 | Smith & Nephew (SN.) could face a backlash from investors after its chief executive stood down only 18 months into the role amid a dispute about his pay. More than £1 billion was wiped off the market value of the medical equipment manufacturer yesterday as its shares tumbled by 162p to £16.67½ after the surprise announcement that Namal Nawana was leaving by mutual agreement. He will be replaced at the start of next month by Roland Diggelmann, 52, who will be based in Switzerland and has been a non-executive at the company since March last year. |
 | Prudential (PRU) split into two separately listed businesses made a steady start yesterday as shares in the group and the division housing its fund management business rose on their first day of trading. With dealing driven by investors deciding whether to hold Prudential for growth or M&G as a likely high dividend-payer, shares in both companies rose amid heavy trading. |
 | Slowing order growth in Just Eat (JE.) core business spooked investors yesterday, sparking fears that takeaway delivery rivals may be eating into its business. The company is in the throes of a merger with Takeaway.com but scepticism over the terms of the deal has hit both companies’ share prices, cutting their combined value from £9.4 billion to £7.75 billion since it was announced in July. While its relatively new British delivery business — where Just Eat itself delivers the food — was growing rapidly, it said that this had been offset by slower growth in its marketplace division, where it acts as a middleman between consumer and restaurant. |
| An improvement in projected returns for the year gave a boost to Funding Circle (FCH). Shares in the peer-to-peer lender rose by more than 16% after it said that its loans under management had reached £3.7 billion in the third quarter, up 31% over the past year. So far this year it has written £1.8 billion in new loans, compared with £1.6 billion last year. The £561 million of new loans in the third quarter represented a 0.55 decline on the same period last year. After fees and bad debts, projected returns this year for Britain, its biggest market, are between 5% and 7%, against between 4.2% and 5.2 % last year. | |
 | A consortium led by Nick Candy could derail Capital & Counties Properties (CAPC) plans to de-merge its £3.2 billion London estates by making a cash offer for the entire company. Candy Ventures confirmed yesterday that it was in the early stages of considering an offer for the issued share capital of the listed group that has land and property holdings in Earls Court and Covent Garden. Hours after Candy Ventures had said that it was considering an approach, Capco in turn announced that it had entered exclusive talks to sell its interests in Earls Court, west London, where 7,500 homes are planned, with Delancey, a property developer, and APG, a Dutch pension manager. |
 | Legal & General Group (LGEN) has committed £750 million to affordable housing projects in Britain, increasing its development pipeline to nearly 3,500 homes. The group has agreed deals for homes at 41 schemes across areas including Bedfordshire, Cornwall, Kent and London. Ben Denton, managing director of Legal & General Affordable Homes, said: “There is an urgent need to innovate new ways to provide stable homes for the millions of households on waiting lists. Legal & General remains committed to deploying institutional capital at scale into this sector, to deliver the volumes of social housing which society desperately needs.” |
 | The trading update from ASOS (ASC) last week confirmed that the online fashion retailer was “not broken, just bruised”, RBC decided. Asos reported a 68% drop in profits for the year just gone, despite sales climbing to a fresh record. Yet its shares leapt after its bosses said that issues in its warehouses in Europe and the United States had been resolved and that they were more prepared for Black Friday, the annual retail sales event, this year. RBC was reassured by the update and analysts claimed that Asos was “on the path to glory” as they raised their price target to £39, from £33 previously. “Asos’s update confirmed our view that the business is indeed not broken, just bruised,” Sherri Malek, of RBC, said in a note to clients. “[The] turnaround will be progressive, but we expect each update from here to provide increasing evidence that the business is back on track.” |
 | Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) was weighed down by a change of finance director, in its case of Adrian Hennah, who is to leave in April after what will have been seven years in the role. His replacement is Jeff Carr, chief financial officer at Ahold Delhaize, the Dutch grocery group, who worked at Reckitt for a decade earlier in his career. Analysts at Bernstein said that the appointment “should help to rebuild investor trust” in Reckitt after a turbulent few years. The market didn’t seem overly enthused with the change though. |
 | Rank Group (RNK) was lifted by a bullish “buy” recommendation from Shore Capital. Analysts at the broker said that the recent addition of Stride Gaming, which roughly doubles its digital business, would help the gambling operator’s pre-tax profits to jump by 37% this year to £96 million. Shore thinks more acquisitions could be in the pipeline, with an estimated £300 million to £400 million of “firepower on the balance sheet”. |
 | Koovs (KOOV) shares dropped after announcing that the company’s largest shareholder Future, an Indian retail group, had been due to invest another £6.81 million into the business. Koovs has received only £250,000 of that and bosses aren’t convinced that they will receive the full amount this year, as had been planned. |
| Shares in Lam Zyfin Global Markets UCITS ETF Lam Zyfin MSCI India Ucits ETF (MIND) jumped after it emerged that this year’s revenues would be “slightly ahead” of expectations. The company works with staff at the likes of Schneider Electric, Coca-Cola and ING, providing workshops and online “e-workouts” on everything from customer service to diversity and inclusion. Demand has been driven by the #MeToo movement as companies try to improve their workplace cultures. Mind Gym bosses said that not only had they won new business, they also had managed to eke out more from contracts with existing customers, which include almost two thirds of the FTSE 100 and more than half of the S&P 500. Pre-tax profits for the company’s first six months to the end of September are likely to be similar to last year, as investments in the business offset higher revenues. | |
| Tempus – Prudential (PRU), M&G: Investors keen for swift and substantial capital growth might prefer to own Prudential shares, likely to increase in value on the back of Asian profits; those seeking a reliable income might be better off with M&G, which is tipped to pay a high dividend but on more modest growth. |
 | Royal Mail (RMG) stand-off deepens as Christmas looms. Competitors are ready to take advantage of a company facing strike threat |
 | Standard Chartered (STAN) Bill Winters set to take pay cut. Chief executive seeks to draw line under pension allowance dispute |
| Prudential (PRU) singles out ambitions as it prepares to split in two. Build-up to long-awaited demerger of UK insurance group has been overshadowed by problems |
 | Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) could slash its investment bank to a third of its current size in the New Year as it reviews the business under incoming chief executive Alison Rose, sources close to the company say. The bank is next week expected to reveal profits fell 25% to £720 million in the third quarter as PPI claims surged ahead of the final deadline in August. Sources told The Mail on Sunday that NatWest Markets faces cuts because its returns are weaker than other divisions. The unit was blamed for billions of pounds of bad debts in the financial crisis. It made huge losses on risky mortgage deals and the taxpayer had to hand over £45.5 billion to bail out the bank. NatWest Markets made profits of £3.7 billion in 2007, but last year made a loss of £70 million. |
| Investors are betting that gambling giant Flutter Entertainment (FLTR) will succeed in merging with Stars Group in a £10billion deal. Hedge funds have placed bets of £250million in recent days against Flutter Entertainment in an effort to cash in on its all-share deal. Short positions in Flutter – which has a market value of £5.9billion – have surged to an all-time high and now represent nearly 5% of the company’s shares, according to the Financial Conduct Authority. This is up from just 0.59% three weeks ago. Short-selling experts told The Mail on Sunday their bets were what is known as ‘merger arbitrage’, where hedge funds look to profit from mergers through complex trading tactics. As Flutter investors will own 55% of the enlarged group, it is technically the buyer in the transaction. In an all-share merger, hedge funds typically buy shares of the company being taken over while shorting shares of the acquiring company – in this case Flutter – if they think the deal will go through. | |
 | Thousands of investors could be left nursing heavy losses after the boss of Sirius Minerals (SXX) suggested the company may be better off quitting the stock market. Chief executive Chris Fraser said being a publicly-listed company was useful at the beginning when it wanted to be transparent about its plans to build a £4billion fertiliser mine under the North York Moors national park. But he complained that attacks from hedge funds, bad publicity and its failure to raise money from big investors such as pension funds meant it was no longer as helpful to be a listed company. |
 | MIDAS SPECIAL: Are there any companies worth backing from the Woodford wreckage? MIDAS VERDICT: Redde (REDD) is linked to the Latin word restoration, helping drivers to get back to normal. With the stock at £1.14, the word is relevant to investors as well. Redde is a strong business with an attractive dividend and the shares should move higher. The Woodford stake is large but big investors have been expressing an interest in the stock so the holding should be sold off relatively smoothly. |
 | Metro Bank (MTRO) is debating whether to continue funding chairman Vernon Hill’s £120,000-a-year expense allowance into 2020, meaning the troubled firm could carry on paying for the multi-millionaire’s lifestyle even after he leaves. The Telegraph has learnt that the bank is choosing whether to cut off Mr Hill’s £10,000-a-month expense budget in December when he steps down as chairman and quits Metro’s board, or to hold off until March when his contract officially ends. A decision has not yet been made. |
| Britain’s biggest companies have issued more profit warnings this year than at any time since the height of the financial crisis more than a decade ago, fuelling fears of an impending squeeze on corporate earnings. Quoted businesses warned that profits would be lower than expected on 235 occasions during the first nine months of this year, according to the latest figures by EY. This was higher than any period since 2008. The slashed profit forecasts come as the UK economy braces for its first recession in a decade. Between August and September alone, 77 businesses alerted investors over their earnings, sending their share prices falling nearly a fifth on average. | |
  | Britain’s biggest logistics company has entered the race to buy scandal-hit trucking firm Eddie Stobart Logistics (ESL). Wincanton (WIN), which oversees goods warehouses for some of the world’s best-known brands, is running the rule over Eddie Stobart and its asset, it said in a short statement on Friday. A formal offer is yet to be made. The announcement raises the prospect of a bidding war with Eddie Stobart’s second-largest shareholder DBAY Advisors, which was this week given more time to review the lorry company’s books after expressing interest in a deal. DBAY must submit an offer by Oct 28. Andrew Tinkler, the former chief executive of Stobart Group, dropped out of the running to buy the firm on Wednesday. |
 | Advent, the American private equity giant attempting to buy Cobham (COB) is ready to commit to protect British jobs and investment as it seeks to allay concerns over its £4 billion takeover of the defence and aerospace company. Amid fears that a sale to private equity runs the risk of a further sale and possible break-up of a key British industrial asset in a few years’ time, it is understood that Advent International will promise the government that it will maintain UK employment at current levels at least, invest in research and development in Britain and keep the Cobham brand. Advent will also commit to keeping Cobham’s various “sector headquarters” around southeast England and East Anglia. Advent secured support from Cobham investors for the proposed purchase last month, but it is subject to a review from competition regulators concerning national security implications. |
 | Anglo American (AAL) is pushing ahead with its biggest project in more than a decade. The mining group has already spent more than $100 million diverting the Asana river through a 7.5 kilometre tunnel deep within the mountain to make way for its Quellaveco mine. It will cost at least $5 billion for the mine to reach full production. First copper is due in 2022 and at peak it will produce 330,000 tonnes a year of the red metal, which is forecast to be in increasing demand globally. Anglo plans to hollow out this valley over three decades to some 400 metres below the old riverbed. The vast pit will measure 900 metres deep and should yield 1.3 billion tonnes of Anglo’s prize: copper-rich ore. |
       | More than 50 listed British companies are at risk of disappointing investors in the next set of financial results and suffering a fall in their share prices because of pressure on their profit margins, according to the highly regarded research team at Quest. Quest, a division of the stockbroker Canaccord Genuity, have drawn up a list of companies whose stock market valuation appears to be way ahead of where it should be given the underlying level of operating performance. The team’s analytical modelling has picked up 51 companies whose valuations look “particularly stretched” and in a note Quest singled out 13 quoted businesses whose price could be a red warning light for unsuspecting investors. Among the companies whose share prices look as if they are running ahead of their operating performance and profit margins are Britvic (BVIC), Greggs (GRG), London Stock Exchange Group (LSE) and WH Smith (SMWH). Games Workshop Group (GAW), Halfords Group (HFD), and Rentokil Initial (RTO), could also be potentially overvalued, Quest said. As a result, their share prices could be in danger of pronounced falls if forthcoming results underwhelm or their margins start to deteriorate. Graham Simpson, the author of the note, said: “We are saying that these stocks are in a precarious position. These companies are currently forecast to generate peak margin — that’s margins at a ten-year high — but despite that their valuations are really stretched already.” |
| One of the property tycoons behind the One Hyde Park development in London’s Knightsbridge is considering a takeover bid for Capital & Counties Properties (CAPC) the company that owns Earls Court and Covent Garden. Nick Candy, 46, who developed Qatari-backed One Hyde Park with his brother, Christian, is understood to have held early-stage talks with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund about a joint move on Capco, run by Ian Hawksworth. Capco has been mired in a dispute with Labour-led Hammersmith & Fulham council over its plan to build thousands of luxury homes at Earls Court. This led to its chief investment officer, Gary Yardley, being unofficially banned from the town hall. Yardley left Capco in June. The company has announced its intention to demerge its holdings in Earls Court and Covent Garden, flushing out various bids. Olympic Village owner Delancey, chaired by former British Land boss Sir John Ritblat and run by his son, Jamie, is understood to be in competition with Canary Wharf to buy Earls Court. |
 | Standard Life Aberdeen (SLA) chairman Sir Douglas Flint is seeking to reinforce the troubled investment giant’s board with new directors. Flint has hired headhunter MWM to find non-executives. He is also looking for a veteran to chair its China joint venture with insurer Heng An. |
| Halfords Group (HFD) has had 4 four ptofit warnings in 2 years. The main reason it has not been even more of a bloodbath for the shares is the dividend — but now the City is beginning to believe that sacred cow could be sacrificed. Last year, the group paid a dividend of 18.6p per share. After the dismal share price performance, the stock trades on a yield of 10.8% compared with an average of 5% for the FTSE 350, making the payout look ripe for a cut. If the board makes that call, the shares could be in for a further pummelling. Yet the harsh reality is that pre-tax profits have dropped for four years in a row, falling by 24% to £51m last year. The Halfords directors, now led by Keith Williams, who also chairs Royal Mail, face a tough choice: brace themselves, cut the dividend and place their faith in Stapleton’s long-term vision; or hunker down, keep the shareholders happy and hope the retail storm passes. Either way, this looks like a situation that is going to get a lot worse before it gets better. Avoid. |
 | Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets (MRW) has accelerated its push into online by deepening its ties with Amazon and sealing a tie-up with Deliveroo to launch a hot-food delivery service this month. David Potts, chief executive of Morrisons, told The Times in his first interview since he took the job, that its “Morrisons at Amazon” service, which offers one-hour deliveries, was in eight cities and would be in twenty by the end of the year. The Morrisons boss also revealed that the supermarkets group would open a store in Canning Town in east London at the end of the month with a new Market Kitchen service, so that hot food could be delivered to local customers through Deliveroo. He said that the ultra-fast service had proved popular with customers. |
 | Civil unrest in Hong Kong and the trade war between the United States and China have dragged down revenues at InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG). The owner of Holiday Inn yesterday reported a 36% slide in revenue per available room — or revpar, the key industry metric — in Hong Kong during the three months to the end of September. This dragged down revpar in its Greater China division by 6.1% for the quarter. |
| Wincanton (WIN) is the third group to express interest inEddie Stobart Logistics (ESL). Dbay Advisors is also in talks with Eddie Stobart about a possible deal. Eddie Stobart operates about 2,700 vehicles and 5,000 trailers and employs around 6,600 staff. Eddie Stobart has opened its books to Wincanton, but it said yesterday that no proposal had been made and that there was no certainty that one would be forthcoming. Wincanton said that it was “undertaking a diligence exercise on Eddie Stobart and its assets to enable it to assess the potential merits of a combination”. It has until November 15 to announce a firm intention to make an offer or walk away. |
 | Galliford Try (GFRD) chief executive plans to quit the ailing building company to join his old boss at . Graham Prothero, 57, is trying to engineer a move to Bovis, which is in the process of buying Galliford’s Linden Homes and regeneration divisions for £1bn. After the deal, Prothero could take a senior role alongside his former chief executive Greg Fitzgerald who runs Bovis. Prothero’s potential switch raises questions about his fiduciary duties to Galliford’s shareholders and whether he should recuse himself from decisions over the sale. |
| Lombard – WH Smith (SMWH) $400m deal is half the incredible story. Retailer is expanding into US airports but still growing margin on UK high street |
 | Growthpoint to take control of Capital & Regional (CAL). South African group in £150m move for majority stake in struggling UK shopping mall owner |
| Lex – Rentokil Initial (RTO): papa roach. Acquisitions have paid off for UK pest controller but now other acquirers are multiplying |
 | SFO case against ex-Barclays (BARC) bankers is ‘misconceived’, court told. Roger Jenkins would have been ‘insane’ to risk his job in sham with Qatar PM, defence argues |
| UK investors urge halt to fossil fuel lobbying. Miner defends green credentials as one-fifth of shareholders vote to pull out of fossil fuel industry groups | |
 | Domino’s Pizza Group (DOM) to exit four markets after weak performance. Chief says pizza chain ‘not best owner’ of businesses as search for successor continues |
| WH Smith (SMWH) to buy US travel company for $400m. UK stationery-to-travel company expands with plan to buy Marshall Retail |
 | Shares in Moneysupermarket.com Group (MONY) slumped over 10% after the group admitted it was still having problems with ‘product availability’ across its money arm. The group’s money division, which spans everything from credit cards to travel money, shrank 5% to £20.6million in the three months to the end of September. While the group’s money division struggled, overall, the group’s total revenue grew 4% year-on-year to £100.9million. The company’s insurance arm sales rose 3% to £50million. ‘Insurance grew in a subdued premium environment despite some volatility in our natural search rankings,’ MoneySupermarket said. Meanwhile, the group’s home services division, which includes energy, saw revenue rise 21% to £17.7million. |
| Domino’s Pizza Group (DOM) is set to pull the plug on it sizeable international operations as sales in these markets remain lacklustre. Outgoing chief executive David Wild said today that, following a review of the division – which spans Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland – the firm is better off selling out and focusing on its core UK market, where it has more than 1,100 shops. ‘We have concluded that, whilst they represent attractive markets, we are not the best owners of these businesses. The board has therefore decided to exit the markets in an orderly manner,’ he said. |
| Shares in WH Smith (SMWH) jumped over 6% this morning after the retailer announced it had snapped up Las Vegas-based Marshall Retail Group for £312million. While WHSmith looks set to continue losing money across its high street branches in the UK, the deal with Marshall will enable it to continue expanding at travel hubs in the US. For this year, WHSmith expects its UK high street revenue to fall by 2%, while its profits are predicted to stay flat at around £60million. Once the deal is completed, the number of stores WHSmith has is the US will double. Marshall has 170 stores in North America, 59 of them in airports. WHSmith will pay for Marshall by raising £155million from shareholders in an underwritten share placing and by taking on more debt. |
 | Feedback (FDBK) is in advanced talks with the NHS to trial its app Bleepa at pilot sites. The encrypted messaging app allows doctors to send each other pictures of X-Rays and other scans. Doctors usually use WhatsApp to do this when diagnosing patients, leaving them vulnerable to lawsuits. The firm is also pondering other commercial opportunities for Bleepa, within and outside the NHS. |
 | Grafton Group Units (GFTU) shares sank after it became the latest building materials supplier to warn that the construction slowdown and DIY drought is chipping away at its profits. The firm warned profits would be 4% to 8% lower for the full-year as sales suffered in its merchanting arm, which sells to builders. Although chief executive Gavin Slark was quick to say that recent trading was more reflective of a nervous market than the nuts and bolts of the business. Group revenue rose 0.9% between July and September, but fell 1% in the UK and 3% in the Netherlands. Grafton, whose stores include Selco, Buildbase and Woodie’s, blamed a court ruling on nitrogen emissions in the Netherlands for holding up construction projects there, and, like many firms, pointed the finger at ‘economic uncertainty’ for the stumble in the UK. |
 | Britain’s tea drinkers are a dying breed as younger customers desert the traditional builder’s brew in favour of trendier alternatives, the owner of PG Tips has warned. A growing shift among younger consumers toward herbal tea and coffee means that PG Tips and Lipton maker Unilever (ULVR) is struggling to grow the brands in developed countries such as the UK and US. Finance boss Graeme Pitkethly said: “I drink five or six cups of builder’s tea a day, but unfortunately we are dying at a faster rate than generation Z and millennials are consuming it. “They might drink tea but they want to drink quite high-end, expensive products. They drink a lot of coffee. |
| Shares in retail property firm Capital & Regional (CAL) leapt the most in a decade yesterday, after the company accepted a £150m offer from South Africa’s Growthpoint Properties that will make the group its majority owner. The decision lifted C&R, which owns shopping centres including The Marlowes in Hemel Hempstead, to the top of the FTSE All-Share index. If the deal is passed, Growthpoint will hold just more than 51% of the company’s shares. C&R is currently sitting on a heavy debt pile, which the South African group hopes to cut. |
| Grafton Group Units (GFTU), the owner of Selco and Buildbase, has warned on profits as consumers cut back on DIY home improvement projects. The FTSE 250 building materials supplier said on Thursday that annual profit would be 4% to 8% lower than the £193.5m projected by analysts. The warning comes as the UK construction sector grapples with weak demand from households and wider economic uncertainty. Grafton said sales in the Netherlands were dampened by a court ruling on nitrogen emissions, which led to delays in permits for new construction projects. |
| Domino’s Pizza Group (DOM) yesterday named its Australian counterpart as a potential buyer of its international business after announcing plans to sell the loss-making operations. David Wild, chief executive, confirmed that it would contact Domino’s Pizza Enterprises, which holds the Domino’s master franchise rights in Australia and New Zealand along with Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Japan, Germany, Luxembourg and Denmark. Asked whether its Australian listed sister company might buy the British group’s operations in Switzerland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden, Mr Wild, 64, said: “Clearly they’re somebody we’ll be making phone calls to, but we need more than one option.” |
| WH Smith (SMWH) has stepped up its overseas expansion with a $400 million takeover of Marshall Retail Group in the United States. The buyout will broadly double the size of the stationery retailer’s international travel business and follows its $198 million takeover of the US business Inmotion last October. Marshalls has 170 shops in North America, 59 of them inside airports, making $84 million in sales last year. Stephen Clarke said that his successor Carl Cowling, 46, was the architect of the deal. “It’s got his hard work and fingerprints all over it,” Mr Clarke, 51, said. “But if I were still here we would still be doing the deal because it is a fantastic acquisition and fits the strategy entirely.” Nick Bubb, a retail analyst, said the acquisition meant that Mr Clarke was “going out with a bang”. |
| Lacklustre ice cream sales and a slowdown in China and India stalled quarterly sales growth for Unilever (ULVR), causing the Anglo-Dutch consumer giant to narrowly miss market expectations. The muted sales growth has highlighted the challenge facing Alan Jope to keep up sales growth in emerging markets. Mr Jope, who took over from Paul Polman in January, had promised to accelerate sales in emerging markets and said that the company would deliver growth in “the lower half” of a 3% to 5% range this year. However, Unilever recorded 2.9% underlying sales growth in the third quarter. The company is sticking to its guidance for the full year, however, and highlighted that sales had risen by 3.4% over a longer nine-month period. |
| A former Barclays (BARC) senior executive would have risked a £50 million “good leaver” package if he had sought a criminal deal with Qatar during the credit crisis, a court was told yesterday. John Kelsey-Fry, QC, a lawyer for Roger Jenkins, told a jury at the Old Bailey in London that it would have been “lunacy” for his client to risk such accrued benefits and a job that had paid him £38 million in 2007 alone. Mr Jenkins is one of three former Barclays executives charged with substantive fraud and conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation over undisclosed payments to Qatar during emergency fundraisings at the height of the financial crisis in 2008. Barclays raised £11.2 billion from Qatar and other investors to avert a state bailout. |
| A slowdown in consumer spending on home improvement has prompted a profit warning from Grafton Group Units (GFTU), one of Britain’s biggest suppliers of building materials. Grafton said that annual profit would miss expectations in an unscheduled update that sent its shares closing more than 10% down. It said that third-quarter sales in the UK had been affected by “weak underlying demand fundamentals as households deferred discretionary spending on home improvement projects against the backdrop of increased economic uncertainty”. Consumer sentiment was weaker in Ireland, despite a more buoyant economy, causing a fall in demand in its merchanting and DIY markets. |
| One of South Africa’s biggest listed property companies has agreed to acquire a majority stake in Capital & Regional (CAL) in a rescue share deal. Growthpoint Properties will invest about £150 million for a 51% interest in Capital & Regional by buying shares at a discount to the property group’s net asset value. The offer includes an agreement to buy 30.3% of the issued share capital for £72.4 million, or 33p per share. Growthpoint will also acquire 311.5 million new shares at 25p per share to raise £77.9 million. |
| Rentokil Initial (RTO) boosted revenue by nearly 10% in the third quarter with its highest level of organic growth in ten years and a round of acquisitions. Revenue at the pest control and washroom supplies business increased by 9.8% to £723 million in the June to September period. The group noted the good growth in the UK in its pest control and hygiene businesses. Pest control services also performed well in the North American and Latin American markets with hygiene improving in Europe and the Pacific. The group said it was on track to meet full-year expectations and its M&A pipeline remained strong for the year. |
| Shares in Moneysupermarket.com Group (MONY) tumbled yesterday after the price comparison website posted a fall in revenues in its money business. The company said in an update that revenues from comparing loans, credit cards and mortgages fell 5% year-on-year to £20.6 million in the three months to the end of September. Moneysupermarket.com warned it faces “continuing challenges in product availability” in money and that the performance of the division will weaken in the rest of the year. Analysts at Peel Hunt blamed the slowdown in money on “limited” appetite among financial services firms for new customers. |
| Nearly a quarter of shareholders in Britain have voted to support a resolution calling on the Anglo-Australian mining group to suspend its membership of pro-fossil fuel lobbying groups. A total of 22.2% of BHP’s London-listed investors voted for a proposal initiated by investors including the Church of England Pensions Board, Standard Life Aberdeen and Aviva. Shareholders in Australia have yet to vote. It is a member of the Minerals Council of Australia, the main lobby group for the coal industry. Ken MacKenzie, chairman of BHP, had said that the miner could use its influence on pro-fossil fuel lobby groups by being a part of them. “If we’re going to successfully develop solutions we need to collaborate within our industry,” he said. | |
| Prudential (PRU) found its way to the top of the market due to a bullish research note from analysts at Bank of America Merrill Lynch who argued the case for a re-rating ahead of the upcoming demerger of the UK business. Last spring, the Pru confirmed plans to separate its £7 billion UK and Europe-focused arm, which will be called M&G PLC, from the group’s operations in the US and Asia. Once their ways have parted, Bank of America thinks the Prudential share price will start life at about £12, which, according to their calculations, means the US business would be valued at next to nothing. More importantly, it would mean that the company would be valued at a similar ratio — close to eight times price-to-earnings — as the enlarged group at present. That’s despite the new bias towards the Asian business, which will account for 80% of the new Pru and, as the analysts note, is the “jewel in the crown”. |
 | EVR Holdings (EVRH) unveiled a new tie-up with the phone giant, O2. As part of its 5G UK launch, O2’s customers will get a 12-month subscription to EVR’s MelodyVR platform, which lets users watch gigs and artists in virtual reality. For each O2 customer that takes advantage of the promotion, MelodyVR will receive an undisclosed fee, while O2 will also promote the app in six of its flagship stores. |
 | Shares in Alpha Fx Group (AFX) have more than quadrupled since the foreign exchange and payments group floated in London in the spring of 2017. The stock was up again yesterday, 60p higher to 910p, as bosses lifted their full-year guidance for the second time in three months. “Growth continues to be derived from the core UK corporate market, European clients serviced from the London office, as well as the institutional division and the broadening of the product base into currency options,” Alpha said. “As a result of the strong performance, the board expects earnings for the year ending 31 December 2019 to be ahead of market expectations.” One of the big drivers of the company’s outperformance is that it helps companies to hedge their exposure to currencies. That has proved useful since the EU referendum, which kicked off a period of volatility for sterling that firms would wish to avoid as it can have undue influence on performance. |
| Tempus – Flutter Entertainment (FLTR): Hold. Fairly valued gaming growth stock with plenty of opportunities but also some regulatory pressure | |
 | Tempus – Ashmore Group (ASHM): Buy. High quality investment manager that generates good value over time |
 | Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) customers lash out over Woodford. FCA examining role of funds supermarket, which promoted stockpicker |
 | Thomas Cook Group (TCG) airport slots draw bids from rivals. Collapsed travel group’s Nordic business also attracts interest as asset sales increase |
| Lex – ASOS (ASC): click fate. Retailer struggles to show it has matured into a smoothly-run sales machine |
| ASOS (ASC) shares surge despite fall in earnings. Online fashion retailer strengthens management after pre-tax profits drop 68% |
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