magazine archive
magazine archive
Big News
We like Tesco’s £3.7bn plan to buy Booker
Thursday 02 Feb 2017Supermarket Tesco ( TSCO ) gets our vote for its share and cash takeover of food wholesaler Booker ( BOK ) . There is much to like about the premium-priced £3.7bn deal, although it introduces execution risk into the Tesco narrative and will come under scrutiny from the UK Competition & Markets...
Vodafone’s answer to India price wars
Thursday 02 Feb 2017V odafone ( VOD ) is in talks that could see it merge its Indian business with local rival Idea Cellular. Investors hope that a tie-up could ease the pressure of an intense price war that has broken out in the Asian state, where a billion-plus mobile subscribers are up for grabs. The current savage...
Value expedition for new Polar fund
Thursday 02 Feb 2017Investment manager Polar Capital ( POLR:AIM ) has launched the UK Value Opportunities Fund, which will scout for undervalued large, mid and small caps temporarily trading below intrinsic value. The fund will be managed by Georgina Hamilton, whose resignation from Miton ( MGR:AIM ) in April last...
Energise your portfolio with Science in Sport
Thursday 02 Feb 2017Pocket sports nutrition products manufacturer Science in Sport ( SIS:AIM ) ahead of next month’s (23 Mar) full year results statement, where a positive outlook could give the shares another energy boost. With revenues sprinting higher and awareness of its ‘SiS’ brand growing in a $10bn global...
Redcentric’s new business cheer
Thursday 02 Feb 2017Embattled IT and communications services supplier Redcentric ( RCN:AIM ) appears to be putting its accounting disaster behind it. The company has won an approved supplier spot on the new Health and Social Care Network, part of the NHS Digital shift. Added to the recent contract with bed maker...
Stadium mulls payout hike
Thursday 26 Jan 2017Electronics manufacturer Stadium ( SDM:AIM ) could be set to lift 2017’s forecast dividend payout of 3p per share by as much as a third. At the root of the move is a tidying up of its balance sheet to release around £5m of funding currently tied up in a share premium account. Stadium says this...
BT’s £530m Italian black hole
Thursday 26 Jan 2017The market is in shock after telecoms giant BT ( BT.A ) admitted the cost of dodgy accounting at its Italian business is far bigger than first thought (24 Jan). The group’s own investigation has uncovered an accounting malpractice bill of around £530m, more than three-and-a-half times the £145m...
Don’t expect another bumper year for special dividends
Thursday 26 Jan 2017The amount of money paid in special dividends to UK investors could fall in 2017, according to Capita Asset Services’ latest study of shareholder rewards. Companies on the UK stock market more than doubled the amount of money paid in special dividends in 2016 to £6.1bn. That is the second largest...
Photo-Me blinded by mobile threat to earnings
Thursday 26 Jan 2017One fifth of Photo-Me International’s ( PHTM ) market value was wiped off at the start of the week following news that the Home Office will accept photos taken on mobile phones for passports. Investors assumed this would render Photo-Me’s UK fleet of photo booths as worthless. The company replied...
Leisure industry offers rich pickings
Thursday 26 Jan 2017While sterling depreciation following the vote for Brexit will hit consumers in the pocket, it may also fatten the wallets of savvy leisure sector investors. Broker Canaccord Genuity for one believes the online gaming sub-sector remains ripe for further consolidation. Sporting losses Key...