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Market news round up, upgrades & downgrades courtesy of Cantor Index

19 Feb 2013

Cantor Opening Call

  • The FTSE is seen opening largely unchanged today waiting for the US markets to return from the extended weekend

 
 

UK Corporate Announcements

  • Morgan Sindall announces that its Finance Director has quit, and details its full year EPS has fallen 6% to 72.5p and sees the challenging conditions continuing
  • Brammer details an adjusted pre-tax profit of £34.5m and a gross profit of £194m and states that it continues to perform ahead of the market
  • Drax Group announces 2012 pre-tax profit of £190m down from £338m last year and states that its first unit will be converted to biomass in April
  • Pendragon announces a full year operating profit of £67.9m down 13% with revenues up 5% to £3.6bn and states that H2 has been strong and it is well placed for 2013
  • AZ Electronics states that it expects positive revenue and profit momentum in 2013
  • Intercontinental Hotels reports a full year revenue of $1.84bn up from $1.77bn with operating profit up 10% to $614m
 

UK Market News

  • David Cameron has urged RBS to speed up its revival and also keeps talk alive in a possible share giveaway to UK taxpayers
  • He also stated that highly aggressive forms of tax avoidance should be regarded in a similar way to tax evasion
  • ITV has recovered to five year highs on renewed takeover talk
  • BP’s Deepwater Horizon trial starts next week
  • Sales of frozen burger have reportedly dropped 40% since the horse meat scandal broke
  • Aviva is reportedly looking to sell its Turkish business, Aviva Sigorta, with a market cap of £270m
  • The UK government increasingly looks set to lose the battle over stricter limits on banker bonuses
  • The UK energy watchdog states that UK consumers face higher energy bills as the country becomes more reliant on imports
  • The UK competition commission states that Rank Group can go ahead with its planned acquisition of gala Casinos provided some changes are made as the original proposal would damage competition in 5 areas
 

UK Analyst Changes

  • Booker Rated New Overweight At Jpmorgan; Pt 122P
  • Britvic Resumed At Buy At Nomura; Pt 480P
  • Carillion Raised To Buy Vs Hold At Berenberg
  • Informa Cut To Sell At Liberum
  • Morrison Rated New Underweight At Jpmorgan; Pt 245P
  • Reed Elsevier Kept as a Most Preferred Stock at Citigroup
  • Rsa Insurance Rated New Buy At Berenberg; Pt 153P
  • Sainsbury Rated New Underweight At Jpmorgan; Pt 325P
  • St. James’S Place Raised To Overweight Vs Equalweight: Barclays
  • Tesco Rated New Overweight At Jpmorgan; Pt 425P
  • Vodafone Cut to Underperform vs Market Perform at Bernstein
 

UK Insider Buying

  • E-Therapeutics Plc, (ETX), 1 insider(s) bought 15000 shares, £0.32
  • Havelock Europa Plc, (HVE), 1 insider(s) bought 115000 shares, £0.16
  • Impax Asset Management, (IPX), 1 insider(s) bought 90000 shares, £0.43
  • President Energy Plc, (PPC), 1 insider(s) bought 42290 shares, £0.24
  • Terrace Hill Group Plc, (THG), 1 insider(s) bought 25 shares, £0.21
  • Volex Plc, (VLX), 1 insider(s) bought 30000 shares, £0.99
 

UK Insider Selling

  • Charles Stanley Group, (CAY), 1 insider(s) sold 4710 shares, £3.51
  • Diageo Plc, (DGE),  insider(s) sold 75000 shares, £19.35
  • Imperial Tobacco Grou, (IMT), 6 insider(s) sold 48087 shares, £23.13
  • Mitchells & Butlers Pl, (MAB), 1 insider(s) sold 2225 shares, £3.37
  • Phsc Plc, (PHSC), 1 insider(s) sold 100000 shares, £0.25
  • Randall & Quilter Inve, (RQIH), 1 insider(s) sold 300000 shares, £1.22
  • Rio Tinto Plc, (RIO),  insider(s) sold 70732 shares, £37.54
  • Rurelec Plc, (RUR), 1 insider(s) sold 100000 shares, £0.1
  • Toledo Mining Corp Plc, (TMC), 1 insider(s) sold 10338094 shares, £0.5
 

FTSE 100 Movers
 
 

Major European Companies Reporting

  • Abertis Infraestructuras SA, R, 1.473,  Danone SA, R, 3.051,  Deutsche Boerse AG, R, 3.562,  Drax Group PLC, R, 0.48,  Ferrovial SA, R, 0.548,  Gas Natural SDG SA, R, 1.401,  InterContinental Hotels Group PLC, R, 1.382,  Meda AB, R, 3.344,  MTU Aero Engines Holding AG, R, 4.385,  Schindler Holding AG, R, 5.95
 

European Market Summary

  • Kabel Deutschland has reportedly hired Morgan Stanley as talk of a possible move from Vodafone continues
  • Nestle is the latest to withdraw some beef products as it too finds horse DNA in its products
  • According to the options markets the risk of a euro breakup has now fallen to a 5 year low
  • Spain sells bills at 10:30
 

Major US Stock Movers After Hours

  • There were no major movers after hours on Friday
 

S&P 500 Companies Reporting

  • Actavis Inc, Q4, 1.53,  Analog Devices Inc, Q1, 0.445,  CF Industries Holdings Inc, Q4, 6.985,  Dell Inc, Q4, 0.385,  Genuine Parts Co, Q4, 0.929,  Marriott International Inc/DE, Q4, 0.55,  Medtronic Inc, Q3, 0.908,  Nabors Industries Ltd, Q4, 0.287,  Newfield Exploration Co, Q4, 0.422,  NiSource Inc, Q4, 0.429,  Northeast Utilities, Q4, 0.579,  QEP Resources Inc, Q4, 0.317,  Sealed Air Corp, Q4, 0.291,  Windstream Corp, Q4, 0.127
 

US Market News

  • Office Depot states that it is discussing a possible merger with OfficeMax
  • Bloomberg writes on average daily price moves on the S&P 500 have fallen to 0.43% in 2013, down from the five year average of 1.08%, and details that the last time the annual average was this low, in 1995, the S&P 500 gained 35%
  • The FT suggests that Google could yet be sanctioned by European regulators before this summer, if it does not radically change its privacy policies
  • Burger King has suspended its Twitter account after hackers worked out its password and started posting obscenities and drug references and reportedly changed is logo to McDonalds claiming that it had been sold to the US giant
 

Overnight Market News

  • Pimco states that Australian debts markets are misguided on the consensus that the central bank is nearly done cutting rates
  • Japan responds to talk and states that it does not plan a fund to invest in foreign bonds
  • New Zealand announces that it plans to follow Australia’s lead and be the second country to implement plain cigarette packaging
 

Economic Data Due

  • 10:00 Eurozone February ZEW Survey, 31.2 previous
  • 15:00 US February NAHB Housing Market Index, 48 exp. 47 previous

Eurozone ZEW
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