Thousands of savers who backed the UK’s biggest mining project face huge losses after it became a takeover target. Around 85,000 people poured money into Sirius Minerals (SXX) ambitious plans to dig the fertiliser potash from under the North York Moors. Many investors were locals supporting a bid to create thousands of jobs and reinvigorate the region’s economy. But they are now braced for heavy losses after mining giant Anglo American (AAL) offered to buy Sirius for £386million. This works out at 5.5p per share for investors, just a fraction of the price many paid when they bought the stock. Sirius chief executive Chris Fraser has also invested heavily in the company. But he is still set to scoop a windfall of £6.8million from his shareholding. Furious shareholders yesterday branded the offer ‘daylight robbery’ and said it would put them off dabbling in the stock market for life.
Shoe Zone (SHOE) saw pre-tax profits slump by 15% in the latest financial year. The company declared that revenues had barely budged upwards in the year to October 2019, rising by only £1.4million to £162million. The company saw a £2.9million writedown on the value of 17 freehold properties. Its new chief executive Anthony Smith called on the government to lower business rates to avoid more stores being closed. Pre-tax profits at the retailer fell to £9.8million from £11.4million the year earlier, as the firm said business rates were too high. The value footwear retailer told the PA news agency that ‘maybe 20% of stores could close if rates don’t change’, with the firm securing rent reductions in order to protect the future of some stores.
Topps Tiles (TPT) has blamed falling sales on political and economic uncertainty prompting a dwindling of consumer confidence. In the three months to 28 December, the tile group’s like-for-like sales slipped by 5.4%, but started to recover after the general election. Topps Tiles saw its share price take a battering in November when it first revealed the extent of the pre-election impact on trade. Analysts at Liberum slashed their forecast for Topps Tiles’ annual pre-tax profits by 10% after the November update.
Avacta Group (AVCT) is to collaborate with Korean pharmaceutical company Daewoong to develop stem cells that can treat auto-immune and inflammatory diseases. These therapies will use tiny proteins Avacta has been working on, which make medicines more effective when they are administered. Avacta will own 45% of the venture, which will be fully funded by Daewoong.
NMC Health (NMC) and Travelex owner Finablr PLC (FIN) suffered a bruising day after major investors sold a bucketload of shares. Two Gulf billionaires, Saeed Mohamed al-Qebaisi and Khalifa Butti al-Muhairi, offloaded £375million of stock in NMC and £55million in Finablr at a big discount. In a statement after the market closed on Tuesday, they said they were doing it to pay down debt. It comes at a difficult time for Finablr, which is fighting a cyber-attack at Travelex that was discovered on New Year’s Eve and has left it resorting to fulfilling orders with pen and paper after it took all computers offline. Finablr yesterday tried to reassure the market by saying it did not think there would be a material hit and that it had contained the spread of the attack. The hackers, from a group known as Revil, are said to want £4.6million in exchange for not releasing personal data from customers.
