New boss of Boohoo.com (BOO) is in line for a bonus of up to £50m after being poached from rival Primark. John Lyttle, 51, could get the bumper pay out if he oversees a 180% rise in the trendy online retailer’s share price in the five years after he joins. Boohoo, which was founded in Manchester in 2006, has already seen its value jump by more than 250% since it listed for 50p a share in 2014. It is now worth nearly £2 billion, almost 14 times the value of Debenhams.
The former chairman and chief executive of Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) face a grilling by investigators over claims they covered up a massive fraud. Sir Win Bischoff and Eric Daniels are expected to be asked what they knew about criminals operating out of the Reading branch of HBOS, which was bought by Lloyds at the height of the financial crisis.
Hornby (HRN) shares surge 24% after it signs a deal with Warner Bros. The toy maker will make a range of train and car sets in collaboration with Warner Bros franchises such as Harry Potter and DC Super Heroes. DC Super Heroes cover comic book characters including Batman, Wonder Woman, Superman and the Green Lantern. The toys will be developed under the group’s Hornby Railways, Scalextric and Corgi brands.
Major Unilever (ULVR) investor says it will vote against the Marmite making group’s controversial plan to scrap UK headquarters. Aviva Investors, which is the ninth biggest shareholder in Unilever with nearly 17 million shares, said there is ‘no upside’ in the move and investors ‘may be forced to sell their stock’ as a result. It comes as the Marmite maker, which currently has headquarters in both London and Rotterdam, has called a vote on the plan to scrap its UK legal headquarters and bring the entire company under a single Dutch parent.
There is still some good money to be made from investing in supermarket groups, according to German investment bank Berenberg. The venerable institution understands fears of a ‘bloated market’, given that the listed Big Three food retailers – Tesco (TSCO), Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) and Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets (MRW) – have all seen their share price soar over the past year. But Berenberg’s analysts, who remain bullish about the sector, reckon there are three key reasons the strong run can carry on for a while yet. First up is that price competition ‘is now normalising’ after several years of price wars. Second, the threat of online is becoming less of an issue for supermarkets. And lastly, High Street retailers such as Poundland are now giving back some of their market share which for years they had pinched from supermarket.
Credit Suisse cut its target price for mobile phones giant Vodafone Group (VOD), citing recent foreign exchange movements and commentary from a management presentation, leading to lower forecasts for headline earnings and free cash flow. The Swiss bank reduced its target for Vodafone target by 10p per share to 225p, but still retained a positive ‘outperform’ rating on the stock
Broker comment weighed heavily on FTSE 250-listed software firm Sophos Group (SOPH), which dropped 4.5%, or 23.5p, to 494p as worries that competition in the cyber-security world is hotting up led Deutsche Bank to downgrade its rating to ‘hold’ from ‘buy’.
Frontera Resources Corporation (DI) (FRR) fell 10.1%, or 0.04p, to 0.31p as the AIM-listed oil and gas exploration company is in a dispute with a hedge fund YA II PN Ltd over the conversion of preferred shares into ordinary shares.
Premier African Minerals Ltd (PREM) shed 20.5%, or 0.04p, to 0.14p on news Cadence Minerals has opted not to press ahead with its planned investment in the Zulu Lithium Project. At the end of June, the two parties agreed in principle for Cadence Minerals (KDNC) to take up to a 30 per cent stake in the project for up to $5.1m. But Cadence confirmed on Monday that it had been unable to agree final terms on the deal with Premier, which said it will provide a further update on alternative strategies for the development of Zulu over ‘the coming weeks’.
Clontarf Energy (CLON) surged 170%, up 0.34p, to 0.54p after it resolved issues with the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation related to a contract to develop the Tano 2A Block.
Anglo Asian Mining (AAZ) jumped 11.1%, or 5p higher to 50p as recent exploration work at its Gedabek open-pit gold mine proved successful.
