 | Woodford Patient Capital Trust (WPCT) breaches debt cap after asset writedown. Value of cold fusion developer Industrial Heat cut because of ‘delay in operational progress’ |
  | British Airways group to buy Air Europa for €1bn. Ryanair Holdings (RYA) attacks acquisition by International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) as a ‘bad deal from a competition point of view’ |
 | Mothercare (MTC) to put UK unit in administration. Baby products group hit by intense competition from supermarkets and online retailers |
| Ryanair Holdings (RYA) warns risk ‘rising’ of more 737 Max delays. Low-cost carrier’s shares rise as investors anticipate higher fares |
 | Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) struggles to meet deadline to offload 120,000 customers. UK bank likely to need extension as customers ignore incentives to move to rivals |
| Ryanair Holdings (RYA) raked in £7.7million a day in extra charges from its passengers over the summer holidays. A surge in the number of people paying extra to reserve a seat or bring a second bag on board helped the budget airline generate £1.4billion from add-ons in just six months. In results posted yesterday, the Irish-based carrier revealed the amount it generated from ‘ancillary sales’ soared by 28% in the six months to the end of September. Ryanair flew 86million passengers in that time, 11% more than during the same period last year. In a statement to the stock market, the airline said ‘more guests chose priority boarding and preferred seat services’, but critics say passengers are effectively being forced to pay extra following a crackdown on cabin baggage. |
| International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) has agreed to buy Spanish rival Air Europa for €1billion (£860million), in another round of consolidation in the market. IAG, which also owns two Spanish carriers – Iberia and Vueling – said it is looking to turn Madrid airport in a ‘true rival’ to the four major European airports of Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Heathrow and Paris Charles De Gaulle. The group said Air Europa – which has 66 planes and flies to Europe, Latin America, the United States, the Caribbean and North Africa – will retain its name for the time being. IAG boss Willie Walsh said the acquisition would generate additional financial value for shareholders as the group would become more cost efficient and a significant player in the Europe-to-Latin America and Caribbean markets. |
| Mothercare (MTC) has brought in restructuring experts from accountancy giant KPMG, raising concerns for the future of its 79 stores and 2,500 staff. The retailer, which fell to a £36.3m loss and shut 55 stores last year under a controversial company voluntary arrangement (CVA), has been trying to sell its UK arm. The company is now considering closing more stores or asking landlords for rent cuts, but a sale is believed to be preferred, The Sunday Times reported. Mothercare boss Mark Newton-Jones wants its UK stores to become franchises, to mirror its profitable international business – effectively turning the retailer into a branding and product supplier. |
 | Takeaway.com has changed its bid for fellow food delivery service Just Eat (JE.) in order to fight off competition from another suitor. In the latest chapter of a battle for Just Eat, Amsterdam-listed Takeaway.com tabled an offer that will go through if 75% of Just Eat shareholders accept. The threshold could be dropped as low as 50% plus one share. It was previously structured as a ‘scheme of arrangement’, which required 75% of both companies’ shareholders to vote in favour. Takeaway.com’s move comes as it tries to fend off interest from rival suitor Prosus, the Dutch arm of South African technology giant Naspers, which gatecrashed the deal with a £4.9billion hostile bid. |
| Mothercare (MTC) was racing to protect thousands of staff and former workers from pension cutbacks on Monday night ahead of calling in administrators. The toy and baby clothes seller is expected to dump its collapsing UK arm, putting 2,500 jobs at risk. Its retirement programme is almost £140m in the red, meaning if the British division goes bust then the pensions lifeboat will be forced to step in – triggering major cutbacks for 6,000 members of the scheme. It comes after Mothercare admitted that its 79 stores are incapable of making money. The chain is now calling in PwC to act as administrator. |
| Boris Johnson is planning a ‘bonfire’ of red tape to help small businesses bid for billions of pounds of government contracts once the UK is finally free of the European Union at the end of next year. The Prime Minister is working up plans with Cabinet Office minister Oliver Dowden for an overhaul of procurement rules once the UK leaves the transition period in December next year if the UK leaves with a deal. Mr Johnson intends to axe EU rules which require the Government to award contracts to companies based on the lowest price. Small UK businesses have long complained this leaves them outcompeted by foreign firms offering bargain basement rates for substandard work. | |
| The troubled investment trust once run by Neil Woodford has been forced to slash the value of its investment in cold fusion firm Industrial Heat for a second time, in another blow for its long-suffering savers. Woodford Patient Capital Trust (WPCT) cut the valuation of Industrial Heat – which is focused on next-generation energy technology viewed sceptically by most scientists – on the advice of the custodian Link Fund Solutions, a company tasked with ensuring the trust follows the rules. Patient Capital first reduced the value of its £67m holding in Industrial Heat in August. The new cut on Monday means the stake’s estimated worth has dropped as much as 83% and is less than £10m. |
 | Staff at Sir Martin Sorrell’s old firm WPP (WPP) are queuing up to work for him again after he was forced out of the company in a dramatic row last year, the advertising mogul has said. Advertising executives at all levels are trying to jump ship from WPP to Sir Martin’s new venture S4 Capital (SFOR), he said, with new candidates approaching him every day. The 74-year-old – who built WPP from nothing into a FTSE 100 stalwart but was pushed out last year amid allegations, which he denies, that he paid a prostitute using company expenses – raised doubts over whether his former employer can survive in one piece. Shares have fallen almost a quarter since Sir Martin left. |
 | Draper Esprit (GROW) risks a backlash from shareholders after chief executive Simon Cook moved from the top post to become chief investment officer without a cut to his salary. Mr Cook, who founded the publicly-listed venture capital firm together with chief operating officer Stuart Chapman, said the move will allow him to spend more leading the firm’s investment team. He said: “For me personally, I’m an entrepreneur at heart. Investing is what I love.” Although he will no longer be heading up the business, it is understood there will be no change to his salary, which last year stood at £348,000. The second highest paid director was Mr Chapman, at £289,000. |
| Ryanair Holdings (RYA) has slashed the number of Boeing 737 aircraft it expects to receive next summer amid fears of fresh delays in the return of the scandal-hit jet. Job cuts remain on the cards as a result of the delayed return of the 737 Max, which has been grounded since March following two fatal crashes within five months, the airline warned. Ryanair has pushed back when it expects to take delivery of its first 737 Max planes – from January or February next year, to March or April. This means the airline expects to receive 20 of the “game-changer” jets next year, down from the originally planned 58. The low-cost carrier had already downgraded next year’s delivery to 30 in July. |
| Ryanair Holdings (RYA) will ask the competition authorities to force British Airways owner International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) to make divestments as part of its €1bn (£860m) purchase of Air Europa, with analysts warning that IAG may struggle to get regulatory clearance for the deal. The Irish carrier’s chief executive Michael O’Leary said: “I think it is a good deal for IAG, for Willie Walsh. I think it is a bad deal from a competition point of view.” He added: “It is a merger to monopoly in Madrid and I think we would certainly be looking for the competition authorities to require some competition divestments, particularly in the Air Europa short-haul.” |
 | Questor: in a growth-starved world GB Group (GBG) is worth holding despite its chunky price tag. Questor share tip: the firm continues to capitalise on its strong position in what is still a growth market: identity data intelligence |
| Neil Woodford’s investment trust has surpassed a debt limit of 20% of its value after a writedown of one of its most prominent stakes. Link Fund Solutions, which oversees the corporate governance of Mr Woodford’s investment vehicles, lowered its estimated value for a speculative energy company linked with Brad Pitt. In a further blow to Woodford Patient Capital Trust (WPCT), Link’s latest revision means that Industrial Heat is now valued at less than a fifth of the level at which it was valued last autumn. |
  | The storm that has raged through the high street swept Mothercare (MTC) into the arms of administrators yesterday, putting 2,500 jobs and 79 shops at risk. It also added the baby products specialist to an ever-lengthening list of bricks-and-mortar chains laid low by economic uncertainty, cash-conscious consumers, rising bills from rents to wages and the advance of online shopping. Its decision to appoint PWC to oversee its administration is a blow to retail landlords, including NewRiver REIT (NRR) and Hammerson (HMSO), that were already reeling from similar setbacks. Only a year ago Mothercare’s landlords and other creditors agreed a company voluntary arrangement that led to the closure of 55 stores. The insolvency mechanism gives companies breathing space to avoid collapse, giving them more time to pay back creditors, but for landlords, this means lower rental income and a knock-on effect on property values. |
 | Damage caused by three storms that hit the United States, the Caribbean and Japan during the past three months has forced Hiscox Limited (DI) (HSX) to set aside $165 million to cover probable insurance claims. The insurer said yesterday that it was braced for heavy losses as a result of natural catastrophes during the third quarter, highlighting Hurricane Dorian and the typhoons Faxai and Hagibis. The storms, in which 162 people died, caused estimated losses of $33 billion as a result of damage to residential and commercial property and disruption to businesses. Hiscox said that the losses were markedly above its budget for the second half of the year. This, along with a forecast that fees and commissions would be below expectations, took the shine off an otherwise upbeat set of numbers covering the first nine months of the year. |
  | Shares in fracking companies dived yesterday after the government banned the oil and gas extraction technique. Ministers imposed a moratorium on fracking at the weekend because of the “unacceptable” risk of earthquakes, saying that it was impossible to predict the scale or frequency of tremors. The ban came after a series of shocks near Blackpool, where Cuadrilla, a fracking company, had been exploring for gas. The most recent earthquake in September measured 2.9 on the Richter scale, forcing it to halt production. The ban sent shares in AJ Lucas, an Australian energy group that owns 48% of Cuadrilla, down by 23% yesterday. Shares in UK-listed fracking companies also fell sharply, with IGas Energy (IGAS) closing down 4p at 32¼p, and Egdon Resources (EDR) tumbling ¾p to 3½p. |
| International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) has swooped on Air Europa, Spain’s third largest airline, in a €1 billion deal designed to extend its reach across Latin America and the Caribbean. The operator intends to strengthen Madrid into a “true rival” for Europe’s big aviation hubs, taking the fight to London Heathrow, Paris Charles De Gaulle, Amsterdam and Frankfurt, after agreeing to make the acquisition through Iberia, its Spanish carrier. However, IAG, which also owns British Airways, Aer Lingus and Vueling, another Spanish airline, immediately faced opposition within the industry. Michael O’Leary, chief executive of Ryanair, lamented “a bad deal from a competition point of view” as he led calls for regulatory intervention. |
| Ryanair Holdings (RYA) is to close bases and cut jobs because of the continuing delay in delivering the grounded Boeing 737 Max. Europe’s busiest short-haul airline expects delivery of its first 737 Max aircraft in March, or April at the earliest. “Sadly, due to the Max delivery delays, we will be forced to cut or close a number of loss-making bases this winter, leading to pilot and cabin crew job losses,” Ryanair said. The 737 Max was grounded in March after crashes in Ethiopia and Indonesia killed a total of 346 people. Several airlines have reported lower profits as a result. |
 | The impact of civil unrest in Chile on Antofagasta’s mining operations in the country was writ large on its annual production guidance yesterday, as the copper miner admitted that the turmoil was having a bigger effect than it had expected. Antofagasta (ANTO) has four mines in Chile, including Los Pelambres, 150 miles northeast of Santiago, the capital. Less than two weeks ago, more than a million people took to the streets of the city to protest against low wages and the soaring cost of living. One of the main access roads to Los Pelambres was blocked by demonstrators, preventing supplies from reaching the mine, while some of the surrounding infrastructure was damaged. At Antucoya, another Antofagasta mine in Chile, workers walked out in a row over pay, although that strike has ended after the company and the union agreed a new deal. |
 | easyJet (EZJ) was one of the big mid-cap risers as it clung to the coat-tails of Ryanair Holdings (RYA), its rival budget airline. The Irish carrier beat forecasts with its second-quarter performance, boosted by a big increase in the sale of extras such as preferred boarding and seat selection, which Easyjet is also known for. |
| Team17 (TM17) nudged 16p higher to 313½p. That was after the company, which is behind the Worms games, said that it had continued to experience “strong customer traction” from its new and established games, which meant that underlying earnings this year would be “ahead of market expectations”. | |
 | The boss of Hilton Food Group (HFG) has cashed in a chunk of his shares in the food packaging group, making £3.6 million. Philip Heffer sold 360,000 shares at £10 apiece yesterday. According to the latest annual report, the chief executive still owns about 3.8 million shares, worth just shy of £40 million. There was no official comment from Mr Heffer or the company on yesterday’s share sale, although it is understood that he is using the money to fund a personal investment. |
 | Tempus – BlackRock World Mining Trust (BRWM): Avoid. Interesting and diverse portfolio, but performance has been patchy and the worldwide economic backdrop is unappealing |
 | Tempus – AA (AA.): Buy. Evident progress is being made that share price ignores |
| Saudi Arabia has given the go-ahead to the long-delayed sale of its state-owned oil company Aramco, in what will be the biggest stock market flotation in history. The milestone market debut could value Saudi Aramco at $1.5tn, significantly below initial expectations of up to $2tn, as it courts international investors for the first time. Despite the lower valuation, Aramco’s initial public offering will be the biggest in history, raising $40bn-$45bn, surpassing the record $25bn raised by China’s tech firm Alibaba in 2015. But in further signs of behind-the-scenes wrangling, the precise details of the offer price and amount of shares available are not expected to be released until 9 November, with full trading slated to begin around 12 December. It is understood that only a small portion of shares will be released on to the Riyadh market, likely to be in the range of 1% to 3% of the total stock. |
| Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) struggles to meet deadline to offload 120,000 customers. UK bank likely to need extension as customers ignore incentives to move to rivals |
| Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) chief prepares ground for cost-cutting. New CEO tells staff focus on reducing overheads ‘critical’ for taxpayer-backed bank |
 | Standard Life Aberdeen (SLA) takes first steps to family-friendly City. Staff hope new parental leave policy will change culture and encourage rivals to follow |
 | Car dealership Lookers (LOOK) expects profits to more than halve. Chief executive departs as weak auto market takes its toll |
| Saudi Arabia has fired the starting gun on what will be the world’s biggest float after receiving a thumbs-up from regulators. Analysts believe the listing of Saudi Aramco could value the state-owned energy firm at £1trillion – though Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is hoping it could be worth £1.5trillion. The company pumps out one in eight barrels of oil globally and made a profit of £36 billion in the first six months of this year. The country’s Capital Markets Authority yesterday granted Aramco permission to sell a portion of its shares on the local Tadawul exchange – three years after plans for the float were first announced. But detail was scant on key issues. Aramco has not released a timetable for the float or even said how much of the company it will put on the public markets. | |
 | The US firm trying to buy Cobham (COB) has offered to put Britons in charge of all sensitive UK Government contracts in its latest effort to get the £4bn deal over the line. Advent International is willing to offer concessions to secure the controversial takeover, which was referred to the competition watchdog in September over fears it could compromise national security by exposing top-secret information to another country. This is one of the first proposals that would seem to address concerns about the defence firm, which holds contracts with the Ministry of Defence, being foreign-owned. |
| hatched an audacious plot to persuade US President Donald Trump to endorse its business plans, according to documents filed in a New York court. Papers obtained by The Mail on Sunday reveal the idea to solicit Trump to praise a Sports Direct deal on Twitter and help deliver a ‘massive increase in sales’. Sports Direct’s US boss Howard Moher outlined the plan in an email to Justin Barnes – a trusted lieutenant of the retail giant’s owner Mike Ashley – in early 2017 as they closed in on a key American acquisition. He said it relied on the co-operation of former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, whose company was advising Sports Direct. | |
 | Redrow (RDW) is braced for an investor revolt this week after making it easier for bosses to earn bonuses. Investor advisory groups have told shareholders to vote against the firm’s long-term bonus scheme at its annual general meeting in the City on Wednesday morning. Glass Lewis has taken issue with Redrow for lowering earnings targets that executives must hit to achieve bonus payments. The company said it had lowered objectives for its executives because of changes to the Government’s Help To Buy scheme – which will now only be available to first-time buyers – and ‘macroeconomic uncertainty’. ISS also recommended a vote against executive pay at Redrow because of historic long-term bonus conditions set for Steve Morgan, who stood down as chairman of the firm in March. |
| Saudi Aramco is set to unveil its record-breaking stock market flotation tomorrow after crown prince Mohammed bin Salman finally gave the green light for the listing. Advisers were today drumming up support from investors in last-minute meetings as the Saudi Arabian state-run oil producer closes in on a share sale that will make it the world’s most valuable publicly listed company. The kingdom is expected to launch the initial public offering (IPO) process tomorrow with trading set to begin in Riyadh in December, reports claimed. | |
| Just Eat (JE.) has warned a digital services tax would cost it £7m a year and hammer the UK’s burgeoning tech industry, amid a fight for the delivery firm. It urged a rethink of Conservative plans for levy on online sales. The concerns are thought unlikely to deter suitors Prosus and Takeaway.com. Just Eat said that last year it generated around £386m of its revenue from the UK and paid corporation tax of £22.4m. The Tory plan for a 2% charge on sales by large internet firms would push this annual tax bill up by £7m, it said, slightly less than analyst forecasts. |
 | The owner of the Daily Mail is on track to clinch a takeover of the i newspaper, in a move to consolidate the declining print market. Daily Mail and General Trust A (Non.V) (DMGT), the listed group wholly controlled by Jonathan Harmsworth, Viscount Rothermere, is understood to be likely to seal the deal with the i’s hedge fund owners in the coming days. Sources this weekend said an agreement was on the cards this week, but cautioned that the timetable of a sale process that has taken weeks longer than expected could yet slip again. The price of the title, part of the former Johnston Press stable that now trades as JPI Media, is expected to be a multiple of the £24m paid for it when it last changed hands in 2016. |
 | Kier Group (KIE), one of the country’s biggest builders of schools, roads and railways faces a fight for survival this winter as heavy debts become the target of opportunistic hedge funds. The Sunday Telegraph has learnt that lenders are attempting to offload Kier loans to specialists in distressed debt at knockdown prices, in a signal they believe the risks to its future are rising. It is understood that the debt is being marketed for as little as 70p in the pound as lenders led by HSBC scramble to limit their losses in the event of another corporate failure in a sector that has endured a torrid few years. |
 | Lord Waheed Alli sent out invitations to investors, analysts and journalists to attend a presentation about Koovs (KOOV) and then had to cancel. It was Oct 10. Eleven days later, a vital £6.5m funding injection from Kishore Biyani, a retail billionaire in India, collapsed. The Capital Markets Day was subsequently cancelled. Koovs has warned since that it has £3.3m in the bank until the end of the year to stay afloat. It will also pause spending cash on new stock and marketing, its biggest expense. |
| The US private equity firm that has swooped on Cobham (COB) is ready to guarantee that only Britons are put in charge of sensitive Government contracts in its campaign to win approval for the controversial £4bn takeover. Advent is understood to be willing to offer concessions to close the deal with Cobham – which has about 1,700 UK staff – as long as they “do not fundamentally” change the shape of the business. Defence experts this weekend said that ensuring UK nationals oversee sensitive deals involving Britain’s defence was one way to get a green light from Andrea Leadsom, the Business Secretary. |
 | Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) has reduced its communications team amid a cost-cutting drive to revive the company’s fortunes. The retailer quietly made at least nine people redundant after an overhaul of its communications team in July. The move follows a string of oustings and resignations, including finance chief Humphrey Singer and Gordon Mowat, clothing and home supply chain director. The chain expects another fall in sales for the six months to September when it updates the City on Wednesday. Clothing and home like-for-like sales, which exclude new shops, are expected to fall by 4.3%. Food should edge up by 0.3%, and profits of £176m are expected. |
| Questor: neither Woodford nor the election should rock M&G PLC (MNG), so buy for the 8% yield. Questor: demerged last month from the Pru, the newly independent fund manager has some reliable sources of income |
| Saudi Arabia’s state-backed oil giant has launched its long-awaited flotation to widespread scepticism that it can achieve its coveted $2 trillion valuation. Shares in Saudi Aramco will be offered to private investors for the first time in an initial public offering (IPO) that experts believe is likely to value the world’s biggest oil company at closer to $1.5 trillion. The listing on Riyadh’s Tadawul stock exchange is the centrepiece of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s vision to diversify the kingdom’s economy away from oil. Aramco, the world’s most profitable company, is thought to be looking to sell a stake of between 1 and 3%, raising anywhere from $15 billion to $60 billion. | |
 | AstraZeneca (AZN) is buying back a factory two years after it was sold as it seeks to avoid the collapse of a second site. The pharmaceutical group is in talks to reacquire the facility in Reims, northeast France, from Avara, the start-up contract drugs manufacturer and distributor, owned by Leonard Levie, an American former Lehman Brothers banker turned industrial investor. Astrazeneca’s planned acquisition comes after about half the sites bought by Avara from big pharma companies have failed or been taken back. They include the 100-acre Avlon site near Bristol, employing 230 workers, which produced Astrazeneca’s blockbuster Crestor statin. Avara appointed David Rubin & Partners as administrator in February, two years after it had been sold by Astrazeneca for £1. Astrazeneca agreed to set aside up to £12 million to cover redundancy payments at Avlon amid criticism from MPs, union leaders and employees after The Times helped bring the dispute to light. |
 | One of Canada’s biggest pension funds has bought a 50% stake in Apple’s new research base in Cambridge as part of a £125 million investment in the city. The Public Sector Pension Investment Board, which manages the savings of Canadian civil servants and armed forces, has invested in two office developments at CB1, a 35-acre regeneration project in Cambridge. The stake was sold by Aviva Investors, the asset management business of Aviva (AV.), which will continue to act as development manager and asset manager. |
 | The boss of Wetherspoon (J.D.) (JDW) has accused an influential shareholder adviser of “financial illiteracy” after it told investors to vote against the pay policy at the pub group’s annual meeting later this month. Glass Lewis raised an alert over a “significant” increase for the finance chief for the third year running, adding that high fixed pay could be a “crutch” when performance fell below expectations. Tim Martin said Glass Lewis was talking “complete bollocks”. “The finance director was an internal appointment, who started from a low base and is increasing over a number of years towards what I hope will be a slightly lower level than the overpaid FDs in the sector generally,” he said. Martin, 64, was scathing of Glass Lewis’s comments on the absence of performance targets for some share awards. “The most toxic and damaging aspect of corporate governance is the obsession with targets,” he said. “In the pub sector they cause people to underpay staff, not to carry out essential repairs, and to try to artificially enhance profits.” |
 | Former investment banker has emerged as the leading internal candidate to succeed Lord Blackwell as chairman of Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY). Lord (James) Lupton is a former co-treasurer who has donated £2.5m to the Tory Party. He joined the board of Lloyds in 2017 to be chairman of the non-ring-fenced part of the bank, which deals with large corporate customers. Lupton, 64, came to public attention as the owner of La Fortaleza, a 17th-century fortress on Mallorca, the lair of fictional arms dealer Richard Roper in the TV adaptation of John Le Carré’s The Night Manager. He was also deputy chairman of Baring Brothers in 1995 when the bank was brought down by rogue trader Nick Leeson, and served until two years ago as chairman of Greenhill Europe, a boutique investment bank, having co-founded the London office. A headhunter close to the bank said Lupton was the likely choice to replace Blackwell, 67, who was paid £743,000 last year. It was announced last week that Blackwell was stepping down. He plans to retire before the annual meeting in 2021, by when he will have been on the board for nine years. A formal search process will start next year. Lloyds declined to comment. |
 | BT Group (BT.A) has been accused of stealing the advertising slogan deployed in its rebranding from a start-up providing technology training to schoolchildren. BT’s Beyond Limits campaign launched last month with the slogan “technology will save us”. It is BT’s biggest campaign in 20 years, according to ad giant Saatchi & Saatchi. However, the name was familiar to the entrepreneurs Bethany Koby and Daniel Hirschmann, who launched a company called Tech Will Save Us in London seven years ago. It provides make-it-yourself technology kits to children in 97 countries, with the aim of helping them learn to code and invent. |
 | GVC Holdings (GVC) is preparing to appoint a new chairman after a series of governance scandals. The company is expected to reveal that retail and leisure veteran Barry Gibson will lead the board. He will replace Lee Feldman, who has been in the role for 11 years. GVC will hope the appointment of Gibson, 68, first reported by Sky News, will draw a line under a torrid year. In March, Feldman and chief executive Kenny Alexander sold £20m of shares in one day, driving the price down 20%. In July, The Sunday Times revealed that GVC had offloaded its Turkish business to three men, one of whom is Alexander’s partner in a stud farm. Their friendship was not disclosed to the market. |
 | The City had all but written off Shield Therapeutics (STX) only 18 months ago. Its treatment for patients with iron deficiency had seemingly flunked a pivotal trial — meaning it failed to win backing from America’s Food and Drug Administration. “Everyone is scratching their heads,” chief executive Carl Sterritt said at the time. He had been sure the drug, Feraccru, would ace the test. Further analysis revealed that, in fact, the drug had worked, so Shield could hope to access a market worth a potential $1bn (£760m) a year. The AIM-listed company secured approval for its drug and the shares rocketed. The market for a drug that can effectively treat iron deficiency is huge. Analysts talk about sales of more than £300m a year based on the 6m adults with iron deficiency anaemia caused by inflammatory bowel disease and chronic kidney disease. A further 28m suffer iron deficiency linked to other problems, pushing the prize much higher. FinnCap, its joint broker, has put a 350p target on the stock, while Peel Hunt, its nominated adviser and joint broker, is predicting a more modest 200p. Buy. |
| The new boss of Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) has hinted that the lender faces another overhaul when she sets out her strategy for the group next year. RBS has undergone painful restructurings under Mr McEwan, 62, who ran the business for six years, and his predecessor Stephen Hester. Last year 431 branches were closed and a further 54 were shut in January as customers move online. |
| The downturn in the motor industry has forced Lookers (LOOK) to issue its second profit warning in only four months. The car dealership group also announced the departures of its chief executive and chief operating officer as it said that annual profits would be about £20 million this year, compared with City analysts’ forecasts of about £38 million. |
 | Revenues at TP ICAP (TCAP) rose in the three months to the end of September in a set of third-quarter figures that were better than the City had expected. Market volatility triggered by Brexit and the trade war between the United States and China has benefited brokers such as TP Icap because it encouraged more trading during the quarter. Mr Breteau said the results showed that the group was “well placed to capitalise on volatile macro-market conditions”.Even so, the company sought to temper expectations for the remainder of the year and did not raise its forecasts. “Despite a strong performance in the third quarter, our full-year guidance of low single-digit revenue growth on a constant currency basis remains unchanged,” it said. |
| has approved $44 million spending on works to enable the restart of its Samarco operations in Brazil, where 19 people died in a waste dam collapse four years ago. The mining group said that the funding would be used to construct a filtration plant, which would remove water from the majority of the iron ore mining waste. This would enable it to be stacked safely, rather than in a huge water-logged dam, like the one that failed in 2015. |
| Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) has put aside a further £1.8bn to cover a surge in payment protection insurance (PPI) complaints before the August claims deadline, which nearly wiped out its quarterly profit. Including the PPI charge, the bank’s profit before tax slumped to £50m for the three months to 30 September, from a profit of £1.8bn in the third quarter last year. The result was weaker than expected. The latest charge is at the top end of estimates, and takes the group’s total bill to £21.8bn. PPI has become the banking industry’s biggest mis-selling scandal and Lloyds accounts for almost half the total bill, which has risen to around £50bn. |
 | Carpetright (CPR) is in talks about a cut-price £15m sale to its biggest shareholder as the specialist retailer said it needed to raise £80m to stay afloat. Meditor, a British hedge fund headed by former Old Mutual banker and poker player Talal Shakerchi, already owns 30% of Carpetright’s shares and bought up more than £40m of its debts in August. The firm is offering investors just 5p a share, a big discount to the 9p that Carpetright’s shares were trading at on Wednesday, before the Meditor offer was announced. |
© Vox Markets 2024. All rights reserved.
Follow @VOXmarketsTerms and conditions | Community standards | Compliance | Privacy and cookie policy
Prices and trades are delayed by at least 15 minutes. Vox Markets takes no responsibility for the accuracy of the information within this site. All times quoted are based on the current time in London, UK.