Dutch investment firm Prosus has sprinkled an extra £200million on top of its offer for takeaway delivery app Just Eat (JE.). Prosus has upped its bid to £5.1billion from £4.9billion, as it tries to outdo an offer from fellow Dutch bidder Takeaway.com. Takeaway.com’s share price increased by nearly a fifth since Prosus entered the race in late October, meaning its rival share-based deal has grown more attractive. Prosus has also lowered the threshold the offer has to reach for it to go through to 50% to grease the wheels of it being successful. Originally the company was looking for 90% acceptance, but it revised this down to 75% in November. The deadline for shareholders to accept has been extended to 27 December.
Tesco (TSCO) shares climbed in early trading after it confirmed it was considering selling its Thai and Malaysian businesses after an approach by an unnamed buyer. The supermarket said it was reviewing its strategy, which could see it quit two of its last foreign markets, only six months after boasting it would expand in the region. Tesco, which has 1,967 stores in Thailand and 74 stores in Malaysia, has been operating in Asia for over 20 years. It stressed there was no assurance its Asian business – which could be worth as much as £7.2billion according to the City – would be sold. ‘The evaluation of strategic options is at an early stage, no decisions concerning the future of Tesco Thailand or Malaysia have been taken, and there can be no assurance that any transaction will be concluded,’ Tesco said in a statement.
G4S (GFS) will find out today if it has been removed from a leading ethical stock market index after it was blacklisted by Norway’s state investment fund over human rights concerns. The security services group has been included on the FTSE 4 Good index for the past three years. The index puts an ethical stamp on companies that are environmentally and socially responsible. But campaigners have called for G4S to be booted out after Norway’s pension fund said it would no longer invest in the firm over concerns it contributed to human rights abuses in its Middle East operations.
DeepMatter Group Plc (DMTR) surged after announcing it will work with Astrazeneca to help speed up the development of new medicines. The pharmaceuticals group will use the Scottish technology firm’s Digital Glassware platform for drug experiments. The platform uses artificial intelligence and allows chemists to share the details of their experiments with other scientists in real time.
Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) started the week with a bang as it was bestowed a rare double upgrade from analysts at Goldman Sachs. They U-turned on their own advice, swinging from a ‘sell’ recommendation to ‘buy’. This represents a rare boost for the retailer, which has continued to struggle despite being years into a plan to turn the company around and was booted out of the FTSE 100 in September. Goldman analysts said they saw improvements in its crucial womenswear division from a low point in April. And they were impressed that M&S avoided the sort of deep Black Friday discounting that could have shredded margins. Brokers also raised the target price on its stock from 170p to 220p.
Senior (SNR) soared 12.4p, to 190.4p after it confirmed media reports that it is mulling the sale of its aerostructures business, which is the company’s largest division and makes aeroplane parts. It told the stock market it has been ‘reviewing all strategic options’ for the aerostructures arm – but stressed it is at an early stage and that a sale might not happen. The news has not been a surprise for many in the City, which comes a month after Senior kicked off a £20million restructuring programme to combat the business’s weak performance.
Kier Group (KIE) advanced after reports that Terra Firma Capital Partners, run by private equity tycoon Guy Hands, is one of the final bidders for its house building division, called Kier Living.
Shares in funeral services provider Dignity (DTY) lost as much as 5% after it set December 27 as the date for non-executive director Mary McNamara to step down from the board. McNamara announced in September she was looking to leave because she was spread too thinly over multiple board commitments. But the departure of an experienced director comes at a tricky time for Dignity, which is in the process of restructuring.
Tullow Oil (TLW) was the biggest mid-cap faller after its chief executive left, it downgraded its production forecast, suspended the only recently reintroduced dividend and kicked off a review of its operations. The explorer’s shares absolutely tanked yesterday, falling to 39.94p as it went into full crisis mode. But it dragged a number of other companies into the red with it. Shares fell in AIM-listed Eco (Atlantic) Oil & Gas NPV (DI) (ECO), which is one of Tullow’s exploration partners for oil off the coast of Guyana. And Kosmos Energy (DI) (KOS), which works with Tullow in Ghana.
Cineworld Group (CINE) fell as UBS analysts trimmed the target price it has set for the cinema chain from 345p to 325p. UBS brokers kept a ‘buy’ rating on its shares, saying a poor showing at the box office has partly been offset by the prospect of more savings between Cineworld and Regal, the US group it bought for £2.4billion last year, as they merge.
