Tech giant Prosus is warning Just Eat (JE.) investors that it will walk away from its pursuit of the delivery company if they back a rival plan to merge with Takeaway.com. Despite being armed with a €20bn (£17bn) warchest, boss Bob van Dijk is telling Just Eat shareholders that Prosus is not interested in buying both companies. Just Eat has rejected a £5bn hostile swoop by Prosus, the Dutch arm of South Africa internet titan Naspers. Its board is instead recommending investors support a planned merger with Takeaway.com that was announced this summer. Mr van Dijk is to continue sounding out Just Eat investors this week in the hope of persuading them to back Prosus’ “full and fair” offer.
A top shareholder in Non-Standard Finance (NSF) is exploring a break-up of the doorstep lender in the wake of its failed hostile takeover of larger rival Provident Financial (PFG). Alchemy, which specialises in investing in distressed companies and owns 19% of NSF, is understood to preparing to push the company’s board to offload its personal credit business Loans at Home. One senior City executive with close links to the company said Alchemy was likely to take an “active” role in an overhaul of NSF. Loans at Home is the UK’s third largest provider of instant loans and was acquired by NSF from consumer finance provider S&U in 2015.
Investors will start bidding for a slice of the world’s most profitable company Saudi Aramco from next Sunday in what could be the biggest ever stock market listing. The once secretive oil behemoth said in its 658-page IPO prospectus published late Saturday night that it will offer 0.5% of its shares to ordinary investors during the float, roughly $10bn (£7.3bn) worth if it hits its ambitious $2 trillion valuation. The listing will begin on November 17. However key details about the deal, including the offer price and amount of shares being offered, were not included in the prospectus.
A wintry washout dealt a fresh blow to Britain’s retailers, putting off would-be shoppers from venturing out on to the high street last month. Footfall fell 3.2% compared with last year – the largest drop in October for seven years, according to figures released today. Data compiled by the British Retail Consortium and Springboard revealed that high streets had fared worst, falling 4.9%. Shopping centre footfall was 2.4% lower with retail parks, which have been more resilient in recent years, 0.5% down. Retailers bemoaned the rain and cold weather that hit parts of Britain last month.
Two months into his tenure at Dixons Carphone (DC.) the new boss Alex Baldock launched a scathing attack on his predecessor declaring that he had found “plenty to fix” at the retailer in a classic example of kitchen sinking. His matter-of-fact assessment was served with a profit warning at the end of May last year. Things have arguably gone from bad to worse since. Another profit alert ensued; it had to admit the biggest data breach in UK history, albeit predating Baldock; the City watchdog then slapped Dixons with a £29m fine for mis-selling insurance to its customers a decade ago; there was a shareholder backlash over the chief executive’s £2.3m long-term share bonuses.
Thomas Cook Group (TCG) landing slots at Gatwick and Bristol airports have been sold to easyJet (EZJ) for £36m. The airline said on Friday that it had won the race for the collapsed travel firm’s most valuable asset. Some 12 summer and eight winter slots at Gatwick and six summer and one winter pairs at Bristol will be transferred to the Luton-based carrier. Meanwhile, Jet2 has bought landing slots owned by Thomas Cook at Manchester, Birmingham and Stansted airports for an undisclosed sum, the official receiver said. Thomas Cook was placed into liquidation at the end of September after failing to secure a £1.1bn rescue from lenders and shareholders.
Questor: this little-known Aim firm has built a tech portfolio of fast-growing stocks. Buy. Questor share tip: Draper Esprit (GROW) approach of investing in unlisted early-stage businesses seems to be paying off
