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Press Roundup: Investors Demand Change As Ryanair Survives Revolt, SDX Energy In Talks With BP

07:19, 21st September 2018
Paul Kettle Kettle
Press Roundup
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Below are the key morning headlines from today’s papers, featuring the Financial Times, The Times, The Telegraph, The Daily Mail & more - see the full Press section here.


Sky battle lines drawn as Fox, Disney and Comcast prepare for £27bn auction. The protracted battle over ownership of Sky (SKY) FOLLOW will be all but settled over 24 hours this weekend in a rare auction in which three global media heavyweights will go three rounds. Comcast will take on the tag team of 21st Century Fox and Disney, with investors expecting the winning side to value Sky at at least £27bn. The Takeover Panel, the City’s regulator of merger processes, will act as referee between the Murdoch family, who contol Fox and will line up alongside Disney chairman Bob Iger, and Brian Roberts, the Comcast chief.

Investors demand change as Ryanair Holdings (RYA) FOLLOW survives revolt. Calls grow for chairman to quit amid criticism of governance. Ryanair has suffered a major shareholder revolt, with nearly a third refusing to back the re-election of its chairman and leading City institutions publicly criticising its corporate governance. Amid growing concerns about the independence of the chairman and the management’s souring employee relations, 29.5% of shareholders voting at Ryanair’s annual meeting in Ireland yesterday refused to back the re-election of David Bonderman.

The debut collection from the new Burberry Group (BRBY) FOLLOW creative director, unveiled this week, has failed to wow either the fashion or investment world. Riccardo Tisci, who joined from Parisian fashion house Givenchy just six months ago, showcased his spring/summer 2019 collection for the British brand at London Fashion Week on Monday. While some commentators criticised the slew of beige clothing and slightly modified trench coats as ‘mundane’, financial analysts were also unimpressed, causing Burberry to become one of the FTSE’s biggest fallers  yesterday.

Egyptian oilfields set to change hands in $1bn transaction. SDX Energy Inc. (DI) (SDX) FOLLOW confirmed yesterday that it was in talks with the oil major, BP (BP.),FOLLOW about “a significant package of assets” in the country, after a report by Bloomberg. The proposed $1 billion deal is understood to relate to BP’s stake in the Gulf of Suez Petroleum Company (Gupco), a joint venture with the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation set up in the 1960s. It produces about 70,000 barrels of oil per day.

House of Fraser debts hit French Connection Group (FCCN) FOLLOW. Its links to House of Fraser left French Connection cursing its luck yesterday as the fashion chain revealed that it had plunged to another first-half loss. The business once best known for its FCUK label said that it had made a pre-tax loss of £15.1 million in the six months to July 31, worse than the £5.9 million it lost in the same period a year earlier.

Broadband link takes off for Inmarsat (ISAT) FOLLOW. Inmarsat will collaborate with Panasonic in providing in-flight broadband for commercial airlines. The British satellite company and the giant Japanese electronics group have signed a ten-year agreement, under which Inmarsat will become Panasonic Avionics’ exclusive provider of connectivity using its Ka-band satellite  network. In return, it will offer Panasonic’s portfolio of services to its commercial aviation customers.

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