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.
