Willie Walsh is stepping down as chief executive of British Airways owner International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) after 15 years at the top. The 58-year-old Irishman, who started his long career in aviation as a trainee pilot at Aer Lingus, will relinquish control at the end of March and leave the company in June. Arch-rival and compatriot Michael O’Leary, the pugnacious boss of Ryanair, said it was a huge loss to the industry and proof that you’ll never beat the Irish. But there was silence from Virgin Atlantic boss Sir Richard Branson who has had a long-running feud with Walsh. And many of BA’s passengers caught up in pilot strikes, IT meltdowns and a cyber attack may be happy to see the back of him. Walsh said last November that he would retire before his 60th birthday, but has decided to call it a day a little earlier than expected. He will be replaced by 51-year-old Spaniard Luis Gallego, who has been credited with turning around Iberia, another part of the IAG stable.
Shares in Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) fell sharply after it admitted that it failed to sell as many mince pies and skinny jeans as expected over Christmas. Sales in the 13 weeks to December 28 were 0.2% higher than in the same period 12 months earlier – the first rise in quarterly takings in three years. But a 1.7% fall in clothing and home sales took the shine off a 1.4% rise at the food arm. M&S also warned that large amounts of food waste put a squeeze on margins, hitting its profits.
Music investment fund Hipgnosis Songs Fund (SONG) has snapped up the rights to a back catalogue that includes number-one hits by Adele, Bruno Mars and Lana Del Rey. The firm said it had bought the royalty rights from Emile Haynie, an award-winning American producer. Haynie has collaborated with major hip hop and pop artists, with the back-catalogue sold to Hipgnosis comprising 122 songs. It is the latest deal struck by the company, which also bought separate rights to hundreds of songs from the Kaiser Chiefs and songwriter Fraser T Smith recently.
Shares in Card Factory (CARD) have slumped after the group revealed it suffered a ‘challenging’ period of trading over Christmas and lowered its full-year earnings outlook. Blaming dwindling High Street footfall, the General Election and weak shopper sentiment, Card Factory said Christmas trading had been ‘softer’ than expected and revealed it would not be dishing out a special dividend to its shareholders next year.
Irish oil and gas group Providence Resources (PVR) has hired industry veteran Alan Linn as its chief executive. Linn, 62, has joined from UK shale group Third Energy and has previously had senior roles at Cairn Energy, Tullow Oil and Afren. AIM-listed Providence is developing the first commercial oil project off the coast of Ireland, but still needs to do more test drilling to secure new cash. Investors welcomed the move, with shares rising to 3.25p.
The second profit warning in three months walloped shares in building materials supplier SIG (SHI) and wiped around £150million off the company’s value. The Sheffield-based roofing and insulation seller has been hit hard by a drop-off in new construction projects in Europe, particularly in the UK and Germany. It now expects profit for 2019 to come in at £42million – far short of the £68million analysts had forecast and some 40 per cent lower than what it raked in the year before. Peel Hunt analysts said trading had been ‘much worse’ than expected in December, when sales were a quarter lower than the month before. SIG’s misfortune was contagious, sparking fears among traders that its peers including B&Q-owner Kingfisher (KGF), Travis Perkins (TPK) and Grafton Group Units (GFTU) might be similarly under the cosh. Bucking the construction gloom, however, builder Galliford Try (GFRD) rose 7.42p, to 151.5p after it said it has more than £3billion in contracts lined up after it offloaded its housing division to Vistry Group in late 2019.
Centamin (DI) (CEY) rose after it announced one of the best ever quarters for production at its Sukari gold mine in Egypt. It dug up 148,000 ounces of gold between October and December, up 51% on the previous quarter and 8% on the same period of last year.
