Support services firm Interserve's (IRV) share price has had a very good run year-to-date, on the back of a full order book. Particularly worth noting is the fact that it grew at a time when some of its peers were seeing a contraction. As well, there is still room for new wins, as with yesterday's contract announced with Magnox. No less relevant is the company's strong cash generation, thanks to better management of its working capital requirements. Then there is the real potential for expansion through acquisitions. Some might be tempted to take profits, "but I suspect the shares have further to run," The Times' Tempus writes (Last IC rating: Hold, 28 Feb).
Shares of fund manager Man Group (EMG) have re-rated higher, along with the reset of the sector, which tends to do well in rising markets. Nevertheless, they continue to be a case of "catching a falling knife" and still "for gamblers only", Tempus in The Times says. To begin with, the new Chief Executive has yet to provide a new strategy. Further, and as Moody's pointed out on Good Friday, the firm continues to be cautious about the continuing outflow of funds (Last IC rating: Sell, 28 Feb).
Business press headlines:
Oil major BP (BP.) has put its US wind-power unit up for sale as it continues to pull back from renewable energy and turn to its core oil and gas business, according to the Financial Times. The paper says that its wind-power operations in the States could be worth £1.5bn.
Ahead of the planned flotation of RBS's (RBS) Citizens unit, the bank is said to have appointed its Finance Director Bruce van Saun as the head of the US arm, writes The Independent. The move is understood to happen in the next few weeks and will see former Abbey National Finance Director Nathan Bostock succeed van Saun, the paper says.
According to The Times, the exit of Stobart's (STOB) Chairwoman after only 71 days on the job could signal the start of a 'private future'. The paper writes: "Sources last night said that the breakdown between the trucking group and the City could result in the logistics-based conglomerate being taken private and leaving the stock market."
The price of non-food items, such as clothing, electricals and beauty products, rose at a 0.2 per cent annual rate in March, the first rise in 15 months, reports The Telegraph. This "provide[s] an early sign of a revival in the retail sector and a potential boost for the British economy", the paper says.
The government has introduced statutory regulation for LIBOR for the first time after banks were found to attempt to rig the key benchmark rate, reports The Guardian. From this summer, the rates that banks submit to the LIBOR panel will be published with a three-month delay. It is also said that the number of LIBOR currencies and borrowing periods could be cut.
The Chief Executive Officer of Standard Life (SL.), David Nish, received £5.0m in pay in 2012, "an amount of money likely to irritate the insurer's army of small shareholders and keep the hot issue of executive pay in the spotlight", according to The Independent.
