23 Feb

CNN Money (Link)

• “While CEO [Willie] Walsh praised the results as ‘very good’ in the face of a transformational period, the results don’t necessarily leave investors any clearer as to how current restructuring will benefit the group in the long-term,” said Henry Croft, research analyst at Accendo Markets.

22 Feb

Financial Times (Link)

• “Falling volumes are a problem unless you can keep increasing prices,” said Mike van Dulken, head of research at Accendo Markets. “With volumes clearly under perennial pressure, hopes need to be high that a deal to form the ‘world’s leading international tobacco and next generation products business’ can deliver on the latter rather than rely on the former,” he said.

 21 Feb

LSE via Reuters (Link)

• “We have recovered a bit of ground but we still did make a top, and it could yet prove (to be) ‘the top’. We don’t know yet. I think markets are still … a little undecided,” Mike van Dulken, head of research at Accendo Markets, said. “Markets are still digesting what’s happened.”

 20 Feb

WebFG (Link)

• HSBC, with its 7% weighting of the UK 100 , is depriving the blue-chip index of a valuable 21.5pts this morning, says analyst Mike van Dulken at Accendo Markets as the index stands at 7,226.88, with a 20.78 or 0.29% decline so far in the session.

 19 Feb

This is Money (Link)

• Henry Croft, research analyst at Accendo Markets, said that while the acquisition of Mead Johnson helped annual profits rise, investors were disappointed by the poor sales performance. ‘Furthermore, the significant overhaul of its business […] failed to negate lacklustre growth,’ he said.

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