Babcock International Share Price (BAB)

Well it reached Citygroups target before lunchtime today, will hopefully continue to rise :O)

Babcock International: Citigroup revises target price from 965p to 1185p and keeps its buy recommendation.

Babcock: Investec raises target price from 1000p to 1070p, while leaving its hold recommendation unchanged.

Commenting on Sir Nigel's retirement Turner added: "I would like to put on record our sincere appreciation of Sir Nigel's service throughout his term of office. He has contributed greatly to the work of the board and its committees and to the development of Babcock from the small company that it was at the time of his appointment to the FTSE 100 company it is today." The company also confirmed that, as announced on June 19th, Anna Stewart had joined the board as a Non-Executive Director on November 1st.

John Davies has been appointed as Executive Director at Babcock International Group, the engineering support services company, and will assume the role actively from January 1st 2013. Davies previously held several senior executive positions within VT Group between 2000 and 2010 and became Chief Executive of the Defence and Security Division after Babcock's acquisition of VT in July 2010. Mike Turner, Chairman of Babcock International, commented: "I am very pleased to welcome John to the board. He has played a significant part in the successful integration of Babcock and VT Group. Our defence and security business now accounts for over a quarter of total group revenue and we believe it will be a major contributor to our future growth." As the company announced in March, Sir Nigel Essenhigh will retire from the board with effect from December 31st, having been appointed as a Non-Executive Director in March 2003.

Babcock International: UBS downgrades from buy to neutral.