The Markets UK economic growth for 2014 has been revised upwards to 2.8%, in the latest set of official figures published by the Office for National Statistics. The ONS also raised its estimate for the fourth quarter to 0.6% on the back of a stronger than expected performance in export markets. The ONS also announced…
Evil discusses Quindell and Daniel Stewart… I have been astounded by Quindell (QPP)’s rise. But there we are: I certainly would not short it now. However, the rubber ball (“he’ll come bouncing back to you – bouncy bouncy”), Rob Terry has bought 52m shares in Daniel Stewart (DAN) or 8%. The shares are ahead by,…
Evil discusses Outsourcery… Some people insist on slagging off Outsourcery (OUT) since they have taken a dislike to the co-boss, one Piers Linney. I doubt if this is a sensible starting point. One should surely confine oneself to the figures. However, these are awful. Although the board issues an upbeat tone it is quite impossible…
Despite all the horrors, profit warnings, cash burn, blogger sabotage and the perils of being a “growth company”, the AIM market remains a personal favourite. While it may have all the characteristics of the Wild West, and have governance/regulatory issues, there is of course always the hope and the challenge of finding the next 10…
Evil discusses Mitie, Concha and Optibiotix… Mitie (MTO) offer a market update this morning. The telling paragraph is: “As a result of the market pressures in the homecare and social housing businesses we expect our full year headline operating profit to be slightly below current market expectations.” This is just the beginning of the great…
The Markets The Bank of England has set out parameters for this year’s round of stress tests for the banking industry. Institutions will have to show that they are able to withstand sharp contractions in the Eurozone and Chinese economies, a well as a deep UK recession. However, the Bank is less concerned about UK…
Evil discusses Blue Rock Diamonds, Afren, Plus500 and Gate Ventures… After racing at Ascot yesterday I bumped into a Paul Beck who is chairman of Blue Rock Diamonds (BRD on AIM), a putative producer close to Kimberley. He seems hopeful but it is so hard to evaluate these stocks that I let it pass. I…
Thanks to the top notch homework regarding the healthcare, biotech and pharma space, led by the likes of Master Investor Jim Mellon, we were given decent notice that 2015 was likely to be the year for this particular area of the market. Given the demographics of an ageing population, epidemics such as Ebola, and an…
By Dave Evans of Binary.com The final session of the UK Parliament took place on Thursday 26th March, marking a five week run-up to the general election. At the time of writing, the outcome is almost impossible to predict, with bookmaker odds giving a Labour minority government a 29% implied probability and a Conservative minority…
Given the way that the FTSE 100 finally managed to go “over the top” this month – reaching the dizzy heights of 7,000 plus before fading yet again, one might have thought there would be a spring in the step of many blue chips plays. This is, alas, not quite the case. It would appear…
