The week has been dominated by corporate activity in the form of mergers, acquisitions and alliances. Top of the list in terms of surprise factor was Tesco’s announcement that it is forming a strategic alliance with French supermarket giant Carrefour to better leverage their huge buying power with suppliers. Click here for Harriet Russell’s verdict.
Elsewhere we saw activity at Consort Medical, which has launched a bid for Carclo, MicroFocus sold a software business for $2.5bn, TalkTalk’s deal to sell a business unit to Daisy fell through and Diversified Gas & Oil received enthusiastic backing for a fundraising to buy up a portfolio of low cost oil producing wells.
So while the rainmakers in the City were busy doing deals, the UK has seen little in the way of real rain of late as it basks in a heatwave. This is often a time when retailers prosper but it appears that those considering buying a new mattress have put off their decision if Eve Sleep’s profit warning this week is anything to go by. It announced that its first profit is now not expected until the final quarter of this year due to ‘challenging’ trading conditions and also waved goodbye to its chief executive Jas Bagniewski. Net result was a shellacking for its shares.
Away from the UK consumer we also saw shares in Playtech hammered after it warned on weakness in Asia and Cohort shares slipped when it warned on softening order levels.
