London Stock Exchange Group (LSE), the target of a £32 billion bid from its Hong Kong rival, is considering moving its headquarters out of the Square Mile for the first time in its history. The business, which emerged from 17th-century coffee houses in the City of London, has appointed Make Architects to design an office on land it owns in Hackney, east London. Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing, which revealed its cash-and-shares tilt at its London rival on Wednesday, is understood to have contacted No 10 in attempt to head off a political storm over its proposal.
Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets (MRW) is to extend its online partnership with Amazon as it reported disappointing sales compared with those in last year’s hot summer. Like-for-like sales fell 1.9% in the second quarter, against a 6.3% rise a year ago when they were boosted by the World Cup and royal wedding. The figure was better than expected, however, as was a 5.3% rise in pre-tax profits to £198 million in the half year to August 4. Ocado operates Morrisons.com after a deal between the two companies while Morrisons products are also sold on Amazon, the US online giant, through a wholesale arrangement. Morrisons has now signed a multi-year agreement with Amazon, rather than its current rolling contract, and will expand its same-day delivery service to Glasgow, Newcastle, Liverpool, Sheffield and Portsmouth. The service is already available in Leeds, Manchester, Birmingham, parts of London and the home counties.
The chairman of Trainline Plc (TRN) is resigning less than three months after the ticketing app’s £2 billion flotation triggered multimillion-pound paydays for senior staff. Douglas McCallum, 53, will leave in November, with Brian McBride, the senior independent director, taking his place. Trainline’s listing in June valued the company at more than First Group and Stagecoach, two of Britain’s big rail operators, combined. Mr McCallum, who has been chairman since 2013, sold shares worth £6.5 million at the float and retains a £12.3 million holding. Clare Gilmartin, 44, chief executive, made £15.8 million through stock sales.
About 10% of emergency back-up power supplies that were supposed to help avert blackouts last month failed to deliver electricity as expected, National Grid (NG.) has admitted. The group, whose job is to keep the lights on, said it was still looking into the “under-performance” by some of the companies that were supposed to provide a rapid response on August 9. National Grid had not procured enough back-up power supplies to compensate for the losses, resulting in a sharp drop in the frequency on the grid. Electricity had to be cut to a million homes to restore balance.
Investors backing Neil Woodford suffered a fresh setback last night when the investment trust he runs said it was writing down one of his unquoted investments by £36 million. Woodford Patient Capital Trust (WPCT) declined to identify the unlisted company that had disappointed because of “confidentiality obligations”, but said the writedown would wipe 4p from its net assets per share, which were previously 72.85p. The move is expected to hit the Patient Capital share price when trading begins today. The shares closed yesterday, before the announcement, at 45.25p.
About 2,300 jobs at British American Tobacco (BATS) will be cut as its new chief executive focuses on its vaping business. The FTSE 100 company said the restructuring, which would be substantially complete by January, was focused on removing management layers and simplifying the business. The job losses represent about 4% of the workforce and more than 20% of its senior roles are likely to be affected. The company said the changes were designed to deliver savings that can be reinvested in new products, such as vapour, tobacco heating products and oral tobacco.
The online fashion retailer behind Jacamo and Simply Be has become the latest company to warn investors about a jump in potential payment protection insurance liabilities. Shares of Brown (N.) Group (BWNG) Group fell by 2½p to 108p after it estimated it would have to make an additional PPI provision of between £20 million and £30 million in its results for the half-year to the end of August. The group has so far paid out £108 million to settle claims, a figure that includes an additional provision of £22.6 million booked in the second half of last year to cover claims up to the August 29 deadline.
Hurricane Energy (HUR) has earmarked the Lincoln Crestal well as a future producer after successful flow tests. Investors had cheered an update this week when the Aim favourite revealed it had struck oil at the site, the second in a three-well programme in the Greater Warwick Area, which bosses believe could hold up to 1.5 billion barrels of oil. After a couple of days of testing, Lincoln Crestal flowed at an average rate of 4,682 barrels of oil per day, peaking at almost 10,000. The well will be capped off until the new year, when it will be tied back to the Aoka Mizu floating production, storage and offloading vessel. “We are delighted with the results of the Lincoln Crestal well,” Robert Trice, chief executive, said. “We have confirmed the presence of light oil, which can be produced at commercial rates.” Light crude oil, which is less “sticky” than heavy crude, fetches a higher price on the markets because it produces more gasoline and more diesel per barrel when refined. Analysts at Berenberg described the results as “excellent”. Centrica (CNA) investors also had Hurricane to thank as the British Gas owner found itself climbing 2p to 74¾p. Its Spirit Energy subsidiary, which it is trying to sell, owns a 50 per cent stake in the Greater Warwick Area following its farm-in agreement this time last year.
Whitbread (WTB), owner of Premier Inn, and Intercontinental Hotels, which owns Holiday Inn, were among those holding the Footsie back after analysts at JP Morgan Cazenove put out a bearish research note. After hitting record highs at the end of July, the number crunchers said InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) now looked “unattractive” as they cut their rating to “underweight”. Shares in the company, which also owns the Crowne Plaza brand, fell back 130p to £50.37, although JPM Cazenove thinks their true value is closer to £47. Whitbread was hit with the same “underweight” rating, with the analysts wary of its exposure to “the current economic and political UK turmoil”. Shares dropped 115p to £44.29, still some way above the bank’s £38 target.
Botswana Diamonds (BOD) sparkled after environmental authorisation was granted for it to mine diamond-bearing gravels at an old De Beers project called Marsfontein. Bosses said this was a “critical step” towards obtaining a mining permit.
Shareholders in Sirius Minerals (SXX) are petitioning the government to rescue the company’s $5 billion North Yorkshire fertiliser project as it scrambles to secure funding. The group has weeks to complete a crucial $500 million bond offering or risk going bust. A petition signed by more than 550 people is calling for the government to support the project with loan guarantees. The Times reported on Saturday that Sirius was hoping to secure cornerstone investors for the bond sale as well as suggestions it might seek government support through a loan guarantee. Sirius Minerals and the Treasury declined to comment.
Tempus – Compass Group (CPG): Buy on weaknes. Dominant US operations are booming, Europe is resilient and the rest of the world has plenty of potential
Tempus – Draper Esprit (GROW): Buy. High growth, sophisticated tech investor unfairly unloved by market
