Burford Capital (BUR) has bowed to pressure and promised to shake up its boardroom in the wake of a blistering ‘bear attack’ on its shares by US short seller Muddy Waters last week. Burford’s chief financial officer Elizabeth O’Connell, who is married to the company’s chief executive Christopher Bogart, will immediately move into the role of chief strategy officer. She will make way for a new number cruncher, Jim Kilman, who will hold the role for no more than two years. The firm has kicked off a search for two new independent directors to join the board “as rapidly as possible” and Mr Bogart will also join the board. Chairman Sir Peter Middleton and non-executive David Lowe will step down. Muddy Waters boss Carson Block called Mr Kilman’s appointment “a farce”. “It is clear from this that Burford is more interested in imposing fig leaves than real guard rails. We note Mr Kilman was Burford’s principal investment banker at Morgan Stanley,” said Mr Block. Mr Block said Burford investors would be “much better served” by a finance chief “from the outside who is untainted by Burford’s conduct to date”.
FirstGroup (FGP) has bowed to shareholder pressure by appointing the former chief executive of rival Arriva as chairman of the troubled rail and bus operator. David Martin, who had been proposed as director as part of a boardroom coup by FirstGroup’s biggest investor, Coast Capital Management, will take over with immediate effect, the company said on Thursday. He replaces Wolfhart Hauser, who stepped down after almost a third of shareholders voted against him at a general meeting in June convened at the request of Coast. Two more directors subsequently stepped down at the end of July after investors revolted in a separate vote at FirstGroup’s annual general meeting. The Investor Forum, an influential group of heavyweight financial institutions, has piled further pressure on the FTSE 250 company in recent weeks.
Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) was the FTSE 100’s biggest faller yesterday, after being caught in a double-whammy by its shares going ex-dividend and a clutch of pessimistic brokers’ notes. The lender, in which the UK Government is a majority shareholder, faced a downgrade from HSBC and Macquarie, where analysts cut their expectations for the bank. UBS and Goldman Sachs both reduced their target price for the stock. That drop was compounded by the share going ex-dividend, meaning it traded at a discount throughout the day.
Plus500 Ltd (DI) (PLUS) fought its way to the top, rising 63.4p to 724p after Asaf Elimelaech, its chief executive and Elad Even-Chen, the chief financial officer, both bought just over 30,000 shares apiece, while Alon Gonen, the co-founder, bought just under a million. Ben Williams, Liberum analyst, said the insider buys, while not huge, were a “key piece of investor feedback” that showed “the company is not sitting on inside information”.
Kaz Minerals (KAZ) dropped sharply, falling 75.6p to 419.1p, after cutting its dividend amid a worsening outlook. The copper miner is heavily exposed to trade war fears, with copper often a bellwether for global investor sentiment. In a statement, the company said the short-term outlook for copper was “more cautious due to continuing trade pressures and China slowdown concerns, but long-term outlook remains robust.” The drop was pronounced despite reassuring notes from brokers, with Barclays describing KAZ’s financials as being fundamentally solid despite global worries.
Metro Bank (MTRO) received a much needed boost as it topped the competition watchdog’s customer service survey. The challenger bank shared the top spot with First Direct, the online-only division of the HSBC Holdings (HSBA). HSBC also took the top spot in a separate survey covering Northern Ireland. The surveys asked current account holders how likely they were to recommend their bank to friends and family. Nationwide, Barclays (BARC) and Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) rounded out the top five while Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) received the worst score of the 16 banks ranked. Metro Bank also topped the rankings for best service in its branches and scored in the top three for online and mobile banking services, beaten only by Barclays and First Direct. The same trio were also rated highest for their overdrafts. The results are intended to help customers choose the bank most suited to their needs by providing information about their existing provider as well as the services on offer from competitors.
Questor: sales up, profits up, dividend up. Why are Renew Holdings (RNWH) shares no higher than in 2016? Questor Income Portfolio: the engineering firm has made a success of a large acquisition and is growing nicely, but the market seems not to have noticed. Hold.
