Tui (TUI), British American Tobacco (BATS), Ten Entertainment (TEG), Weir Group (WEIR), Marshalls (MSLH), Custodian Reit (CREI) and Redde Northgate (REDD)
Flight and package holiday company Tui (TUI) has said it could delist from the London Stock Exchange in order to simplify its structure and join the MDAX index. Shareholders are pushing for a single, German, listing, the company said, following on from “a notable liquidity migration from UK to Germany” in recent years.
The company also highlighted EU airline rules that mandate EU ownership and control. “Tui has been recently approached by certain shareholders to discuss and understand whether the current listing structure is optimal and advantageous for the company,” Tui said. The shares were up 11 per cent on Wednesday morning.
The airline is still 10 per cent owned by Russian Alexey Mordashov, although his stake has been diluted down from over 30 per cent in the wake of his country’s invasion of Ukraine.
Tui also reported a doubled underlying operating profit for the 12 months to 30 September, to €977mn (£837mn), while pre-tax profit swung to €551mn compared with a loss last year. The company said winter bookings had remained strong despite some drop-off in Egypt holidays due to conflict. AH
British American Tobacco to take £25bn impairment charge
British American Tobacco (BATS) shares fell by 8 per cent in early trading after the cigarette giant said in a pre-close update that it would take a £25bn non-cash impairment charge against its acquired US combustibles brands, which include Camel and Newport. Management said the move was also due to “the current macroeconomic headwinds impacting the US combustibles industry”. BAT now also expects full-year 2023 organic revenue growth to come in at the lower end of its 3-5 per cent guidance range.
BAT bought US cigarette giant Reynolds in 2017 for $49bn. Chris Beckett at Quilter Cheviot said the impairment would serve to “flatter future results”. BAT will value its US brands over a 30-year period, and will start to amortise those storied brands from next month.
The company is now aiming for 50 per cent of its revenue to come from non-combustibles by 2035. CA
Weir widens margin target
Weir Group (WEIR) has set itself a target of earning an operating margin of 20 per cent by 2026.
The Glasgow-based engineering group, which is expected to earn an operating margin of 17 per cent this year, said it intended to hit its longer-term goal through operational leverage benefits and through doubling the amount of savings it expects to achieve from a programme to improve performance, to £60mn. The company’s shares rose by 5 per cent. MF
Custodian Reit narrows loss, but dividend flatlines
Custodian Reit (CREI) narrowed its loss in its results for the six months to 30 September, but its dividend remains flat at 2.75p per share. The real estate investment trust (Reit), which owns a mix of warehouses, retail parks and other assets, reduced its loss before tax to £2.66mn from £14.1mn last year after it took a softer valuation hit than this time last year when a shock rise in interest rates caused by Liz Truss's 'mini' Budget walloped property companies of all stripes.
EPRA earnings per share, which strips out valuation changes, nudged up to 2.9p per share, but the increase was not enough for the company to raise its dividend. ML
