logo-loader

Thursday’s agenda: Investors hoping for some good news from Serco

Last updated: 04:30 19 Dec 2013 AEDT, First published: 05:30 19 Dec 2013 AEDT

no_picture_pai

Serco (LON:SRP) shareholders will be hoping Thursday’s trading statement can inject some festive cheer into what has been a year to forget for the embattled outsourcing group.

UBS thinks this could be a tad optimistic from the company which was blamed for overcharging the government for its electronic tags.

It thinks it could be something of a non-event given that it is the outcome of the government’s reviews which is the catalyst for the shares, which it tips to rise.

The broker said: “More important is the outcome of the UK Government reviews, which Serco would cover in a separate announcement: timing is out of Serco's control but has been slated for “mid- December”.”

Serco is currently under investigation for overcharging the government for its electronic tags and recently lost the right to manage three prisons in South Yorkshire.

Thursday is also the big day for Rangers as the AGM takes place in another chapter in the well-documented boardroom spat story.

Nine of the 14 resolutions on the table will decide the identities of the cash-strapped football club’s board members.

Former chairman Malcolm Murray is hoping to return to the fold, as are Paul Murray, Scott Murdoch and Alex Wilson, the current regime’s nemeses.

Traders will also be reacting to a statement from the Federal Reserve, due out later today.

Wednesday is the final day of the Federal Open Market Committee’s two-day meeting and a decision is imminent on whether or not to taper the $85bn-a-month bond buying scheme.

“The case for “tapering” the size of monthly QE asset purchases looks compelling,” according to Ilya Spivak, currency strategist at DailyFX.

He points to fading fiscal drag fears, improving economic data and near-term inflation expectations starting to “perk up”.

Others believe that more robust economic data is needed before tapering occurs.

Announcements expected: Goodwin (interims), Serco (trading statement), Keller Group (trading statement)


Australian Strategic Materials signs US$600 million LoI

Rowena Smith, CEO and managing director of Australian Strategic Materials Ltd (ASX:ASM, OTC:ASMMF), joins Jonathan Jackson in the Proactive studio to discuss the company’ s Dubbo Project, in Central West New South Wales. This project aims to extract and process critical minerals and rare earth...

12 hours, 16 minutes ago