|
From UK-Analyst.com: Friday 21st December 2012
The Markets In the US, sales of previously owned homes rose in November at the fastest pace in three years, according to The National Association of Realtors (NAR). According to the figures, sales rose by 5.9% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.04 million in the month, boosted by optimism over jobs, as the unemployment rate fell to a four-year low of 7.7%. NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun commented "Momentum continues to build in the housing market from growing jobs and a bursting out of household formation".
Staying in the US, Republicans in the House of Representatives abandoned a vote for a bill aimed at avoiding the so called "fiscal cliff" after failing to gather enough support for the measure. This latest development signals a huge blow for House Speaker John Boehner and leaves little time for the government to prevent widespread tax increases and severe spending cuts taking effect from the 1st January. The White House said in a statement that the President's main priority was to "ensure that taxes don't go up on 98% of Americans and 97% of small business in just a few short days".
In the UK, revised figures from the Office for National Statistics revealed that the economy grew by 0.9% in the third quarter of the year, slightly less than the 1% previously estimated. Since the figures were initially released it has emerged that the manufacturing and services sectors grew less than expected over the period. oe Grice, Chief Economist at the Office for National Statistics commented "the change to the growth figure is not significant". At the London close the Dow Jones was down by 166.11 points at 13,145.61 and the Nasdaq fell by 41.16 points to 2,652.39. In London the FTSE 100 declined by 18.35 points to 5,939.99; the FTSE 250 finished 60.39 points down at 12,362.38; the FTSE All-Share fell 10.10 points to 3,111.17; and the FTSE AIM Index slipped by 1.05 points to 693.38.  Broker Notes Canaccord Genuity maintained its "buy" recommendation on satellite TV company Pace (PIC) with a 52% target price increase to 228p. The broker believes the fact that Pace could not secure the acquisition of Motorola's Mobility home division is a blessing in disguise as a heavy investment in a hardware based set top box strategy would have been far too risky given the uncertain future of set top boxes. The broker is also impressed by the 16% free cash flow yield exhibited by the business and sees this having potential to grow further as cash generation continues to rise. The shares gained 0.4p to 187.1p. Northland Capital reiterated its buy recommendation on Stellar Diamonds (STI) but with a downgraded target price of 4.8p to 6.1p. An additional 0.4 mcts discovered at its Tongo Project was slightly below the broker's expectations of 0.6 mcts due to a 1.6km section of the dyke not being included in the resource as it was too thin to be economic. On top of this the broker believes that the diamond market for Stellar is currently weak, as the realisable values from production is around 30% down on the original 60 dollar/ct target. The shares remained flat at 2.75p. Shore Capital stuck with its "sell" stance on pawnbroking firm Abermarle & Bond (ABM) and remains cautious on the general outlook for the company. The broker is of the opinion that the company's roll-out programme should have been delayed, allowing its debt to tick down before embarking on such an ambitious expansion plan. The shares lost 1.5p to 216p. 
Blue-Chips British defence manufacturer BAE Systems (BA.) has entered into a 2.5 billion pounds contract with the government of Oman for the supply of 12 Typhoon and 8 Hawk aircraft. The deal, which will see the first aircraft provided in 2017, builds on a strong relationship between Oman and BAE. It comes a month after Prime Minister, David Cameron, visited the Middle East on a trade mission to promote BAE and to persuade countries to buy British defence equipment. The shares fell by 1.9p to 346.1p. Mining company Xstrata (XTA) announced that its zinc arm plans to increase ore production by 33% to 1.6 million tonnes per annum at the Lady Loretta mine in north-west Queensland, Australia. In the second increase since the commencement of production, this latest development brings maximum output figures up 60% on the originally anticipated amount. However, the implementation of such plans does not come cheaply and the expansion will cost 59.2 million Australian dollars (38 million pounds), bringing the total amount spent on the mine to 362.2 million Australian dollars (232.5 million pounds). The shares climbed by 8p to 1,051p. 
Mid Caps Serviced office provider Regus (RGU) has launched a bid for smaller rival MWB Business Exchange in an attempt to bag a Christmas bargain. The offer is at 62p per share, valuing MWB at 40 million pounds, representing a 20% premium on yesterday's closing price of 51.50p. This is the second bid Regus has made for the company in the last 18 months but is some way short of the 92.36p per share bid it tabled last May. Despite this smaller offer, there seems to be support for the deal with investors holding 75% of MWB's shares backing the offer. The shares were up 4p to 109p. Soft drinks company Britvic (BVIC) revealed a 3% slump in pre-tax profits to 77.5 million pounds to 30th September on a 0.8% fall in revenues to 1.29 million pounds. This subdued performance was dented by the company's recall of its Fruit Shoot drink, sparked by a young boy choking on a plastic cap. This constrained group revenues by approximately 2% and increased costs by 16.9 million pounds over the period. Positively, Pepsi had a particularly good period, growing market share in a year of major sporting activity, with the European Football Championships, the Olympics and Paralympics cited as positive contributors. The shares were down by 5.1p at 401.5p. 
Small Caps & AIM Oil and gas exploration company Empyrean Energy (EME) revealed a 38.9% increase in revenues to 1.6 million pounds but a 84% drop in pre-tax profits to 66,000 pounds for the six months ended 30th September. Management attributed this drop in profits to a combination of expenses incurred in relation to its Macquire facility and a one-off adjustment to revenues due to the way that revenue had been reported. The company expects to see a rapid increase in production growth and revenues during the next 6 months. the shares lost 0.875p to 6.875p. 21st Century (C21), a supplier of CCTV, released a trading update in which it said there is expected to be a significant improvement in operating margins and profit before tax for the current year. Profit before tax is thought to be up 20% on last year, a figure which would have been higher but for changes in some bus manufacturer production schedules. Looking forward, the outlook is positIve, with a solid platform of pipeline orders and potential new business to build on this growth. The shares increased by 1.375p to 12.5p. Optare (OPE), the coach manufacturer, has won a contract valued at 6.2 million pounds to supply Arriva with a mix of 50 single deck 11 metre buses. This is part of the company's strategy of investing in new fuel efficient products targeted at major fleets. This followed news that the Leeds based manufacturer achieved a positive EBITDA for the first time after a 106% increase in revenues to 46.7 million pounds for the 6 months ended 30th September. The shares were up by 0.025p at 0.57p. 
Oil and gas exploration firm Enegi Oil (ENEG) generated 204,000 pounds in revenues for the year ended 30th June after it made nothing in the previous year. However, losses increased by 63% to 2.4 million pounds over the period, enhanced by the acquisition of sites to its portfolio, with projects recently added in the North Sea and Jordan. The shares fell by 0.625p to 14.625p. VPHASE (VPHA), the developer of energy saving products, has signed a contract with British Gas to provide its VPhase optimisation product to customers. The product has the potential to save the average householder 12% p.a on their electricity bills with no change in lifestyle. Further to this, the company has signed a contract with Protech Energy Services for the supply and installation of VPHASE VX1 product in France, Belgium and Luxemburg. The estimated revenue generated from the agreement over the course of its three year life is thought to be 3.8 million pounds. The shares surged 0.05p to 0.625p. West Pioneer Properties (WPR) reported a 28% drop in revenues to 826,275 pounds and an almost 3 fold increase in losses to 1.7 million pounds for the 6 month period ended 30th September. The India based shopping mall operator's results were dented by a fall in rental income, which is expected to carry on until the next financial year. The company went on to stress, like many others, that it is currently re-positioning itself in an attempt to generate larger profits in the future. The shares grew by 0.5p to 7.75p.
| 
No comments:
Post a Comment