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.
GKN owner Melrose to invest £300m in electric car boom. Melrose Industries (MRO) , the engineering investment company that bought GKN in a bitter £8 billion hostile takeover battle last year, on Wednesday pledged a £300 million investment to ramp up its activities in the fast-growing electric vehicle market. The step up in investment came as part of an aggressive plan outlined by new head of GKN Automotive, Liam Butterworth, to boost margins in the car parts division beyond what shareholders had been promised.
AA boss ‘more bullish than ever’ as investors cheer recovery. Breakdown service AA (AA.) earnings fell last year after forking out on more patrols and insurance marketing but shares rose as investors cheered signs of recovery. The company, which has misfired in recent years, said earnings for the year ending January fell 13% to £341 million from £391 million, a figure broadly expected by investors. Shares rose 5% to 94.5p after the City took confidence in the numbers, which suggested AA was getting back on track. Chief executive Simon Breakwell said: “It’s hard to think of one metric we haven’t hit over the past 12 months. “I feel more bullish than ever.”
CMC Markets (CMCX) takes more pain from European crackdown on spreadbetting firms. Strife in the spreadbetting market saw Peter Cruddas’s CMC Markets issue a profit warning that sent the shares spinning further downwards. Cruddas, the former co-treasurer of the Tory Party, floated CMC in February 2016 at a price of 240p per share. That netted him more than £200 million which has helped buy yachts, lavish homes, and make various charitable and political donations. Today the stock fell 6% to 78p, which leaves the company valued at just £225 million. Cruddas still holds 62% of the stock. CMC said tougher regulations had led to “reduced client trading activity”, which means spreadbetting income for the year will be about £110 million, 37% lower than expected
Winkworth posts sales rise despite “testing” residential market. The boss of London estate agent M Winkworth (WINK) on Wednesday said the capital’s buyers and sellers need Brexit clarity before committing to deals. Dominic Agace said the number of homes his firm was instructed to sell in the three months to March fell 10% from a year earlier. He said “people are waiting for clarity” and he thinks there is pent-up demand which could lead to a busier period when there is more Brexit certainty. He added that the number of transactions last year decreased 4% in the UK, and 6% in London. The market also suffered from tax changes. However, because would-be buyers held off on purchases, a number of them chose to rent instead, helping revenues in Winkworth’s rentals and management division to rise 8% in 2018.
Superdry shares sink in wake of Julian Dunkerton’s return. Superdry (SDRY) shares tumbled as much as 12% on Wednesday as investors balked at the dramatic boardroom walkout that followed Julian Dunkerton’s shock victory. The Superdry co-founder succeeded in his six-month campaign on Tuesday to return to the fashion chain’s board after convincing three institutional investors at the eleventh-hour to back his resolutions. Mr Dunkerton said he did not expect all of Superdry’s directors to resign in protest, but they stayed true to their threat with the entire board quitting along with the chain’s two brokers, Investec and UBS, just hours after the result of the vote was released.
Taxpayer tops up Stagecoach profits after Waterloo train chaos. Stagecoach Group (SGC) is to snaffle an estimated £7m from the taxpayer following widespread disruption to train services into London Waterloo. Shares in the transport company rose sharply after its rail division surprised investors by beating expectations and prompting it to increase profit guidance. Stagecoach handed over the South West franchise, which operates trains into Waterloo, to a consortium led by FirstGroup in 2017. But during its final months, Stagecoach services were hit by a major revamp of Britain’s busiest train station. At one point 10 of its platforms were out of action as engineering works took place.