Below are the key headlines from today’s updated papers, featuring the Financial Times, The Times, The Telegraph, The Daily Mail & more - see the full Press section here.
Flybe shares rocketed on hopes of a bidding war for the struggling airline after it emerged that as many as three potential buyers could be circling, including Sir Richard Branson’s long-haul operation Virgin Atlantic. Shares in the low-cost carrier surged more than 40% at one point this morning and were still more than 30% higher, up 3¼p at 13p in the approach to noon. Flybe Group (FLYB) had made no formal statement to the stock market as of late morning, but the airline officially put itself up for sale last week after a sharp deterioration in trading and amid a slump in its share price. It has been reported that easyJet (EZJ) , a rival no-frills airline, and Stobart Group Ltd. (STOB) , the owner of Southend Airport that already operates a joint venture with Flybe, are also interested in a potential acquisition of the business.
The great fall of China was weighing on British stocks today as the impact of Donald Trump’s trade war reverberated around the world. Investors were exiting China-focused funds in their droves as indices in Shanghai finished down for a third week in a row. Poor company earnings, sluggish growth figures and a trade war with Trump’s America have left the world’s second-largest economy reeling. China’s Shanghai Composite fell 2.49% overnight, meaning the index has lost 4% over the past three weeks. The Shanghai index is one of the worst performing indices in the world this year, down 20% since January. By comparison, the FTSE 100 is down 9.2% year-to-date and the main indices in the US — the Dow Jones and the S&P 500 — are only 1% lower so far this year despite sharp sell-offs in the past couple of weeks. Fidelity China Special Situations (FCSS) , which has holdings in China’s Alibaba and Tencent, lost 3p to 191p, and Edinburgh Dragon Trust (EFM) was down 5p at 344p. Caledonia Investments (CLDN) , which invests in Chinese funds, was off 55p at 2780p.
London today the FTSE 100 was up driven higher by software firm Sage Group (SGE) which climbed 21.2p to 581.4p despite releasing poor numbers earlier in the week. Since then, analysts — including those at Canaccord — have backed the firm and new chief executive Steve Hare whose task is to get customers to move to a subscription model. Canaccord today raised its target price to 558p from 540p.
Education publisher Pearson (PSON) was off, losing 14.2p to 938.2p, after Roddy Davidson at Shore Capital moved the stock back to a Hold rating. He said Pearson’s stock has improved by 17% since Shore had upgraded its recommendation from Hold to Buy on October 17. “Its stock now looks up with events — potentially creating a profit-taking opportunity.”
Property ‘thoroughbred’ John Burns to step down at Derwent London after 35 years. Developer Derwent London (DLN) marked the end of an era on Friday as its founder and chief executive John Burns revealed plans to step down after 35 years at the helm. Burns is one of the longest-serving bosses of a listed company in the UK. He first bought the Derwent Valley Light Railway Company, the owner of some disused railway stations worth just £1.5 million, as a shell to manage his property interests in 1984, five years after Margaret Thatcher took power.
Shares in Amerisur Resources (AMER) , the oil explorer rose 2p, or 20%, to 12p after it inked a $93 million (£72 million) farm-out agreement with an affiliate of Occidental Petroleum for its project in the Putumayo basin, Colombia. Chairman Giles Clarke said: “For a minnow like us it’s a big deal”.
Debt and incinerator project penalties unsettle Interserve (IRV) investors. The embattled outsourcing company Interserve has attempted to reassure the market about its troublesome energy-to-waste incinerator projects, which have left investors wary about its finances. The company said in an unscheduled third-quarter trading update that construction of all plants was complete and that they were operational and in the final commissioning phase in readiness for handover. Additional delays in the third quarter, however, led to penalties that have lowered net cash inflow from the projects to £15 million from an earlier estimate of £32 million. That, and its announcement that net debt this year would be about £50 million higher than forecast, pushed shares in the company down 7% to a new low of 32½p.
HSBC Holdings (HSBA) has been hit with a technical glitch just hours after MPs launched a probe into bank IT failures following a string of meltdowns. Frustrated HSBC customers took to social media on Friday morning to complain that they could not log into the bank’s mobile banking app to transfer money as they tried to grab a Black Friday deal. The timing of the glitch was particularly embarrassing for the bank as it coincided with the launch of an investigation by the Treasury select committee, which said today that it will examine how banks prevent IT meltdowns following an “astonishing” number of crashes this year at finance companies including Barclays, RBS, Visa and TSB
Profits at Fuller Smith & Turner (FSTA) have slid after the pub company ramped up investment prior to Brexit in a bid to take advantage of “turbulent times”. Although like-for-like sales at Fuller’s managed pubs and hotels rose 4.1%, pre-tax profits in the first half of its year slumped 12% to £20.8m. The company embarked on a large investment programme to smarten up its pubs during the six months to Sept 29. It had 92 so-called “closure weeks” during the period, compared with 29 in 2017. The bottom line was also hit by what chief executive Simon Emeny called a “once-in-a-generation” £2.7m IT upgrade.
