Morning Financial Press Review 12/09/19
Below are the key morning press headlines, featuring the The Times, The Telegraph, The Daily Mail & more - see the full Press section here.
The Hong Kong stock exchange is facing an uphill battle to win backing for its bid after investors failed to show support for the near-£30bn offer. Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing’s (HKEX) shock announcement on Wednesday morning pushed shares in LSE up 9% initially before closing 5.9% higher at £72.06. That is some distance from the cash-and shares offer of £83.61, which marked a near-23% premium on Tuesday’s closing price, suggesting scepticism about the prospect of the deal going ahead. The potential tie-up, which is understood to have caught LSE bosses “off-guard”, could also pose a political headache for the Government as it struggles to quash concerns about the influence of China on British business following the Huawei row earlier this year. Business Secretary Andrea Leadsom’s comments that the Government would “look very carefully at anything that had security implications for the UK” were later echoed by the Treasury.
Sir Martin Sorrell said yesterday that he was on track to double the size of his digital advertising agency after winning contracts from several heavyweight clients. He said that remained a “blip” but increasingly was pitching for work from some of the world’s largest companies. It has signed deals with Procter & Gamble, Nestlé, Coca-Cola and Sprint, the American telecoms group. By 2021, he said, revenues would be twice as large as they were when he set up S4 Capital last year. “We want to double the size of the business in three years, organically, and we’re well on the way to doing that,” Sir Martin, 74, said.
tycoon Mike Ashley faced a backlash from investors at its annual meeting over his role at the helm of the company amid fresh uncertainty about the retailer’s auditor. Almost a quarter of investors voted against Mr Ashley as chief executive after the billionaire’s own 62% stake in the business is stripped out. He was nevertheless re-elected to the board. Three influential City corporate governance bodies – Pirc, ISS and Glass Lewis – had called on Sports Direct’s shareholders to vote against the re-appointment of the tycoon. About 9% of investors followed suit, similarly to last year’s vote, to replace Mr Ashley. “Before anybody thinks anything, my wealth is in that strategy,” Mr Ashley said. “Not a fraction of it – 60% of that share price is one individual who, by the way, doesn’t get a dividend and doesn’t get paid and he’s bet the farm on this and he’s not going to back down until he wins.”
has reported a £61.5 million annual loss for its construction business only a day after revealing plans to focus on the division by selling off its profitable housebuilding unit to Bovis Homes. Losses for the construction business are more than double last year’s £29.1 million because of £46.4 million of exceptional costs relating to contract writedowns and internal restructuring. Galliford has begun to reduce the size of its construction business to focus on more profitable areas, including regional building, highways, defence, education, health and water infrastructure projects. Graham Prothero, 57, chief executive, said: “We are much happier with a slightly smaller but profitable business than a larger business that drops the ball from time to time.”
One of South Africa’s biggest listed property companies is in talks to buy a majority stake in a British shopping centre owner. Growthpoint Properties is proposing to buy a stake in through a part-cash offer and a subscription for new C&R shares. It has not yet disclosed detailed terms of any potential offer. Opportunistic overseas investors have been circling UK-listed retail landlords, whose shares have slumped as investors steer away from the sector.
The Competition and Markets Authority has begun an investigation into a £1.4 billion deal that would create Britain’s biggest student housing landlord. confirmed yesterday that the competition watchdog would formally examine its proposed acquisition of Liberty Living, one of its biggest rivals, from the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board. If the cash-and-shares deal goes ahead, it will create a portfolio worth £5.2 billion, with 73,000 beds in 27 British towns and cities. The Canadian pension company would retain a 20% shareholding. Unite said that it expected to receive clearance from the watchdog in the final quarter of the year and was still confident of delivering the previously guided cost savings of £4 million next year and £15 million from 2021.
delayed publishing its half-year results while it continues talks with one of its lenders about a short-term loan – but pledged to release the figures by the end of September. The oilfield services contractor has a staggering debt pile – more than £300m at the end of 2018 – for a small-cap firm and is planning a longer-term restructuring of its finances. The Abu Dhabi-based firm operates support vessels that service deepwater oil and gas rigs and offshore wind farms. It was stung when it made investments to build a range of new boats before the oil price crash of 2014 and 2015, which then put customers off using expensive services such as those offered by Gulf Marine. In December it released a profit warning that hammered its share price and so far this year it suffered a bruising investor revolt against its 2018 executive pay in May, following which chief executive Duncan Anderson left last month.
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