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Most followed: Aviva, Go-Ahead, Home Retail, AVEVA, Barclays, BP, JD Wetherspoon

Published: 18:51 12 Sep 2014 AEST

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Good news for Go-Ahead Group (LON:GOG), which is part of the consortium that has retained the contract to run the South Eastern rail franchise.

Go-Ahead owns 65% of Southeastern, which will continue to run the franchise until June 2018. The franchise runs services between London, Kent and bits of East Sussex.

"We're pleased that the government has put its confidence in Southeastern to deliver further enhancements for passengers. The plans to be delivered offer benefits for passengers, taxpayers and the communities that we serve," said David Brown, chief executive of Go-Ahead.

Homebase owner Home Retail (LON:HOME) is racking up the column inches after its disappointing trading update yesterday.

According to the Daily Express, the company's chief executive, John Walden, has yet to make a decision on the future of the DIY retail chain.

The Express was responding to press speculation that the group is pondering offloading the 323-store chain for as much as £1.5bn so it can focus on Argos. According to the Express, a sale to a private equity firm is the most likely option.

Meanwhile, French broker Societe Generale has trimmed its price target for Home Retail to 172p from 197p.

One of the few big companies reporting today, JD Wetherspoon (LON:JDW) has gone against the recent trend and not warned of the dangers of Scotland leaving the union.

"There is a lot of nonsense talked by businessmen and politicians that it is impossible for Scotland to survive by itself. We think we can trade well there," said the pubs group's shy and retiring founder and chairman, Tim Martin, speaking to BBC Scotland.

In its full-year results it reported like-for-like sales rose 5.5%, while underlying profit before tax advanced 3.1%.

In the six weeks to 7 September 2014, like-for-like sales increased by 6.3%, with total sales increasing by 11.4%.

Football club Rangers (LON:RFC) has reached an out of court settlement with its former commercial director, Imran Ahmad.

Ahmad, who claims he is owed a £500,000 bonus for work he performed on behalf of the Scottish football club plus £120,000 in legal costs, had succeeded in getting £620,000 of club assets frozen; Rangers say the settlement has significantly reduced this amount.

Barclays is the most actively traded stock this morning after it nabbed John McFarlane from insurance giant Aviva (LON:AV.) to be its next chairman.

Sir David Walker will step down as a director and as chairman of Barclays (LON:BARC) with effect from the conclusion of the Barclays AGM in 2015. Meanwhile, Aviva (LON:AV.) has named Sir Adrian Montague as McFarlane's replacement when the latter jumps ship next April.

FTSE 250 stock AVEVA (LON:AV.) is the next most widely traded stock after a shocker of a half-year trading update.

The company promised plenty of jam tomorrow, but at the same time said, "in light of the performance to date, we are reviewing our headcount growth plans and discretionary expenditure", leaving the market to draw its own conclusions.

In terms of the aggregate value of shares changing hands, BP (LON:BP.) is the winner in this category as traders react to concerns that new sanctions against Russia could lead to a tit-for-tat response that could hamper the oil giant's interests in Russia.

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