Revolt over Unilever (ULVR) move grows. Big shareholder opposed to HQ in Netherlands. A fourth UK shareholder in Unilever has said that it will vote against the consumer group’s proposed move to relinquish its London headquarters. In a blow to Unilever and its boss Paul Polman, M&G Investments has come out against the plan to abandon the company’s 88-year Anglo-Dutch dual governance structure.
Rivals’ epic takeover battle for Sky (SKY) heads for nail-biting final episode. The winner of the protracted takeover battle for Sky could be settled under a rapid-fire auction concluding on Sunday night. The Takeover Panel is in discussions with Comcast and 21st Century Fox, its American suitors, over how to draw the final curtain on one of the City’s longest takeover sagas. The fiercely contested battle has transfixed the media industry and minted large profits for some of the hedge funds that have piled into the satellite broadcaster in recent months. Yesterday, Elliott Capital Advisors, the New York-based fund, said that it had built a 4.3% stake in Sky. Odey Asset Management and Blaupost also have loaded up on Sky.
Rise of the robots drives Ocado’s onward march. Customers signing up for its services and increases in capacity at its automated warehouses have boosted revenue at Ocado Group (OCDO). The online grocery delivery company said that its revenue had jumped by 11.5% to £348.6 million after a sales performance that “most competitors would die for”.
‘Fabulous’ bid promises £100m for bosses of insurance broker. The managers of Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group (JLT) could walk away with £100 million after agreeing a deal to sell the insurance broker to an American rival for £4.3 billion. Marsh & McLennan has offered JLT shareholders £19.15 per share in cash, a near-40% premium to the company’s average share price before the announcement of the acquisition. The American broker said that the deal offered a “compelling value proposition”.
Shell backs down over North Sea work rotas. Royal Dutch Shell ‘B’ (RDSB) has bowed to pressure from North Sea workers and agreed to revert to rotas that make them spend only two weeks at a time offshore. The Anglo-Dutch energy group’s staff and contractors were moved to rotas in 2016 that made them spend three weeks at a time offshore in an effort to cut costs after oil prices crashed.
Spire Healthcare profits laid low by funding squeeze in the NHS. The funding squeeze in the NHS has increased the pressure on Spire Healthcare Group (SPI), prompting the private hospitals company to forecast annual profits below the City’s predictions. Spire unveiled a 20.6% decline in earnings before interest, tax and other charges to £66.1 million in the six months to the end of June. Revenue was down 1.1% at £475.6 million.
A dismissive note from Credit Suisse sent the world’s biggest serviced offices provider spinning to the bottom of the FTSE 250. Over the past ten months IWG (IWG), which owns the Regus brand, has issued two profit warnings, lost its chief operating and financial officer and seen not one, not two, but six different buyout offers from potential suitors go out the window. In August, RBC Capital downgraded IWG’s stock and cut its target price. Now Credit Suisse has followed suit, changing its rating for the group from “neutral” to “underperform” and dropping its target price from 245p to 200p.
There was jubilation among investors in metals and mining groups once it became apparent that President Trump’s latest tariffs on Chinese goods were not as tough as originally expected. This caused the prices of copper, palladium and platinum to push higher. As a result, miners dominated the top index’s biggest movers. Glencore (GLEN) led the way, rising 8¼p to 308¾p, followed by Evraz (EVR), up 13½p to 509½p, and Anglo American (AAL), adding 29½p to £15.76. and Antofagasta (ANTO) also closed higher, up 16½p at £15.49 and 13½p at 790½p, respectively.
Ocado Group (OCDO) rose 7p to 919¾p, thanks to a robust third-quarter trading statement and a positive note from Peel Hunt over the group’s transformation into a technology company.
ITV (ITV) was one of the index’s top fallers, dropping 4¾p to 153¼p after Berenberg cut its price target from 185p to 155p.
British American Tobacco (BATS) was another faller, dropping 69p to £36 after Morgan Stanley gave the stock an “equal weight” rating. Imperial Brands (IMB), its rival, fell 46½p to close at £25.79.
Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group (JLT) jumped almost 31%, 440p, to £18.72 after Marsh & McLennan, the American financial services group, agreed to buy the company for £4.3 billion.
C4X Discovery Holdings (C4XD) completed a placing of 11 million shares at 90p to raise £10 million as it looks to strengthen its balance sheet and develop market leading compounds.
United taps the market for £3m. Irish oil exploration group created in 2015 by former executives at Tullow Oil has raised £3 million in a placing at a zero discount to market price. The Dublin-based United Oil & Gas (UOG) was listed on the London Stock Exchange in July last year via a reverse takeover of Senterra Energy. Yesterday it held an oversubscribed placing of 54.5 million shares at 5½p each. It will use the funds to add projects to a portfolio that includes a commercial gas discovery in Italy and two prospective blocks in the North Sea, one of which could hold as much as 16 million barrels of recoverable oil. The company’s strategy is to buy unwanted oil and gas licences from larger groups where it can find untapped value in smaller fields that bigger companies have ignored.
