Numis Securities downgrades to hold from buy after insurer unveils £103m hit

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Numis Securities downgrades to "hold" from "buy" after insurer unveils £103m hit.Vislink 18.5p (down 4.5p, 19.6 per cent). Tells investors that its full-year results are likely to improve on those seen last year.SVB Holdings 26.5p (down 8.75p, 24.8 per cent). Unveils a first-half profit of £8m, up from £6m a year earlier, and boasts of a £1bn order book.Hampson Industries 19.75p (up 0.5p, 2.6 per cent). First-half results prove to be not as bad as some had feared.ITM Power 58.5p (up 6.5p, 12.5 per cent). Issues a bullish business update boasting of key developments in its technology.Densitron Technologies 16p (up 1.75p, 12.3 per cent). Posts a first-half pre-tax profit of £920,000 compared with a loss of £5.9m a year earlier and assures investors that current trading is stable.Jarvis 40.5p (up 1p, 2.5 per cent).

Dealers report positive comments from heavyweight broker Cazenove as driving the stock higher.Serco 207.25p (up 8.25p, 4.2 per cent). Merrill Lynch reiterates its "buy" rating after forecast-busting results from the group.LogicaCMG 166.5p (up 6p, 3.7 per cent). Word has it the business services group is now trading well into the black. Imagination Technologies ticked 3p better to 66.5p on rumours of an imminent licensing deal for its Power VR chip.Finally, punters should keep an eye on Frontier Mining, which is due to list on AIM today. The group is tipped to raise £3.5m at 15p and brokers expect the stock to jump to a good premium on its maiden session.MARKET MOVERSLand Securities 1,190p (up 40p, 3.5 per cent). Although the company is believed to be enjoying solid demand, its profit margins will have been impacted greatly as it struggles to pass on rising raw material prices to its customers.Proteome Science firmed 5.5p to 73.5p on whispers of positive newsflow from the biotech in the coming weeks, while Tenon put on 1.75p to 34p as brokers talked of strong trading at the group.

And so British Vita, the chemicals group, fell 2p to 241.5p ahead of its first-half results next week. BG gained 7.5p to 350p, BP improved 10.75p to 503.5p and Shell rose 4.5p to 410p as the price of oil rebounded.The strong crude price is great news for producers but bad news for companies that use oil as a raw material. It predicts that BAE's interim results next week will see the group unveil a 5 per cent rise in pre-tax profits to £345m and that long-term momentum is beginning to turn more positive for the defence and aerospace giant.The German broker also tried to get investors interested in Regus. They noted that in the mid-1990s Wessex Water tried to buy South West Water (now Pennon) but was blocked outright by the competition authorities, who were so against the deal that they refused even to indicate possible remedies which might enable the purchase to be approved.BAE Systems improved 4.5p to 205p on the back of an upgrade to "buy" from "hold" at Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein. Industry sources, however, poured cold water on the talk.A strong performance by the heavyweight oil sector helped the FTSE 100 index close 42 points higher at 4,502. But investors failed to bite and Regus closed 0.25p lower at 65.25p.Abbey National gained 5.5p to 603.5p on rumours that a counter bid for the company from HBOS, 6p higher at 685.5p, is imminent.

It initiated coverage of the office space group with a "buy" rating and slapped an 86p price target on the stock. Brokers are on the whole expecting the group to show evidence of continued recovery, although sales are unlikely to have been as strong as those unveiled by the company at its July AGM.Rumours of a 175p-a-share bid for Northumbrian Water, 1.5p higher to 143p, were back again yesterday and this time market gossips talked of Kelda, 3p lower at 524.5p, as the bidder. Analysts believe that such a link-up would certainly make sense and that now would be the time for Kelda to make such a move, given the recent publication of guidance on industry pricing by the regulator.But sector specialists are of the view that the competition authorities are very unlikely to give the deal the green light. Baugur, which has a 22 per cent stake and experience of food retailing in Iceland and the US, is seen as the most likely predator.

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