Eddie Stobart: rescue bid backed
The deal has completed
Eddie Stobart (ESL) shareholders voted “overwhelmingly” for private equity group Dbay Advisors’ rescue package at a general meeting on 6 December, ending weeks of speculation and unrest over rival interest in the stricken logistics business. The deal entails Dbay taking 51 per cent majority ownership of Greenwhitestar Acquisitions Ltd, a subsidiary that holds Eddie Stobart’s trading activities and providing a £55m loan to the group, at an interest rate of 18 per cent. The transaction completed on Monday 9 December.
House prices edge up
Rose 2.1 per cent
House prices in November were 2.1 per cent higher than the same month a year earlier, according to the latest iteration of the Halifax House Price Index. Prices are now up by £3,904 since the start of 2019, said Russell Galley, managing director at Halifax. “While a degree of uncertainty remains evident, it’s also clear that buyers and sellers are responding to factors such as improved mortgage affordability and the limited supply of available properties.” The “emerging trend of modest gains” is expected to continue into 2020.
Amigo reshuffle
Senior personnel shake-up
The founder of Amigo Loans (AMGO) this week returned to the struggling guarantor lender, in a wholesale shake-up of senior personnel. James Benamor, who owns a 61 per cent stake in Amigo, stepped down as a director shortly after the group floated in 2018. But after watching the company’s shares crash in recent months, he has returned to the board as one of two non-executive director appointments requested by his family office. As part of the reshuffle, both chairman Stephan Wilcke and remuneration committee chair Clare Salmon have stepped aside, and chief executive officer Hamish Paton has handed in his 12-month notice period. Richmond Group declined to comment on Mr Benamor’s plans.
Scottish PMI
Expansion
Business activity across Scotland’s private sector improved for the first time in November since August, according to the Royal Bank of Scotland’s latest purchasing managers’ index (PMI). The seasonally adjusted headline RBS Business Activity Index – which measures combined manufacturing and service sector output – showed 50.9 in November, up from 49.6 in October. Services saw the fastest expansion over the six-month sequence of growth, while manufacturers saw a sharp decline in output. On the new business front, services companies saw a “moderate uptick”, while Scottish manufacturers saw order-book volumes fall for the 15th consecutive month.
XP Power shipping disrupted
Revenues hit
XP Power (XPP) has flagged fourth-quarter disruption to shipments from its implementation of its Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system, which the power supplies provider says could hit full-year expectations for turnover by around £6m. Shipping has operated at or above normal run rates since mid-November, but it is now expected that the lost revenues will not be fully recovered by the end of the year. XP Power added that its order intake in the first two months of the fourth quarter has been more than 20 per cent above the same two months in the prior year.
Saatchi leaving M&C
Tendered resignation
Maurice Saatchi, a founding director of troubled advertising group M&C Saatchi (SAA), has tendered his resignation. Meanwhile, Lord Dobbs, Sir Michael Peat and Lorna Tilbian have stepped down from their roles as non-executive directors with immediate effect. “We are determined to restore the operational performance and profitability of the business and are already implementing all of the recommendations set out in the PwC report we announced last week,” said chairman Jeremy Sinclair. Mr Sinclair added that a process had started to reconstruct the board with new independent directors.
Tui flags Max impact
Alters dividend
The grounding of Boeing’s 737 Max jet cost Tui (TUI) €293m (£247m) across its markets and airlines business in its 2019 financial year, the airline said. It cautioned that should the jet not return to service by April next year, it will incur a further cost of between approximately €220m and €270m. Tui also announced a reorganisation of its dividend that will see lower payouts from its 2020 financial year onwards. The dividend payout will be 30 to 40 per cent of Tui’s underlying earnings after tax, although there will be a floor of €0.35 a share.
Just 27 UK-based companies went ahead with their initial public offering (IPO) plans in 2019, raising $6bn on domestic and foreign exchanges, according to law firm Baker McKenzie (using data from Refinitiv).
There were 69 IPOs in 2018. Overall value dipped by more than a half year on year. Still, there were two ‘megadeals’ from UK issuers – Network International and Trainline.
Other UK issuers ventured overseas – with Airtel Africa dual-listing in London and Lagos, and private-equity firm Bespoke Capital floating in Toronto.
