NMC Health (NMC) has staged a partial recovery after agreeing to launch an independent review. Shares in NMC Health jumped after it said that it would appoint a “leading accounting firm” to scrutinise the allegations from America’s Muddy Waters. It was the first session of positive trading after four days last week that took £2.7 billion off NMC’s market value. The shares remain well adrift of their £25.85 level before the Muddy attack.
Nichols (NICL) has warned that profits next year could be far lower than expected as sales are hit by sugar taxes in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Nichols said that a 50% tax recently imposed on the price of non-carbonated sweetened drinks would have a “negative impact” on sales in the year to the end of December 2020. Changing its recipes to avoid the levy is not an option as the tax will apply to all non-carbonated drinks containing natural or artificial sweeteners. Last year Nichols recorded a pre-tax profit of £31.8 million and revenues of £142 million globally. Sales to the Middle East came to £9.6 million, accounting for almost 40% of the group’s international sales. It has sales of about £7 million in Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
Shares in BAE Systems (BA.) rose after analysts at JP Morgan undertook a bit of “year-end housekeeping” and trimmed its earnings forecasts for the next three years by 3% as a result of unfavourable currency movements and higher pension costs. But they lifted their price target to 600p, claiming that BAE was worthy of a slightly higher valuation multiple since the election. “We believe the Conservative victory in the UK election has reduced BAE’s risk profile — a Corbyn Labour government would have brought many risks, in our view — and we now apply a slightly higher target multiple to set our price target,” said David Perry, an analyst at JP Morgan.
Balfour Beatty (BBY) and Galliford Try (GFRD) climbed higher after the construction groups agreed to settle claims related to the Aberdeen bypass. Construction of the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route was supposed to be completed in the spring of last year but various delays meant that it was pushed back by almost a year, which in turn led to costs spiralling. Matters weren’t helped by the collapse of Carillion, one of the original joint-venture partners and whose demise was thought to have been hastened by failure to complete the Aberdeen project. As a result, Balfour Beatty and Galliford Try argued that the original £745 million budget was no longer accurate, and they have now struck a deal that will see each of them receive about £32 million to cover additional costs.
Lion Capital sold 9 million shares, equal to a 9.7% stake in , at 210p apiece. It is not the first time Lion has cashed in some of its investment in Loungers; it pocketed just over £11 million when Loungers floated on Aim in the spring. The initial public offering valued Loungers at £185 million after it sold shares at 200p and the stock hasn’t moved much since then. The shares closed flat yesterday at 210p.
Chapel Down Group plc (CDGP) shares lost their fizz as it announced the departure of the managing director of its Curious Brew beer and cider brand. After two years Gareth Bath has left to “pursue other interests”, said Chapel Down.
The US private equity giant behind the Addison Lee taxi business swooped for Harwood Wealth Management Group (HW.) in another act of consolidation in the financial planning sector. Carlyle Group agreed to pay £90.7 million for Harwood, which has about £5 billion of assets under management.
Anglo American (AAL) has received a crucial permit to carry on adding mining waste to a storage facility in Brazil, preventing the shutdown of one of its biggest mines. The group had been waiting months for an operating licence for the “tailings” dam at Minas-Rio in Minas Gerais state after increasing the height of the structure. Although the construction work was permitted in 2018 and completed in August, Anglo could not continue using the enlarged facility without the licence. The licence renewal was thrown into doubt in January when the Brumadinho disaster led to renewed scrutiny of tailings dams across Brazil.
Ryanair Holdings (RYA) is to appeal against a ruling in the Dublin high court over its attempts to delay the defection of its former chief operating officer to easyJet (EZJ). Mr Justice Senan Allen ruled that Ryanair’s attempt to enforce a “covenant” to prevent Peter Bellew from joining a rival within a year amounted to restraint of employment. Mr Bellew, 54, quit Ryanair in July with the intention of taking up a contract with Easyjet on January 1. His lawyers said that Ryanair’s attempt to enforce the non-compete covenant was “bullying”. He said that he felt like “a dead man walking” after a performance review in March after which it was decided to transfer him to Ryanair’s Austrian operation.
