 | The boss of International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) rapped climate change protesters as he promised all flights within the UK will be carbon neutral from next year. Willie Walsh, chief executive of International Airlines Group, said BA will plough enough money into carbon-reducing schemes to balance out the 400,000 tons of CO2 that the flights generate. It came as parent company IAG said it will become the first airline group in the world to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050. Walsh said: ‘I don’t think we need Extinction Rebellion to tell us there’s something we need to do. We’ve been engaging with environmental groups for years.’ |
 | Andrea Leadsom, the Business Secretary, last night rapped Barclays (BARC) decision to ban its customers from taking out cash through post offices and called on the bank to think again. She said bosses at the High Street giant should reconsider their decision. ‘I think this is very disappointing,’ she said. ‘Post offices provide such a lifeline for so many people particularly in rural areas where there has been a tendency not to be a bank anyway. ‘The opening hours tend to be longer than at banks. Access to finance is so useful for elderly people and people without transport. ‘The Post Office has been really helpful to people getting access to cash and carrying out their day-to- day financial transactions so, yes, I am disappointed.’ |
 | BT Group (BT.A) is coming back to the High Street after a 17-year absence as part of a plan to provide ‘good, old-fashioned’ customer service. The telecoms giant is revamping its 615 EE phone shops so that BT customers can receive technical support or deal with billing issues. These shops previously only carried EE’s logo and branding but will now also feature those of its parent company BT, which owns the mobile network. The announcement came as new BT chief executive Phil Jansen pledged to make the company a ‘national champion’. BT is also moving all of its customer call centres to the UK and Ireland and has promised 900 ‘home technology experts’ will be on call to visit homes and fix problems. |
 | GVC Holdings (GVC) has upped its full year profit forecast, amid healthy online sales. While GVC’s finances look set to be given a boost, the group is still ploughing ahead with plans to close 900 of its bricks-and-mortar stores over the next two years. The company’s British high street stores posted an 18% like-for-like drop in revenues for the quarter, driven by the changes to fixed odds betting terminal rules, but these remain ahead of expectations. |
 | New car sales at Vertu Motors (VTU) fell over 10% in the six months to 31 August, the firm revealed. Vertu said it had seen ‘softer’ demand from buyers for new cars, with the Brexit-hit pound hitting manufacturers’ costs and pushing up prices for consumers. The group posted a 7% drop in pre-tax profits to £16.1million. Vertu admitted that new car sales had continued to fall in September, dipping 1.6% on a like-for-like basis. The group said: ‘Continued sterling weakness driving price rises and declining used car residual values have led to an increase in the cost to change for consumers seeking a new car. ‘This has reduced demand, with change cycles lengthening.’ |
 | Ex-Thomas Cook Group (TCG) workers are rejoicing as independent firm Hays Travel takes them on, buying 555 stores from the collapsed holiday giant to save up to 3,000 jobs. Sunderland-based Hays Travel has already employed 421 members of Thomas Cook staff since the travel group went out of business last month. The company, which is the UK’s largest independent travel group, now intends to reopen the shops immediately, potentially saving up to 2,500 further jobs. About 21,000 Thomas Cook staff globally lost their jobs when the company went under, including 9,000 in the UK. |
 | Pressure Technologies (PRES) has won a contract worth more than £3million from EDF Energy to work on nuclear power plants. It will supply nitrogen storage at plants at Heysham, Torness and Hartlepool. Its cylinders, made by its Sheffield subsidiary Chesterfield Special Cylinders (CSC), will be supplied to EDF by mid-2020. Boss Chris Walters said: ‘This represents the largest order in CSC’s history outside the defence sector.’ |
 | was proving less of a hit with its shareholders. Major investors Standard Life Aberdeen (SLA) is pushing it to drop its membership of controversial lobbying groups at its annual meeting next week. BHP is currently a member of several powerful groups which lobby for the fossil fuels industry, and have been blamed for obstructing the progress of measures designed to minimise harm to the environment. Investors vote next week on whether BHP should quit these organisations. The company has told all investors to vote against the resolution, arguing that the lobbying bodies still have a role to play in shaping the future of the industry. |
 | The former head of MI6 has urged the government to block an American takeover of British aerospace giant Cobham (COB). Sir John Sawers, who ran the spy agency from 2009 until 2014, told a conference in London that “we need to be able to say for firms like Cobham, actually we want to keep this technology in the UK”. His intervention is the most high-profile challenge yet to a £4bn takeover of the 85-year-old business by American private equity firm Advent, and follows a string of warnings that losing such a strategically vital asset will damage the Britain’s international standing. |
| The boss of BT Group (BT.A) has urged rivals Sky and Virgin Media not to “beat up” his business by launching their own broadband partnership. Philip Jansen, chief executive, admitted that a deal in which Sky would use Virgin’s internet cables represents a significant threat to BT. He suggested that all parties’ interests could be better served by a new three-way deal that he claimed could protect returns for investors and deliver a nationwide broadband upgrade more quickly. Speaking at a dinner in London, Mr Jansen argued that a “let’s beat up BT” attitude would damage the telecoms industry and that there is a “formula that could work” for broadband providers and customers. |
| Hays Travel has stunned the City with a “mightily ambitious” deal to take over Thomas Cook Group (TCG) 555 UK stores, rescuing up to 2,500 jobs. The swoop catapults the family-owned firm into the national spotlight and will almost quadruple its store estate from 190 to 745. It provides a lifeline to Thomas Cook staff made redundant by the 178-year-old travel company’s collapse into insolvency on September 23 and is a much-needed boost for Britain’s ailing high streets. But the buyout, for an undisclosed sum, sparked scepticism that family-owned Hays can make a profit from the stores in the face of rising online competition when listed giant Thomas Cook could not. |
 | Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) finally found some air on Wednesday after a week of drops. Hargreaves, which has had a pretty torrid October so far after some downbeat commentary from analysts, managed to grab its first rise in eight sessions after its offering drew praise. Liberum initiated coverage of the company at a “buy” rating, saying that, alongside rival IntegraFin, Hargreaves offered “best-in class” service, which analysts said was “likely to lead to share gains”. |
 | The Hong Kong stock exchange was forced by its own shareholders to abandon a bidding war for its London rival over concerns the deal would involve racking up risky debt. Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing ditched its £32bn bid on Tuesday after London Stock Exchange Group (LSE) investors demanded a higher price. Bosses considered upping their offer but instead walked away. Shareholders close to both firms said that there were concerns among investors in Asia that if the offer price was increased, the Hong Kong firm would be forced to borrow billions of pounds, exposing it to further risk. |
 | Fears are growing over the future of Greene King (GNK) 3,000 pubs after shareholders approved a £4.6bn takeover by Hong Kong’s richest man, Li Ka-Shing. A total 98.8% of investors waved through the deal at a meeting on Wednesday, which will see the 220-year-old chain fall into foreign hands. Shareholders in CK Asset, the investment firm owned by 91-year-old billionaire Mr Li, also voted overwhelmingly in support of the deal at 99.4%. But critics warned the deal could lead to a spate of closures. The majority of Greene King’s portfolio consists of freehold property, raising fears that CK Asset, which is primarily a property and infrastructure investor, could sell off or convert sites. |
| Ladbrokes and Gala Coral owner GVC Holdings (GVC) will make more profit than expected this year despite an ongoing slump in its shops. Like-for-like sales fell 18% in the three months to September, which the company blamed on a cut in the maximum stake at fixed odds betting machines in April from £100 to £2. However, the industry has also been hit by the decline of the high street and the rise of online and app-based betting. GVC confirmed it still expects to close 900 shops in the next two years. It has shut 41 since the beginning of July. Sales from betting machines fell by more than a third against the same period last year but the decline in UK store performance was less severe than the company had feared. |
 | UK drivers on Shell’s loyalty scheme will soon be able to offset their environmental impact by planting more trees as Big Oil responds to fears about climate change. From next week, customers can opt into the carbon credit initiative, which will see Royal Dutch Shell ‘B’ (RDSB) invest £10m towards the restoration of forests to atone for drivers’ emissions. The plans have been criticised ahead of their launch next week as an attempt to greenwash the industry’s image. It comes as the big polluting industries face the challenge of reducing their own carbon emissions while maintaining profits. |
 | Questor: never mind Extinction Rebellion, this trust offers a path to a greener portfolio. Questor investment trust bargain: a long-established investor in global sustainability, Impax Environmental Markets (IEM) looks well placed to deliver superior profits |
 | is facing a shareholder revolt after influential investors urged the giant miner to suspend membership of contentious trade groups that lobby for the fossil fuels industry. Standard Life Aberdeen (SLA) and Aviva (AV.) have become the latest institutional investors to support a resolution pressing BHP to halt membership of associations whose lobbying is deemed to be inconsistent with the 2015 Paris agreement, which seeks to restrict global warming. BHP’s annual meeting next week is shaping up to be one of the most prominent clashes so far between a company and its shareholders over the approach to climate change. The interventions come at a significant moment for City institutions and big companies, amid increasing concerns about climate change and high-profile Extinction Rebellion protests. |
 | The directors of Boussard & Gavaudan Holding Ltd. GBP Shares (BGHS), an under-performing £500 million London-listed investment trust have been accused of treating shareholders poorly while allowing the fund managers to pocket high fees. Fund managers have been paid €102 million over the past five years, while the total return to shareholders has been an underwhelming 5.7% per year. The figures have been identified in research by Investec which has urged shareholders in Boussard & Gavaudan Holding to rebel against a proposed restructuring of the company this month, arguing that its governance is worse than at Woodford Patient Capital, the embattled trust run by Neil Woodford. |
| British Airways is to offset carbon emissions for all UK domestic flights from next year as part of a wider commitment by its parent company to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. Emissions from domestic BA flights will be offset by International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) investing in carbon reduction projects, including renewable energy and reforestation programmes. BA operates up to 75 UK domestic flights a day. |
| Betting on horses and other sports at the local bookmaker is on the increase after the government clampdown on fixed-odds betting terminals, according to the owner of Ladbrokes and Coral. GVC Holdings (GVC) said that like-for-like net gaming revenues from machines had fallen by 36% in the third quarter. The overall picture across its retail estate was above expectations after a 7% rise in net gaming revenues from over-the-counter bets on horses, greyhounds and football. |
| BT Group (BT.A) will return to the high street for the first time since 2002 as part of a launch of services aimed at helping customers to deal with operating several internet-connected devices. It intends to transform its 600 EE mobile network stores into dual-branded branches. The telecoms group walked away from the high street after the sale of O2 in 2001. It hopes that the new-look stores will provide access to experts “who can help with everything from getting online for the first time to the latest in smart home technology”. |
| The takeover of Greene King (GNK), Britain’s biggest pub operator and brewer, by Hong Kong’s richest man has been backed by shareholders. At an extraordinary meeting yesterday, more than 99% of shareholders of CK Asset Holdings, the investment vehicle of Li Ka-Shing, approved the £2.7 billion acquisition of Greene King, which includes net debt. It runs two breweries, has 2,730 pubs, under brands including Hungry Horse, Farmhouse Inns and Chef & Brewer, and employs 38,000 people. CK Asset Holdings has committed previously to preserving staff numbers at existing levels. Increases in business rates, labour costs and teetotalism among young people have hit the pub sector hard. Independent brewers also have had to compete with giant global producers such as Anheuser-Busch Inbev, which makes Budweiser, and the growing popularity of craft beers. |
 | The culture secretary has backed the £2.6 billion takeover of Inmarsat (ISAT) by a consortium of private equity firms and pension funds. The deal involving Britain’s largest satellite company had been referred to Nicky Morgan in July on national interest grounds. Ms Morgan, 47, said yesterday that she was minded to approve the deal after receiving assurances from the buyers, which include Apax Partners and Warburg Pincus. To avoid an in-depth investigation, the consortium has entered into several legally binding undertakings, including a promise to keep the company’s headquarters in Britain for several years and guarantees over the security of sensitive information and continuity of service. They also have promised that at least half the Inmarsat board will comprise UK nationals and that its new chairman and head of security will be British. |
   | Hammerson (HMSO), Intu Properties (INTU), Capital & Counties Properties (CAPC) – A decline in the valuation of Britain’s shops, shopping centres and retail parks accelerated last month. CBRE said yesterday that retail property values had fallen by 1.7% in September, the sharpest monthly fall since December last year, when they declined by 2.2%. Valuations were dragged down by shopping centres, which fell by 2.6%, and retail warehouses, which dropped by 1.8%. Over the third quarter, retail property values fell by 3.6%, more than any quarter since the end of 2018, when they fell by 4.6%. Retail property values are under increasing pressure. Faced with rising wage bills, higher business rates and disruption from online shopping, retailers are seeking to reduce rent bills. Some have used company voluntary arrangements to reduce their rents and close stores, with a knock-on effect on values. Next, Primark and H&M typically are cutting rents from £70 per sq ft to £40 per sq ft and are negotiating their leases down from ten years to five years, according to Jefferies, the investment bank. |
 | The chief executive of Dunelm Group (DNLM) has been given store credit at the home furnishing retailer to partly fund his relocation costs. The retailer has handed Nick Wilkinson £50,000 towards his relocation costs partly funded by store vouchers to furnish his new home, according to its annual report. Mr Wilkinson, 53, who joined from Evans Cycles in March, is also entitled to 5 per cent of his annual salary of £221,000 to travel from his home in Hertfordshire, where he spends weekends, to Dunelm’s head office in Leicester. His new home is in Leicestershire, where he spends the week. |
 | Just Eat (JE.) would-be merger partner’s latest results was clear to investors yesterday. Takeaway.com, the online food delivery service, is now a profitable business. That was the message the Dutch group was sending out as it revealed that it had processed 41.6 million orders in the three months to the end of September, almost double what it handled in the same period last year. Takeaway.com said that its latest growth had been driven by strong sales in Germany, where it completed the acquisition of Delivery Hero earlier in the year. |
| Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.)shares rose after Liberum said it was a buyer of the shares and reckons that the suspension of Woodford’s Equity Income fund, which Hargreaves promoted to its clients, is just an “unhelpful distraction” rather than a more serious matter. |
 | About three quarters of Extinction Rebellion protesters would consider investing in BP (BP.) and Royal Dutch Shell ‘B’ (RDSB), according to a “very non-scientific survey” by Barclays. Barclays’ analysts in London questioned protesters occupying Trafalgar Square about their views on the energy industry. The analysts said: “Concerns from institutional investors about the terminal value of oil companies in a 2C [of warming] environment are, for us, having a meaningful impact on share price performance. We remain convinced that environmental and technology strategies will be key determinants of competitiveness in the coming decade.” The analysts said that the activists had called for a carbon tax and had criticised oil firms for investing too little time and money into stopping climate change. They added: “When asked if they would ever buy shares in BP and Shell, there was surprisingly careful consideration and, in a very non-scientific survey, about 75% said they would, but only if the majority of investments were renewables.” |
 | Tempus – Restaurant Group (RTN): Avoid. Wagamama is a clear performer, but the perils of the casual dining sector remove the shine |
 | Tempus – On The Beach Group (OTB): Avoid. Well placed for growth but shares are not compelling |
| A decision by Barclays (BARC) to pull out of an agreement allowing bank customers to withdraw cash from post offices for free has been criticised as “shocking”. The bank is the only one to scrap over-the-counter cash withdrawals at Post Office branches, with 28 other UK banks signing up to a new deal that means millions of people can continue to benefit from free access to everyday banking services. The move by Barclays prompted a wave of criticism, including from a regulatory body, and appears to be linked to a sizeable rise in the bank-funded fees paid to postmasters for providing these services. Barclays has separately announced its own proposals, which it said were designed to boost bank branch demand and improve access to cash. |
  | Two of Britain’s biggest recruitment companies have warned that uncertainty created by Brexit, protests in Hong Kong and the US-China trade dispute will hit their profits this year. Pagegroup (PAGE) said rising fears about Brexit had made companies less willing to hire workers and potential candidates wary about moving jobs. It said uncertainty had affected the market for jobs at all levels. Its rival Robert Walters (RWA) predicted no increase in profit this year. |
 | easyJet (EZJ) has been given a lift by recent strikes at rivals British Airways and Ryanair, which boosted its revenues and profits. The budget airline expects to make headline pretax profits of £420m to £430m for the year to 30 September. This is at the top end of City forecasts but will still be below last year’s profits of £578m. EasyJet said the strikes helped its revenue per seat increase by 0.8% in the second half, compared with its previous expectation that the figure would be “slightly down”. Its chief executive, Johan Lundgren, said: “As a result of our self-help initiatives and the increased demand due to disruption at British Airways and Ryanair, we anticipate achieving headline profit before tax for the full year 2019 of between £420m and £430m, in the upper half of our previous guidance range.” |
| The Hong Kong stock exchange has abandoned its £32bn takeover offer for the London Stock Exchange Group (LSE) after being “unable to engage” with management on the deal. The announcement by Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX) came nearly four weeks after the London bourse firmly rejected the cash-and-shares bid as a “significant backward step” with “fundamental flaws,” and said it saw “no merit” in holding talks with its Hong Kong rival. Shares in the LSE fell more than 6% to £69.94, about the level where they were before HKEX made its approach for the prized 321-year-old City institution. |
| Lombard – easyJet (EZJ) takes pleasure from BA’s misfortune. But investors ask how much the airline would have made without disruption to rivals |
 | Vodafone Group (VOD) to close 1,000 shops across Europe. UK telecoms group to slash store portfolio by 15% as it overhauls high street activity |
| Reach Plc (RCH) in pole position to buy JPI’s regional newspapers. Mirror and Express owner preferred bidder for titles including The Scotsman and Yorkshire Post | |
| Lex – London Stock Exchange Group (LSE)/HKEX: a Capulet capitulates. Charles Li got timing wrong and badly misjudged battle for UK stock exchange |
| Lex Pagegroup (PAGE)/recruitment: Brexit wrecks it. European recruiters’ earnings are linked to the economic cycle but the Brexit downturn has its own characteristics |
| Barclays (BARC) criticised for Post Office banking decision. Customers with the high street bank will no longer be able to withdraw money from post offices |
| adds ‘social value’ into its business planning. Mining company says consideration of local interests is essential to its long-term sustainability | |
| easyJet (EZJ) upgrades profit forecasts. Budget airline says it has benefited from strikes at rivals British Airways and Ryanair |
 | HSBC Holdings (HSBA) cuts are an early warning signal to banks. Plans to cut up to 10,000 jobs suggest group is ahead of the curve |
| HKEX abandons £32bn bid for London Stock Exchange Group (LSE) after charm offensive fails. Hong Kong stock exchange says pursuing bid is not in its shareholders’ interest |
| Recruiters warn profits will be dented by global political uncertainty. Pagegroup (PAGE) and Robert Walters (RWA) cite Brexit, Sino-US trade war and Hong Kong protests |
| Sorrell acquires Silicon Valley digital marketing group. Firewood $150m deal marks ex-WPP chief’s latest expansion move with S4 Capital (SFOR) |
| Vodafone Group (VOD) is to open bigger shops in a vote of confidence in Britain’s high streets. The telecoms giant, which has 20m mobile customers in the UK, will open 24 stores this year and has vowed to open another 50 in 2020. Expansion in the UK comes despite overall plans to slash more than 1,000 of its 7,700 shops across Europe. Nick Read, chief executive of Vodafone, said the company needed to improve its shops to keep up with Amazon and Apple. Many new stores will have spacious designs and focus on ‘experiences’, taking inspiration from those made famous by iPhone maker Apple. |
| Shares in easyJet (EZJ) slid from five-month highs in early trading on Tuesday as the budget airline’s fourth quarter trading update failed to meet investors’ high expectations. Easyjet said it benefited over the past few months from higher demand as strike disruption knocked two of its rivals, Ryanair and British Airways. In the second half of the year, total revenue per seat only decreased by 0.8% as the pilot strikes at its rivals took the heat off the competitive environment and demand for Easyjet flights picked up. |
| London Stock Exchange Group (LSE) has avoided a fall into the clutches of one of its global rivals after Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing dropped a £32billion takeover bid. HKEX said it will not be making a firm offer after failing to win over the LSE board during initial talks on its provisional approach. The decision to walk away comes less than a month after HKEX launched the surprise move. The writing seemed to be on the wall from the start with LSE quick to slam the approach as being at too low a valuation and ‘fundamentally flawed.’ HKEX had been making efforts to bypass the hostile board and go straight to major LSE shareholders but it appears they met a cold response there too. |
 | Jersey Oil And Gas (JOG) slumped after it was snubbed by the UK arm of Norwegian energy giant Equinor. Equinor chose not to take a 50% stake in Jersey’s Greater Buchan field in the North Sea. The companies already work together on another project nearby. Jersey’s boss Andrew Benitz told investors that Equinor’s decision gives the company ‘greater flexibility’. |
| Salaries are booming and unemployment levels are at 45-year lows – but a double whammy of profit warnings from recruiters show there is more to the jobs market than meets the eye. People are staying put and becoming less inclined to switch jobs as political and economic uncertainty bubbles away in the background, according to Pagegroup (PAGE) and Robert Walters (RWA). Page pointed the finger at challenging conditions in the UK, France and China as it told the City it now expects profits to be between £140million to £150million this year, down from earlier estimates of £156.5million to £168million. Robert Walters, blamed a ‘cocktail of confusion’ amid US-China trade war tensions, a US-Europe trade war threat, Hong Kong riots and Brexit uncertainty for a new forecast that its full-year profits will be flat on the previous year. |
 | Crossword Cybersecurity plc (CCS) rose after it signed a two-year contract with a chemicals firm for its flagship product Rizikon Assurance, which assesses how risky each of its strategic suppliers are. |
| London Stock Exchange Group (LSE) investors are attempting to kick start a bidding war for the London bourse following a decision by its Hong Kong rival to abandon a shock £32bn takeover raid. Top LSE shareholders are pushing other global exchanges, including the US Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), to mount a last-ditch bid for the company which could scupper its own plans for a £22bn takeover of data business Refinitiv. |
| Aston Martin Holdings (AML) still has too few independent board members to meet City rules, more than a year after its disastrous £4.3bn stock market float. The troubled luxury car maker denied on Tuesday that it is struggling to find a suitable candidate to join its board as an independent director. A new hire is needed for Aston to comply with a Corporate Governance Code rule that at least half its board, excluding the chairman, should be made up of independent non-executives. The failure is the latest problem to hit the marque made famous by James Bond. It has seen three-quarters of its value go up in smoke after shock profit warnings and heavy losses since listing October. | |
| easyJet (EZJ) has failed to fully capitalise on turmoil facing its rivals, dashing hopes of a surge in profits. Strikes suffered by the likes of British Airways and Ryanair did help the Luton-based carrier, meaning its profit was close to the top end of what analysts were expecting. But investors were unimpressed. James Goodall, an analyst at Redburn, said: “Investors were hoping for a larger upgrade. “This didn’t happen because of the rising one-off costs in the quarter from fuel and foreign currency.” EasyJet said full-year profit will be between £420m and £430m for 2019. |
 | Burberry Group (BRBY) is set to take a £100m hit on sales in Hong Kong in the face of escalating violence between police and protesters in the region, analysts warn. Analysts at Jefferies said the short-term impact of the ongoing protests was likely to be “painful” for Burberry, which has 10 shops in Hong Kong and generates around 8pc of its total sales there. The bank said Burberry’s sales in Hong Kong were likely to be £100m lower for the year to April 2020, but it could recoup around 50% of these losses from its operations across Europe and the rest of the Asia-Pacific region. |
| The Hong Kong business leader behind an audacious £32 billion bid for the London Stock Exchange Group (LSE) insisted yesterday that he had no regrets as he abandoned his offer in the face of his target’s persistent refusal to talk. Charles Li, chief executive of Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing, said that his plan for a combined exchanges business spanning Europe and Asia was still “strategically compelling” and had been a gamble worth taking, in spite of criticism that it was unlikely to be accepted and was poorly executed. |
| Barclays (BARC) has been criticised for its decision to prevent customers withdrawing cash from post offices by pulling out of an industry-wide scheme. The move was described as “unjustifiable . . . and deeply retrograde”, by Rachel Reeves, chairwoman of the Commons’ Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee, while Natalie Ceeney, who carried out a review of the public’s access to cash for the government, said that it was “damaging and counterproductive”. |
| China will respond with “firm and forceful measures” against a new round of American sanctions on its technology industry, its foreign ministry warned yesterday, as trade relations deteriorated further before crunch talks. World stock markets fell as hopes for progress on a truce faded before the latest round of high-level trade negotiations begins tomorrow. On Monday night, the US commerce department added 28 Chinese organisations to its export blacklist, in effect banning them from buying American-made components. The action mirrors that taken earlier in the year against Huawei, the Chinese network hardware manufacturer. | |
| Picking up passengers from the strike-hit British Airways and Ryanair and charging them a little more for the pleasure has enabled easyJet (EZJ) to restrict the expected fall in its annual profits. Investors were hoping that the airline would report a performance benefiting from the demise of Thomas Cook and with little guidance on the current year, other than to say that it expected to expand its operations slowly. The results represent a recovery for Easyjet, which had reported record winter losses of £275 million in the first six months of its financial year as it absorbed rising fuel costs and coped with a price war, particularly in Germany, where it had acquired the operations of the failed Air Berlin. |
 | Four new directors have been appointed to bolster a turnaround plan at Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) food business before its tie-up with Ocado. Last week M&S told investors and analysts that changes in its food division were focused on its aim to “protect the magic and modernise the rest”. Analysts at Berenberg, the investment bank, said that there were “green shoots” within M&S’s food business, while clothing continued to struggle. Pav Anand, Tesco’s strategy director, becomes head of food strategy and special products. Lisa Raschia, Sainsbury’s head of technical, joins as head of produce and horticulture as M&S strives to improve its fresh foods. M&S is also adding David Stokes, supply chain director at Danish Crown, as its head of sourcing and Laurissa Kuligowski from PWC as its commercial strategy and operations manager. They will report to George Wright, who joined from Tesco in April. |
| More than 1,000 Vodafone Group (VOD) stores in Europe are to close as part of a shake-up of the telecoms group’s estate. Nick Read, group chief executive, said yesterday that it planned to overhaul its 7,700 European shops by the end of its next financial year, transforming 40 per cent of the sites and shutting 15 per cent, or 1,155. The plans were said to be a response to the rise of online shopping, the telecoms industry’s poor record on customer satisfaction and Vodafone’s target of driving 40 per cent of group sales via digital channels by the end of March 2021. |
| Two of Britain’s leading recruitment agencies have warned that profits will be lower than expected as global political uncertainty has prompted employers to delay staff recruitment. Steve Ingham, chief executive of Pagegroup (PAGE), said that the company’s larger markets, including China, Britain and France, had suffered increasingly challenging trading conditions, although the performances in Germany, India and Latin America had been stronger. Robert Walters (RWA), its rival recruiter, said that its UK gross profit had fallen by 11% to £24.8 million in the three months to the end of September, hit by weak confidence among employers and candidates as they wait for a clearer picture of what Brexit will look like before advertising and applying for jobs. |
| Sir Martin Sorrell’s digital advertising agency has made its first move in the United States by acquiring Firewood, the largest marketing agency in Silicon Valley. The purchase is the latest in a series of acquisitions by S4 Capital (SFOR) since it was set up by Sir Martin in May last year. S4 Capital bought the San Francisco-based Firewood for $150 million, paying $112 million up front in an equal mix of shares and cash, with the remainder due if Firewood hits its operating targets for the year. It plans to finance the deal by raising £100 million of equity, with the rest of the funds being used for further acquisitions. | |
| finnCap (FCAP) warned that profits were likely to dip slightly in the first half as the “political backdrop and challenging market conditions” took a toll. Revenues for the six months to September 30 would be £14.2 million, it said, with profits about £1.3 million, compared with revenue of £9.1 million and a profit of £1.3 million over a five-month period last year. | |
 | Analysts have warned investors to prepare for a glum outlook from ASOS (ASC) when the online fashion retailer reports its full-year results next week. The latest data from the British Retail Consortium showed that online sales almost stalled in September, edging 0.7% higher than in the same month of 2018 — the lowest monthly growth on record. Number-crunchers at UBS were already “cautious” about Asos’s ability to boost profits in the United States and Europe over the next 12 months and the BRC data means that they now have reservations about the UK, too. |
| Tempus – : Avoid. Exciting company in a dynamic market, but the high valuation is not an attractive entry point | |
 | Tempus – Vesuvius (VSVS): Avoid. Brave but battling in the teeth of market declines |
 | Lombard – Brexit begins to blow tiles off builders’ roofs. Materials supplier SIG (SHI) shows impact of political and economic uncertainty |
| Lex – HSBC Holdings (HSBA): cutting it fine. Why Noel Quinn’s position is both enviable and uncomfortable |
 | Prudential (PRU) – M&G Prudential to invest £875m in London ‘Gotham City’ project. Insurer’s investment arm shrugs off Brexit uncertainty with purchase of office development |
| SIG (SHI) warns on profits as construction markets flounder. Shares slide as materials group knocked by stagnating UK building sector |
 | Banknote printer De La Rue (DLAR) appoints new chief executive. Turnround specialist Clive Vacher joins group as it faces challenges on a number of fronts |
| Mike Ashley has vowed that his troubled House Of Fraser chain will fight on as it faces the crucial festive period.The retail entrepreneur described reports that he was planning to shut most of the department store’s 53 shops after Christmas as ‘unbelievable’. The boss of said he was renewing leases and investing in the chain as he battles to revive its fortunes, having bought it out of administration for £90million last year. ‘It is totally incorrect to assume that there will be large numbers of store closures in the new year,’ a Sports Direct spokesman said. | |
 | Alison Rose will face a baptism of fire when she takes the top job at Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) next month. The 49-year-old, who is stepping up from the role of deputy chief executive at Natwest to chief executive of its owner, will immediately be faced with a court case over one of the longest running and most toxic disputes in the bank’s history. RBS is due to appear in the High Court in early November where it will face more awkward questions about its Global Restructuring Group (GRG) and its relationship with the Treasury. |
| Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) is relaunching its largest womenswear label Per Una as it desperately tries to refresh its ailing fashion department. It has kicked off a major campaign to try to shift the perceptions that its clothes are dowdy and ‘too frilly’, the company said. It will also make a foray into ‘influencer marketing’ – paying social media celebrities to feature M&S clothes – to go alongside traditional print and billboard advertising. The move is part of the retailer’s plans to broaden its appeal to a younger, ‘family age’ customer, and the updated collection will be ‘the first thing you see when you walk into an M&S store’, the company said. |
| Shares in SIG (SHI) plummeted after the business warned that a deepening downturn in the UK and German construction markets would hit profits. The Sheffield-based business shed more than a fifth of its share value in early trading after it told investors that annual profits in its core business will be ‘significantly lower’ than previously predicted. The company has also separately announced that it has secured agreements to sell its air handling and building solutions divisions in two separate deals for more than £230 million in total. |
| De La Rue (DLAR) has finally appointed a chief executive – nearly two years after losing the contract to make Britain’s blue post-Brexit passports. Clive Vacher, hailed by the banknote printer as a turnaround specialist, joined yesterday at a tricky time for the business. After a French rival beat it to the passport deal in 2017, it announced a string of profit warnings. De La Rue is banking on Vacher, the 49-year-old former boss of Canada-listed electronic chip company Dynex Power, to turn around its fortunes. |
| HSBC Holdings (HSBA) is planning to cut up to 10,000 jobs as interim chief executive Noel Quinn seeks to slash costs and stamp his mark on the global banking group, according to reports. The Financial Times said the bank is considering a cull of more than 4% of its workforce, with the cuts falling most heavily on highly paid roles. Any job cuts implemented in this new round would come on top of the redundancies announced by the bank earlier in the year, when it said it will lay off about 4,000 people. |
 | Bezant Resources (BZT) has struck a conditional deal to sell an 80% stake in its Mankayan copper and gold project in the Philippines to a private Singaporean firm. Mining And Minerals Industries Holdings (MMIH) will put up to £5million towards project funding. And due to a separate agreement MMIH had already made with a firm that is listed in Singapore, Bezant could also get £5.9million of shares in the public company. |
| 300,000 fewer passengers flew with BA last month, taking the total down from 4.2m in September last year to 3.9m this time around. Pilots went on strike over pay on September 9 and 10, as well as lining up a third day on September 27 that was later cancelled. The strikes have cost more than £120million and BA’s parent company, International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG), has already warned full-year profits will be hit by the action. But despite September’s 8% fall, passenger numbers so far this year are up 1.2% to 36.2million. And IAG’s total passenger figures – incorporating airlines such as Iberia and Vueling – were up 0.6% in September and 4.9% so far this year, to 90.4m. |
 | Sirius Minerals (SXX) lifted after chief executive Chris Fraser said the troubled Yorkshire fertiliser miner has cut 300 jobs and believes the company will have a good idea of alternative financing options by the end of this month. |
 | Eddie Stobart’s major shareholder DBAY Advisors was given more time to decide if it wants to make an offer to take over the trucking group. It has until October 16 to decide if it wants to make a move on Eddie Stobart Logistics (ESL), whose shares have been suspended since August after an accounting error was found. |
 | Investors were unmoved after student accommodation provider Unite Group (UTG) sold two high-end properties in Coventry to Singapore group Mapletree Investments for £96million. The Callice Court and Millennium View buildings can house 1,127 students between them. |
 | Petra Diamonds Ltd.(DI) (PDL) had more success on the stock market. News that it has scheduled viewing times in November for prospective buyers to inspect a 20.08 carat blue diamond it recovered from its Cullinan mine last month sent shares surging 0.53p, to 6.83p by the close. |
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