Investors Chronicle back issues from June 2005:
Hedge hogs' crossroads.
Jun 03, 2005 ... Do you remember where you were when the Berlin Wall came down, or when Margaret Thatcher resigned, or even when the last episode of Crossroads was broadcast? In at least two of these instances, you probably do. That's because they marked the ending of a particular era - a period of time ...
Time to untangle the web.
Jun 03, 2005 ... The Investor Relations Society recently handed out its annual awards for the best investor-relations websites. But when I had a look at the winning sites, I was deeply uninspired. These were the WINNERS? The big question is: when are companies really going to set this medium to work? And I ...
Hedge fund troubles.
Jun 03, 2005 ... The one thing that's grown faster than hedge funds in recent years is hedge-fund journalism. And a lot of it misses the point. Hedge funds are not a major force for instability in the financial system. Sure, some will go belly-up in the next few months - as there are over 8,000 of the ...
Credit crunch.
Jun 03, 2005 ... So has the consumer credit crunch finally hit us? After months and years of headlines about Britons being a trillion pounds in debt, saving too little and relying on the plastic in their purses to satisfy their every conceivable whim, there are signs that the spend-thrifts are beginning to ...
A passing smell.
Jun 03, 2005 ... The US is sniffing a whiff of stagflation. Consumer price inflation, at 3.5 per cent, is now close to a four-year high, while industrial production growth has slowed down. This matters. Stagflation is terrible for shares. Our chart, below, shows that increases in one measure of ...
Not so moronic.
Jun 03, 2005 ... Are pension fund managers cretins? That's the question raised by figures from Russell Mellon Caps, which show that they have been switching out of UK equities into overseas ones - the latter now account for a record 32.3 per cent of funds' assets, while UK stocks account for 51.2 per cent ....
The value effect.
Jun 03, 2005 ... Value stocks are fall-ing out of fashion. Since 21 January, the FTSE 350 value index has underperformed the growth index by 3.4 percentage points. So, with retail sales - which have traditionally been correlated with value returns - faltering, this trend might continue. And, if it does, it ...
Premiums sky high.
Jun 03, 2005 ... The destruction of New York's twin towers in September 2001 was always going to have huge implications for the world's insurers. And while this event turned out to be the most expensive catastrophe in the history of the global insurance market - it's estimated to have cost between $70bn ...
ITV beats the advertising gloom.
Jun 03, 2005 ... ITV confounded some sceptics this week, posting an upbeat trading statement. Fears had grown that a lack of news from the commercial broadcaster meant that advertising sales had hit a sticky patch. But, in the six months to June, advertising revenues were up 3 per cent on the same period ...
Pace lands huge US order.
Jun 03, 2005 ... Pace Micro's shares leapt almost 70 per cent, to 60p, when the set-top box maker revealed a huge new order with the leading US cable TV company, Comcast. The three-year deal - which replaces an ...
Marconi lifted by Cable & Wireless.
Jun 03, 2005 ... Cable & Wireless has selected Marconi equipment to support the transition to its next-generation network. The initial five-year agreement is believed to be worth tens of millions of pounds, and there could ...
Whitbread soars on bid rumours.
Jun 03, 2005 ... Rumours of a takeover bid have pushed Whitbread's shares to a record high. Apparently, a private equity firm is interested in buying the leisure conglomerate and carving up its rich assets. But ...
Tech the opportunity.
Jun 03, 2005 ... Technology investors have had to put up with some pretty lacklustre performances from their portfolios over the past year or so, as the market has favoured other sectors. For example, while higher energy prices and an increased demand for valuable metals such as gold have helped the FTSE ...
Mining trouble.
Jun 03, 2005 ... There were more shenanigans in the Aim resources sectors this week. First White Nile, the mining company set up by former England cricketer Phil Edmonds, returned from a three-month suspension only to find its shares suspended again within four days. An irregular market was to blame this ...
Cash holdings point to stock market rise.
Jun 03, 2005 ... There was mixed news for equity investors in Wednesday's Bank of England money- stock figures. The good news is that financial institutions' cash holdings are still high, despite a dip in April. They are equivalent to 18.7 per cent of the capitalisation of the UK stock market - ...
Emap aims for Scottish Radio stake.
Jun 03, 2005 ... Emap revealed this week that it had made a takeover approach to buy the remaining 63 per cent stake that it does not already own in radio broadcaster Scottish Radio (SRH). SRH rebuffed Emap's advances on 22 April, believing that the 1,040p-a-share approach undervalued the ...
It's grim down south for morrison.
Jun 03, 2005 ... Although Morrison has revived the ailing stores it bought from Safeway, the improvements of late haven't lived up to optimistic investors' hopes. The supermarket chain is getting more customers into the ex-Safeway stores and they're ...
Hanson relief at senate asbestos claims fund.
Jun 03, 2005 ... A bill to establish an asbestos compensation fund has been passed by the US Senate Judiciary Committee. The fund would provide some protection for companies such as Hanson that are facing costly asbestos lawsuits. But the bill needs to get ...
Aiming high.
Jun 17, 2005 ... The Alternative Investment Market's (Aim) 10th birthday this week is unlikely to end people's distrust of the companies listed on the market. And Aim's rude health after 10 years has not discouraged the doubters. Yet it is not cliched criticism that investors need, but some real guidance ...
Bonds vs equities.
Jun 17, 2005 ... Even Federal reserve board chairman Alan Greenspan has been surprised by the lowness of US Treasury yields - real yields are below 1.8 per cent. Equity investors, however, shouldn't be surprised. Instead, they should be worried. In what sort of economy are such low yields ...
A strong defence.
Jun 17, 2005 ... Are fund managers' cyclical fears abating? Their switch out of cyclical sectors into defensive ones, such as electricity and tobacco, in the early part of this year was widely reported. What's been less widely recognised, though, is the improving performance of many economically sensitive ...
Pensions grow on trees.
Jun 17, 2005 ... I must be getting old. Well, older. 50 is still a long way away, I can assure you. Nevertheless, my children have started to consult me about pensions. My daughter has recently taken up waitressing. I said if she spends too much time waitressing instead of studying, I'll stop her petrol ...
Not for youngsters.
Jun 17, 2005 ... There's yet more evidence that traditional financial advice is wrong. Financial advisers often recommend that young people invest heavily in equities - one popular rule of thumb is that the percentage of financial wealth you should have in equities should be 100 minus your age ....
Limited predictability.
Jun 17, 2005 ... Where is the FTSE heading? This mundane question disguises a much more interesting one: how can the market be predictable at all? Obviously share prices next year will depend on investors' opinions then. And, if you're anything like me, you don't know now what you'll be thinking ...
COMMODITY COMMENT: Oil - black gold.
Jun 17, 2005 ... For the past year, the fluctuating oil price has dominated financial headlines. Despite significant technological advances since the 1970 oil shocks, the world is still reliant on hydrocarbons as a principal source of energy. So, unfortunately for consumers and investors, the high oil ...
The best home for your money.
Jun 17, 2005 ... It's been full steam ahead for property for the past five years or so, leaving buyers of residential and commercial buildings laughing all the way to the bank. Investors in shares, meanwhile, have had to make do with slim pickings over the same period. But what lies ahead? Are we reaching ...
Internet's casino kings look to list.
Jun 17, 2005 ... Talk about 'casino capitalism'. Within a couple of weeks, the UK stock market's online gambling sector will have soared in value to several billion pounds. Following a huge rise in the shares of several smaller players, two giants are now floating in London. Together, Empire Online and ...
Berkeley listens to Crosby bids.
Jun 17, 2005 ... Berkeley, the housebuilder, has received approaches for Crosby, its northern and Midlands subsidiary. Analysts believe bidders, which are known to include Australian property group Lend Lease, could pay around GBP250m ...
Simon's trading worsens.
Jun 17, 2005 ... Ports operator Simon Group has warned that full-year pre-tax profits will be substantially below the board's previous expectations due to the loss of business with a key customer. Discussions concerning a possible 47.5p-a-share ...
Regent Inns approach for Urbium.
Jun 17, 2005 ... Despite being a takeover target itself, Regent Inns has made a bit approach to bar-owning rival Urbium. Putting Regent's Australian-themed Walkabout pubs with Urbium's swisher late-night bars may sound odd, but the cost savings would justify ...
Budget hotels boom for Whitbread.
Jun 17, 2005 ... Consumer spending may be slowing, but Whitbread's trading suggests that we're still shelling out for some of their services. The group reported that its eateries and health clubs aren't ...
Imagination comes back for more cash.
Jun 17, 2005 ... Semiconductor group, Imagination Technologies, is to raise GBP9.5m through an institutional share placing. The company will issue 15m shares at 63p - equivalent to just under 8 per cent of the ...
Corvus eyes Royal & Sun Alliance.
Jun 17, 2005 ... News that Aim-traded investment company Corvus Capital is considering a bid for insurer Royal & Sun Alliance (RSA) helped boost RSA's shares this week. RSA, however, denies that it has received an ...
TSL to sell tissue patch in Canada.
Jun 17, 2005 ... Tissue Science Laboratories (TSL) has won clearance from regulators to sell soft tissue patch Permacol in Canada. The company, which develops human tissue replacements from pig skin, has registered the product ...
US debt rise sparks spending fear.
Jun 17, 2005 ... There are growing fears of a downturn in US consumer spending. This week's figures show that retail sales last month fell by a bigger-than-expected 0.5 per cent. This follows figures from the Federal Reserve showing that households ...
Debtmatters set for Aim debut.
Jun 17, 2005 ... Bleak economic forecasts combined with growing consumer debt - which passed GBP1 trillion last year, and is increasing by around GBP1m every four minutes - provide the perfect backdrop for Debtmatters, which is to float on Aim next week. The company is the latest to take ...
Abraxus board under pressure.
Jun 17, 2005 ... Aim-listed cash shell Abraxus Investments has become the subject of an attempted boardroom coup by a property industry stalwart and a senior City lawyer. Neil Sinclair, a former non-executive director of Tops Estates, Robert Burrows, a partner at SJ Berwin, and Mr Sinclair's daughter, ...
Vodafone Japan launches NXT phones.
Jun 17, 2005 ... Shares in NXT jumped 15 per cent to 74p on news that Vodafone's Japanese operation will launch a phone featuring its SoundVu technology, which lets the display double as a loudspeaker. The new model - supplied by NXT licensee ...
Interest rates spur dollar recovery.
Jun 17, 2005 ... The US dollar's rise to a nine-month high against the euro isn't only due to the collapse of the EU constitution, economists say. The dollar has been driven up by interest rate expectations - futures markets expect US short rates to be two percentage points ...
Thor to land on Aim.
Jun 17, 2005 ... The latest company to join the swelling ranks of Aim's junior miners is Thor Mining, an Australian company with a tungsten-molybdenum project near Alice Springs. Thor is raising between GBP1.2m and GBP1.8m from UK institutions, with prominent resources investor RAB ...
Zi Medical returns with oxford newtech deal.
Jun 17, 2005 ... Zi Medical is paying GBP5m for Oxford NewTech. The reverse takeover signals Zi's return to trading, following the suspension of its shares in March when the deal was first mooted. It's raising GBP3m via a placing at ...
UK Coal scraps bid talks.
Jun 17, 2005 ... UK Coal said that it has terminated bid talks, and denied a fresh approach from private-equity group Alchemy. It said that the potential bidder did not give enough information to justify continuing the talks. UK Coal's property assets are ...
Fun Technologies adds Fanball Interactive.
Jun 17, 2005 ... Fun Technologies is paying up to $22m (GBP12.2m) for fantasy sports firm Fanball Interactive. The addition strengthens Fun's suite of products, and completes a busy few days. During the past week, Fun's gaming subsidiary, SkillJam, has signed ...
Hope springs eternal for Consolidated.
Jun 17, 2005 ... Shares in Consolidated Minerals were temporarily suspended this week as the company confirmed that it was in talks over the possible acquisition of a stake in Australia's Hope Downs iron ore project. Hope Downs should produce 30m to 50m tonnes of iron ore a year. The ...
Week Ahead..
Jun 17, 2005 ... NEWS Wednesday 22 June Dixons' full-year figures, due out on Wednesday, may well be supported by continuing demand for must-have electrical goods, such as plasma televisions, but this is unlikely to make up for falling sales at PC World and The Link. Analysts will ...
Bunzl and Corus to fall out of footsie.
Jun 17, 2005 ... Support services group Bunzl and Anglo Dutch steelmaker Corus bid their farewells to the FTSE 100 on Monday 21 June when the quarterly index changes take effect. And if our theory on the subsequent performance of these laggard shares holds true (Playing FTSE With The Laggards, 22 April ...
GW Pharma's sativex plans go up in smoke.
Jun 17, 2005 ... The launch of the UK's first cannabis-derived drug faces another setback after regulators told GW Pharma this week that further clinical trials are needed before its multiple sclerosis drug, Sativex, can be approved. Analysts say that a GBP14m milestone, payable by German ...
Provalis issues profit warning.
Jun 17, 2005 ... Serial disappointer Provalis issued a profit warning this week. The diagnostics company has been unable to cope with the strong demand for its new 'in2it' doctors' surgery analyser, after teething problems with the analyser and its cartridge. Generic competition and consumer ...
Shares' beta link breaks down.
Jun 17, 2005 ... Economists' oldest explanation for share price moves has broken down completely this year. During the past six months, there has been no correlation between shares' betas - their sensitivity to moves in the market - and returns. Although the highest decile of betas has ...
AstraZeneca faces GBP40m patent fine.
Jun 17, 2005 ... AstraZeneca has been fined by the European Commission for illegally extending the patent life of stomach ulcer drug, Prilosec. Officials fined the company E60m (GBP40m) after a six-year investigation into allegations that it illegally obtained a five-year patent extension. ...
Land Securities swoops for Lxb.
Jun 17, 2005 ... Land Securities has topped up its retail portfolio with the GBP360m acquisition of Lxb Properties. Lxb owns two retail warehouses and 10 supermarket sites, and tenants include Tesco and Walmart. The deal follows May's GBP517m purchase of city-centre retail group, Tops ...
Rolls-Royce takes off in China.
Jun 17, 2005 ... Rolls-Royce has landed an $800m (GBP442m) order to supply Air China with engines for its fleet of new Airbus A330s. The deal with China's flagship airline includes long-term TotalCare service contracts. Meanwhile, in a presentation at the Paris Air Show, the company said that it expects ...
Choosing the right package.
Jun 17, 2005 ... To the untrained eye, the technical analysis software market has changed little in the past 10 years. But the sophistication and diversity of products available has vastly improved, to the point where some of the companies are guilty of overelaboration and adding too many unnecessary bells ...
EXPERT VIEW - Richard J Hunter.
Jun 17, 2005 ... It has been said that fear and greed drive the markets and, from a psychological standpoint, this statement contains a great deal of truth. Indeed, the whole issue of investor psychology has become something of a science in itself, with scholars concluding that it can be broken down into ...
WHAT TO BUY - Best and worst.
Jun 17, 2005 ... Websites ADVFN 4 out of 5 Of the really big portals, ADVFN is still probably the best. It's great strength is the sheer depth and breadth of information available, although it's relatively expensive to access these tools and to upgrade to live, ...
Software basics.
Jun 17, 2005 ... Most investment software systems fall into one of two camps: those aimed at frequent traders who require detailed technical analysis, or those aimed at 'fundamentals' investors who probably trade less often and who need powerful data-mining tools. The distinction is not completely ...
MAJESTIC WINE (MJW).
Jun 17, 2005 ... Majestic Wine has turned in another vintage performance, posting its 12th consecutive year of profit growth, with underlying pre-tax profits rising 24 per cent to GBP13.2m, and like-for-like sales up 8.3 per cent. But what makes these figures really impressive is that they have been ...
GRAINGER TRUST (GRI).
Jun 17, 2005 ... Since the year-end, Grainger has secured a deal with Norwich Union that will bulk up its home-reversion assets. Home-reversion is a type of equity release where a company buys a house below market value and allows the tenants to live in it rent-free. Grainger will now acquire new ...
FIRST PROPERTY (FPO).
Jun 17, 2005 ... Property underwriting is the main earner for First Property at the moment. The company guarantees vendors a minimum price for their property. If the property is sold for more than that, First gets a share of the upside. If not, First buys the property itself with a view to selling it on ...
WORKSPACE (WKP).
Jun 17, 2005 ... London and South-East small business landlord Workspace says that it remains on track to grow its GBP718m portfolio to GBP1bn by September 2008. Although the company missed its GBP60m purchase target for the last financial year by GBP17m, stating that rising commercial property prices had ...
CARCLO (CAR).
Jun 17, 2005 ... Carclo is selling its traditional specialist wire business for up to GBP8.6m, which will complete the group's restructuring, and allow it to focus on specialist technical plastics. Profits at the specialist wire arm dropped 27 per cent to GBP1.4m during the year, and the group's withdrawal ...
DELTRON (DET).
Jun 17, 2005 ... Deltron's interims reflect the start of a recovery period in the electrical components cycle that most industry-watchers were taking as read. But first-quarter 2005 figures from the Association of Franchised Distributors of Electronic Components (AFDEC) came as something of a shock. UK ...
PARK (PKG).
Jun 17, 2005 ... Current executive chairman Peter Johnson founded Park Group in 1967 as a supplier of Christmas hampers. Park has since branched out into savings clubs, lending activities and high-street gift vouchers. In October, Mr Johnson - who owns 74 per cent of the shares - said he was ...
CHARLES STANLEY (CAY).
Jun 17, 2005 ... in order to reduce its reliance on volatile trading commissions, Charles Stanley has been shifting towards fee-based work such as investment management and corporate finance and the sale of personal equity plans and individual savings accounts. Overall, fee income increased by 36 per cent ...
RENOLD (RND).
Jun 17, 2005 ... With these results, Renold has lost its status as an income stock, as it passed its final dividend. After two profit warnings, there were no surprises in the figures - profits were flattened by steel price rises averaging around 40 per cent, which hit the chain businesses hard. Recovery is ...