WPP (WPP) is poised to anoint Mark Read, the former head of its digital division, as the successor to Sir Martin Sorrell. His appointment could be unveiled as soon as Tuesday, when the world’s largest advertising agency publishes results for the first half of the year, according to industry sources.
Springowl Asset Management, the New York hedge fund led by activist Jason Ader forced to show his hand after $100m gamble on Playtech (PTEC). The American investor who helped reshape the gambling industry by driving Bwin.party into the clutches of GVC Holdings has quietly built a $100 million stake in Playtech, the troubled gaming technology group.
Energy suppliers SSE (SSE) and Npower given the green light for merger. The Competition and Markets Authority has proposed approving the deal unconditionally after concluding that earlier fears that it would raise energy bills were unwarranted. The companies were “not close rivals” for customers on expensive standard tariffs and their merger was therefore unlikely to push up prices, it said.
Bookmaker denies pension ‘diddle’. GVC Holdings (GVC) has dismissed claims by pensions campaigners that the terms of its recent takeover of Ladbrokes Coral Group amounted to a “great pension robbery”. According to the National Pensioners Convention (NPC), a union-backed organisation, the FTSE 100 gambling operator is trying to “diddle” pensioners out of £700 million due from the acquisition of Ladbrokes Coral.
Revenues keep on rolling at Stobart. Revenues, profits and dividends are all on cruise control at Eddie Stobart Logistics (ESL) but the company with the famous trucks is finding it difficult to persuade investors to join it on the road. New contracts with Britvic and Pepsico and with Cemex and its cement mixers — as well as doing the unseen warehousing and ecommerce organisation for the likes of John Lewis — sent first-half revenues up 25 per cent to £359 million.
Vodafone Group (VOD) makes a big splash with £8bn Australia merger. The UK telecoms group said the tie-up with TPG Telecom would combine their mobile and fixed broadband businesses and create a “powerful challenger to Telstra and Optus”, the other major operators in Australia.
Amigo Holdings (AMGO) makes friends on debut as revenue surges. The company said that its first quarter revenues had reached nearly £63 million in the three months to the end of June, a rise of 47% year-on-year, while pre-tax profits rose 15% to £17 million.
Edward Bramson, the activist shareholder targeting Barclays (BARC), has claimed in a letter to his investors that the bank’s board may be open to his ideas. “It is our sense that the board does recognise the company’s continuing low valuation and that the current approach to remedying it is not proving to be successful, ”Mr Bramson said.
Shareholder rebellion over payout to Sophos Group (SOPH) chief. A third of shareholders revolted over Kris Hagerman’s rewards, which included a $6.5 million performance-related bonus. Just over a fifth of investors voted to remove Paul Walker, head of the remuneration committee, from the board.
Profit warning puts butcher’s head on block. Crawshaw Group (CRAW) said that half-year like-for-like sales had fallen 13.2%, up from a fall of 12.9% during the first 20 weeks of its financial year. The Aim-quoted company blamed rising shop rents, high business rates, lower shopper numbers and increased competition from discount retailers.
Fees surge helps Hays (HAS) to record year. Hays, Britain’s largest recruitment company, has enjoyed a record year thanks to a surge in fees generated in its international markets with group revenues topping £1 billion for the first time.
Tool hire boss hails success of repair job. Steve Ashmore, chief executive of HSS Hire Group (HSS), has called the end of the crisis at the tool hire company after 15 months in the job. Positive half-year figures and an upbeat assessment of how things are improving sent the shares up 15% yesterday, 4¼p better at 32p and close to a ten-month high.
Doubts over the value of shopping centres sent shares in Europe’s largest property company, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, lower even though it reported an increase in the worth of its portfolio and higher rental income. Rental income in continental Europe grew 4.3% on a like-for-like basis. Footfall across its two UK assets rose by 3.7% in the first half, driven by the extension of Westfield London in Shepherd’s Bush. However, a Morgan Stanley note downgrading the European property sector weighed on the group and other related businesses. The broker cited a fall in valuations of retail property. Intu Properties (INTU) reported a 6% fall in the valuation of its portfolio last month, while this year Land Securities Group (LAND) recorded an 11% fall in the valuation of its 30% stake in Bluewater, Kent. Hammerson (HMSO) dropped 24½p, some 5%, to 467¾p. Morgan Stanley said logistics warehouses, in demand among online retailers, were one of a few areas where it was bullish. Tritax Big Box Reit (BBOX), the recently listed continental European version of the successful FTSE 250 Tritax Big Box REIT, rose before settling flat at 104¾p after it said it was in talks to buy eight warehouses in Germany, Italy, Spain, Poland and Belgium for €550 million.
Severn Trent (SVT) was 10½p higher at £19.83 after it announced the acquisition of Agrivert, a company specialising in energy generation from food waste, a sign it is diversifying away from water services.
Elsewhere, the collapse of Wonga, the payday loans business, into administration knocked confidence in the sector. Shares in the doorstep lender Morses Club (MCL) fell 4p to 146p after it reported slowing growth in credit issuance in the first half. Amigo Holdings (AMGO) fell 10p to 270p, despite a 47% jump in first-quarter revenue on the back of growth in its loan book.
Xaar (XAR) slumped by almost 30% to a near-eight-year low after it warned that trading since the end of June has been below expectations, with adoption of its 1201 printhead product significantly slower than expected and the rate of decline in its ceramics printing business continuing to be “aggressive.”
Short bets on the world’s biggest technology stocks have surged more than 40% in the past year to about $37 billion. Short positions held against the so-called Faang group (Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix and Alphabet, Google’s parent company) are up 42% on the year before, according to data compiled by S3 Partners, the financial technology company. Amazon had the highest value of shares out on loan, at almost $10 billion. Apple had $9.4 billion, Alphabet $7 billion, Facebook $4.8 billion and Netflix $5.8 billion.
Tempus – Hunting (HTG): Hold. The company is well placed to benefit from the recovery in oil well drilling.
Tempus – Vodafone Group (VOD): Avoid (but less so). Australia deal doesn’t change the game but it does reflect well on its strategy.
Tempus – WH Smith (SMWH): Hold. Shares not compelling, despite hauling its way back to growth on the high street.
