The billionaire founder of Amigo Holdings (AMGO) has quit its board less than three months after it completed a £1.3 billion stock market listing. Richmond Group, the investment vehicle of James Benamor, Amigo’s founder, said yesterday that it no longer wished to be represented on the subprime lender’s board, despite its 61 per cent holding in the business.
Lazy Britons opting for electric bicycles and the popularity of camping products for “staycations” have helped to boost sales at Halfords Group (HFD). The retailer said that group like-for-like sales had risen by 2.8% in the 20 weeks to August 17 and offered reassurance that it would hit its full-year targets, in contrast with profit warning put out in May. Halfords is expecting to report a profit in line with last year’s £71.6 million.
The Help to Buy scheme should become a permanent part of the property market, one of Britain’s biggest housebuilders claimed yesterday as it revealed a record set of profits. Redrow (RDW) said that builders would not be producing homes at the same pace without the government-backed programme.
Crispin Odey, the hedge fund tycoon, is expected to turn up the heat on management at Playtech (PTEC) after building a 5 per cent stake in the troubled gaming technology group. Odey Asset Management is believed to have been in contact with Jason Ader, the American activist investor who The Times revealed last week had quietly built a $100 million stake in Playtech. Odey is understood to have held Playtech shares since 2014.
Nearly four weeks after an explosion at its factory in Salisbury killed one of its employees, Chemring Group (CHG) says that it has yet to identify the cause. In a trading update, the defence group, which specialises in flares, pyrotechnics and other explosive countermeasures for military jets such as the Eurofighter Typhoon, said that the temporary closure of the facility during an investigation into the explosion would take about £15 million off its operating profits this year.
Shares in Inmarsat (ISAT) were sent spinning by fears that a Chinese government deal may have fallen through and American regulatory approval for a new mobile network may not be forthcoming. Analysts at RBC Capital Markets said they believed that Inmarsat had given up on a deal to sell one of its high-speed broadband communications satellites to the Chinese authorities.
Housebuilders weighed down the premier index as uncertainty over the future of the Help to Buy scheme, combined with data showing construction activity slowing during the summer, weakened investor sentiment. Berkeley Group Holdings (The) (BKG) was the heaviest faller in the sector, tumbling 160p to £35.10, ahead of a trading statement due today before its annual meeting.
Equiniti Group (EQN) managed to halt a downward spiral in its share price after banging the drum at investor roadshows in the City. The company, which also owns Selftrade, the share-dealing platform, reached an all-time high of 326½p in March, but had been on the slide after delays to its integration of the share registration and services business it bought from Wells Fargo last year. Liberum said that Equiniti’s management had been able to provide a “credible” explanation for the delayed integration and a positive outlook for its other divisions.
Koovs (KOOV) rose ½p to just under 12p, despite reporting a 29% fall in revenues in its full-year results to the end of March.
Seeing Machines Ltd. (SEE) fell almost 29% to 7¼p, after the company warned that production delays would have “an ongoing adverse effect on growth” in the 2019 financial year and said that previously anticipated cost reductions were unlikely to be met.
OptiBiotix Health (OPTI) shot up 6½p to 106p after the life sciences company said that it had entered an exclusive licence agreement with an American company for its cholesterol-reducing lactobacillus plantarum strain as a pharmaceutical drug product.
The private equity backers of Sabre Insurance Group (SBRE) and one of the company’s co-founders are selling a combined 17.9% stake in the motor insurance business, which floated on the London Stock Exchange in December. BC Partners, the company’s largest shareholder with a 14.5% stake, is seeking to sell its entire stake.
Tempus – Smith (DS) (SMDS), Mondi (MNDI), Smurfit Kappa Group (SKG): Favour sector rival. Using cold valuation metrics, Mondi offers better value for investors
Tempus – Alfa Financial Software Holdings (ALFA): Buy. The contracts will come and with them profits and a rise in the price
