Land Securities and Shire lead the way but BHP hit by downgradeLeading shares have broken through the 7000 barrier again, albeit off their best early levels.The FTSE 100 is currently up 24.02 points at 6992.89 having climbed as high as 7011, buoyed by some positive results, hopes of progress in Greece’s financial crisis talks, comments by a US Federal Reserve member again playing down imminent interest rate rises, and Benoit Coeure of the European Central Bank saying it plans to increase bond purchases in May and June as part of its QE programme.Very strong results, with a 6% net asset value beat. Net asset value growth accelerated to 27.6% year on year, ahead of British Land’s 20.5% reported last week. Land’s retail portfolio delivered nearly double the valuation growth of British Land’s (13.7% versus 7.5%), with yield compression the driver. Management maintain their stance on no further speculative development. We expect to upgrade our net asset value forecasts, with an outlook of low single digit net asset value growth and a 1.4% premium to net asset value remaining attractive. Buy reiterated. [Vodafone] delivered a more cautious outlook than expected as it presses ahead with network investment to increase both speed and coverage and reduce customer churn. Investors look to be focusing on this rather than the multiple of available positives; EBITDA up 7.5%, revenues up 10.1% on customer growth, the first rise in quarterly sales in 3 years thanks to 4G demand, a dividend hike, good growth continuing in emerging markets, signs of stabilisation in Europe thanks to strong data demand and, lastly, earnings potentially stabilising in 2016 (guidance flat). Continue reading...
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