Lawrence Stroll, the billionaire owner of the Racing Point Formula One motor racing team, is said to be preparing to bid for a significant stake in Aston Martin Holdings (AML). Mr Stroll, 60, father of Lance Stroll, 21, the Formula One driver, is heading a consortium to take a “major shareholding”, according to Autocar magazine. The Canadian made his money investing in and building brands including Pierre Cardin, Ralph Lauren and Tommy Hilfiger.
The Serious Fraud Office has begun an investigation into Glencore (GLEN) over “suspicions of bribery”. The fraud office said yesterday that it was examining the “conduct of business by the Glencore group of companies, its officials, employees, agents and associated persons”. Shares in Glencore promptly fell by 21½p to 216¾p, reducing its market value by almost £3 billion.
Overhauling its website and avoiding a much-feared systems crash has been toasted as a significant victory by Dunelm Group (DNLM) investors who were cheered by a boost to profit forecasts. Shares in the homeware retailer rose by almost 20% yesterday after Dunelm issued an unscheduled trading update to tell the City that its website overhaul had gone smoothly and that profits would now be higher than expected. However, Dunelm said that the boost to guidance assumed “no significant change in consumer demand as a result of the outcome of the general election”.
The owner of the Daily Mail said yesterday that it was primed for further deals after spending £50 million on the i newspaper last week. Daily Mail and General Trust A (Non.V) (DMGT) vowed to use some of its £247 million cash pile to buy “attractive” businesses if and when they come up for sale. It also will invest more in its existing businesses. Paul Zwillenberg, 52, chief executive, has pruned DMGT’s empire since joining three years ago, offloading assets including its interest in Zoopla, the property portal, its controlling stake in Euromoney, the listed financial information publisher, and selling Genscape, an energy information provider, for $364 million. The disposals have clipped earnings, according to its latest annual results. Adjusted revenues fell by 1% to £1.4 billion in the 12 months to the end of September and adjusted pre-tax profits dipped 21% to £145 million.
AJ Bell (AJB) has reported record annual profits in its first year as a public company, helped by attracting customers from its main competitor, which has been caught in the Woodford affair. Pre-tax profits at AJ Bell climbed by 33% to £37.7 million on revenues that rose 17% to £104.9 million in the 12 months to the end of September. It attracted more than 34,100 customers, taking its total to 232,066, with assets under administration rising by 13% to £52.3 billion. Some of the customers came from Hargreaves Lansdown, its larger rival, which had championed Neil Woodford, the fund manager, and has been embroiled in the fallout from the demise of the stockpicker’s main fund.
IG Group Holdings (IGG) has warned that its performance was held back by strict new regulations brought in last year. IG Group said yesterday that it expects its net trading revenue for the six months to the end of November to be about £250 million, just shy of the £251 million it generated in the same period last year. The European Securities and Markets Authority introduced a series of new rules on contracts for difference last summer, designed to protect inexperienced traders from racking up big losses.
A £142 million stake sale by Boohoo.com (BOO) founders knocked shares in the online retailer business as the market suspected that a bullish update this week had been conveniently timed. Carol Kane sold a third of her stake, or 15 million shares, for 286p apiece to reduce her holding to 2.7%. Mahmud Kamani sold 35 million shares to reduce his stake to 13.1%.
Burberry Group (BRBY) shares were back in vogue yesterday amid rumours of more consolidation in the luxury goods sector. Shares in the British fashion house famous for its trench coats rose amid talk that Kering, the owner of Gucci and Yves Saint-Laurent, was pondering a tie-up with Moncler, the Italian puffa jacket maker. Reports suggested that the pair had held exploratory discussions already, although Remo Ruffino, Moncler’s chief executive, dismissed the gossip. Not that his best efforts stopped tongues wagging in an industry where merger activity has never seemed more fashionable. Bank of America Merrill Lynch said that it expected consolidation to be “a key theme” in luxury goods next year and then added yet another famous name to the list of marriage candidates — that of Richemont, the Cartier owner, which could be under pressure to do a deal of its own.
The market seems to be coming to the conclusion that a potential takeover of Centamin (DI) (CEY) is unlikely to happen. Centamin is being eyed up by Endeavour Mining, a Canadian rival, but the company’s board has unanimously rejected the deal on the table. If the share price is anything to go by, investors aren’t convinced that management will budge. Having risen after the initial bid, the stock fell yesterday.
Stagecoach Group (SGC) shares hit a bump in the road after Liberum, the stockbroker, warned that political risks were looming, regardless of the outcome of next week’s election. “While it should be no surprise that a Labour-led government would be a material negative for Stagecoach, we believe it is under-appreciated how enthusiastic a new Conservative administration may be for locally led bus reregulation initiatives,” Gerald Khoo, its analyst, said. He added that any changes would likely have a detrimental effect on Stagecoach’s market share and margins and he downgraded the company to “hold” from “buy” as a result.
Delays to the opening of two of its street markets will put a small dent in its profits this year, Time Out Group (TMO) has warned. The markets — in Montreal and Chicago — were opened last month, a few weeks later than bosses had hoped. Analysts at Liberum, the broker, said that the delays would result in the company slipping to a “small loss” for the second half of 2019, while Time Out confirmed that the hold-ups would have a “modest impact” on its full-year underlying profits. Despite the setback, the Aim-listed company reassured investors that it remained on track to reach profitability next year, having been “encouraged” by the early performance of its newest markets.
