Huntsworth (HNT) failed to impress with its trading update yesterday. It said profits would be in its expected range of between £38.5million and £41million, and it had returned to growth in its marketing arm. But investments in its property and hiring will slightly squeeze profitability. It added: ‘Despite some currency headwinds as a result of the strengthening in sterling, management is confident about future trading.’
Muddy Waters has turned its attention to the FTSE 100. In a damning report, the fund accused private hospital provider NMC Health (NMC) of ‘materially misleading’ investors at best and committing fraud or theft of company assets at worst. Led by American entrepreneur Carson Block, Muddy Waters said: ‘We have serious doubts about the company’s financial statements, including its asset values, cash balance, reported profits, and reported debt levels.’ The hedge fund accused the Gulf-focused firm of fraudulently valuing some of its assets. Block thinks it is understating its debt by manipulating its balance sheet, and has poor governance due to a lack of truly independent board directors. Block concluded: ‘We are unsure how deep the rot at NMC goes, but we do not believe that its insiders or financials can be trusted.’ NMC chairman, Bavaguthu Raghuram Shetty, said: ‘We hold ourselves to the highest standards across our entire portfolio.’ Shares in Finablr PLC (FIN), a payments firm he founded, fell 22.7p, to 187.3p.
Boeing’s decision to temporarily suspend production of its grounded 737 Max sent shock waves through British suppliers across the Atlantic. Shares in Hertfordshire engineer Senior (SNR), which counts Boeing among its biggest clients, tumbled 11%. Other UK suppliers also fell, including Meggitt (MGGT) (down 1.5%), which makes the fire detector system for the Max engine, and Melrose Industries (MRO) (down 1.1%), which supplies the windows. Boeing confirmed on Monday that it would halt production of the jet which was grounded after two crashes within five months killed 346 people. There are fears this will trigger job losses at suppliers in Britain.
Lyndon Davies, 59, the man leading a shake-up at toy firm Hornby (HRN), thinks it’s time old-style gifts made a comeback. ‘I’ve got a grandson who’s six,’ the Welshman says. ‘I watch him play on his phone, but I’ll sit there with an Airfix Lamborghini, pour the pieces on the table and he’ll come over and say: ‘What are you doing Gramps?’ He’s desperate to help. ‘What it shows is that if you can connect, make the products relevant, then there is room in the world for these products.’
The housing tycoon behind Berkeley Group Holdings (The) (BKG) cashed in on the ‘Boris bounce’ by selling £50.5m worth of shares. Tony Pidgley sold just over 1m shares in his company for 5040p each on Monday, according to regulatory filings. It takes his total haul from share sales since April 2017 to £216million. And it reduced his stake to 1.3%, meaning he is now longer a top ten shareholder. That stake is worth around £82millionThe 72-year-old moved after Berkeley surged 10% higher on Friday, as markets welcomed the Conservative election victory.
Britain’s second largest housebuilder has been told a poor culture led it to build bad-quality and unsafe homes. Persimmon (PSN) has been heavily criticised in a new report for putting customers at potential risk of serious injury for not installing cavity barriers in homes it built across the country. The review, led by by Stephanie Barwise QC said this ‘intolerable risk’ was compounded by a poor corporate culture that lacks a Group build process. It also states that Persimmon was more concerned with achieving a five-star rating from the Home Builders Federation (HBF), the UK’s largest trade association representing housebuilders, than with designing high-quality new builds.
Dove and Vaseline owners Unilever (ULVR) says trading challenges in multiple international markets mean sales growth both this year and next will be lower than expected. The consumer goods giant says a combination of weakening economic growth in South Asia, poor trading conditions in Africa mean sales growth will be below its 3% to 5% range. This forecast comes despite sales in North America showing signs of improvement, though it warned that a full recovery there will ‘will take time.’ Unilever has faced challenging conditions in India, with a slowing economy, monsoons and four-decade high unemployment hurting sales. The Indian economy expanded by 4.5% year-on-year in the third quarter this year, its weakest growth for six years.
Higher international ticket sales has helped revenues for the rail ticketing firm Trainline Plc (TRN) jump by more than a quarter for the first nine months of the financial year. The company, which floated on the London Stock Exchange earlier this year, saw revenues rise by £41million to £198 million for the nine months to 30 November. It said it is on track to hit its performance targets for the full year following ‘strong progress’ so far in 2019 as its total group revenue jumped by 26%. UK tickets sales rose by 14%, with consumer net ticket sales increasing by 24% year-on-year to £1.5billion. Trainline puts the successful rise down to the increasing popularity of eTickets. International ticket sales and revenues saw the largest increase though, by 49% and 90% respectively. This was despite strike action on the railways in France, which has been rocking the country since September.
