Below are the key morning and weekend press headlines, featuring the The Times, The Telegraph, The Daily Mail & more - see the full Press section here.
Aviva (AV.) has abandoned plans to sell its Singapore and China operations, despite carrying out a strategic review that had been widely expected to lead to a $2.5 billion sale of the businesses. Shares in the British insurer fell after it said that it would retain them, making it the biggest faller in the FTSE 100 yesterday. Aviva said yesterday that it would keep its business in Singapore — its largest in the region, generating £140 million in profit last year — and its joint venture in China. It is thought to have failed to attract a high enough price for the divisions as most international insurers already have operations in those markets.
Consort Medical (CSRT) has agreed a £505 million takeover by a Swedish rival. Shares leapt yesterday after news broke of the cash offer from Recipharm, which values Consort at £10.10 a share. The British business’s directors plan to unanimously recommend the bid. The offer represents a 39.1% premium to Consort’s share price of 726p on Friday. Consort employs about 2,000 people, of which 1,400 are in Britain at sites including Hemel Hempstead, King’s Lynn, Cambridge, Milton Keynes and Cramlington, Northumberland.
Robert Tchenguiz, the colourful financier and property investor, has heavily criticised the management of FirstGroup (FGP) and threatened to push for an extraordinary general meeting to force a break-up of the trains and buses company. Mr Tchenguiz, who has a 4.7% economic interest in First Group, accused the company’s management of being “ambiguous, confusing and misleading” about the group’s future in statements it made to the stock market last week that took 20 per cent off the value of the shares. He was immediately supported in a statement released to the Stock Exchange by Coast Capital, the activist US investor which has built up a 10% stake in First Group
A provider of specialist industrial parts and goods yesterday committed itself to continuing double-digit growth and increased its dividend by 14%. Shares in Diploma (DPLM) reached a new peak after it reported pre-tax profits up £11.7 million at £96.5 million on revenues 12% higher at £544 million in the year to the end of September. With the promise of more to come in a time of global trade uncertainty, the upbeat outlook was seen as a big tick for Johnny Thomson, 47, the company’s new chief executive. He was recruited from Compass earlier in the year after he had failed to land the top job at the contract caterer.
Two City heavyweights are among firms being courted by the former boss of Eddie Stobart Logistics (ESL) as he races to put together a rescue plan for the ailing trucking firm. Fund managers M&G and Ruffer have held discussions with Andrew Tinkler, who hopes they will sign up to a deal to inject £50m into the business. Mr Tinkler is hoping to overcome a rival bid from Dbay Advisors, one of the biggest investors in Eddie Stobart. The crippled firm, which was spun off from former parent the Stobart Group in 2014 and listed three years later, shocked investors last week when it revealed delayed half-year losses before interest and tax of at least £12m.
Lending practices at H&T Group (HAT) , the largest pawnbroker in Britain are being probed by regulators – sending shares slumping by more than a fifth. H&T is being investigated over how it judges whether customers who take out an unsecured loan can afford to pay the money back. The review by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) covers H&T lending practices over the last six years, during which customers paid £24m of interest. H&T has now stopped offering unsecured loans while the review continues, and is putting new policies in place. The firm said it is working with the FCA, and is committed to maintaining high standards without harming customers.
easyJet (EZJ) will today unveil a package holiday business – just weeks after Thomas Cook went bust. Customers will be able to book hotels at some of its top destinations, including the Canary Islands and the Alps. The business will offer flexible breaks that can be booked at any time of the week coinciding with its flights, instead of the traditional model of offering one or two-week holidays with flights at fixed times. The airline has spent almost a year striking deals with hundreds of hotels on its most popular routes. Easyjet Holidays launches before Christmas as families book winter skiing holidays and summer breaks. The move will be unveiled with the firm’s annual results today, when profits are set to tumble from £587m to between £420m and £430m.
Human rights campaigners have criticised the London Stock Exchange Group (LSE) for including G4S (GFS) on ethical investment indices, after the British security company was accused of contributing to human rights violations. The FTSE4Good index, run by the London Stock Exchange Group’s FTSE Russell subsidiary, has included G4S for the past three years. During that time, G4S, one of the world’s largest public sector employers, with 546,000 employees in 90 countries, has been at the centre of multiple controversies over its treatment of workers. In September, it said it will end its involvement in the immigration and asylum sector following a scandal at a detention centre near Gatwick. Norway’s $1.1tn (£850bn) government pension fund last week announced it had excluded shares in G4S from its investment portfolio, after its ethics watchdog found an “unacceptable risk of the company contributing to systematic human rights violations” among workers in the Middle East.
The value of one of Britain’s biggest microchip producers tumbled by a quarter yesterday after it warned that upheavals in the smartphone market would push it to an annual loss. IQE (IQE) , which sells wafers to chip manufacturers, cut its revenue forecast because of what it called “very challenging market conditions”. It said that it expected turnover of £136 million to £142 million, weaker than its previous forecast of £140 million to £160 million, and a “mid-single-digit adjusted operating loss” for the full year. That sent shares in IQE down capping a miserable period in which the semiconductor maker was hit by a slowdown in sales of Apple iPhones last year and by the effects of the US-China trade talks.