EIDOS INKED AS
MARKET PERFORMER
Copyright 2001 www.tombraiderchronicles.com
[ November 7th 2001 ]
The growth
potential of Next, the UK retail fashion chain,
was highlighted on Tuesday by Lehman Brothers,
which has a buy recommendation on the shares.
The move coincided with news of a 20 per cent
improvement in half-year profits at Marks & Spencer
and with a report from the British Retail Consortium
that high street sales in October were 6 per cent
higher than a year earlier.
Lehman
Brothers noted that Next plans to double its turnover
during the six years to 2007, partly thanks to
expanding its selling space. Elsewhere in the
retailing sector, Credit Lyonnais Securities has
buy recommendations on Electronics Boutique, House
of Fraser, DFS and Arcadia. In the French market,
it similarly favours Marionnaud, Camaieu, Zannier
and Gifi. But the broker is cautious about consumer
spending in 2002 and focuses its buy ratings on
companies with low operational gearing and strong
balance sheets.
Prudential,
whose shares have outperformed in London during
the past month, was cut from buy to market perform
at Deutsche Bank although its analysts support
the recent restructuring and disposals at the
company. Credit Suisse First Boston also endorsed
the deal with Winterthur, which is a subsidiary
of Credit Suisse, but pointed out that Prudential
shares trade at a significant premium to the insurance
sector as a whole.
In Frankfurt,
Morgan Stanley Dean Witter edged up its share
price target for Allianz in response to the rising
value of its minority stake in Munich Re. Allianz
will be releasing its nine-month trading statement
on November 14 which will reflect the estimated
claims of E1bn to cover its exposure for the attacks
in New York on September 11.
The
London Stock Exchange's interim figures on Tuesday
were better than the marketconsensus but Merrill
Lynch took a cautious view of the scope for further
share price growth and lowered its medium-term
stance from accumulate to neutral. Its long-term
rating is still a buy.
Beeson
Gregory has a buy recommendation on Eidos, the
computer games company which created Lara Croft.
The broker says that 'under the new management
team Eidos is transforming itself from a one-product
company to a portfolio-based operation.' As a
result, says Beeson Gregory, Eidos is no longer
dependent upon the Tomb Raider franchise but can
benefit from other licences including Commandos,
Championship Manager, and Who Wants To Be A Millionaire.
In the
chemicals sector, DSM of the Netherlands was rated
a buy at Bear Stearns inAmsterdam but in London
Lehman Brothers cut ICI from buy to market perform
while Old Mutual held European Colour as a hold
but lowered its earnings estimates after the company
reported a sharp decline in interim profits on
Tuesday.
ABN
Amro eased its view of Securicor from buy to add
after US regulators publicised aserious breach
of security procedures at O'Hare airport in Chicago.
The contract for providing security at the airport
is held by Argenbright which was recently acquired
by Securicor.
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