Full List Of Stories
Results round-up: Taylor Wimpey, St James’s Place, Fresnillo, Croda
As it posted largely pre-announced annual results, Taylor Wimpey said it had made a "very good" start to 2017 and suggested the UK housing market will remain supportive for its bumper dividend programme for some time.
Small cap news round-up
Molecular diagnostics group Premaitha Health has gained regulatory clearance for the acquisition of Taiwan-based Yourgene Bioscience, a non-invasive prenatal testing bioinformatics specialist.
Results round-up: Bunzl, Hiscox, Ascential, Keller Group, Senior
Distribution and outsourcing company Bunzl received a boost from the post-Brexit vote slump in the pound as full year pre-tax profits jumped 12% to £362. 9m.
Broker tips: Rightmove, Kaz Minerals, Essentra, Smith & Nephew
Morgan Stanley has downgraded Rightmove to 'equalweight' from 'overweight' and kept the price target at 4,400p.
Comment: What are the chances for Marine Le Pen's Frexit plan for France?
By Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior market analyst at London Capital Group.
Small cap news round-up
Africa and Europe-focused upstream gas company Sound Energy upstream said the third Tendrara well, TE-8, has been drilled to the first casing point at a measured depth (MD) of 461m.
Results round-up: RBS, IAG, Pearson, Standard Life
Shares in Royal Bank of Scotland fell on Friday after it said losses widened in the year to 31 December - its ninth consecutive loss - as it was hit by legacy issues.
Broker tips: National Express, Drax, BAE Systems
Investec has upgraded National Express to 'buy' from 'hold' and hiked the price target to 385p from 335p.
Small cap news round-up
Antalya Mining is to buy a 10% stake in Cobre San Rafael, a subsidiary of Explotaciones Gallegas, in order to increase its interest in the Touro copper project in Spain.
Broker tips: Halfords, Inmarsat, Hays
Halfords slumped on Thursday as Peel Hunt downgraded its stance on the stock to ‘sell’ from ‘hold’ and cut the price target to 325p from was 350p.
Results round-up: Barclays, BAE Systems, Centrica, BAT
Barclays posted fourth-quarter results shy of consensus and cut its dividend, as expected, but said it would complete its restructuring six months earlier than previously planned.
Small cap news round-up
International renewable energy, forestry management and timber processing business Active Energy provided an operations and trading update on Wednesday, on its three “standalone but complementary” divisions AEG CoalSwitch, AEG TimberLands and AEG WoodFibre.
Results round-up: Lloyds Bank, Barratt, Serco, Weir
Lloyds Bank more than doubled full year pre-tax profits to £4. 2bn from £1. 6bn in 2015 as it announced a special 0. 5p-a-share dividend.
Broker tips: Lloyds Bank, IMI, Fever-Tree, InterContinental Hotels
Lloyds Banking Group's capital and dividend strength is a “key attraction” for investors, said broker RBC Capital Markets after the bank brightened the sector with full year pre-tax profits of £4bn.
Small cap news round-up
Europa Oil and Gas AIM-quoted Europa Oil and Gas is to sell 10% of its stake in two Lincolnshire licences to Upland Resources.
Results round-up: HSBC, InterContinental Hotels, Wood Group
HSBC threw in an extra £1bn share buyback and offered assurances about maintaining its dividend to try and keep investors onside as it reported a bigger than expected drop in annual profits and admitted it may need to move 1,000 jobs from London to Paris over the next two years due to Brexit.
Broker tips: AO World, OneSavings Bank, WH Smith, Bodycote
Online electrical goods retailer AO World slumped on Tuesday as Morgan Stanley downgraded its stance on the stock to ‘underweight’ from ‘equalweight’ and cut the price target to 135p from 170p.
Small cap news round-up
Responding to rumours on social media, US and Egypt-focused oil minnow Nostra Terra confirmed that it would not be raising new funds in the immediate future, though it had contemplated a fundraising.
Results round-up: Hammerson, Bovis Homes, BGEO Group
Retail property group Hammerson said full year pre-tax profits slumped by more than half to £322. 8m from £731. 6m as it booked a £24m revaluation loss on properties compared with a £245m gain a year earlier.
Broker tips: Rolls-Royce, Standard Chartered, Pearson, RBS
Goldman Sachs has upgraded aerospace and defence group Rolls-Royce to ‘buy’ from 'neutral', lifting the price target to 1,030p from 743p and adding the stock to its ‘Conviction’ list, saying the company has the potential to substantially increase free cash flow between now and 2020.