Ray Kelvin has resigned as chief executive of Ted Baker (TED) with immediate effect following allegations of harassment. The fashion retailer’s founder was forced to take a leave of absence last year amid claims that he enforced a “hugging” culture at the company. Accusations were also made that he massaged employees, kissed their ears and asked some to sit on his lap. In December, The Telegraph also revealed Mr Kelvin had been accused of shoving a senior executive against a wall in a row sparked when the boss was not invited to his wedding to another staff member.
Mike Ashley’s has triggered a takeover bid for after announcing a deal to buy another chunk of shares in the online retailer. The tracksuit tycoon’s company was already the biggest investor in Findel and its purchase of six million shares from a single shareholder at 161p apiece, worth almost £10m, takes its holding to 36.8%. A company is required to make a takeover bid when it has a stake of more than 30%. Sports Direct’s offer values Findel at £140m. Shares in Findel jumped 8% to 175p following the announcement, valuing the company at £151m, suggesting Sports Direct may have to raise its offer. The stock was trading as high as 285p six months ago.
Rotork (ROR) warned that macroeconomic uncertainty and oil price volatility dampened its outlook in 2019 despite double-digit growth in its first year under Kevin Hostetler. Mr Hostetler, who took the chief executive role in February 2018, said that the company had been hesitant in acquiring new projects in the second half of 2018 due to “significant fluctuations in oil prices and increasing economic uncertainty”. The oil market staggered to its lowest in 18 months at the end of last year amid geopolitical tensions between the US and China. Just over half of Rotork’s revenue comes from the oil and gas sector.
Aviva (AV.) has picked internal frontrunner Maurice Tulloch as its new chief executive following weeks of delay. The FTSE 100 insurer, which sacked Mark Wilson last October, announced the appointment on Monday having missed its own self-imposed deadline to pick a new boss by mid-February. Mr Tulloch will take over as chief executive immediately. Sources told The Telegraph last month that a crunch board meeting in January had decided Mr Tulloch was the favoured internal candidate, while Old Mutual’s ex-finance chief Ingrid Johnson was the external pick. Investors said the subsequent delay in announcing a new boss suggested there was some conflict over the decision.
Rothermere family moves to tighten grip at Mail group. The owner of the Daily Mail and Metro newspapers has unveiled plans to return almost £900m back to shareholders in a move that will strengthen the Rothermere family’s grip on the publisher. Daily Mail and General Trust A (Non.V) (DMGT) confirmed that it will distribute its 49% stake in specialist publisher Euromoney Institutional Investor to shareholders with non-voting stakes and also hand investors £200m in cash. DMGT said that the Rothermere family’s overall stake in the company will increase from 24% to 36% under the plans. The media tycoon’s hold on DMGT will be bolstered by not participating in the Euromoney distribution, it revealed in a statement confirming an earlier Sky News report.
Superdry’s struggling shares were back in vogue after founder Julian Dunkerton stepped up his bid to seize back control of the ailing retailer. Superdry (SDRY) moved higher after Mr Dunkerton launched a fresh attack on the retailer’s management, arguing that his efforts to turn around the company had been “rebuffed”. Mr Dunkerton, still the company’s top shareholder, has now demanded a general meeting to force his way back on to the board after exhausting “all other possible avenues for a constructive and consensual solution”. Superdry’s shares have plummeted 68% in 12 months following a pair of profit warnings last year.
Ted Baker (TED) shareholder urges for speed on founder review. One of Ted Baker’s largest shareholders is demanding that the review into alleged misconduct by the retailer’s founder, Ray Kelvin, should be concluded before the company issues its results next month. Trevor Green at Aviva Investors, Ted Baker’s 10th biggest shareholder, told The Sunday Telegraph that it was “disappointing and unnerving that the investigation had gone on this long” after the chain posted a profit warning. Ted Baker hired law firm Herbert Smith Freehills at the start of last December to lead an investigation into claims of workplace harassment after details of an alleged “forced hugs” policy emerged.
Interserve warns investors: it is now rescue deal or bust. Interserve (IRV) has issued a warning that it faces insolvency if shareholders block a controversial rescue deal that will hand control to its lenders. A prospectus setting out the terms of the debt-for-equity swap, which will dilute current investors’ stakes by 95%, insists it is “the only realistic opportunity for shareholders to recover any value in return for their investment”. The crisis-hit government contractor, which employs 45,000 people in the UK, has agreed that if investors vote down the deal later this month it will appoint an insolvency practitioner who would be expected to hand all of its assets over to its lenders for a nominal sum.
Questor: a dizzying series of deals makes Ascential one to buy. Questor share tip: Ascential (ASCL) was once part of Emap but the new boss is busy reinventing it as a media group for the digital age
