Shaftesbury’s largest shareholder to vote against bosses in latest attack. The biggest shareholder in West End landlord Shaftesbury (SHB) has stepped up his attack on its board, vowing to vote against the re-appointment of senior bosses at its AGM on Friday. Sammy Tak Lee, the billionaire Hong Kong property investor, has accused Shaftesbury of deliberately trying to dilute his stake through a £265m fundraising in 2017. He claims to have only been made aware of the placing on the morning it was announced to the public, leaving him with just hours to raise capital to buy new shares or else face having his stake cut.
Tui shares plunge and Thomas Cook puts airline up for sale as travel woes mount. TUI AG Reg Shs (DI) (TUI) has shocked investors with a profit downgrade and Thomas Cook Group (TCG) has put its airline up for sale, underlining the pressures being felt by travel operators this year. Shares in the FTSE 100 firm plunged close to a fifth on Thursday after Tui ditched double-digit growth targets and warned profits would be flat this year in a shock announcement late on Wednesday night. Tui, whose brands include First Choice, had been expected to update the market on trading next Tuesday. Smaller rival Thomas Cook said selling its airline would provide “greater financial flexibility and increased resources”.
Rothschild faces conflict of interest allegations over hedge fund ‘raid’ on Telecom Italia. Investment bank Rothschild & Co has been drawn into one of Europe’s most contentious boardroom battles as it faces allegations of potential conflict of interest in the campaign by the hedge fund Elliott to break up Telecom Italia. The French media giant Vivendi, controlled by the billionaire Bollore family, has written the board of Telecom Italia to raise concerns over ties between Rothschild deputy chairman Paolo Scaroni and Elliott. Vivendi is Telecom Italia’s biggest shareholder with a near-24pc stake and is fighting a bitter power struggle over the future of the former state monopoly with Elliott.
Superdry sales slump sparks fresh attack from founder. Superdry (SDRY) has come under a fresh attack from founder Julian Dunkerton after blaming warm weather and issues with its winter fashion ranges for another slide in sales. The retailer, which has issued a string of profit warnings, revealed an 8.5% slide in shop sales to £126.8m in the last three months. Online sales – which have been the one glimmer of growth for most retailers – also fell by 0.7% as Superdry struggled to shift its hoodies and puffa jackets. Total sales fell by 1.5%, which the company said was “driven by ongoing legacy product issues and continued unseasonably warm weather throughout the quarter”.
Former Petrofac sales boss pleads guilty to bribes worth $50m. A former sales boss of Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) has pleaded guilty to 11 counts of bribery used to secure work on Middle East oil projects worth more than $4bn (£3bn). David Lufkin, the oil services company’s former head of sales, admitted to paying more than $50m in bribes to secure lucrative service contracts with oil developers at Westminster Magistrate court on Wednesday. The Serious Fraud Office said the corrupt deals, dating back to 2012, helped Petrofac clinch contracts worth some $730m for projects in Iraq and in excess of $3.5bn in Saudi Arabia. Mr Lufkin will be sentenced at a later date, the SFO said.
Government watchdog warns ‘flawed’ planning system holding back housebuilding. The UK’s planning system is in need of urgent reform if ministers want to hit their target of building more than 300,000 new homes a year, the public spending watchdog has warned. The National Audit Office attacked the Government’s “flawed” approach to assessing where homes need to be built and said house builders were not contributing enough towards local roads, schools and other public services. It also highlighted cuts to planning departments, where funding has fallen by 15% in real terms since 2011, and a 13% fall in the number of staff at the Planning Inspectorate, which deals with major national projects and appeals.
Housebuilder Bellway (BWY) posts soaring sales but warns of uncertainty ahead. Low interest rates and the Help to Buy scheme helped Bellway post another set of surging sales but the housebuilder warned trading could be hit by uncertainty in the run-up to next month’s Brexit deadline. The FTSE 250 company sold 5,000 homes in the six months to January, up 6% on the year before, which combined with a rise in selling prices led to a 12% hike in revenues to £1.5bn. Like most of its rivals, Bellway has grown rapidly over the past five years, buoyed by booming demand from first-time buyers fuelled partly by Help to Buy, which offers financial support to those struggling to save a deposit.
Questor: a 7.6% yield is not to be discarded lightly, so we’ll hold on to Crest Nicholson Holdings (CRST). The housebuilder may not produce much growth in the short term but the all-important dividend looks secure
