Outsourcing group Interserve (IRV) has secured a rescue deal with lenders that will see its debt levels slashed to around £275million through the placing of new shares with the business. The Reading-based group, which has 45,000 workers in the UK, saw its share price rise over 20 per cent in early morning trading. Battling against squeezed margins and struggling to get its waste-for-energy sector off the ground, the group has been doing all it can to avoid becoming the next Carillion, which collapsed last year. Under the deal, existing shareholders will be nearly completely wiped out and left with a stake of around 2.75% in the company.
A huge fire that broke out at an Ocado Group (OCDO) robotic warehouse in Hampshire more than 24 hours ago was declared a major incident as it continued to burn. At its peak around 200 firefighters were tackling the blaze which began at the Andover facility at around 2.44am on Tuesday morning. Part of the roof of the building has collapsed. The company, which has an annual turnover in excess of £1.4 billion, warned the markets this morning that sales growth would slow as they tried to find alternative solutions to provide the 10% of retail order fulfilment capacity Andover had been providing . The online grocery retailer has been forced to cancel thousands of customer deliveries due to the fire. The warehouse handles 30,000 orders a week form the 240,000 sq foot fulfilment centre, which uses hundreds of robots to select groceries from a 3D frame called the ‘grid’.
The former boss of Barclays, Bob Diamond, is stepping down from his role as chairman of pan-African finance firm Atlas Mara Limited (DI) (ATMA). While Mr Diamond, who founded Atlas Mara six years ago, will no longer be the group’s chairman, he is staying on as a non-executive director at the firm. Atlas Mara, which invests in financial services companies across sub-Saharan Africa, is also weighing up which markets it will continue to operate in and which to leave. The company said Mr Diamond’s return as a non-executive director of the group will allow him to ‘increase his focus on his other executive roles while continuing to contribute actively to Atlas Mara’s growth and strategic direction.’ Atlas Mara share price has slumped by around 86% since the company floated in 2013.
Two of Britain’s biggest housebuilders, Barratt Developments (BDEV) and Redrow (RDW) have revealed different views on the impact of Britain’s upcoming EU exit on their businesses. Shares in Barratt are up over 3% this morning after the group shrugged off Brexit, reporting a 7.2% rise in half-year sales. Barratt’s revenue rose to £2.1billion, its pre-tax profit for the six months to 31 December surged by 19.1% to £408million. On Brexit, all Barratt said is that it’s working with suppliers to ensure the ‘continuity of supply of non-UK manufactured components’. Barratt’s boss David Thomas added: ‘Whilst we continue to monitor market conditions closely, current trading is in line with our expectations and we are confident of delivering a good financial and operational performance in full year 2019.’
Another knock for the beleaguered drugs company Indivior (INDV) has sent its shares on a downward spiral. The company, which makes medication to treat heroin addiction, has been battling competitors producing cheaper versions of its Suboxone film drug. After a long-running court battle with rival Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, Indivior said its application to have the case reheard had been dismissed. Indivior wanted judges to overturn a previous court’s decision, which gave Dr Reddy’s permission to sell rival products in the US. Chief executive Shaun Thaxter said he was ‘disappointed’ but assured shareholders that the company was taking steps to reduce its dependence on its star drug.
Carpetright (CPR) shares were looking threadbare too, as the flooring company said UK sales are still in decline. There was a small silver lining for investors, as it said trading in the rest of Europe for the 13 weeks to January 26 was consistently ahead of last year. It is still on track to make £19million of savings over the year but shares slid 6.1%, or 1.3p, to 20p.
US regulators boosted pharmaceuticals giant AstraZeneca (AZN), as they approved one of its viral medications. This means it is recognised as a treatment which has shown encouraging early clinical results, in this case in preventing further infection caused by a common respiratory virus.
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) was quick to match the progress. It is partnering with German firm Merck to develop a new therapy which could help with difficult-to-treat cancers. Eight development studies are expected to start this year.
Private jet services company Gama Aviation (GMAA) slid, after admitting it had received two payments in error from its US partner. Both the £4.4million and £1.5million payments were included in its half-year and full-year financial results, but should not have been made and have now been repaid in full.
Virtual reality company Immotion Group (IMMO) scooped more money from shareholders after announcing it had won contracts at attractions including Legoland and Sea Life. The company wanted to raise £3million from issuing shares at 6p each, and later in the afternoon announced it had raised £3.3million from selling 45.5m new shares.
Iron castings and engineering business Chamberlin (CMH) was weighed down as it warned trading conditions had toughened. European emissions tests brought in since the Volkswagen scandal have delayed orders of turbocharger components
Schools’ IT and computer spending helped drive revenue growth at RM (RM.), which provides technology services to education centres. Operating profit jumped 29% to £27.5million, and shares were 7.9%, or 18p, higher at 246p.
Amino Technologies (AMO), which creates technology to help TV watchers wirelessly connect other devices to their screen, has had a disappointing year. Revenue fell 7% in 2018 to £68.6million, while profit before tax dipped 26% to £8.6million. It didn’t give investors much more hope for the year ahead, as Amino said challenging conditions were likely to continue into 2019. It blamed foreign exchange headwinds and general uncertainty for its troubles.
Corporate raider Edward Bramson demands a vote on his plans to grab a seat on the Barclays (BARC) board. Edward Bramson will ask shareholders to make him a director at the lender’s annual meeting in May. The proposal, announced last night, will trigger a showdown with Barclays bosses that has been brewing for months. If the 68-year-old New Yorker wins the vote, he is likely to push for huge cutbacks at the prized investment bank. Bramson’s firm Sherborne Investors controls 5.51% of Barclays’ stock, giving him the right to table the vote but he needs the backing of many other shareholders to win a seat. He has criticised the investment arm’s performance but shed little light on what he would do.
Estate agent LSL Property Services (LSL) axes 124 branches in shake up that is feared will mean some 500 job losses. The number of Your Move and Reeds Rains branches will fall from 404 to 280. Between two to six people are thought to work in each branch, meaning around 500 jobs could go.Forty-three sites will close and 40 or so will be franchised out. The operations of around 81 neighbouring branches will be closed or merged to create a network of bigger offices. LSL said these sites will be branded as either Your Move or Reeds Rains and will ‘generally have larger teams of dedicated experts in residential sales, lettings and financial services roles than the average Your Move and Reeds Rains branches have’. It fired the starting gun on the overhaul of its structure in the second half of 2017. Consultations with staff are expected to be completed by the summer.
Patisserie Valerie may sue its former auditor over £40m accounting black hole that pushed it into administration. The chairman of Patisserie Holdings (CAKE) has said he is considering suing its former auditor after a £40million accounting black hole pushed the cafe chain into administration. Luke Johnson, 57, is looking to take legal action against Grant Thornton after it failed to spot the alleged fraud that sunk his company. It comes just days after Grant Thornton was ordered to pay more than £21million in damages to another former client, Assetco, for negligence ‘of the utmost gravity’.
Ocado bosses ring up a £9m payday despite losses at the online supermarket swelling. Ocado Group (OCDO) bosses’ pay almost trebled last year despite losses at the online supermarket swelling to £45million. Top directors pocketed more than £9million in rewards, compared with £3.4million a year earlier. It came as Ocado slumped to a £45million loss, ballooning from £8.3million a year earlier. However, the share price has soared on hopes it will do more lucrative deals to sell its online shopping technology to supermarkets. Sales jumped 12.3% to £1.6billion in the year to December 2 but losses continued to grow as it ploughed money into new warehouses and IT systems. It was also hit by accounting changes.
Investor anger over cut-price Flybe takeover with board accused of playing down how bad things had got. Furious Flybe Group (FLYB) shareholders who have lost thousands of pounds as the company’s value plummeted have condemned the ‘shocking’ demise of the airline. Ordinary investors who bought Flybe stock have called on bosses to reveal the circumstances which led to them accepting a bargain-basement 1p-a-share takeover offer from Connect Airways, which is a consortium made up of Virgin, Stobart Group Ltd. (STOB) and Cyrus Capital. Muhamed Miah, 34, has lost around £85,000 having invested in November, and accused the board of playing down how bad a state the company was in, robbing him of the chance to pull his money out.
BP shares rise as profits overflow thanks to climbing oil price and BHP shale acquisition but it remains ‘vulnerable’. BP (BP.) saw profits more than double last year thanks to a rise in oil prices, an uplift in production and previous cost cutting measures coming through. Underlying replacement cost profits rose 65% to $12.7billion from $6.16billion in 2017 and above consensus forecasts of $11.9billion. BP, which recently acquired BHP’s US shale assets for $10.5billion, said the acquisition helped its fourth quarter underlying profit jump 6.7% to $3.5billion. It said it would go ahead with $10billion in disposals over the next two years, however, net debt jumped by over $6 billion to $44.1billion, partly as a result of the acquisition.
Carpetright sales remain sluggish as shopper uncertainty endures and it waves goodbye to finance chief of 10 years. Carpetright (CPR) said today that sales have continued to fall in the last three months, a sign that the challenged floorings firm is not yet out of the woods. The retailer, which is part way through an urgent restructure and dramatic store closure programme, warned that the trading environment remains ‘volatile’ with economic uncertainty still plaguing shopper confidence. But the rate of decline has slowed, it said, from the 12.7% drop in sales it recorded in the previous six month period. Carpetright said: ‘Trading patterns have remained volatile week to week, against a backdrop of uncertainty and weak consumer confidence.’ The firm’s international operations, meanwhile, are ‘consistently’ ahead year-on-year, it said, thanks to a strong performance in the Netherlands. Furniture and other so-called ‘big ticket’ retailers have come under the cosh of late, with some shoppers delaying big purchases until there is more clarity on Brexit and the future of the economy.
