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08:50GMT 25Jun2009-Clinton Cards up on store purchases
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Shares in Clinton Cards rise 15 percent to an eight month high after it buys 196 stores from administrators of its Birthdays greeting cards chain, safeguarding the jobs of over 1400 staff.
Clinton placed its Birthdays chain of 332 stores into administration last month after the unit was hit by the economic downturn and dire trading.
"It is the ideal scenario for Clinton who will have taken the better half of the Birthdays chain. This is the best of both worlds because Clinton Cards has now eliminated the underperforming problem stores and kept the profitable element, which should send the shares up," said KBC analyst John Stevenson.
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07:37GMT 25Jun2009-TUI Travel higher on Citi upgrade
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Shares in holidays firm TUI Travel jump 2.2 percent, outperforming a declining FTSE 100, after Citi upgrades the stock to "buy" from "hold" and revised upwards its price target.
The research house revises TUI's price target to 2.90 pounds from 2.25 pounds and ups its earnings estimate citing improved booking data and the economic outlook.
"Despite continued press commentary about discount holidays available, TUI Travel remains on track to achieve positive ASP's as a result of significant capacity cuts," Citi says in a note.
07:25GMT 25Jun2009-SQS higher after update
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Shares in SQS Software Quality Systems gain over 2 percent after the German software-testing company says it has secured a number of significant contract wins in recent weeks, and is trading in line with management expectations.
"We are sufficiently encouraged by the tone of this morning's statement and by the prospect of some margin recovery in H2 to raise our target price to 160 pence (from 140) and our recommendation from "hold" to "buy"," Altium Securities says in a note.
The broker says at this stage, given the continued uncertainty in the economy and lack of visibility, it is sensible to leave its estimates unchanged until it gets a more solid indication of an improvement in trading.
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07:24GMT 25Jun2009-DSG climbs on profit beat, self help
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DSG International shares climb over 6 percent to 25.5 pence after Europe's second-biggest electricals retailer posts a slightly better than expected annual profits and says its store revamp programme and cost cuts will help it to cope with continued tough trading conditions.
"After these results, we are likely to raise our 2009/10 pre-tax profit forecast of 55 million (pounds) with EPS of 1.1 pence after taking into account the successful disposal of several loss making subsidiaries, the positive impact of the rights issue and placing (in April), encouraging results from the refurbishment programme and a stronger performance from the loss making Italian subsidiary," Seymour Pierce analysts say in a research note.
"On our current forecasts, the stock is rated at 20.0 times our 2009/10 earnings. It is highly rated but there is huge potential to improve earnings in 2011 from the restructuring programme."
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