22-11-2011

British Land: Bank of America-Merrill Lynch upgrades to buy from neutral.

22-11-2011

Oil and gas firm Hamworthy is set to be acquired by Finnish group Wärtsilä for around £383m.

18-11-2011

Pennon: Deutsche Bank upgrades to buy from hold.

18-11-2011

With Eurozone troubles continuing to provide a drag, the Footsie had tumbled 1% by midday on Friday to 5,366, an intraday level not seen since last Thursday. This is now the fifth consecutive day of falls for London's blue chip index, which has steadily declined from last Friday's closing price of 5,545 (-3.2%).

18-11-2011

Investec has reiterated its hold recommendation on business outsourcing company Capita, highlighting a "more cautious tone" to the group's interim management statement released on Friday.

18-11-2011

Evolution Securities has downgraded marine, oil and gas services firm Hamworthy from add to reduce following yesterday's announcement of a possible offer for the company.

13-10-2011

A round-up of the biggest director buys today so far.

05-10-2011

Carillion, which bought Eaga, the home insulation and green energy business, in the spring, has now raised its estimate for annualised cost savings from £9 million to £15 million, notes the Tempus column in the Times. Carillion, like its rival support services group Kier, is now seeing the promised, cuts-inspired public sector outsourcing work seeping through in the form of offers to tender. Further growth will come from Canada, where the Government has just announced a C$35 billion (£21 billion) spending programme, half of it to go on healthcare, and the Middle East, albeit at lower margins than the company was enjoying before the Dubai bubble burst. The shares now sell on about 7.7 times' this year's earnings, which looks a little low compared with its peers, though in these markets I would be in no hurry to buy now, suggests the Times.

04-10-2011

Hamworthy, the AIM-listed supplier of products to the oil and gas sector, has acquired 100% of the issued share capital of AW Flow Holdings for £24m.

14-07-2011

Hamworthy, the AIM listed supplier of products to the oil and gas sector, has seen orders rise nearly 50% year on year.

20-06-2011

UBS has upgraded electrical components distributor Premier Farnell to 'neutral', from 'sell', after the recent share price correction following the group's "disappointing" first quarter results.

20-06-2011

Charles Stanley has hiked its target price for Hamworthy by 34% to 608p after a boost in its order intake has highlighted the recovery in the market.

08-06-2011

The speed of the revival in the Hamworthy's fortunes is probably best shown by the growth in the order book, up from £142m a year before to £258m at the end of March. The shares, 13% ahead at 634½p last night after those upgrades, are up by almost 50% since the start of the year and sell on around 22 times' this year's earnings, which suggests the good news could be in the price. Long-term holders might consider taking profits, writes the Times.

07-06-2011

Oil and gas services group Hamworthy revealed lower revenue and operating profit for the year ended 31 March 2011 but hiked its dividend 10% as its order intake took off towards the end of the financial year.

15-04-2011

Dixons Retail cheered investors yesterday when it confirmed plans to pull the plug on its struggling Spanish business, PC City Spain. The City liked the news. But Dixons' shares have slumped by more than 70 per cent in little over a year, which suggests the market is far from convinced by the recovery story by its CEO. In his favour, he has exited various struggling businesses, improved the service proposition and invested heavily in some formats. The group is also on track to make profits of about £85m pounds for the year to April. Given the modest margins in electrical retailing however, there are safer bets elsewhere, and it needs to streamline UK operations. Hold says the Independent.

14-04-2011

Oil and gas services group Hamworthy saw shares rise after expressing its confidence in meeting expectations as its order book at year end was almost double that of the year before.

18-03-2011

The unfolding events in Japan are likely to have shifted the public's perception of nuclear energy, but it is still very early to say exactly how this will affect the UK power sector, according to broker Matrix.

18-03-2011

The unfolding events in Japan are likely to have shifted the public's perception of nuclear energy, but it is still very early to say exactly how this will affect the UK power sector, according to broker Matrix.

26-01-2011

Engineer Hamworthy expects 'significantly' to exceed previous earnings expectations for the year to March after strong demand for after sales products and services, an increase in order intake from the oil and gas market and a reduction in the instances of customers delaying delivery dates.

24-11-2010

Behind the as-expected headlines, water firm Severn Trent has a good story to tell. Most importantly, given the new pricing structure, Severn Trent's cost-cutting plans are on track. Operating expenditure is also in line with forecasts, and below the level set by the regulator.