Opportunity drives optimism

Housebuilder Bovis has come to the market seeking a further £60 million by selling 10% of its equity.

Chris Bradshaw
shareprices.com - Thursday, September 03, 2009

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It plans to use the cash raised to expand its land bank for future development. The news follows fellow housebuilders Berkeley and Taylor Wimpey who raised cash earlier in the year.

McBride, Europe's biggest own label retailer of household goods, posted annual results for June which rose 34% to £36.2m. This easily beat expectations that were set at £35m. Chief Executive Miles Roberts is confident for the future citing the continuing pressure on household budgets despite the easing of the recession. He says that rising taxes, unemployment, fuel and utility bills will ensure consumers will continue to seek out bargains. Shares rose 3.4% to 159.5p in early trading on Thursday.

Prices of government bonds eased on Thursday ahead of the results of a UK services survey and a 30 year gilt auction. The sale of £2.25bn of government debt will be into a market that has been buoyed by recent stock market stabilisation and growth. Overseas debt markets are weakening so traders expect the sale to be tougher to place than with recent issues.

HMV Group announced the purchase of digital media company 7digital for £7.7m. The news came as HMV released 18 week trading results showing a 1.8% like for like fall in sales. Acquiring 7digital will give HMV access to 6 million digital music tracks and Simon Fox, HMV chief executive, was confident the company was in good shape for the key Christmas sales period.

Hays PLC warned that 2010 would be another difficult year after posting a net profit of £105.8m compared with £188.2m last year. Hays said that it had already closed 48 offices and shed 345 staff.

 

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