Eddie Stobart Logistics (ESL) is set to revert into the hands of a previous owner after a putative takeover by Wincanton (WIN), a rival, fell apart. Caught up in an accounting crisis, its profits halving and its chief executive having been forced out of the cab, Britain’s most famous trucking company looks set to fall back into the ownership of DBay, an investment firm formerly known as Laxey Partners, which floated the business two and half years ago. Eddie Stobart Logistics has been in the haulage business for more than half a century and is famed for its delivery lorries decked in red and green livery, each with their own name. It operates 2,500 lorries and employs 6,000 people.
Retail sales appear to have held firm this month amid signs of optimism on the high street as stores gear up for Christmas. According to the CBI, sales volumes have been broadly unchanged in November, with a net balance of -3% of respondents reporting increased sales over the year, the highest figure for seven months and better than the -10 per cent that had been forecast by analysts. The findings from the business lobby group’s distributive trades survey will provide some relief to economists. Consumers account for about two thirds of national output and have been the most robust sector of the economy in recent months. However, the retail sector has struggled because of rising costs and competition from online stores.
is to rename itself Frasers Group as part of Mike Ashley’s attempt to push his retail empire upmarket. The company said yesterday that it had called a general meeting for December 16 to ask its shareholders to approve the name change, which comes before a plan to roll out a chain of luxury Frasers stores. The branding of the group’s Sports Direct shops will not be affected. The revamp marks the latest stage of Mr Ashley’s strategy to expand the company beyond its roots as a sportswear retailer and to overhaul its image. The tycoon, 55, started the business as a single shop in Maidenhead in 1982 called Mike Ashley Sports.
National Grid (NG.) has agreed to pay $36 million to end a dispute over gas supplies in New York after the state’s governor threatened to strip it of its licence to operate. The utility group backed down in its stand-off with Andrew Cuomo yesterday, agreeing to lift its moratorium on connecting new customers with immediate effect. The governor had set a deadline of today for National Grid to respond to prevent the state moving to revoke its licence. Mr Cuomo, 61, said that the company would pay $36 million as “a significant penalty for its failure to address the supply issue, its abuse of its customers and the adverse economic impact they have caused”.
The South African technology group attempting to gatecrash a recommended takeover of Just Eat (JE.) is under mounting pressure to up the ante after its cash offer was dismissed as “wholly inadequate”. Naspers, acting through its Amsterdam-listed Prosus subsidiary, is offering 710p a share in cash, while Takeaway.com, another listed Dutch company, has agreed an all-share proposal worth about 682p at last night’s close. Although the Prosus offer is higher, Just Eat favours the Takeaway.com merger because it would give shareholders exposure to “one of the leading online food delivery companies in the world with scale, strategic vision, industry-leading capabilities, leading positions in attractive markets and a diversified geographic presence”.
The collapse of Neil Woodford’s investment empire has drained liquidity from Aim, the market for small companies, and has made investors wary of thinly traded shares, a leading stockbroker has warned. Sam Smith, chief executive of finnCap (FCAP), said that the implosion of Woodford Investment Management had been “a nail in the coffin of an already quite difficult trading environment” for London’s junior stock market. “It was a huge problem in our market, the whole fund having to wind down,” she said. Mr Woodford, 59, is embroiled in crisis after he invested part of his under-performing £2.9 billion Equity Income Fund in unquoted companies and other listed small businesses whose shares are hard to sell.
Wagamama continues to spice up the performance of Restaurant Group (RTN), although the rate of like-for-like sales growth in its core UK business slowed in the second quarter. According to the latest filing for Wagamama bondholders, the Japanese noodle bar chain reported UK like-for-like sales growth of 6.3% in the 13 weeks to September 29, well ahead of the wider casual dining sector. The rate of growth slowed from 12.9% in the first quarter and 9.7% for the previous 12 months, although it claimed that it had now traded ahead of the market every week for the past 287 weeks, outperforming its competitors by 5.1% in the second quarter.
Royal Dutch Shell ‘B’ (RDSB) has suffered a setback in its push into green energy after losing out to Mitsubishi in the €4 billion battle for a Dutch power utility. The Anglo-Dutch energy group had been pursuing the acquisition of Eneco in a joint bid with PGGM, a Dutch pension fund service provider, but it was beaten yesterday by the Japanese conglomerate. Maarten Wetselaar, head of Shell’s “new energies” division, said that he was “disappointed” but would continue to look for other opportunities in the transition to greener energy. Shell reported profits of $24 billion last year, primarily from producing and selling oil and gas, but it is expanding into the electricity sector.
Polar Capital Holdings (POLR) has been hit by almost £450 million of net outflows after it closed one of its Japan-focused funds and after a long-term client withdrew money from its two main portfolios. Polar Capital said yesterday that it had suffered £448 million of net outflows during the six months to the end of September, despite a rise in overall assets under management to £14.3 billion from £13.8 billion at March 31. The outflows were offset by a £915 million gain caused by market movements and fund performance. Investors pulled money after the asset manager said that it would merge an underperforming Japanese fund with its Japan Value Fund. The merger was completed last month.
BHP Group PLC (BHP) has raised its stake in an Ecuadorian copper and goldmine developer with a further £17 million investment. BHP will become the biggest shareholder in the London-listed Solgold (SOLG), overtaking Newcrest, after increasing its stake to 14.7%, from 11.1%. Shares in Solgold rose yesterday after it announced the deal, in which it will issue 77 million new shares priced at 22.15p per share. BHP is an Anglo-Australian group with underlying net profits of $9.1 billion last year, producing iron ore, coal, copper and oil. Global miners are seeking to increase their exposure to copper, which is forecast to be in increasing demand as the world electrifies
