MPs ‘misled’ by RBS boss over police bribe inquiry. Ross McEwan, the Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) chief executive, has been accused of deliberately misleading MPs in order to avoid disclosing a police investigation into an alleged bribery scandal at the bank’s restructuring unit. Nicky Morgan, chairwoman of the Treasury select committee, said that Mr McEwan had purposefully “withheld information of relevance and interest” when he was questioned by the committee in January about the bank’s disgraced Global Restructuring Group.
GVC backs America to cover fixed-odds loss. The owner of Ladbrokes declared that it would become the biggest gambling operator in America after unveiling a slide at its domestic bookmakers chain. GVC Holdings (GVC) hopes to counter the impact of the crackdown on fixed-odds betting terminals (FOBT) in its home market through its tie-up with MGM Resorts, the $14 billion US casino owner.
Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets (MRW) has reported its strongest quarterly growth in nine years and unveiled a second special dividend payment as it continues to “make a good fist” of its turnaround. The Bradford-based grocer said that like-for-like revenue, excluding VAT and fuel, had risen 4.9% in the six months to August 4, up from 3% last year. In the second quarter comparable sales rose 6.3%, its best result in nearly a decade. The perfomance was driven almost entirely by increased volume of sales, rather than food price inflation.
The impact of the pain at Jaguar Land Rover is spreading through the UK automotive supply chain as Ricardo (RCDO), the engineering consultancy, admitted that its profits had been hit by the decline at Britain’s largest carmaker. “We have been affected by the decline in car sales at Jaguar Land Rover and Ford,” Dave Shemmans, chief executive of Ricardo, said.
Ophir takes writedown on gasfield it risks losing. Ophir Energy (OPHR) is racing to find a buyer for its Fortuna liquefied natural gas project off Equatorial Guinea after failing to secure funding to proceed with the $2 billion development itself. The company risks losing the gasfield if it cannot find a way forward before the end of the year when its licence to operate off the west African country is due to expire.
Smiths ends talks on medical merger. The break-up of the £6.2 billion FTSE 100 conglomerate Smiths Group (SMIN) was put on hold yesterday after the company said talks to merge its medical division with ICU of America had been called off. In a statement Smiths indicated that its shareholders thought they might be getting a raw deal.
Oxford Biomedica (OXB) is investing £20 million in a new 84,000 sq ft facility in the city including laboratories, warehousing and offices, which will more than double its capacity. The company has also returned to profit. In March it raised £20.5 million from investors and in June it agreed a licensing deal potentially worth $842.5 million with Axovant, which is listed on Nasdaq, to commercialise an injectable treatment for Parkinson’s disease.
Storm downgrade gives insurers some shelter. Lancashire Holdings Limited (LRE), the FTSE 250 Bermuda-based insurer, which provides property and casualty insurance and reinsurance, reversed most of its losses from the start of the week, gaining 12p to 588½p, after the storm was downgraded to category two, still “very dangerous” but potentially limiting some of the damage.
Retailers were sent lower by a negative read-across from a 99% profit dive in results from John Lewis Partnership, the UK’s biggest department store group. Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) closed down 6p at 287¼p, while Next (NXT), the fashion retailer, fell 74p to £53.94.
Greencore Group (GNC) rose a further 2½p to 194¼p after two fund managers sold down their short positions on the FTSE 250 sandwich-maker. Old Mutual Global Investors and Worldquant are understood to have been behind the change in position.
Grainger (GRI), one of the largest landlords of homes for rent in the UK, was boosted by an upgrade to “buy” from “add” by analysts at Numis Securities. Analysts said they estimated the revaluation of its pipeline of developments, which now stands at £756 million, once they have been completed and let to residents, should add about 21½p per share, with the company expected to deliver average annual shareholder returns of 7.7% through to 2023.
Faron Pharmaceuticals Oy (DI) (FARN), the drugs minnow, fell 18.6% after it said its loss for the first half of its financial year increased on higher research costs. The company said it was on track to apply for consent to carry out its first in-human trial of its Clevegen cancer candidate later this year. Clevegen is one of a new generation of drugs that helps to weaken a tumour’s ability to suppress the human immune system.
SafeCharge International Group Limited (DI) (SCH) rose 4.6% in morning trading before settling up 1p at 306½p after it reported a 15% rise in underlying earnings to $18 million on the back of a 26% rise in revenue to $66.8 million.
Apple’s launch of its iPhone X models spelled a positive run for IQE (IQE), the UK maker of semiconductors. The US technology company confirmed on Wednesday that it has ditched the fingerprint sensor in its three new models and will use facial recognition instead. Analysts said the announcement means IQE’s vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSEL), used in facial recognition technology, will be in all iPhones, having previously only been used in the top-of-the-range X model.
Tempus – International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG): Take profits. IAG is moving in the right direction, but uphill, slowly and expensively
Tempus – Oxford Biomedica (OXB): Hold. Earnings unpredictable until it secures more licences
