MARKETS

SThree, an international staffing business firm has reported that its first quarter gross profit rose 15 percent year on year to £47.7 million, up 12 percent in the fourth quarter of 2011.

Taylor Wimpey, the homebuilding company, says that it is too early to judge the market for the year as a whole, but the early weeks of trading in 2012 have followed the encouraging patterns of the second half of 2011, with good visitor levels, healthy reservations and low cancellations.

SThree, the permanent and contract staffing group, says that the GDP growth and the staffing market are not linearly related, given the current levels of global economic and political uncertainty, it is difficult to foretell the kind of market conditions the group will face during 2012 with any accuracy.

J D Wetherspoon, the developer and manager of public houses, which is scheduled to release its 2012 interim results on Friday, has moderate views for 2012 outlook, due to cost pressures resulting from government legislation, including further increases in excise duty, business rates and carbon tax.

Morrisons Supermarkets, the food retailer, has reported that its turnover rose 7 per cent to £17.7 billion for the year ended 29 January, 2012. Profit before tax was at £947 million compared to £874 million in the previous year and raised its total dividend by 11 per cent to 10.7 pence.

Schroders, an international asset management and private banking group, has reported a slight rise in its profit before tax at £407.3 million for the year ended 31 December, 2011 from £406.9 million a year earlier.

Aggreko, the rental provider of power generation and temperature control equipment, started its FY2012 with a strong position with at least 20 per cent more on hire in international power projects than at the start of 2011.

Wm Morrison Supermarkets, a food retailer grocer, expects the consumer environment in the UK during 2012 to be cautious despite an anticipated reduction in inflationary pressures. It is expected to release its preliminary results for the year 2011 on March 8, 2012.

Markets jumpy amid fears Greece will fail to secure debt haircut deal with private investors to get another IMF bailout.

Tarsus, the international business to business media company, has reported a rise of 42 percent in its revenues at £61.7m for the year ended December 31, 2011 with adjusted pre-tax profits up 77 percent to £16.8m.

Cobham, the engineering group anticipates that the US defence and security market will remain challenging with constraints over Government spending tightening, with important and ongoing uncertainty over the size, timing and allocation of federal budget cuts. As a result, there is continued poor visibility for 2012 trading.

Jupiter Fund Management, an investment holding company has reported a rise in its full year revenue by 8% to £248.5 million from £230.5 million recorded in 2010.

Tarsus Group, the international business-to-business media group, expects the second half of 2011 to be the most important trading period in the group's history with major events taking place in the main geographies where it operates.

Admiral Group, the private motor insurance and related products company, expects to report a rise in pre-tax profits around 10% for the full year 2011 as it is scheduled to deliver its preliminary earnings on March 7, 2012.

Ashtead Group, the investment holding and management company has reported record third quarter pre-tax profits of £21m from a loss of £2m for the same period a year earlier.

Despite the uncertain macroeconomic environment, Michael Page International, the specialist professional recruitment company, has reported solid earnings for FY 2011.

Jupiter Fund Management, an investment holding company, expects the financial markets to remain volatile and flows subdued.

Michael Page International, the specialist recruitment consultancy, is prepared to continue its geographic expansion, as there remain many long-term development prospects in its newer territories, particularly Latin America and Asia.

Petrofac, an oil & gas service provider has reported that its full year revenues rose 33 per cent to US$5.8 billion from US$4.4 billion in 2010, which shows the strong performance in all its four reporting segments.

Glencore, the supplier of metals, minerals, energy and agriculture products has reported its preliminary 2011 results with revenues for the year ended 31 December 2011 at $186,152 million, a 28% increase compared to $144,978 million in 2010.

Ashtead Group, the investment holding and management company, remains confident over the outlook for end construction markets in the short term, particularly in the U.K. Ahead of Q3 results on March 6, the group has secured 'Buy' ratings from Jefferies, Peel Hunt and Numis Securities.

Glencore International, the supplier of metals, minerals, energy and agriculture products, remains affirmative about the long term global economic prospects and is scheduled to release its preliminary results on March 5, 2012.

Britain’s FTSE 100 index ended lower 56.40 points or 1 per cent at 5,871.51 on Wednesday, though investors digested the latest second round of a European Central Bank long term liquidity operation.

Using the social media to predict the stock market sentiments is a bizarre task but it is not possible to ascertain the moods or emotions of investors by mining the huge chunk of data sets, especially from Twitter.

Serco, a FTSE 100 international service company, has been added in the 'Buy' list by all the UK top brokers as it is expected to deliver the full year results in line with expectations on Tuesday, February 28, 2012.

Ahead of full-year earnings, JP Morgan has assigned "Overweight" rating to the operator of Persimmon Homes, Charles Church, Westbury Partnerships and Space4 as the Group expects to perform in a challenging environment due to the overall economic situation, while the UK housing market remains stable.

Ahead of WSP Group preliminary 2011 results, the UK top brokers Jefferies has recommended 'Buy' rating on the stock, while Espirito Santo has assigned 'Outperform' rating with a target price of 300 pence per share. The consultancy company is scheduled to report its preliminary 2011 results on February 27, 2012.

Amidst the worries of euro zone debt crisis, investors and fund managers began 2012 in a cautious mood by cutting equity exposures to lowest levels since October.

Credit Suisse and Nomura Securities have set new price targets and recommendations for HSBC Holdings as the global banking and financial services Group is scheduled to release its preliminary earnings for the year ended December 31. 2011, on Monday, February 27, 2012.