Shares in London have continued to recover with the FTSE100 pushing back through the 7,000 level this morning. Click here for The Trader Nicole Elliott's latest thoughts on the markets.
Professional services group Begbies Traynor (BEG) has signed a deal to acquire MMXI, a ten-strong Manchester-based transport planning group. The group, which trades as Croft Transport Planning & Design, generated pre-tax profits of £0.7m in the year to September 2018. Under the terms of the deal, Begbies will pay £1.125m in cash and issue £0.375m-worth of new shares up front, and up to £2.5m in stretching financial targets over five years. Buy.
Shares in TalkTalk (TALK) were down 8 per cent this morning on the news that it would miss cash profit (EBITDA) consensus expectations for FY2019 by £10m-15m. The group blamed this on timing adjustments related to the accounting standard IFRS15, and further investment in adding new customers and its fibre mix. Pre-FibreNation costs, FY2019 headline cash profits are expected to come in at £245m-250m. But, the company anticipates cash profit growth for FY2020 in line with market expectations. Over its third quarter, the group added 44,000 new customers, up from 37,000 a year earlier. Headline revenues came in at £386m excluding carrier and offnet, up 2.9 per cent year-on-year. Sell.
Shares in M&C Saatchi (SAA) have fallen in recent months, but were up more than a tenth in morning trading. The group has sold its remaining 24.9 per cent stake in Walker Media to Publicis Groupe for £25m. This equates to a valuation for the whole of Walker Media of around £100m. M&C also gave a trading update for the year to December 2018. It expects results to be in line with management’s expectations; its organic revenue growth continued to “outrun sector averages”. Buy.
WPP (WPP) announced yesterday afternoon that finance director Paul Richardson has decided to retire. He will be retiring and leaving the board on 31 January 2020. The company is now recruiting for a new FD. Buy.
Informa (INF) has disposed of The Life Sciences Media Brands Portfolio which was previously part of UBM, to US-based MJH Associates for just over $100m. The group said that this formed part of its portfolio management strategy post-combination with UBM, entailing an increased focus on businesses and brands with good positions in its core markets. The shares were largely unmoved in morning trading. Buy.
KEY STORIES:
SSE (SSE) has sold a 49.9 per cent stake in its Stronelairg and Dunmaglass windfarms to Greencoat UK Wind (UKW). The sale will net SSE £635m, and it plans to use £200m for a share buyback. The group announced its intention to sell back in November. The sale is expected to complete in March, and following this and the sale of the Beatrice offshore windfarm expected this spring, the group’s renewable generation capacity will be around 4GW.
The re-start of operations at Katanga in late 2017 helped Glencore (GLEN) to increase copper and cobalt production by 11 and 54 per cent respectively last year, though the commodity giant’s own-source output of ferrochrome, gold, lead and zinc was broadly flat year-on-year. Within Glencore’s energy division, coal output climbed 7 per cent, though its entitlement to oil production fell in Equatorial Guinea. This year, the group is guiding for big increases in all of its metals and hydrocarbon production.
OTHER COMPANY NEWS:
Neil Carson, one time CEO of Johnson Matthey (JMAT) and current non-executive chairman of Oxford Instruments (OXIG) and TT Electronics (TTG), is to join Royal Dutch Shell (RDSB) as a non-executive director in June. Before then, he will also retire from the board of TI Fluid Systems (TIFS), where he serves in the same capacity.
In an AGM statement, Euromoney (ERM) said trading for the period 1 October to 31 December 2018 was in line with management’s expectations. Revenues for the quarter came in at £92.6m, down from £100.8m, after the disposal of the group’s global markets intelligence division last April. Underlying revenue was up 1 per cent. Net cash sat at £98.3m at the quarter-end, up from £78.3m, with the increase supported by proceeds from the sale of Mining Indaba. The company’s full-year outlook is unchanged. The shares were broadly unmoved in morning trading.
Telit Communications (TCM) has announced that the sale of its automotive division, which had been expected to complete by 31 January 2019, is now expected to complete on or before 20 February. The buyer – TUS – successfully gained shareholder approval for the transaction and fundraising. Shares in Telit were down 3 per cent this morning.
Paddy Power Betfair (PPB) has acquired a 51 per cent stake in Adjarabet, the market leader in online betting and gaming in the regulated Georgian market, for £101m. The bookie is planning to acquire the remaining 49 per cent in three years via options. Adjarabet offers online betting and gaming products in Georgia including casino, sports, poker and peer-to-peer games, and is the market leader with around 40 per cent share of total revenues. Shares were flat in early trading.
Global Ports Holding (GPH) has signed a 30-year concession agreement with the Government of Antigua and Barbuda for exclusive access to cruise port operations in Antigua. Global Ports will manage the cruise port operations and finance the completion of a new pier. This deal is the company’s second step in its expansion into the Americas, after the signing of Havana in 2018. Shares were up 2 per cent in early trading.
