 | Analysts and shareholders have forecast major changes ahead for Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) online bank Bó after it emerged that the banker who spearheaded the launch of the money saving app is set to leave. The Monzo-rival’s future has been plunged into chaos after it was reported that Mark Bailie, who was at one point tipped as a successor to former chief executive Ross McEwan, was going to leave just months after the app’s high-profile debut. Ian Gordon, a banks analyst at Investec, said Mr Bailie’s exit puts Bó “at risk” or “subject to review” while Goodbody analyst John Cronin said a rebrand is more likely to be on the cards. |
 | One of the biggest takeovers of the last 12 months has been plunged into doubt after Britain’s competition watchdog opened a shock investigation. Takeaway.com’s £5.9bn swoop for rival Just Eat (JE.), signed off by European authorities two weeks ago, will be probed by the Competition and Markets Authority. The watchdog has reconsidered its previous decision not to look at the deal, the company said. Of particular concern is whether the merger would have prevented Takeaway entering the UK market on its own – therefore reducing future competition. |
 | Posh hot chocolate machines and a vegan range helped boost sales for Hotel Chocolat Group (HOTC) over Christmas, but the retailer warned its overseas expansion had run up higher costs than expected. The confectioner posted an 11% rise in sales for the 13 weeks to Dec 29, boosted by demand for a £100 Velvetiser device that claims to allow customers to create “barista-grade” hot chocolate in their home. Hotel Chocolat said demand had exceeded expectations for new flavours including dark mint and raspberry white chocolate. Its new vegan “milk” chocolate – five years in the making and dubbed Nutmilk – had also been an immediate hit, the firm said. However the firm, which was co-founded by chief executive Angus Thirlwell in 1993, said costs associated with its overseas expansion were higher than expected due to issues with its supply chain that it plans to address this year. |
 | Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets (MRW) is to axe 3,000 managers in stores and replace them with lower-paid shop-floor workers as it seeks to entice more customers and make shopping easier. Departmental chiefs in areas such as beer, wine and spirits are under threat of redundancy, while the firm is adding 4,000 extra staff at its Market Street counters, including bakers, butchers and fishmongers. Although staff whose positions are at risk will be able to stay on in new roles, the changes could leave many facing a hefty pay cut. The firm will make a final decision on changes in March after it asks for feedback from workers. David Lepley, retail director at Morrisons, said the overhaul is meant to ensure products remain available and help customers find the items they want. |
 | A record Black Friday boosted sales at ASOS (ASC) over the festive period, propelling the fast-fashion retailer forward after a string of profits warnings last year. Retail sales hit £1bn in the for the four months to Dec 31, up a fifth on the same period a year earlier and ahead of analysts’ expectations. Chief executive Nick Beighton said the firm has moved on from the damage caused by botched warehouse overhauls in the UK and US, but added that more work must still be done. Asos was boosted by an advertising campaign with Love Island star Ovie Soko, and competitive discounts during Black Friday also boosted its coffers. |
 | Questor: the reinvented Alliance Trust (ATST) has proved itself and is worth holding on to. Questor investment trust bargain: three years ago we opted for a cautious approach as its new incarnation took shape but the trust now seems on a firm footing |
| The incoming Bank of England governor has admitted that he is concerned about how ill-prepared the UK is for a prolonged fall in the stock market or house prices. Andrew Bailey, chief executive of the Financial Conduct Authority, the City regulator, said that increased exposure to asset values had been accompanied by declining understanding of the fallout from a decline in prices, saying that the issue was “one of the things that worries me most”. Mr Bailey added: “There hasn’t been a major fall in asset prices now since the [global financial] crisis and of course, we don’t want one to happen, but they do happen. I do think that there is not as great an understanding of what the consequences of that could be.” | |
| The takeover involving took an unexpected twist yesterday after the CMA launched an investigation into the £10 billion merger between the food delivery service and Takeaway.com. Just a day before the all-share deal was due to complete, Takeaway.com said in a statement to the stock market it had been informed by the CMA that it had “reconsidered its position” about the tie-up and “now believes that a merger investigation is warranted”. The Dutch-listed company said: “Management understands that the CMA intends unexpectedly to conduct a targeted investigation focused on assessing whether Takeaway.com would (absent the Just Eat transaction) have re-entered the UK market.” | |
| A big boost in sales over the crucial Christmas period has reassured investors that ASOS (ASC) is getting back on track after a tumultuous year that included two profit warnings. The fashion retailer reported a 20% increase in sales to £1.1 billion for the four months to December 31, comfortably beating City predictions. Asos chief executive, soothed shareholders by saying that there had been a “robust operational performance” during the peak period and Black Friday, when its warehouses are under the most pressure to deal with a spike in orders and returns. He said that during the peak the warehouses dealt with 2,000 orders a minute. |
| Hotel Chocolat Group (HOTC) has enjoyed a bumper jump in first-half revenue despite higher costs in the supply chain. In an upbeat trading statement yesterday, the chocolatier said that revenue in the 26 weeks to the end of December was up 14% while over the three months to the same date it rose by 11%. The company, which was founded in 1993, said business in the run-up to Christmas was in line with expectations but highlighted “inefficiencies in the supply chain” which increased costs “moderately”. The company said it would address these expenses in 2020. |
| About 3,000 management jobs are being cut at Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets (MRW) as part of a shake-up of its stores that will also involve the hiring of thousands of shopfloor workers. Morrisons plans to remove the higher-paid middle-management roles across its 500-strong store chain and to recruit 7,000 new hourly paid roles. The grocer said the net 4,000 increase in personnel was designed to improve customer services and many will be on its fresh food Market Street counters, including butchers and bakers. |
 | The boss of John Laing Group (JLG), one of Britain’s best-known investors in public infrastructure, is to return to his native France. Olivier Brousse, 54, has been chief executive of John Laing for the past six years and saw through its flotation on the London Stock Exchange in 2015. Yesterday, the £2 million-a-year executive announced he had resigned from the group to return to his former employer, Veolia, the French utilities conglomerate. John Laing says he will leave when a successor has been identified. He leaves after doubling the share price in five years. John Laing has investments in assets valued at £1.5 billion and is valued on the stock market at £1.8 billion. |
 | Severe drought in Chile led to a 28% drop in copper production from one of Anglo American (AAL) biggest mines in the fourth quarter last year. Lower availability of water at the Los Bronces mine in the Andes, near Santiago, resulted in a 44% drop in throughput at the plant, offset in part by productivity improvements and mining more copper-rich ore. The group’s total output of copper, used in electric wiring, fell by 13% in the fourth quarter and 5% over the year. The setback was more than covered by increased production of iron ore from Anglo’s Minas-Rio project in Brazil and greater output of coking coal in Australia, leading to a 4% rise in group production. |
 | Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) has told almost 200 former customers that it will forgive debts collectively worth tens of millions of pounds in recognition of mistakes it made over the scandal at its Reading branch that ruined or damaged small businesses. The promise comes on top of a commitment last month to make £35,000 individual payments to 191 victims of the HBOS fraud as compensation for the stress and inconvenience created by Lloyds’s review. They may also receive payments for the original destruction of value to their businesses as a result of the fraud. Lloyds has already written off some debts and is extending the amount after Sir Ross Cranston, 71, a retired High Court judge, concluded in a report last month that the bank’s redress scheme had “serious shortcomings”. Sir Ross found that Lloyds had blamed victims for the damage to their companies. |
 | Daily Mail and General Trust A (Non.V) (DMGT), the owner of the Daily Mail said that digital advertising revenues had risen by nearly a fifth over the past quarter, with more than 15 million people visiting its website every day. Turnover at its newspaper division was up 2% in the three months to the end of December, with ad sales rising 9%, according to the Daily Mail and General Trust. Print advertising rose 3% while digital ad income jumped 17% as the daily visitors to Mail Online rose 30%. The publisher said it was on track to meet forecasts for the year to the end of September, which call for revenues of between £1.3 billion and £1.6 billion and adjusted profit before tax ranging from £99 million to £110 million. |
 | CMC Markets (CMCX) has raised its revenue forecast for the fourth time in five months. Shares in CMC Markets rose 2.6% to close at 164½p yesterday after the online financial trading business said net revenues for the 12 months to the end of March were expected to exceed even the most optimistic analysts’ forecast of £189.3 million. Analysts at RBC Europe, the stockbroker, said CMC’s quarterly trading update gave “further credence to the argument that the ESMA regulatory issues are behind the company”. CMC said it was buoyed in the three months to end of December by “higher retention of client income” compared with the first six months of its year. Punters have kept bets open for longer, which benefits CMC as it charges fees on positions held open overnight. |
 | Countryside Properties (CSP) reported a sales jump amid improved market sentiment after the decisive general election result. The housebuilder reported a 29% increase in sales in the 13 weeks to the end of December. That helped boost its forward sales book to £1.7 billion, 65% higher than the same period a year earlier. Most of that gain came from Countryside’s affordable and private rental homes division, with the order book up to a record £1.6 billion. Its forward sales of private homes rose by 46% to £314 million over the period. |
 | PPHE Hotel Group Ltd (PPH) said it was on track to hit full-year expectations on the back of a £100 million investment programme in some of its top venues. The group reported a 5.1% increase in like-for-like revenue per room to £103.70, driven by occupancy rates up from 79.4% to 80.7% and a room rate up 3.4% at £128.50. It said that after a “solid” fourth-quarter performance, room revenues had grown by 6.3% to £249 million on a like-for-like basis. Growth in the last three months of the year was about 2-3%. |
 | Shares in Renishaw (RSW) surged 212p to £37.50 after Morgan Stanley said it senses a change in fortunes come the summer, when it expects orders from the big electronics giants will start to pick up. “There is a strong relationship between Asian machine tool growth and Renishaw’s growth, multiple and share price,” Robert Davies, an analyst at the investment bank, said. “Our MS Quant team predicts a strong inflection in the machine tool series by mid-year. Mapping prior down-cycles in Asian machine tools and for Renishaw suggests it can deliver a stronger growth inflection than current consensus assumes.” Mr Davies moved his rating up to “overweight” from “equal-weight”, while he also hiked his price target to £45 from just £28.50 previously. Renishaw was one of the few bright spots on a day when global stock markets took a kicking on renewed fears over the potential impact of the coronavirus in China. |
     | Investors are wary of another repeat of the Sars virus in 2003, when the number of international air passengers fell by an estimated 2.4%. There was a 9% drop-off in passenger numbers in Asia that year. International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) slipped by 25p to 609p and easyJet (EZJ) fell 53p to £14.74. Hotel chains were in the red as well as the market started to count the cost of cancelled bookings. InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) tumbled 161½p to £48.34 as it told customers that they could cancel their stays in China and Hong Kong without penalty. The prospect of the outbreak damaging the Chinese economy also hit the mining sector, which relies on the Asian powerhouse to buy up the bulk of its metals and minerals. Antofagasta (ANTO) was marked down by 43¾p to 863¼p and Rio Tinto (RIO), the Anglo American (AAL) was 177½p lower at £44.26. |
 | PureTech Health (PRTC) shares climbed 12p to 305p after selling a chunk of its stake in Karuna, an American company developing treatments for schizophrenia and Alzheimer’s. The drug developer sold an 11.2% holding in Karuna to Goldman Sachs for £152 million, although it still owns 20.4% of the shares, which are worth about £400 million — almost half of Puretech’s market capitalisation. |
 | Blue Prism Group (PRSM) found itself thrust back into the upper echelons of London’s junior market yesterday. Only 12 Aim companies have a market capitalisation of £1 billion or more and Blue Prism can now count itself a part of that select group again after a surge in its share price. The NHS, Ebay and O2 are among the 1,677 customers that use its software. 96% of clients renewed their contracts last year and 544 of them signed up for more services. That sort of “sticky” business, coupled with increased adoption of “robotic process automation”, helped revenue to almost double to £101 million in the year to the end of October. Blue Prism is taking in about £10.6 million in monthly fees, which would see its revenue climb to more than £125 million this time around, although analysts at Numis are looking for even bigger bounce up to £168.8 million. |
 | Tempus – Safestore Holdings (SAFE): Buy. Not overly pricey for a company in a hot sector that has plenty of growth potential, including overseas |
 | Tempus – Premier Oil (PMO): Hold. Attractive proposition but buying now would be risky |
 | Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) has announced that its chief executive, Mike Coupe, will retire in May after six years in charge of the UK’s second largest supermarket chain. The 59-year-old will be succeeded by the grocer’s retail and operations director, Simon Roberts. Coupe has faced questions about his future since April, when the competition regulator blocked Sainsbury’s attempt to take over its Walmart-owned rival Asda for £7.3bn. Coupe was the architect of that deal and Sainsbury’s share price has fallen 22% over the past year. Roberts, a former managing director of the health and beauty retailer Boots, joined Sainsbury’s in 2017, with oversight of the logistics systems used by the company’s 1,400 stores as well as online operations. Coupe was appointed as head of the supermarket in 2014. He oversaw the £1.4bn acquisition of the catalogue retailer Argos in 2016 but Sainsbury’s share price has fallen by more than 30% from the date he took over. Coupe will also be remembered for his “hot mic” rendition of the Broadway musical number We’re in the Money on the day he announced the Asda deal. The merger was ultimately vetoed by regulators over fears that a supermarket with a combined market share of more than 31% would reduce choice for customers. |
 | The housebuilder Berkeley Group Holdings (The) (BKG) has pledged to pay out £1bn to shareholders over the next two years, almost doubling the planned financial award to its investors. The company has ridden the booming British property market since the financial crisis, with house prices rising particularly in London and south-east England, its main sources of revenue. Those price rises came despite the political uncertainty caused by the Brexit vote. Analysts said the new returns to shareholders reflected renewed certainty after the Conservative party’s general election victory, as well as confidence in the returns from 20 separate construction sites that it has secured. Under the proposals revealed on Wednesday Berkeley said it will distribute about £500m in March through a share issue and buyback, followed by another £500m in March 2021. That represents an increase from the £545m of returns due to be made by the end of September 2021. |
 | The struggling fashion retailer Ted Baker (TED) has admitted that an accounting error was twice as big as initially thought, leaving it with a £58m hole in its balance sheet. Ted Baker appointed accountants from Deloitte last month to investigate after the company found that it had overestimated the value of its stock. The retailer’s preliminary investigations suggested it had overestimated the value of the stock it held at 26 January 2019 by between £20m and £25m but that figure has now more than doubled. The results of the accounting investigation come after Ted Baker’s banks appointed advisers to carry out a business review amid concerns that its weak financial position could force it to look for a cash injection. A £58m overstatement would be larger than the London Stock Exchange-listed company’s annual profits before tax for the year to 31 January 2019 of £50.9m. |
| Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) chief Mike Coupe to step down. Retail and operations head Simon Roberts will take the top job in June |
| Lombard – Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) shareholders count the cost as Coupe cuts free. Outgoing chief’s cost-cutting strategy looks likely to remain after Asda bid blocked |
| Lex – Berkeley Group Holdings (The) (BKG): bricking it. Returning cash to shareholders by definition hints at caution |
| Ted Baker (TED) says inventory overstated by £58m. Struggling fashion chain reveals accounting blunder is double previous estimates |
| Berkeley Group Holdings (The) (BKG) to double shareholder payout to £1bn. UK housebuilder hints that increased political certainty a factor in £455m increase |
| The boss of Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) has quit less than a year after he had to abandon his plan to merge the supermarket with Asda. Mike Coupe, who was caught singing ‘We’re in the Money’ on the day the proposed £14 billion deal was announced, will leave at the end of May after six years in charge. The 59-year-old is set to be replaced by head of retail and operations Simon Roberts, a former managing director of Boots in the UK. Since taking charge in 2014, Coupe has been paid £14.2m, and could earn up to £5.9m for the current financial year, but Sainsbury’s shares have fallen 33% on his watch. He will continue to receive his salary, worth £981,543 a year, until he departs, and holds 2.1m company shares, worth £4.4m. |
| Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) insists its £100million digital challenger bank Bó remains a core part of its plans to compete for younger customers despite reports the offshoot’s chief executive will step down. The reported forthcoming departure of Mark Bailie in February raises questions over the future and direction of the bank – which RBS built from scratch – despite the fact it was launched less than two months ago. While RBS refused to comment on speculation over Mr Bailie, formerly the chief operating officer of RBS and now the chief executive of Bó, the part taxpayer-owned bank insists it remains part of its future plans, along with its new business-focused current account Mettle. |
 | Wetherspoon (J.D.) (JDW) said it will spend £80million in the coming year on new pubs and refurbishments as the firm reported a 4.4% increase in like-for-like sales in the 12 weeks to 19 January. Total sales also rose by 4.9% in the first 25 weeks of its financial year to date as the company announced it expects full-year expenditure to be around £85million. But it predicts that its net debts will be higher than it previously forecast, at between £780million and £820million due to greater capital expenditure. Wetherspoon made the announcement in a trading update in which its chairman Tim Martin slammed ‘pro-Remain organisations,’ major shareholders like Blackrock and corporate governance (CG) rules for harming the firm. Martin castigated the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) and the Food and Drink Federation (FDF) for ‘doubling down on Project Fear stories’ related to Brexit regarding possible job losses and rising food prices. |
 | Pets at Home Group (PETS) groomed over over 27,000 dogs in the week before Christmas, coining in cash from owners keen to get their pooches looking tip-top for the festive period. The pet store, which has expanded its operations into grooming and vet work, saw 6,000 dogs step into into its sites to get groomed in a single day on Christmas eve. Out of all the retailer’s 453 stores, Stockport was the busiest for dog grooming over the festive period, sharpening up the looks of over 250 dogs in the week before Christmas. |
| Berkeley Group Holdings (The) (BKG) plans to almost double its shareholder payout to £1 billion over the next two years, bringing a £13m windfall for its founder and chairman. Berkeley appears to have increased the payout after a rapid improvement in the outlook for builders in the wake of Boris Johnson’s resounding election victory. This has provided more clarity over Brexit, although a No-Deal exit from the EU could yet derail the sector. |
 | Metro Bank (MTRO) could be left without a permanent chief executive or chairman for months until regulatory probes into its 2019 loans gaffe are complete, City analysts have warned. Watchdogs are still investigating the lender following an accounting scandal which stunned investors last January. Metro shares have since plunged 91%, while in December chief executive Craig Donaldson followed founder Vernon Hill out of the door. One former Metro Bank insider said the lender is unlikely to secure a replacement for Mr Donaldson or Mr Hill before the probes from the Bank of England and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) are complete. The view was echoed by City analysts. |
 | Barclays (BARC) boss Jes Staley has declared victory over corporate raider Edward Bramson, arguing that his prized investment bank is here to stay after fears it could be broken up. Speaking at this year’s World Economic Forum in Davos, Mr Staley said that Mr Bramson’s campaign for deep cuts at Barclays appears to be at an end. In an interview with CNBC, he said: “Our activists have pretty much pulled back. Barclays is here to stay as a bulge bracket investment bank.” One investor agreed that Mr Bramson has softened his siege, despite the fact that in November he lengthened a controversial loan, used to build a stake in the lender, by a year to July 2022. Mr Staley’s declaration of victory at Davos comes months after his case for keeping the investment bank intact was boosted by strong results within the unit, which beat its Wall Street rivals. |
| Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) boss Mike Coupe is in line for a payday of up to £4m after announcing he will step down less than a year after his botched £7.3bn deal with smaller rival Asda. Mr Coupe has been at the helm of the supermarket chain for six years and will be replaced by Simon Roberts, the head of retail and operations, after he retires in June. He is in line for £4m for his work at the grocer this year if certain targets are hit. However, given the drop in the share price by a quarter over the past year, his pay packet will likely be lower. Mr Coupe has said he will give up his annual bonus and a long-term share award for the next financial year. His base salary is £981,543. His pay has attracted recent scrutiny after his audacious bid for Asda crumbled last year. |
| Wetherspoon (J.D.) (JDW) boss Tim Martin launched a fresh broadside against “complacent” City shareholders that force firms to stick to rules they do not follow themselves. The pub chief once again attacked Columbia Threadneedle and BlackRock – two of Wetherspoon’s biggest investors with a combined 12.9pc stake – and UK corporate governance rules for creating what he said were short-termist, inexperienced boards by restricting the number of years a director can serve for. In a rant issued as Wetherspoons announced a rise in Christmas sales, Mr Martin said: “These factors are obviously damaging for customers, employees and the economy – as well as for shareholders. “The current system is remote, counterproductive and inflexible, which are also the characteristics of many major shareholding institutions and their advisers.” |
 | Lambskin handbags and a new range of trainers boosted sales at Burberry Group (BRBY) in the run-up to Christmas despite severe disruption from violent pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong which kept buyers in the city at home. Revenue at the British fashion house rose by 1% to £719m in the 13 weeks to Dec 28 compared to a year earlier, while sales at stores that have been open for more than a year rose by 3%. But sales in the important Hong Kong market halved as clashes between police and protesters in the territory dented demand. Burberry’s chief financial officer Julie Brown said sales of a new range of trainers enjoyed double digit growth during the period, while its Lola lambskin handbags were a hit with customers. |
| Ted Baker (TED) has been forced to reveal that an accounting blunder was more than twice as big as previously thought, blowing a £58m hole in the troubled retailer’s finances and piling further pressure on bosses. The fashion firm said that a review by Deloitte had found the value of stock on its books was overstated by £58m, rather than a previous estimate of between £20m to £25m. This mistake is larger than the company’s pre-tax profits for the year to Jan 26, 2019, which stood at £50.9m. Shares fell as much as 10% before recovering some losses to trade down 5% at 303p. The stock has lost more than three-quarters of its value since the beginning of 2019. The Deloitte review also comes as an embarrassment to rival KPMG, Ted Baker’s auditor, which mentioned the issue in the retailer’s last annual report but concluded it was too small to affect the company’s accounts. |
 | World-leading British fuel cell company seeking to create bountiful clean energy has been given a major boost from German industrial giant Bosch. Ceres Power Holdings (CWR) has secured a £38m investment from Bosch, which upped its holding from 4% to 18% in a deal which values the company in Horsham, West Sussex at more than £500m. The business is developing fuel cells, which use a chemical reaction to create electricity from fuels such as hydrogen, ethanol or biogas without combustion. They do this by fusing hydrogen atoms with oxygen, a process which releases electricity. When powered by pure hydrogen the only byproduct is water, while other fuels run through fuel cells create far less pollution than comparable methods of power generation. |
| Mike Coupe is to stand down as chief executive of Sainsbury (J) (SBRY), a year after its failed £12 billion merger with Asda. Mr Coupe, 59, who has been at the company for 15 years and boss for six, will hand over to Simon Roberts, 48, in June. Mr Roberts joined Sainsbury’s as its retail and operations director in 2017 after 13 years at Boots. |
  | London’s insurers were given a boost yesterday after it emerged that the amount they paid out in natural disaster claims had fallen sharply last year. Not all of the total damages of $232 billion were covered and the global insurance industry was on the hook for “only” $71 billion — still a lot of money, clearly, but much lower than the bill insurers faced in previous years. In 2018, they paid out $100 billion and in 2017 a record $157 billion. Over the past decade, the average annual cost to the insurance industry from earthquakes, hurricanes and the like has been about $85 billion. Analysts said that many in the industry had hoped for an even lower figure to help to offset a rise in casualty claims in the United States, where litigation and big jury awards have hurt insurers, but the news was welcomed all the same. Shares in Hiscox Limited (DI) (HSX) closed 28p up at £13.68, while those of Beazley (BEZ) rose 17½p to 552½p. |
| M&G PLC (MNG) became a victim of its own success as Barclays downgraded it to “equal weight”. Analysts at the bank said that M&G had “surpassed expectations” since its demerger last October, with its shares up by almost a quarter in that time. One of their concerns was the asset management business, from which investors have been pulling their money over the past couple of years. Barclays reckons that this trend will need to reverse if the shares are to move higher, but it doesn’t think M&G’s funds have performed well enough for investors to start piling back in. | |
 | Investors thinking about taking a punt on Tullow Oil (TLW) after its recent woes were deterred from doing so by Investec. Even with the shares down 65% over the past six weeks, its analysts said they saw “limited scope for investment” in Tullow. It helped to send Tullow shares down another 3½p to 49½p. |
 | Shares in Consort Medical (CSRT) closed flat at £10.10, the level at which Recipharm, its Swedish rival, has tabled a £505 million cash offer. Recipharm yesterday swept up almost 4.9 million shares in Consort, representing 9.9% of the stock, at that price, and a further 118,563 shares at £10. |
 | A quarter of investors in Mitchells & Butlers (MAB) have voted against the re-appointment of a trio of board directors, including the son of Daniel Levy, the Tottenham Hotspur chairman. Just shy of 23% of shareholders voted not to re-elect Josh Levy, while a little more than 25% did not want Eddie Irwin and Ron Robson, the deputy chairman, to return to their roles. The three non-executive directors all have links to the pubs group’s two largest shareholders: Piedmont, the investment vehicle of Joe Lewis, the billionaire owner of Tottenham Hotspur; and Elpida Group, which is run by JP McManus and John Magnier, the Irish horse racing tycoons. Despite the rebellion, with the backing of the two largest shareholders, who between them own more than half of the company, the three directors were successfully re-appointed to their positions. |
| Berkeley Group Holdings (The) (BKG) has announced a £1 billion payday for shareholders and pledged to sell more new homes as it bets on the recovery of the housing market in London and the southeast. Berkeley Group said that it planned to return £1 billion to shareholders over the next two years, an increase of £455 million on a previous promise. It also has committed to increasing its delivery of homes by 50% over six years across its 25 large regeneration sites in London and the South East. The announcement marks a shift in strategy at the builder, which has shown a strong eye for a change in market mood in the past. It has cut back its investment in recent years amid a slowdown in the housing market caused by Brexit uncertainty, high stamp duty costs and a crackdown on buy-to-let landlords. That has led to an increase in its net cash position from £107.5 million in 2016 to a record high of £1.1 billion. |
| Demand for Riccardo Tisci’s striking designs gave Burberry Group (BRBY) the confidence yesterday to look beyond challenges in its key Hong Kong and Chinese markets and boost its growth forecasts. Nevertheless, the luxury brand spelt out the impact of pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong, where sales halved in the 13 weeks to December 28, and addressed fears that the emergence of the coronavirus in China could disrupt its business across Asia. Julie Brown, its finance officer, noted that Hong Kong was an important market for Burberry, previously accounting for 8% of its sales. “This quarter we’ve seen a halving of those sales,” she said. Of the coronavirus outbreak, she said that Burberry was “keeping the situation under review. We monitor it every single day.” |
| An accounting scandal at Ted Baker (TED) deepened yesterday when the fashion chain revealed that the value of its inventory had been overstated by £58 million, more than double its original estimate. Accountants were brought in to examine the books last month after Ted Baker said that the value of stock on its balance sheet at the end of its previous financial year had been overvalued by an estimated £20 million to £25 million. Ted Baker said yesterday that Deloitte, the Big Four accountancy firm, had “largely concluded” its review and that the non-cash overstatement was “materially higher” than the board’s initial assessment. |
| Animal lovers who wanted their dogs to look their best for Christmas family photos helped to push festive sales higher at Pets at Home Group (PETS). The retailer increased its sales by 7.9% to £255.9 million over the 12 weeks to January 3. Shop like-for-like sales rose by 5%, while online sales went up by 10% to account for almost a quarter of revenues. Peter Pritchard, 49, chief executive, said the figures meant that Pets at Home was “a shining light in an otherwise depressed environment”. A record 27,555 dogs were groomed by the chain in the week before Christmas. “I book myself in for a Christmas haircut and pet owners want to do the same for their dogs to make sure they look great in photos and not smelly when guests come,” Mr Pritchard said. |
 | WH Smith (SMWH), the world’s oldest national retail chain, has defied the blues affecting many of its rivals to report a 7% rise in revenue over the holiday period, boosted by its travel business. WH Smith, founded in 1792 by Henry Smith, said that in the 20 weeks to January 18 its travel revenues had risen by 19%, led by the acquisition of Marshall, the American travel retailer, for £305 million in December which nearly doubled Smith’s presence in the United States. |
| The chairman of Wetherspoon (J.D.) (JDW) renewed his attack on City corporate governance practices yesterday as the pubs company reported strong sales over Christmas and the new year. In the 12 weeks to January 19, Wetherspoons’ like-for-like sales rose by 4.7%, taking growth for its first half to 5% — a slight slowdown from the first quarter but ahead of most of its competitors. Tim Martin, the company’s founder, took issue with the failure of fund managers and proxy advisers to apply relevant “comply or explain” provisions on corporate governance relating to the length of service of non-executive directors. |
 | Investors in Close Brothers Group (CBG) took fright after the merchant banking group reported slowing growth in loanmaking alongside rising costs and bad debts. Close Brothers unveiled a 0.4% increase in its loan book to £7.68 billion in the last five months of last year, a slowdown from the 0.9% growth it had reported for the three months to the end of October. It also disclosed that bad debts at its banking operations had edged up to 0.8%, albeit from historic lows of 0.6%, and that costs at the division were expected to grow faster than income this year. The net interest margin slipped from 7.9% last year to 7.8%. Total client assets at the asset management division rose to £14 billion from £13.3 billion at the end of last July and Winterflood, the equities market-maker that it runs, enjoyed “an improvement in trading activity towards the end of 2019” after a slow start. |
 | Tempus – Derwent London (DLN): Avoid. High-quality developer with attractive portfolio, but richly valued after a very strong post-election run |
 | Tempus – The Gym Group (GYM): Hold. Low-cost operator taking advantage of growth of budget fitness |
| Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) is to cut hundreds of jobs in management as it presses on with the integration of Argos, which it bought for £1.4bn in 2016. In a letter to staff, the supermarket chain’s chief executive, Mike Coupe, said the company’s leadership team had already been reduced by 20% since the beginning of the financial year in March 2019. Coupe said the structural reorganisation would ultimately lead to hundreds of job cuts, part of a plan to save £500m in costs by 2024. |
 | Dixons Carphone (DC.) has suffered a further slump in mobile sales but benefited from a surge in sales of supersize TVs and Dyson hairdryers. The company, which owns the Carphone Warehouse and Currys PC World chains, posted a 9% fall in like-for-like mobile phone sales in the UK and Ireland in the 10 weeks to 4 January but that decline was offset by a 2% rise in electricals sales – better than expected – and overall group sales were flat. Mobile sales had been even worse in the first half of the year, down 18% at established stores. |
| easyJet (EZJ) said it was on course for a strong winter, after reporting a leap in revenues for the last quarter of 2019, partly boosted by the demise of Thomas Cook. Passenger numbers grew by 2.8% year on year, despite widespread disruption from strikes in France during which 871 flights were cancelled between October and December. The airline said that robust demand and slow capacity growth, with only 1% more seats flown, contributed to an increase in revenue per seat of almost 8.8%. It ascribed about one-fifth of that growth to the collapse of rival Thomas Cook last September. While it traditionally struggles to make money through the winter months, easyJet said it was on target for losses “better than 2019” in the first half of the financial year, despite an increased fuel bill. |
 | Melrose Industries (MRO) considers sale of chunk of Nortek. FTSE 100 company wants to sell US division’s air quality and home solutions businesses |
 | Lekoil Ltd (DI) (LEK) wins breathing space for oilfield financing. Nigeria-focused oil group wins extension at Ogo site following fake loan scandal |
 | Aviva (AV.) chairman Adrian Montague to step down. Departure comes as chief executive lays out plan to improve insurer’s performance |
| Head of Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) digital lender Bó to step down. Mark Bailie had missed out on chief executive role to Alison Rose |
| Australian bushfires weigh on coal production at BHP Group PLC (BHP). World’s biggest natural resources group hit as industry ponders future of fossil fuels | |
  | CityFibre Infrastructure Holdings (CITY) buys TalkTalk Telecom Group (TALK) FibreNation unit for £200m. Takeover by Goldman-backed telecoms group was delayed by UK general election |
 | BP (BP.) finance chief to retire amid further reshuffle. In U-turn, Brian Gilvary says it is the ‘right time to move on’ |
| Dixons Carphone (DC.) UK electricals spark into life over Christmas. Sales of large televisions and smart speakers grow but mobile business suffers |
 | Sirius Minerals (SXX) has launched an internal investigation after a senior worker was allegedly heard discussing the controversial takeover by Anglo American (AAL) with a hotel barmaid before it was publicly announced. Local resident and Sirius shareholder Andrew Green claims that on January 7 – the day before Sirius told the stock market about the takeover of the struggling potash mine in Yorkshire – he heard an employee loudly talking about a deal with Anglo American that was going to be revealed ‘as soon as tomorrow’. Green’s allegations come as the mining company fields criticism for a spike in its share price on January 7 – the same day he overheard the brazen pub conversation. |
| Bosses at Dixons Carphone (DC.) were left red-faced yesterday after they were forced to issue a correction to its Christmas sales figures. At 7am the owner of Currys PC World and Carphone Warehouse published an upbeat trading statement declaring group revenues had climbed by 2%. Shares rose sharply on the back of the update as booming demand for large televisions, Dyson hairdryers and Shark vacuum cleaners offset a slump in demand for mobile phones. But at 1.40pm, almost seven hours after the initial announcement, Dixons admitted there had been a ‘clerical error’ and sales had in fact fallen 2% in the ten weeks to January 4. It is understood that chief executive Alex Baldock and finance chief Jonny Mason, as well as public relations staff, reviewed the statement before it was published but did not see the error. |
| The chief financial officer of BP (BP.), Brian Gilvary, has announced he is to retire from the company after eight years in his position. Gilvary will be replaced by the company’s Upstream CFO Murray Auchinloss at the end of June after spending more than three decades at the firm. His departure comes just a fortnight before the retirement of the energy giant’s chief executive officer Bob Dudley. The two men have overseen the recovery of BP from the costly environmentally-damaging Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. |
| Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) is to lay off hundreds more managers as part of a half-billion pound cost-saving drive. The job losses will come on top of cuts made last year which eliminated 20% of the grocer’s senior leadership team. The latest wave of departures comes as a result of the further integration of Sainsbury’s with Argos, the consumer electronics and homeware group that it bought for £1.4billion in 2016. In particular, there will be moves to reduce the payroll by fusing more teams in the commercial, retail, financial, digital, technology and human resources departments. Sainsbury’s declined to put a figure on the number of jobs lost in the original 20% reduction in management headcount, and yesterday would say only that the new cuts would run into the hundreds. |
 | Retail chain Joules Group (JOUL) has blamed a hit to its sales on the timing of Black Friday, less than two weeks after poor Christmas trading saw it warn over annual profits. The group posted a 10% fall in underlying pre-tax profits to £8.4million for the 26 weeks to November 24. It said that, with the Black Friday week included, retail sales actually rose 3.1%. But statutory profits fell a whopping 82% to £1million as they were also affected by the costs of closing stores and its new head office. |
| TalkTalk Telecom Group (TALK) has sold its fibre networks roll-out business to CityFibre Infrastructure Holdings (CITY) for £200million. The deal for Fibrenation was supposed to be completed last year, but was delayed following Labour’s announcement that it planned to nationalise parts of BT if it won the general election. But it has now been finalised and makes Cityfibre the UK’s third-largest digital infrastructure platform behind Virgin and BT. Greg Mesch, chief executive of Goldman Sachs-backed Cityfibre, said: ‘The UK is a service-based economy, and this runs best on full fibre.’ He continued: ‘Ensuring national coverage is critical and this can only be achieved by driving infrastructure competition at scale. This deal demonstrates the appetite from industry to see it established.’ |
| easyJet (EZJ) said it saw an increase in sales in the later part of last year as it gained business following the collapse of travel agent Thomas Cook. The budget airline has now upped its revenue guidance for the year. Chief executive Johan Lundgren said the low-cost airline believes per-seat revenue grew by 1.5% because of the problems Thomas Cook faced, with overall revenue per seat increasing by 8.8% to £58.63 in the three months to December 31. The company also said that new initiatives to sell more luggage space, and allocated seats, as well as offering car rentals from a partner, helped push up revenues. Easyjet said 22.2 million passengers flew on its planes in the quarter, an increase of 2.8% compared with the same period a year earlier. |
| Sales of supersize televisions, Shark vacuum cleaners and fitness-related gadgets helped Dixons Carphone (DC.) to record a small growth in its electrical division over the Christmas period. Overall sales at the high street giant remained lackluster however, as it continues to struggle with its mobile phone arm. The retailer initially said sales rose 2% on a like-for-like basis in the ten weeks to January 4 with 8,000 smart speakers being sold each day and record purchases of items including Fitbits and Apple Airpods. Embarrassingly, it had to reissue the Christmas trading figures to say sales went down 2%, not up. Overall revenue growth was held back by the drop in the continuous decline in mobile phone sales at Carphone Warehouse, which slumped 9% in the ten week period. Chief executive Alex Baldock has previously said the mobile phone sector ‘was a ‘challenging’ market. |
 | Bluerock Diamonds (BRD) sparkled after it booked revenue of £4.1million last year, up 190%. In the second half of 2019, the miner also turned a profit for the first time, it said in a trading statement. The success was based on the sale of 12,675 carats from the Kareevlei mine in South Africa, which more than doubled the output of the previous year. Grades and price per carat also improved. |
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