Tens of thousands of retail shareholders in a North Yorkshire fertiliser mine face losing their money and 1,200 jobs are at risk after the company developing the $5 billion project said that its funding plan had failed. MPs and unions called on the government to rescue Sirius Minerals’ Woodsmith mine project after it was forced to abandon a crucial $500 million bond sale, blaming market conditions and Brexit uncertainty. Shares in Sirius Minerals (SXX) more than halved to only 4.67p yesterday as Sirius pulled the bond issue and revealed that the government had rejected a last-ditch request last month to offer it $1 billion of loan guarantees.
The boss of the world’s largest mining company has had his pay cut by almost a quarter after an unexplained death at its Queensland mine and a runaway iron ore train. Andrew Mackenzie, 62, chief executive of since 2013, had his short-term bonus reduced by more than $1 million from 2018 to $1.3 million. His base salary was kept at $1.7 million, taking his total earnings, including other benefits, to $3.5 million, from $4.6 million the previous year. BHP’s 2019 annual report attributed the decision mainly to the death of a 49-year-old worker at its Saraji coalmine on New Year’s Eve last year, the cause of which it was unable to determine. It was the first death that the company had been unable to explain in more than 15 years. The mining group employs about 72,000 people, producing iron ore, coal, copper and oil, primarily in Australia and the Americas. It is dual-listed in Australia and Britain.
Thomas Cook Group (TCG) cleared another hurdle on the way to a £1.1 billion rescue deal last night by filing for Chapter 15 court protection in the United States. It ensures that €1.15 billion of bonds issued under US jurisdiction can form part of the proposed debt restructuring on which the 178-year-old travel group’s survival depends. Any challenges must now be dealt with under British law. The embattled company confirmed yesterday that it had filed court papers in the federal Southern District of New York. It was represented by Latham & Watkins, the law firm.
The founder of French Connection Group (FCCN) is struggling to find a buyer for the chain. The company said yesterday that it was extending the process until the end of January and was in “active ongoing discussions” about a deal. Stephen Marks, 73, founderd the fashion chain almost 50 years ago. At one time Mr Marks was worth £250 million and the shares were valued at 485p apiece. Since then changing shopping habits have resulted in five straight years of losses and its shares closed last night down 5p at 33p, valuing the company at £32 million.
Ocado Group (OCDO) has claimed that it could start delivering Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) groceries earlier than its original schedule of next September. The online grocer signed a £750 million joint venture in February that will end its long-term partnership with Waitrose. The upmarket food retailer has supplied groceries to Ocado since it was founded in 2000. Duncan Tatton-Brown, 54, Ocado’s finance chief, said there “is a chance we might bring forward, at least partially bring forward, that transition date . . . It may well be in the interests of Waitrose, some of Waitrose’s suppliers and ourselves and M&S for that transition to be slightly more spread out.” However, it is understood that Waitrose disagrees and is in no rush to sever ties with Ocado prematurely, particularly as last week it revealed that it had abruptly ended talks with a start-up to rival the service provided by Ocado.
Staffline Group (STAF) reported a £7.7 million pre-tax loss for the six months to the end of June, in contrast with a £10.5 million profit in the same period last year. It reported a loss for both its recruitment and its adult skills and training businesses and said that it expected to deliver a full-year adjusted operating profit of about £20 million. That is significantly less than its annual profit guidance of between £23 million and £28 million that was given in June and sent its shares down by a fifth. PWC resigned as the company’s auditor in August after the annual report warned of “material uncertainty” about the group’s ability to continue as a going concern. The Aim-listed shares were suspended between January and March after PWC delayed the annual results and began to investigate allegations of a failure to comply with national minimum wage rules. The review found that Staffline had underpaid workers at several food production facilities because the time they had spent putting on work clothes had been excluded from their wages. The Nottingham-based company has yet to appoint a new auditor.
Neil Woodford the under-fire fund manager had slashed his stake in Circassia Pharmaceuticals (CIR) from almost 20% to “less than 5%”, his fund has revealed. The 59-year-old has backed Circassia for more than a decade, having bought into the company during his days at Invesco Perpetual. He has been forced to cash in on some of his investments to repay investors who want out of his UK Equity Income Fund. Richard Griffiths, who worked on a farm in Wales before setting up Evolution Securities, a City brokerage, has taken on most of Mr Woodford’s holding and is now Circassia’s biggest investor, with a 28.5 per cent stake worth about £20 million. Circassia shares have lost more than 90% of their value since a failed late-stage trial in 2016, when a cat allergy vaccine proved no more effective than a placebo.
Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets (MRW) fell 5¾p to 202¾p after industry data from Nielsen for August indicated that it had delivered the weakest sales of Britain’s biggest supermarket operators. Analysts at HSBC said that Brexit stockpiling could boost grocers’ figures in the coming months, but “the same old problem remains for the Big Four — the discounters continue to eat most of the growth in the industry”.
Sales at Eagle Eye Solutions Group (EYE) rose by almost a quarter to 16.9 million in the year to the end of June after it won a contract with Waitrose. The company announced £700,000 in earnings before interest, tax and other charges, compared with a loss of £2 million in 2018. It narrowed pre-tax losses from £5.1 million to £2.8 million. Mr Mason, 62, said: “Our customers see the Eagle Eye AIR platform as key to competing in today’s digital retail environment.” Malcolm Wall, 63, the company’s chairman, said it was “fortunate that the implications for our business are less than those of a physical goods company”.
Tempus – Berkeley Group Holdings (The) (BKG): Buy. Resilient high-end housebuilder with an eye for timing and a generous dividend payer
Tempus – Chemring Group (CHG): Hold. Beginning to generate solid growth in UK and US
