Below are the key morning press headlines, featuring the The Times, The Telegraph, The Daily Mail & more - see the full Press section here.
Retail sales appear to have held firm this month amid signs of optimism on the high street as stores gear up for Christmas. According to the CBI, sales volumes have been broadly unchanged in November, with a net balance of -3% of respondents reporting increased sales over the year, the highest figure for seven months and better than the -10 per cent that had been forecast by analysts. The findings from the business lobby group’s distributive trades survey will provide some relief to economists. Consumers account for about two thirds of national output and have been the most robust sector of the economy in recent months. However, the retail sector has struggled because of rising costs and competition from online stores.
Eddie Stobart Logistics (ESL) is set to revert into the hands of a previous owner after a putative takeover by Wincanton (WIN) , a rival, fell apart. Caught up in an accounting crisis, its profits halving and its chief executive having been forced out of the cab, Britain’s most famous trucking company looks set to fall back into the ownership of DBay, an investment firm formerly known as Laxey Partners, which floated the business two and half years ago. Eddie Stobart Logistics has been in the haulage business for more than half a century and is famed for its delivery lorries decked in red and green livery, each with their own name. It operates 2,500 lorries and employs 6,000 people.
Sports Direct International (SPD) is to rename itself Frasers Group as part of Mike Ashley’s attempt to push his retail empire upmarket. The company said yesterday that it had called a general meeting for December 16 to ask its shareholders to approve the name change, which comes before a plan to roll out a chain of luxury Frasers stores. The branding of the group’s Sports Direct shops will not be affected. The revamp marks the latest stage of Mr Ashley’s strategy to expand the company beyond its roots as a sportswear retailer and to overhaul its image. The tycoon, 55, started the business as a single shop in Maidenhead in 1982 called Mike Ashley Sports.
Slowing sales at Wagamama and a gloomy outlook sent shares in its owner the Restaurant Group (RTN) tumbling on Monday. The noodle chain’s UK like-for-like sales rose 6.3% in the three months to September – less than half the 12.9% growth posted in the previous quarter. Sales in the US were up 12.5%. Shares fell sharply before recovering some losses to be 6% lower at 137.2p as some analysts also downgraded the the Restaurant Group’s other chains, Frankie & Benny’s and Chiquito, in light of weak restaurant and cinema attendance data. It came as Emma Woods, chief executive, warned that Wagamama would not be immune to the “various headwinds facing our industry” next year.
A suitor for Just Eat (JE.) has attacked a rival bid as “wholly inadequate” and an attempt to buy the British delivery company “on the cheap”. Amsterdam-listed Takeaway.com labelled an approach by investment fund Prosus as “opportunistic” and claimed its offer was “superior”. Just Eat and Takeaway.com announced plans for an all-share merger in July after facing pressure from activist investor Cat Rock for several months. Prosus hit back at the rival bidder, with its chief executive Bob van Dijk saying that Takeaway.com’s offer “represents significant risk to Just Eat shareholders” as it doesn’t effectively address the investment needs of the company.
Unilever (ULVR) has insisted that PG Tips is not for sale. Nitin Paranjpe, the consumer group’s chief operating officer, said the tea remained a ‘strong brand’ and that it was looking for ways to boost sales. The comments came after the consumer goods giant, which also owns Marmite and Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, reportedly told investors that it wanted to ‘be rid’ of its black tea businesses because of changing customer tastes. But asked if PG Tips had a future at the company, Paranjpe said: ‘We believe it does, and we are working to see how we will drive growth in those areas.’ But he did not rule out a sale in future.
Gold mining minnow Ariana Resources (AAU) rocketed after it signed an agreement to potentially partner with a Turkish construction group. Under the deal, known as a memorandum of understanding, the unnamed construction firm would spend more than £23million buying stakes in two of Ariana’s mining projects in Turkey. The possible partner would also inject a further £6million directly into developing one of the mines.
The world’s use of coal-fired electricity is on track for its biggest annual fall on record this year after more than four decades of near-uninterrupted growth that has stoked the global climate crisis. Data shows that coal-fired electricity is expected to fall by 3% in 2019, or more than the combined coal generation in Germany, Spain and the UK last year and could help stall the world’s rising carbon emissions this year. The steepest global slump on record is likely to emerge in 2019 as India’s reliance on coal power falls for the first time in at least three decades this year, and China’s coal power demand plateaus.
The collapse of Neil Woodford’s investment empire has drained liquidity from Aim, the market for small companies, and has made investors wary of thinly traded shares, a leading stockbroker has warned. Sam Smith, chief executive of finnCap (FCAP) , said that the implosion of Woodford Investment Management had been “a nail in the coffin of an already quite difficult trading environment” for London’s junior stock market. “It was a huge problem in our market, the whole fund having to wind down,” she said. Mr Woodford, 59, is embroiled in crisis after he invested part of his under-performing £2.9 billion Equity Income Fund in unquoted companies and other listed small businesses whose shares are hard to sell.