental firm Ashtead posted a 22% drop in full year pre-tax profit, but said its 2009/10 guidance remains unchanged.

■ In vitro diagnostics firm Axis-Shield expects revenues to show growth close to 20% in the first six months of the year, with continuing strong sales across all three divisions.

■ Software company Micro Focus has improved the terms of its offer for legendary US software company Borland.

Continues below...

■ Phorm, which makes software that tracks Internet users' browsing habits so that they can be targeted with more relevant advertising, saw losses rise by 50% last year.

■ Finsbury Food said its bread making unit Nicholas & Harris has bought speciality breads maker Goswell Enterprises for £2.2m in cash.

■ Former Royal Bank of Scotland chief executive Sir Fred Goodwin has reportedly agreed to hand back half of his lucrative pension.

■ Dairy Milk maker Cadbury has left its revenue growth guidance for the full-year unchanged and said it has built on its good first quarter with improved trading in April and May.

■ Bus and train group Go-Ahead has continued to grow like-for-like (LFL) bus and rail revenue in the last two months.

■ Road and infrastructure support group Mouchel warned that its performance for the current year will be below previous expectations.

■ Aim listed luxury leather bags maker Mulberry reported a decline in full year pre-tax profit and while it made a positive start to the current financial year, it remains cautious

■ Consultancy firm Jelf slumped into losses for the half-year and warned the challenging market conditions are unlikely to change this year.

■ Revenue rose strongly at disease identification specialist Proteome Sciences last year but cash inflows have fallen short of expectations.

■ Scotland-focused investment group Braveheart reported a pre-tax loss of £1.26m for the year ended 31 March 2009 amid market volatility and shareholder nervousness.

■ Revenue rose strongly at disease identification specialist Proteome Sciences last year but cash inflows have fallen short of expectations.

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 (18 JUNE 2009):

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

PRESS HEADLINES:

The Governor of the Bank of England, Mervyn King, yesterday clashed with the Chancellor at the Mansion House dinner over the right approach to fixing the regulatory failures that saw the first run on a British bank in over 150 years and the near collapse of the entire financial system, says the Independent.

Proposing that all banks be required to make a "will" or run-down plan in case of their unexpected demise, the Governor also repeated his sympathy for the concept of "narrow" or "utility" banking. But the Chancellor rejected that idea, and told the banks themselves to manage their risks.

Large US companies ranging from Wall Street banks to insurers, investment groups and General Electric faced fundamental changes in the business environment yesterday as President Barack Obama proposed what could be the biggest regulatory revamp since the 1930s. The plan, which still must win congressional approval, would give the Federal Reserve new powers to oversee companies whose failure could endanger the banking system – a category that includes not only traditional lenders, but any company with significant financial operations, such as GE, according to the FT.

Leading British businessmen are feared to have lost millions of pounds in what has been described as South Africa's largest ever Ponzi scheme. Peter Long, the chief executive of TUI Travel, and Richard Kirk, his counterpart at Peacocks, are among a group of UK-based businessmen that invested in Frankel International. Monaco-based Russian investors are also said to have become entangled in the alleged fraud which has been widely compared in South Africa to Bernard Madoff's Ponzi scheme. London hedge funds are also said to have invested in the fund, writes the Telegraph.

British Airways pilots have agreed to take a bet on the prosperity of their company by accepting shares worth £13 million as part of a deal to save the airline £26 million a year, reports the Times.

A senior French official has confirmed Gordon Brown is almost powerless to stop the creation of a European regulatory machinery at today's EU summit, opening the way for a transfer of control over the City from London to Brussels. "If the Americans make strong commitments towards regulation and on derivatives and other sophisticated products, I believe they are going further than the Europeans. That will provide a boost to the most determined among the Europeans," said the official, according to the Telegraph.

Battle lines were being drawn on Wednesday between the government and the BBC as it emerged that plans to use licence fee cash for regional news could jeopardise a separate proposal, favoured by ministers, to rescue Channel 4, reports the FT.

Mortgage lenders could be cross-examined by MPs next month as part of a Treasury Select Committee inquiry into soaring repossessions and the chronic shortage of home loans. The inquiry, announced yesterday, will consider the success of government initiatives intended to reduce the number of families losing their homes, which is forecast to hit 75,000 this year, says the Times.

Capturing carbon emitted by coal power stations and storing it underground should be paid for through a tax on electricity prices, the Government has said. Ed Miliband, the energy secretary, said four new "carbon capture and storage" trials would eventually add 2pc to bills through a levy on electricity suppliers – the day after the Government announced a tax on fixed telephone lines to fund high-speed broadband, writes the Telegraph.