Thursday's Stock Market Report from UK-Analyst: featuring Rolls Royce, Booker and ASOS

From UK-Analyst.com: Thursday 19th 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 The Markets UK retail sales unexpectedly fell by 0.9% in August according to new data from the Office for National Statistics. The data represent an increasingly rare piece of underwhelming news for a UK economy which has shown moderate growth of late. A deeper look at the figures shows that the biggest hindrance to monthly growth came in the form of a drop in food sales, as August's performance struggled to compare with a heat-induced surge in food sales in July. Although the figures came in under market expectations, experts refused to get too downbeat about the situation, with James Knightley, UK economist at ING, commenting, " It's a disappointing outcome that has taken the wind out of the sails of sterling for now, but the underlying story still looks good." In a welcome piece of economic news for the Republic of Ireland, it emerged that the nation's economy grew by 0.4% over the second quarter of the year, dragging the country out of recession. The figures see the nation's economy return to growth after being in recession for 9 months and will come as a relief to a coalition government which is due to receive the last of its bailout loans by the end of this month. However, Aidan Punch, CSO Assistant Director General, warned that people should not get carried away with the news and said, "All of these are very minor changes - very, very minor changes. So it's important not to read too much into it. They nearly seem counter-intuitive in a sense because normally one expects to get a bit of growth and then employment follows." ADVERTISEMENT Interested in technical analysis and trading? Sign up for your free trial to Zaks-TA.com CLICK HERE At the London close the Dow Jones was down by 32.29 points at 15,644.65 and the Nasdaq was up by 2.92 points at 3, 234.23. In London the FTSE 100 was up by 66.57 points at 6,625.39 and the FTSE 250 increased by 47.88 points to 15,137.10 The FTSE All-Share grew by 28.12 points to 3,521.59 while the FTSE AIM Index grew by 6.56 points to 789.69. Broker Notes Beaufort Securities stuck with its "buy" recommendation on student accommodation specialist Unite Group (UTG) after it acquired a one acre development site in Wembley for 7.4 million pounds. The broker thinks this is a good move from Unite given the location of the property in relation to central London and universities. Furthermore, Beaufort notes that construction work at two previously acquired sites (Stratford and Islington) is likely to begin soon and is therefore confident on the short-medium term prospects of the group. The shares were up by 2.9p at 367.9p. Canaccord Genuity re-iterated its "buy" recommendation on business support firm Wilmington Group (WIL) with a target price of 229p. The broker is impressed with the company's achievements over the last year, especially by its Banking/Compliance and Insurance/Pensions businesses. Canaccord is also encouraged by the firm's recent acquisitions which, according to the broker, have now "strengthened its position in its core markets." The shares were up by 3.5p at 200p. N+1 Singer stuck with its "buy" stance on wafer manufacturer IQE (IQE) with a target price of 45p. The broker notes recent interim results which revealed that trading had been consistent with expectations over the first half of the year. The broker feels that the shares offer good value at current levels and believes that consistent delivery and continued progress towards net cash should drive a re-rating to reflect the growth opportunities the group is facing. The shares were down by 2.25p at 28.25p. Blue Chips Utility group United Utilities (UU.) claimed that trading was in line with expectations over the first 6 months of the year and that it is on target to deliver its 2010-15 regulatory outperformance targets. The Lancashire-based group also confirmed that revenues over the period will be higher than the first half of 2012 as the regulated price increase fed through to overall results. United Utilities went on to say that underlying operating profits should come in higher than last year as it "continues to manage its cost base". The shares grew by 16p to 707.5p. Engineering giants Rolls Royce (RR.) has been selected by Lufthansa to power and support 25 Airbus A350-900 aircraft in a deal worth around $1.5 billion (934 million pounds). The engine in question is the fastest-selling member of the Rolls-Royce Trent engine range with more than 1,400 already ordered before its entry into service next year. The update comes a day after broker Investec downgraded its "buy" recommendation to an "add" stance, lowering its target price from 1,340p to 1,180p. The shares swelled by 16p to 1,112p. Mid Caps Food wholesaler Booker Group (BOK) posted a 19.3% increase in total sales over the year ended 13th September, boosted by last year's acquisition of Makro, the UK business of German retailer Metro AG. Stripping out the effect of the acquisition, like-for-like sales were up by 3.5% over the period and the company insisted that it was in line to meet full year expectations. The update comes a week after JP Morgan re-iterated its "overweight" stance on the group. The shares inched up by 3p to 136.3p. Electronics retailer Premier Farnell (PFL) revealed that sales of its Rasberry Pi mini computer have increased from 4 million pounds to 15 million pounds despite subdued markets. However, total revenues were slightly down as its other ancillary products failed to gain significant traction in the UK and North American markets. The figures come days after Citigroup retained its "sell" recommendation on the group with a 185p target price. The shares were down by 0.6p at 228.1p. In a continuation of its strategy of selling "non-core" assets, Evraz (EVR) said it will sell its Evraz Vysokogorsky iron ore mining and processing plant to NPRO URAL for $20 million (12.45 million pounds). The fee will be paid in four instalments over the next two years and, under the terms of the deal, the Vysokogorsky plant will continue to supply iron ore concentrate to Evraz for three years at market prices. Management argued that the plant has become a non-core asset for the group, as the iron ore requirements of Evraz NTMK are fully met by cheaper supplies from EVRAZ KGOK. The shares increased by 2.7p to 137.6p. Small Caps Rare Earth Minerals (REM), the metal investment company, has appointed Kiran Mozaria as Chief Executive Officer and Donald Strang as Finance Director. The two appointments come at an exciting to time for the company as it has encountered exploration success in the Fleur-El Sauz Lithium Project in northern Mexico. Both new members of the management team have years of experience in senior roles and will be looking to lead the company in fully capitalising on its current Mexican opportunity. The shares crept upwards by 0.005p to 0.82p. Online retailer ASOS (ASOS) now expects to exceed full year profit expectations as a result of a jump in quarterly sales and increased margins. Asos said that retail sales increased by 47% to 207.9 million pounds over the three months ended 31st August, driven by its increased international presence in countries such as the USA, France and Germany. The retailer - which was founded in 2000 named As Seen On Screen - is targeting annual sales of 1 billion pounds by 2015. The shares soared by 636p to 5,469p, giving ASOS a market cap of 4.5 billion pounds. If the company were listed on the full list of the London Stock Exchange it would be eligible for inclusion in the FTSE 100. Surveillance firm Petards Group (PEG) has secured a multi-million euro framework contract with Hitachi Rail Europe to provide supply Passenger Counting Systems for the Class 800 series trains as part of the European Intercity Express Programme. Initially, Petards will be paid 1.1 million euros (685,000 pounds) over the next three years with the rest of the contract expected to be fulfilled in 2015 and 2016. The shares remained flat at 13p. 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 Outsourcing and insurance group Quindell Portfolio* (QPP) it has increased its investment in Ingenie Limited, the telematic insurance company, from 19% to 43%. Quindell's successful bid came in the form and shares and valued Ingenie at 50 million pounds. Management insisted that it was a "natural time" to increase its investment in Ingenie as the company has become significantly profitable just two years after being founded. Separately, the group confirmed it has signed a CAN$6 million (3.65 million pounds) contract in Canada. The shares were up by 0.25p to 16.75p. Harry Anagnostaras-Adams, CEO of mining group EMED Mining* (EMED), has resigned with immediate effect. The board stressed that it is now on the lookout for a replacement CEO to lead the company's efforts in redeveloping the Rio Tinto copper mine in Spain as the group awaits final approvals from the Spanish mining authorities to begin the project. In the meantime, Rod Halliday, current CEO of EMED Mining subsidiary, EMED Tartessus, has been appointed interim CEO. The shares slumped by 1.375p to 7p. Marketing firm Mission Marketing (TMMG) posted a 13% increase in revenues to 25.4 million pounds over the first 6 months of 2013, pushing operating profit up from 2 million pounds to 2.8 million pounds. The improvement in the firm's results were driven by the acquisitions of both Balloon Dog and the Addiction agency in the third quarter of last year. However, the firm said results could have been even better if it was not for the fact that its Addiction business suffered on the back of the scaling back in marketing activity from Aviva - one of its largest clients. The shares inched up by 0.25p to 28p. * Quindell portfolio and EMED Mining are corporate clients of a subsidiary of Rivington Street Holdings, the ultimate owner of UK-Analyst.

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