| From UK-Analyst.com: Friday 27th September 2013 IMPORTANT: Are your UK-Analyst emails being delayed? Add UK-Analyst@news.t1ps.com to your safe senders/contact list to help resolve the problem Competition The UK-Analyst Friday competition is back. For your chance to win a copy of the Laptop Millionaire by Mark Anastasi (RRP15.99) send us your funniest caption for the picture below. Send your entry to richard.gill@t1ps.com by 9am on Monday morning. 
The Markets The UK service sector expanded by a monthly rate of 0.2% in July according to new data from the Office for National Statistics. Growth within the sector - which accounts for over three quarters of the UK's total output - was boosted by warm weather during the month. Early indications appear to suggest that there has also been strong growth delivered in August as a recent survey of purchasing managers uncovered the fastest expansion in services activity in more than six years last month. The encouraging data is supporting economists' expectations for the UK economy delivering a 1% expansion over the July-September quarter, building on the 0.7% growth seen in Q2. An extract from the ONS statement read, "Evidence suggests that the warm weather may have had a positive impact on overall output in the services industries in July." Over in US it emerged that the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits fell last week, fuelling hopes for an increase in business confidence. According to figures from the US Labor Department, jobless claims fell by 5,000 to 305,000 in the week ended 21st September. The resilient employment figures suggest that companies are confident on future sales prospects within the world's largest economy. Putting the figures in context, the monthly average level of unemployment is now the lowest since 2007. Stephen Stanley, Chief Economist at Pierpont Securities LLC, said, "We definitely have seen a gentle downtrend in claims over the course of the year. Unfortunately, the problem for the labor market for a long time has not really been the pace of layoffs, it's been the slow pace of hiring." ADVERTISEMENT Market busting gains from t1ps.com 22.13 percentage point market outperformance after 1 year under new management CLICK HERE for more details At the London close the Dow Jones was up by 85.35 points at 15,242.95 and the Nasdaq was down by 3.79 points at 3,230.25. In London the FTSE 100 was down by 55.86 points at 6,509.73 and the FTSE 250 dropped by 87.19 points to 14,922.22. The FTSE All-Share was down by 27.88 points at 3,466.27 while the FTSE AIM Index grew by 3.55 points to 796.28.  Broker Notes Beaufort Securities stuck with its "buy" recommendation on oil giant Tullow Oil (TLW) after the company announced a new discovery in Kenya yesterday. The broker is impressed with this news and notes that it represents the fourth consecutive wildcat discovery, in the first oil basin opened in Northern Kenya, since company drilling commenced in 2012. Beaufort is also encouraged with the firm's financial performance of late, with revenues, production and cash flow on the up. The shares were down by 16p at 1,045p. Shore Capital stuck with its "buy" recommendation on recruitment firm Harvey Nash (HVN) after it released interim results which were in line with expectations. The broker acknowledges that EBITDA declined by 3% to 4.4 million pounds over the period, reflecting a slowdown in the telecommunications market in Europe. However, the broker is impressed with how management has increased headcount in Germany over the period in reaction to the improving levels in consumer confidence in the country and feels this bodes well for the performance of the group over the short-medium term. The shares fell by 5.375p to 90p. Northland Capital initiated coverage on specialty materials group Versarien (VRS) with a "buy" recommendation and 21.7p target price. The broker feels that Versarien provides investors with exposure to a major growth opportunity in the advanced materials sector, coupled with a profitable and cash generative tungsten carbide business. Northland is also excited on certain opportunities the company has in expanding its work with existing clients as well as securing new customers. The shares slipped by 0.5p to 15.5p. 
Blue Chips Drug maker AstraZeneca (AZN) revealed that the European Medicines Agency has accepted a Marketing Authorisation Application for naloxegol, an investigational drug for the treatment of opioid-induced constipation. The drug in question is covered by a licence agreement with Nektar Therapeutics, which now obligates AztraZeneca to make a $25 million (15.5 million pounds) milestone payment to Nektar. AstraZeneca is targeting a large market with this drug as 40-50% of patients taking opioids for long-term pain develop opioid-induced constipation. The shares fell by 40.5p to 3,199p. Engineering group IMI (IMI) confirmed that Mark Selway is to succeed Martin Lamb as CEO of the company as from 1st January 2014 .Mr Lamb has decided to retire as CEO after working with IMI for 33 years, spending almost 13 of those years as CEO. Incoming CEO Selway was previously CEO at the Australian building materials company Boral Limited, and prior to that was Chief Executive of The Weir Group between 2001 and 2009. The update comes a week after broker Investec re-iterated its "hold" recommendation on the company, increasing its target price from 1,480p to 1,550p. The shares swelled by 16p to 1,469p. Support services group Babcock (BAB) said that trading for the half year ended 30th September has "remained positive" and that there has been no material change in the group's financial position since it last updated the market back in July. In the announcement, which outlined a capital markets day taking place today for analysts and investors, the group went on to say that it remains confident in hitting its target for the year ended March 2014. The shares inched up by 8p to 1,201p. Mid Caps Plastic packaging firm RPC Group (RPC) claimed that activity levels over the last 6 months have been "slightly ahead of the corresponding period last year" with particularly good growth driven by coffee capsules and personal care. This, combined with a more favourable euro exchange rate, is likely to see an increased level of revenue generated over the period with operating profit now likely to come in consistent with management expectations. The shares dropped by 6.7p to 457.9p. Defence and aerospace company QinetiQ (QQ.) announced that it is on track to meet previous profit guidance for the full year ended 31st March. The group reserved special praise for its EMEA Services division which was recently selected to provide data security services to the UK Government's smart meter programme in an 8 million pounds contract. However, the group conceded that the performance of its Global Products unit has been impacted by US budgetary pressures and the withdrawal of overseas US military forces. The shares ticked upwards by 1.6p to 196.2p. UBM (UBM), the publishing group, is to sell its Property Week Magazine to Metropolis International, the group behind publications such as Packaging News and Motor Trader. All 35 of Property Week's staff will transfer under the terms of the deal. The publisher also confirmed that it will be selling UBM Tech, a US-based IT news service. The two deals should generate a total of around 8.5 million pounds for the company. The shares crept upwards by 2p to 726p. Small Caps Phorm Corporation (PHRM), the internet personalisation technology company, announced that it has delivered a strong level of revenue growth in recent months after a 100% jump in the number of daily users of its services to 1.2 million. Phorm said that it received an average of 40 million advertising requests per day, up from 30 million in June while the number of advertising impressions had grown over 70% to 67 million per day. The shares rocketed by 2.75p to 5.75p. Mining player Archipelago Resources (AR.) is set to be taken private by its main shareholder through a cash offer that values the Indonesian gold miner at 338 million pounds. Rajawali, which already owns almost 53% of the miner, has offered 58p per share for the outstanding shares, a price that has been recommended by Archipelago's independent directors. The buyer argues that if Archipelago's operational assets were under direct Indonesian ownership, it would give it greater exposure to regional investors who were familiar with Archipelago. The shares closed up by 8.75p at 57.75p. Surveillance technology group Synectics (SNX) announced a new contract with public transport company Go-Ahead Group in a deal worth around 5 million pounds. The three year deal includes commitments to supply, install, maintain and support CCTV systems on Go-Ahead's fleet of 4,600 buses. Synectics argues that its work will help to reduce Synectics' costs, improve efficiency and make surveillance footage easier to access and utilise. The shares gained 12.5p, finishing the day at 502.5p. ADVERTISEMENT Get free trading guides from Evil Knievil (How to successfully short stocks), Zak Mir (Top AIM market picks for 2013) and other top financial commentators by CLICKING HERE 
Asian mobile payments provider MobilityOne (MBO) swung into the red over the six months ended 30th September as it reported a loss after tax of 120,000 pounds after reporting a profit of 40,000 pounds in the previous period. The group attributed the drop in profitability to an increase in administration expenses from its operations in Malaysia, Indonesia and Cambodia, as well as costs from expanding into the Philippines. The company went on to hint that it could be forced to cease operations in Indonesia as a means of avoiding further losses. The shares jumped by 0.25p to 2.5p. Communications and marketing business Porta Communications (PTCM) posted revenues of 8.5 million pounds for the first half of 2013, well up on the 1.7 million pounds which was recorded for the previous period. Despite this increase in revenues, Porta's pre-tax loss widened by 25% to 1.5 million pounds as administrative expenses took their toll, including many start up costs which are not expected to recur in 2014. The company did however lay praise on its Newgate Threadneedle PR company and said that its international expansion is creating good opportunities for growth. The shares grew by 2p to 11.125p. Shares in oil exploration group Sefton Resources (SER) resumed trading on the AIM market today after a three week suspension following "unauthorised publishing of confidential internal information on a website". The US-focused oil producer also posted interim results to June which revealed that revenues were marginally down at $2.2 million (1.85 million pounds) as a result of restricted oil production in California and a lower average oil price over the period. The shares closed at 0.4p. | 
No comments:
Post a Comment