The struggling over-fifties travel and insurance provider Saga (SAGA) has become the latest target of Elliott Management after the feared activist investor revealed a 5% stake and signalled it could push for a break-up. Elliott, controlled by the New York hedge fund billionaire Paul Singer and his London-based son Gordon, has seized on repeated profit warnings from Saga. It has lost three quarters of its value since its stock market debut five years ago. The famously combative firm, which has campaigned for change in a string of British boardrooms in recent months, wants Saga to consider all options to recover returns for investors, including separate sales of its insurance and travel businesses. Elliott believes that a split would make the two parts of Saga more attractive to potential buyers in their respective markets, sources said.
Reach Plc (RCH) has submitted an offer to buy newspaper empire JPI media, which was put up for sale last year. The company, formerly known as Trinity Mirror, is reportedly interested in acquiring most of JPI in an attempt to create a UK newspaper powerhouse. The value of the indicative offer has not yet been confirmed and might not lead to a formal bid at this early stage. It is understood that others also threw their hat in the ring for parts of JPI’s assets last week, according to Sky News, including Mediahuis, which recently agreed a takeover of Ireland’s Independent News & Media, and regional publishers such as Archant and Newsquest.
Britain’s biggest seller of Rolex and Cartier watches trebled profits in its maiden results as customers remain unfazed by Brexit blues. Watches of Switzerland (WOSG), which listed on the London Stock Exchange less than two months ago, has 128 stores, including Goldsmiths, Mappin & Webb and Mayors in Britain and the US. Pre-tax profits jumped 180% to £20m for the year to July 17, while revenues increased from £631m to £773m. Like-for-like sales in the UK rose 10%. Chief executive Brian Duffy said the retailer’s more affluent customers, who spend an average of £4,000, were “a little less affected” by political uncertainty and continued to buying Rolex, Cartier, Omega and TAG Heuer watches.While the company’s stores had been underinvested in the past, most of them are now “ inviting, approachable and contemporary”, he said.
De La Rue (DLAR) has hit back at activist investor Crystal Amber’s threats to oust the banknote and passport printer’s chairman at next week’s annual meeting as “precipitous and destabilising” for the company. Crystal Amber – De La Rue’s third-biggest investor with a 6.3% stake – warned the company on Tuesday it would call a special meeting unless chairman Philip Rogerson stepped down on or before the July 25 annual meeting. Mr Rogerson has said he will retire after helping find a new chief executive to replace Martin Sutherland, who announced in May that he would quit after overseeing a string of profit warnings and the controversial loss of the company’s contract to print UK passports. Mr Sutherland then threatened to sue the UK Government over the awarding of the contracting to French-Dutch firm Gemalto, but then quickly backed down.
Investors in Galliford Try (GFRD) breathed a sigh of relief after the building firm said it was on track to meet full-year profit forecasts following an overhaul of its contract construction business. Graham Prothero said: “The business is now firmly focused on its core strengths of regional building operations, together with profitable operations in highways and water, all of which are now performing effectively.” Analysts at Peel Hunt said the update should “reassure the market” but noted that the company did not provide new details on two contract settlement negotiations, including one relating to an outstanding £38m claim against a client.
Chemicals company Johnson Matthey (JMAT) slumped after it announced flatlining sales. Operating profits in the clean air division of the maker of catalytic converters are set to be below last year due to costs being higher than anticipated. The firm said it expected performance “to be more heavily weighted to the second half”. It is one of a number of European firms in the chemicals and automotive sector to hit trouble in recent weeks after a major profit warning from German giant BASF and difficulties for car companies such as BMW and Mercedes’ owner Daimler.
Speculation that spread betting firm Plus500 Ltd (DI) (PLUS) could move to acquire New York-listed GAIN Capital sent its shares down 16.4p to 639.6p. Analysts said it could help Plus500’s online retail capability.
BT Group (BT.A) has struck a deal to sell its City of London headquarters to a fund managed by private equity firm Orion Capital Managers for £210m as part of a major cost-cutting drive. The former state telecoms monopoly will lease the building for 30 months while it searches for a new, more modern base of operations. The 10-storey BT Centre, across the road from St Paul’s Cathedral, stands on the site of the former Telegraph Office, where Guglielmo Marconi made the first ever public transmission of wireless signals in 1897. The building was damaged during the Blitz and later demolished and eventually replaced by today’s building, which spans 300,000 square feet and was built for BT in 1985. BT had been close to selling the building to commercial landlord Great Portland Estates but the deal is understood to have fallen through in May over due diligence issues.
Along-expected crackdown on fixed-odds betting terminals (FOBTs) has decimated sales at shops of bookmaking giant GVC Holdings (GVC), the owner of Ladbrokes and Coral. Comparable sales across GVC’s UK betting shops fell by a tenth in the first six months of the year, though the company insisted this was better than it had expected. Returns from its FOBTs, which were subject to a reduction in the maximum stake for half of the period, plummeted 39%. There was a better performance in online gaming, where revenue rose by almost a fifth. Boss Kenny Alexander praised the technology that was driving online sales, saying it provided “unrivalled understanding of the markets in which we operate”. “The transition to a post-£2 stakes-cut environment in UK retail is progressing very well and we believe the Ladbrokes Coral estate is best placed to take market share,” he added.
Questor: the 28% fall in this trust’s share price is not all that it seems, so hold on. Questor investment trust bargain: Symphony International Holdings Ltd. (SIHL) is certainly risky but special dividends and the huge discount offer hope for investors
