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London afternoon: Gaming firms in demand

Fri, 25th Mar 2011 14:07

Leading shares are mixed after the strong opening prompted traders to bank some profits at the end of a week which has seen the top share index advance by around 170 points.Broker commentary is behind the share price movements of the Footsie's best and worst performers.Reckitt Benckiser is wanted after Bank of America Merrill Lynch upgraded the stock of the Cillit Bang maker to "buy" from "neutral", while Autonomy is in the red after JP Morgan issued a note in which it opined that the software giant's earnings quality is "poor and deteriorating".George O'Connor at Panmure Gordon remains a fan, however, pointing to a read across from US database software colossus Oracle which, in O'Connor's words, "came out with a blistering set of third quarter results after the US close yesterday"."The results bode well from the enterprise software sector generally, with Autonomy as the prime candidate for a positive read-across. Autonomy is closing the period (end March) and shares should begin the traditional 'lift' - Oracles results are a likely catalyst for the 'lift' to begin. Shares are trading on a current year P/E of 20.3x - the bottom end of the traditional range - and are pretty much where they normally are given the intra quarterly pattern," O'Connor says.Engineer Invensys recovers some of the losses seen yesterday following the abrupt departure of its chief executive, Ulf Henriksson. Evolution Securities said the share price setback represented a great buying opportunity.Credit Suisse reiterates its 'outperform' rating on satellite operator Inmarsat, but the shares lose altitude as the broker cut its target price from 840p to 720p, citing the disappointing fourth quarter results that revealed slowing growth.African Barrick Gold has had further successes with its drilling programme on the Nyanzaga project in Tanzania. Infill drilling continues to show good continuity of gold mineralisation throughout the Tusker deposit with further wide zones encountered on several sections.Euromoney Institutional Investor, the business publisher and exhibitions organiser, is trading in line with expectations and will make at least £40m in the half-year to 31 March. "Sales trends over the past three months have been broadly positive, particularly for the events businesses for which the third quarter is the most important of the year," the firm said Friday.Canary Wharf owner Songbird Estates' recovery continued in the second half of last year as property values picked up and occupancy rose to 97.1%. Online gaming company 888 said that the Nevada Gaming Commission has approved the relationship between Dragonfish, 888's business-to-business arm, and Caesars Interactive Entertainment. The ruling relates to state law in Nevada that covers Nevada gaming companies conducting gaming outside the state of Nevada."We believe the clearance is the first for a foreign operator and potentially paves the way for other foreign online gambling operators to enter into a joint venture with US based gaming companies (initially outside of the US)," noted Shore Capital.That's probably the reason behind strong interest in the shares of other online gaming firms today such as Partygaming and Betfair. Elsewhere in the sector online gaming software specialist Cryptologic is flying after it launched a full strategic review, which could result in it putting itself up for sale. Europe-focused Aurelian Oil & Gas has run into problems at the Siekierki multi-frak well Trzek-2 where the stabilised flow rate is now likely to be less than originally expected. The firm, which had been predicting a flow rate of about 8m standard cubic feet per day of gas, said the test had been delayed by two weeks due to mechanical problems.North Sea oilfields operator Xcite Energy is not fazed by tax changes in the Budget this week. According to the company's calculations, the increased benefit of the heavy oil tax allowances will have a material offsetting effect on the increased supplemental corporation tax charge. Xcite's loss before tax in 2010 widened to £2.45m from £0.78m in 2009 as the company invested heavily in its drilling programme. HMV, the entertainment media retailer, had bears rushing to cover their short positions as it confirmed press speculation that is exploring strategic options in respect of Waterstone's and HMV Canada. Cancer drug developer Antisoma is sharply lower after the company said that no transactions which might result in any offer for the issued share capital of the company remain under consideration and none are now envisaged. The company put up the "for sale" sign at the beginning of February after it discontinued development of a leukemia treatment it was working on, following a disappointing phase III trial.- - -jh
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25 Mar 2011 17:19

London close: Footsie back at 5,900

Blue chips closed the week just above 5,900 with decent gains across a range of sectors helped by a smattering of broker recommendations. Reckitt Benckiser is wanted after Bank of America Merrill Lynch upgraded the stock of the Cillit Bang maker to "buy" from "neutral", while Autonomy is in the red

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25 Mar 2011 15:28

FTSE 250 movers: African Barrick rises on Tanzanian success

African Barrick Gold is a top performer after having further successes with its drilling programme on the Nyanzaga project in Tanzania. Euromoney Institutional Investor, the business publisher and exhibitions organiser, is among the fallers after its pre-close trading update underwhelmed investors.

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4 Mar 2011 06:43

Friday tips round-up: Cobham, Aviva, Amec...

Yesterday's full-year figures from Cobham have much to recommend them. Underlying pre-tax profits were up by a healthy 4% to £306m, on revenues broadly flat at £1.9bn, thanks to an improvement in margins to 18.3%. Cobham is also working hard to insulate itself from the ructions over defence spendin

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3 Mar 2011 16:39

London close: Shares soar on Libya deal hopes

Reports that the Libyan situation might be resolved through mediation rather than violence sent UK shares sharply higher. The Arab League is said to be considering a proposal to end the fighting in Libya sending oil prices higher. Heavy oil users such as airline International Consolidated Airlines

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3 Mar 2011 15:28

FTSE 250 movers: PartyGaming surges as sales rise

Online gambling firm PartyGaming is the best performer on the FTSE 250 after 2010 revenues rose by 15%, after casino games, bingo and sports betting offset weakness from the company's poker operations. Cobham was also higher despite statutory pre-tax profits for 2010 falling to £189m, from £245m, h

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3 Mar 2011 14:33

Revenues soar at PartyGaming

Casino games, bingo and sports betting drove revenues higher at PartyGaming in the year to 31 December, offsetting weakness from the company's poker operations. Revenues rose by 15% from the previous year to €357.3m (£300m) to €310.1m, with casino revenues jumping to €151.4m from €136.3m, bingo rev

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3 Mar 2011 14:13

London afternoon: Footsie cruises towards 6,000

Footsie has 6,000 within its sights once more as stocks bounce back strongly on hopes that the Libyan situation might be resolved. Reports that the Arab League is considering a proposal to end the fighting in Libya have boosted sentiment, and has sent the price of oil into reverse. Heavy oil users

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28 Jan 2011 15:56

FTSE 250 movers: BTG and IG Group on the decline

BTG is on of the heaviest fallers despite yesterday's announcement that the speciality pharmaceuticals developer expects its recurring revenues will grow by £5m following the Biocompatibles acquisition. IG Group is following suit after the its was reported yesterday that the spreadbet firm has one

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17 Dec 2010 08:12

PartyGaming's casino keeps year on track

PartyGaming, the internet gambling firm that's merging with rival bwin, has traded in line with expectations during the fourth quarter, with a stronger casino business offsetting weakness in poker and bingo. The company said trading since the end of September has been "solid" overall, thanks mainly

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15 Nov 2010 08:04

Sportingbet confirms talks

Online bookmaker Sportingbet has confirmed it is in talks about 'potential opportunities', rumoured to be with Swedish rival Unibet in a deal that could be worth up to £600m. "The company confirms that it has had and will continue to have discussions with different parties in relation to a variety

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22 Oct 2010 16:24

London close:Dull end to the week

London has closed lower as Wall Street failed to arouse much enthusiasm and miners fell back with a weak dollar. Talks about currency tensions at this weekend's G20 meeting in Korea are also making traders cautious. Lonmin, Eurasian Natural Resources Corp, Vedanta and Anglo American are lower. Tw

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22 Oct 2010 15:25

London afternoon: Gloomy mood continues

Blue chips are stuck in the red as Wall Street failed to arouse much enthusiasm and miners continue to wallow in negative territory as dollar strength trims commodity prices. US company earnings have been largely well-received, but talks about currency tensions at this weekend's G20 meeting in Kore

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22 Oct 2010 12:54

Broker tips: GSK, PartyGaming, Debenhams

Panmure Gordon has not changed its forecasts for GlaxoSmithKline following third quarter results that failed to rouse much excitement. The drugs firm's results were broadly in line with the broker's expectations reporting revenues of £6.81bn and earnings per share of 28.2p. The broker recently dow

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22 Oct 2010 12:44

Broker snap: Exciting future ahead for PartyGaming

KBC Peel Hunt expects that the completion of PartyGaming's merger with bwin Interactive Entertainment to be one "well worth waiting for". The internet gambling firm's third quarter results were in line with forecasts with revenues at €85.3m. This represented a 6% decline compared with the last quar

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