Equities have fallen back sharply in early trading as profit takers step into the ring on the back renewed geopolitical concerns.
IC TIP UPDATES:
Gulf Keystone Petroleum’s (GKP) chief executive Tod Kozel has announced his intention to step back from his chief executive role to an executive director role as of mid-July. Our recommendation remains a buy.
Babcock International (BAB) and its partner Balfour Beatty (BBY) have been awarded a £160m contract to build a new decommissioning facility at the Sellafield nuclear plant. We keep our buy on Babcock.
Simon Thompson recommendation IQE (IQE) has won a multi-year volume manufacturing contract for its epitaxial wafers to be used in optical communications by an unnamed customer who is focused in the Asia Pacific region.
Development Securities (DSC) has signed a contract with Accor hotels group to lease two floors of the 10 Hammersmith Grove office building which it jointly owns with Scottish Widows Investment Partnership. We keep our buy rating.
KEY STORIES:
Land Securities (LAND) has agreed to pay £656m to buy a 30 per cent stake in the Bluewater shopping centre in Kent from Lend Lease. It is also paying out £40m for full asset management rights over the centre and 110 acres of land.
Private hospitals group Spire Healthcare has announced its intention to seek a listing in London today. The company, which runs 39 private hospitals, says it is the second largest private healthcare operator in the UK in revenue terms.
Stagecoach Group (SGC) enjoyed a marginal uplift in revenues and profits in the year to April which has allowed it to raise the full year dividend by 10 per cent.
Premier Oil (PMO) has appointed finance director Tony Durrant as its new chief executive.
Distribution specialist Bunzl (BNZL) has completed two small bolt on acquisitions, a distributor of safety shoes and equipment in the Netherlands and a cleaning products distributor in Brazil. The company also reported that trading is in line with expectations with group revenue for the six months to June expected to be up by 6 per cent, 2 per cent of which is organic growth with the rest provided by acquisitions.
Stelios Haji-Ioannou’s latest venture to spin out of his easyGroup, the easyHotel (EZH) chain of hotels, has listed on Aim today although it only raised half of its target £60m fundraising.
Car and van hire business Northgate (NTG) has confirmed a return to growth in both the UK and Spain after several years of tough trading. Underlying profits before tax rose by 22 per cent to £60.3m in the year to April. The full year dividend payout is 37 per cent higher at 10p a share.
OTHER COMPANY NEWS:
Onshore UK oil and gas play IGas Energy (IGAS) grew revenues from £68.3m to £75.9m in the year to March with earnings up from £32.3m to £34.3m.
African budget airline FastJet (FJET) has sold off its stake in the loss making Fly540 Kenya operation which it inherited as part of its acquisition of Lonhro Aviation.
Velocys (VLS) has acquired American small scale gas to liquids company Pinto Energy and along with it the Ashtabula GTL project.
