Wetherspoon (J.D.) (JDW) shareholders gave their backing to founder Tim Martin yesterday after they were advised to vote him off the board. Less than 2% voted to sack the chairman days after he blasted the City’s ‘navel-gazing’ governance rules in a 1,300-word rant. Advisory service PIRC had said Martin should be sacked because, as an executive, he was not an independent chairman. It also said the pub giant may have broken company law when it failed to tell shareholders it had spent £95,000 on pro-Brexit beer mats and magazines. Yesterday shareholders supported Martin and just 6.4% voted against the amount his top team were paid. He told shareholders: ‘I’ve been at this company 40 years, and I’m planning another 40 years.’
Gaming revenue in William Hill (WMH) High Street shops fell more than a third due to changes in the law on fixed-odds betting terminals. It said it remained ‘on track’ to meet full-year expectations, after closing 700 of its 2,300 betting shops following the reduction of the maximum stake on the casino-style gambling machines from £100 to £2. The gambling giant said the closures, over the past four months, would affect 4,500 jobs. Gaming revenue in the period fell by 39%, with like-for-like sales in shops falling 16% overall when sports bets are taken into account.
American toy-making giant Hasbro faces a two-month probe into its £3.3billion takeover of Peppa Pig owner Entertainment One Limited (ETO). The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has asked for feedback by December 5 on how the deal will affect the UK’s media and toy industries. The CMA aims to make a decision on whether to give it the green light or refer it for a more in-depth investigation by January 21. When Hasbro – which also makes board game Monopoly and Power Rangers action figures – swooped on the British firm in August, it said the deal would expand its entertainment and ‘family-oriented’ portfolio. If the CMA backs it, the deal will give Hasbro ownership of global super-hit children’s cartoon Peppa Pig, which has built a strong following in China and has been translated into 40 languages.
Centrica (CNA), the owner of British Gas, lost 107,000 energy customers across the country in the four months to October. As the group battles against other companies in the Big Six and start-up rivals, the group said the number of customers quitting its energy contracts was lower than in the first six months of the year, and ‘significantly lower’ than last year. Shares in listed Centrica rose over 8% this morning, with the group keen to reassure investors that growth in other areas of its business, namely services and home solutions, was offsetting the drop in energy supply customers.
The boss of Majestic Wine (WINE), Rowan Gormley, stunned the City today as he revealed plans to step down from the online wine firm he founded in 2008 once this year’s busy festive period is over. The revelation comes just months after Gormley secured a sale of the group’s struggling retail arm, Majestic Wine, which currently operates from around 200 UK stores. The £111million deal with US firm Fortress Investment Group is set to complete soon, leaving Naked Wines as an online-only company. The wine seller said it is entering a ‘next chapter’ and is setting its sights on tackling the US market. Gormley – who led the company through its merger with Majestic in 2015 – will hand over the reins to current chief operating officer Nick Devlin.
Royal Mail (RMG) share price dropped 17% as it warned fraught relations with a union could result in a ‘break-even or loss-making’ position in the UK. Britain’s privatised postal service has managed to block a Christmas strike, but admitted its transformation was ‘behind schedule’ and that falling letter volumes and a weak economy could take a toll on its results. Boss Rico Back said: ‘People are posting fewer letters and receiving more parcels. We have to adapt to that change.’ Although Royal Mail, which secured a court injunction blocking its workers from striking this Christmas, warned its letters business remained ‘challenging’, it saw pre-tax profit rise to £173million in the first half of its financial year. A year ago, the group’s profit came in at £33million.
Blue Prism Group (PRSM) annual revenues have surged to ‘at least’ £98million, up from £55million last year. The Warrington-based group, which automates repetitive office tasks such as processing orders for customers including the NHS, Ebay and O2, added 685 new clients in the year to October 31. It now has 1,677 customers, up 69% on the year before, it said in an update ahead of full-year results in January.
Shares in British American Tobacco (BATS) lit up after US authorities U-turned on plans to dramatically cut the level of nicotine in cigarettes. The US Department of Health first proposed slashing the amount of nicotine to ‘non-addictive’ levels back in 2017. But according to reports, these proposals have been shelved – at least for now. A spokesman for the Food And Drug Administration regulator said it will continue to push the policy. Rival Imperial Brands (IMB) fell to 1709.2p, as JP Morgan analysts trimmed their price target from 2100p to 1755p.
Chemicals group Johnson Matthey (JMAT) fell 227p, to 2989p, after its first-half profit slipped 8% to £225million. Debt ballooned by £452million to £1.5billion, higher than the £900million or so that analysts had been expecting, as a rise in the prices of precious metals it uses weighed on costs.
Outsourcing giant Mitie Group (MTO) warned annual revenue growth will be hit as clients are reluctant to commit to projects amid election and Brexit uncertainty. Profits in the six months to September 30 rose 21.7% to £14.6million, but its shares tanked 11.2p, to 131.4p.
Plumbing parts supplier Ferguson (FERG) got a bloody nose from investors in a bruising pay revolt. Nearly a third of shareholders voted against its remuneration policy and 25% voted down recent pay packages handed to bosses. Ferguson said it was ‘disappointed’ but has already restarted talks to ‘understand concerns’.
