Below are the key morning press headlines, featuring the The Times, The Telegraph, The Daily Mail & more - see the full Press section here.
BP’s plan to offload its stakes in some of the North Sea’s older oil and gasfields in a $625m (£477m) deal with Premier Oil (PMO) could be derailed by a row over Premier’s $2bn debt pile. BP (BP.) agreed to sell its share in the Andrew and Shearwater fields to its smaller, debt-laden rival as part of a plan to pare its ageing North Sea portfolio. Under the terms of the deal BP will hand Premier Oil the Andrew platform and its controlling stake in five surrounding fields, as well as its minority stake in the Shearwater field, which is operated by Shell. In a separate deal, Premier Oil has also agreed to pay $246m to Dana Petroleum to buy a separate clutch of North Sea assets. The FTSE 250 oil producer believes the fields, which together produce the equivalent of 23,000 barrels of oil a day, should help to generate $1bn of free cashflow to the end of 2023, which would help pay off its debts. But one of Premier Oil’s largest creditors has warned it will “vigorously contest” the spending spree, which will require a $2.9bn refinancing and a $500m equity raise. Hong Kong’s Asia Research and Capital Management (ARCM) said it would “take all steps to oppose the company’s proposal”, adding it was “deeply concerned” that Premier plans to invest in the North Sea basin. - The Guardian
Silence Therapeutics (SLN) said that it had entered a technology evaluation agreement with Takeda, prompting its shares to rise by more than 8% yesterday. The London-based Silence is developing medicines using technology that can selectivity inhibit any gene in the genome, “silencing” the production of disease-causing proteins. Under its deal with Takeda, Silence said that it would “explore the potential of utilising Silence’s platform to generate siRNA molecules against a novel, undisclosed target discovered by Takeda”. Takeda — a Tokyo-listed company that bought Shire, a FTSE 100 pharmaceuticals rival, for $62 billion a year ago — will provide Silence with research funding and the two companies have agreed to negotiate the terms of a licence agreement should their initial evaluation study prove successful. - The Times
Legal action against litigation funder Burford Capital (BUR) over allegations of irregular accounting practices has been withdrawn. Burford has been under pressure after short-seller Muddy Waters questioned its corporate governance and accounts in a scathing report, prompting it to agree to a major overhaul of its boardroom and to improve accountability. Yesterday Burford said: ‘The US securities class action against Burford filed in August 2019 has been withdrawn and dismissed in its entirety.’ The company said two new non-executives will be unveiled ahead of the annual shareholder meeting in May, and a listing in the US. - The Mail
Two of the controlling shareholders of NMC Health (NMC) were seeking to offload about $500 million of shares in the beleaguered private healthcare group last night to cut their debts. In a statement after the market had closed in London, it emerged that Saeed Mohamed al-Qebaisi and Khalifa Butti al-Muhairi hoped to sell shares worth a combined $490 million in NMC and shares worth $75 million in Finablr PLC (FIN) via an accelerated bookbuilding by Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank and Barclays. The nature of the share sale suggested that the pair were selling stock after a margin call on shares that they had pledged in return for debt. Muddy Waters’ report had claimed that Khalifa bin Butti and Dr Shetty had pledged about £700 million of shares. - The Times
Safestore Holdings (SAFE) says it is in a ‘strong position’ despite a operating profits falling by 17%. The Hertfordshire firm increased its revenue by £7.9million in the 2018/19 financial year to £151.8million. The company has also been growing its presence in the UK, Netherlands and French self-storage markets and on Tuesday, it announced a £15million deal to enter the Spanish market. Safestore put the fall in profits down to a change in its property portfolio valuation. It acquired a number of new sites during the year, including a Heathrow site for £6.6million, storage units in Chelsea and St John’s Wood in London for £14million, and four stores in Barcelona after taking possession of Spanish firm OhMyBox. The group also purchased a 20% stake in Dutch firm M3, which has six stores in Amsterdam and Haarlem. - The Mail
Cautious shoppers, heavy discounting and a decision to shun Black Friday triggered a fall in sales at Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets (MRW) , bosses have said. David Potts warned that trading had been “unusually challenging” as the chain post a 1.7% fall in sales for the 22 weeks to Jan 5. Separately, the retailer emerged as the worst-performing supermarket for the 12 weeks to Dec 29, a crucial period for the nation’s grocers, research firm Kantar said. Sales were 2.9% lower than a year earlier. - The Telegraph
A partner at ULS Technology (ULS) major shareholder has joined its board as a non-executive director. Oliver Scott, 52, is an investment manager at funds group Kestrel, which owns 24% of ULS’s shares. Software provider ULS, whose systems help automate housing transactions, has seen shares jump by as much as 42% since the December election. But shares in the firm stumbled on news of the latest hire. - The Mail
Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) was on the end of another analyst upgrade yesterday, its fifth in a month. The latest bull to be welcomed through the high street stalwart’s doors was Berenberg, which lifted the stock from “sell” to “buy” and raised its price target by 90p to 250p. The German bank joins HSBC, JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs and RBC Capital, all of which have upped their recommendations, in the M&S love-in. Berenberg decided to make its move before the retailer’s trading update tomorrow, which it expects will show a “significant improvement” in the clothing and home business, while like-for-like sales in the food division should “remain positive”. The analysts are particularly enthused by the recent appointment of Richard Price, head of the M&S clothing and home division. “We are more optimistic following the appointment of Mr Price to lead the division, where we believe the buying and merchandising strategy has been a core issue,” Michelle Wilson, a retail analyst at the bank, said. Ocado Group (OCDO) jumped 54p to £13.26 and was further boosted by a comment from Berenberg that its joint venture with M&S representeds an “attractive long-term opportunity”.- The Times