Reckitt Benckiser boss Rakesh Kapoor to step down. Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) chief executive Rakesh Kapoor will retire at the end of the year after more than three decades at the company. The consumer goods giant, which makes Vanish, Dettol and Lemsip, said it had started a search for a successor, and was considering both internal and external candidates. Mr Kapoor, who has run Reckitt for more than eight years, said it had been a “huge privilege” leading the firm. “The last two years in particular, have been transformational with the acquisition of Mead Johnson, the catalyst for the creation of our two business units, health and hygiene and home,” he said.
Cineworld powers ahead in US but UK audience numbers decline. Blockbuster hits including Avengers: Infinity War and Incredibles 2 drove movie fans to Cineworld Group (CINE) in the US but customers in the UK were less enticed. The FTSE 250 company welcomed a record 308m people into its cinemas last year, but UK admissions dipped 0.6% on a constant currency basis. The fall was offset by a 8.6% surge in American audience numbers. The region now accounts for around 70pc of revenue after Cineworld swallowed Regal Entertainment, the second largest cinema chain in the US by number of screens, for £2.7bn last year.
Bovis bounces back from faulty homes scandal. Housebuilder is on track to deliver “record” profits ahead of market expectations as it bounces back from a faulty homes scandal that cost it millions. Greg Fitzgerald, chief executive, hailed a “significant level of improvement in performance across all areas of the business”, pointing to a big rise in the company’s customer satisfaction scores as evidence it had dealt with its quality problems. The FTSE 250 company sold 3,759 homes last year, up 3%, and its average selling price rose marginally to £273,000. Earnings have also been boosted by cost cuts and other efforts to bolster its margins.
Greene King picks Madame Tussauds boss as new chief. The man who runs Madame Tussauds, the London Eye and the Blackpool Tower for Merlin Entertainments is to take charge of pub giant Greene King (GNK). Nick Mackenzie, who currently heads Merlin’s Midway Attractions division, will join the FTSE 250 brewer as chief executive in May, replacing long-time boss Rooney Anand. Mr Anand is passing the baton after 14 years of running the pub chain, having more than doubled its market value to £1.9bn and quadrupled revenues to £2.2bn.
Money slows into Ashmore as investors grow wary of emerging markets. The amount of money flowing into Ashmore Group (ASHM) slowed significantly late last year after turmoil in emerging markets and rising US interest rates hit investor appetite for riskier ventures. The FTSE 250 fund manager, which specialises in emerging markets, said assets under management rose by just 0.4% to $76.7bn (£59.7bn) over the three months to December as it attracted $500m of net inflows. The figures mark a significant slowdown compared to the same quarter a year earlier, when investors eager to take a punt on developing markets poured $3.6bn into the business.
Dignity strikes back in funeral price war. Dignity (DTY) rose from the ashes as it posted “stronger than expected” performance thanks to cheaper funerals and a new “unbundled” offer for mourners. The company, which offers cremations, prepaid funeral plans and services, said that people spent more than expected on funerals in the three months to December, helping it gain market share and report underlying profits that beat previous estimates at £79m, despite a price war that has gripped the sector. At the end of last year Dignity introduced ‘un-bundled’ funeral packages, which allow customers to choose specific aspects of a funeral plan instead of a bundled package.
Investors reduced their bets on bookie GVC Holdings (GVC) after a US Justice Department U-turn threatened to stunt America’s fast-growing online gambling market, in what City analysts called an “unsettling” development. The Justice Department issued a new legal opinion judging that all online gambling is illegal under federal law, reversing an Obama-era decision on the Wire Act. Peel Hunt analyst Ivor Jones said that the implications of the decision would not become clear until the US Government shutdown has ended but warned that the “apparent change of heart is unsettling to an already thoroughly unsettled sector”.
Flybe wins £10m loan to stay aloft. The consortium bidding for Flybe Group (FLYB) has revised the terms of the deal after failing to reach agreement with the struggling airline’s lenders. Connect Airways, which includes Virgin Atlantic, Stobart Group Ltd. (STOB) and US private equity firm Cyrus Capital Partners, will release £10m from a revised bridging loan to Flybe on Tuesday that will allow the airline to continue operating. A further £10m will be released at a later date. Connect will also pump a further £80m funding into the troubled business.
Savills predicts gloomy 2019 as uncertainty knocks property sales. Savills (SVS) has warned it will struggle to eke out growth next year as a cocktail of economic worries discourage people from investing in property. The property agent, which employs 35,000 people, said while last year’s profits had grown as forecast, “prospects for 2019 are overshadowed by macro-economic and political uncertainties across the world”. Savills said it was difficult to predict the precise impact of the economic wobbles on demand for property from businesses and investors but “at this stage, we expect to see declines in transaction volumes in a number of markets”.
Persimmon bids to move on from bonus debacle. Britain’s second-largest housebuilder Persimmon (PSN) is seeking to move on from the embarrassing departure of its former boss Jeff Fairburn as it revealed profits for last year would come in “moderately” above expectations. Dave Jenkinson, who has been running the business on a temporary basis since December, said he hoped the company could “move forward”, although he too benefitted from the bonus share scheme that cost Mr Fairburn his job. Mr Jenkinson, thought to be the favourite for the top job, made around £40m through the bonus, but later returned £3m of it.
Questor: palm oil is a commodity but these firms are best placed to ride out the ups and downs. M. P. Evans Group (MPE) and United Plantations are long-established family businesses, both with efficient operations and strong balance sheets to boot
