The British oil services company John Wood Group has rejected a £1.4bn takeover offer from Dubai-based rival Sidara, which it said “fundamentally undervalued” the company.
Aberdeen-based Wood, which trades on the FTSE 250, is the latest British company on the London Stock Exchange to face takeover speculation amid growing concerns that UK-listed stocks are undervalued compared with other markets.
High street bank TSB has revealed plans for 250 job cuts, prompting anger from unions including Unite, which called the move a “grave mistake”.
The cuts will primarily affect staff in fraud operations, central operations, as well as staff in 36 branches, which are now set to be closed. Most of the decisions will be made by June, with staff leaving the bank from September onwards, according to Unite.
A Boeing cargo plane has been forced to land at Istanbul airport without its front landing gear, in the latest setback for the embattled planemaker.
Nobody was hurt in the incident, in a flight operated by the delivery company FedEx, according to Turkey’s transport ministry.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe cited email traffic statistics to Manchester United staff as the basis for a ban on working from home and told them to seek “alternative employment” if they are not willing to come to club premises.
United have had a flexible work-from-home policy since Covid but Ratcliffe signalled an end to this during an all-staff meeting held in person and via video call last week as part of his tour of Old Trafford and the Carrington training base.
Alstom plans to raise €1bn (£861m) to help cut its debt as the world’s second largest train maker struggles with delayed orders amid concerns about the future of its Derby factory.
The Paris-listed company will tap investors with the aim of raising the funds by September. It also plans a €750m bond issue as part of a €2bn new finance plan.
AstraZeneca has begun the worldwide withdrawal of its Covid-19 vaccine due to a “surplus of available updated vaccines” that target new variants of the virus.
More than 800,000 people in Europe and the US appear to have been duped into sharing card details and other sensitive personal data with a vast network of fake online designer shops apparently operated from China.
An international investigation by the Guardian, Die Zeit and Le Mondegives a rare inside look at the mechanics of what the UK’s Chartered Trading Standards Institute has described as one of the largest scams of its kind, with 76,000 fake websites created.
A trove of data examined by reporters and IT experts indicates the operation is highly organised, technically savvy – and ongoing.
Boohoo has cut more than 1,000 jobs and dived into debt after its losses soared and sales slumped 13% amid heavy competition from the Chinese online seller Shein and the revival of the high street after the pandemic lockdowns.
The online fashion specialist, which owns Debenhams, Warehouse, Dorothy Perkins and Pretty Little Thing, said it had built up net debts of £95m in the year to the end of February – down from almost £6m of net cash a year before – after losses widened 76% to £160m.
The bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX has said it will be able to repay creditors the full $11bn (£8.8bn) it owes, as the boom-bust cycle repeats itself with a sharp increase in bitcoin prices.
John Ray III, who succeeded the disgraced Sam Bankman-Fried as the chief executive of FTX shortly after its collapse, said that once the exchange had sold off its remaining assets, it might have more than $16bn – well in excess of its debts.
The e-gates failure that left thousands of passengers queueing at UK airports has been resolved, the Home Office has said while ruling out a cyber-attack as a cause.
Airports said passengers could expect to travel smoothly again on Wednesday after widespread delays on Tuesday evening owing to a nationwide technical outage affecting UK Border Force e-gates.
Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, Edinburgh, Birmingham, Manchester and Bristol airports all confirmed problems with passengers being processed through the border yesterday.
A little while ago, the FTSE 100 index hit a fresh record high, rising to 8,364.04. It is now trading at 8,338, up 0.3% on the day.
Financial markets are fully pricing in a Bank of England interest rate cut by August, and see a 40% chance of a downwards move in June. The central bank will announce the outcome of this month’s meeting at noon tomorrow.
Katharine Neiss, chief European economist and deputy head of global economics at PGIM fixed income, thinks that “the possibility of a rate cut on Thursday is not beyond the realm of possibilities”.
She argues that “May is a forecast month” and that a “forecast publication months does allow more space for the Bank to communicate its views and outlook,” and reckons that April inflation could fall to or just below the central bank’s 2% target.
European markets have made moderate gains, with Germany’s Dax up 0.1% and France’s CAC rising 0.6% while Italy’s FTSE MiB lost 0.67%.
Crude oil prices are sliding, after industry data showed a rise in crude and fuel inventories in the US, according to Reuters, and as the US dollar strengthened, suggesting that demand for oil is coming under pressure.
Brent crude oil futures fell 72 cents, or 0.9%, to $82.43 a barrel while US light crude dropped 71 cents, or 0.9, to $77.67 a barrel. Earlier, crude fell by more than $1 a barrel.
Retail tycoon Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group is closing on on a deal for the struggling fashion chain Ted Baker, Sky News reports.
Frasers Group has emerged as the preferred partner for the chain following the collapse into administration of No Ordinary Designer Label (NODL), Ted Baker’s current UK licensing partner.
Frasers and NODL’s administrators hope to reach agreement on a deal in the coming days, Sky said, citing retail industry sources.
The deal would add Ted Baker to Ashley’s sprawling retail empire, whose brands include Sports Direct, House of Fraser, Evans Cycles, Gives & Hawkes and Jack Wills.
Next was also reportedly interested, along withTed Baker’s US licensing partner.
Ted Baker still has dozens of shops in the UK, although NODL’s administrator, Teneo, was forced to close 15 Ted Baker stores last month with the loss of 245 jobs.
John Wood Group is under pressure from a London-based activist investor, Sparta Capital Management, which is pushing for a sale of the business, or a move of its stock market listing to the US.
Franck Tuil, who founded Sparta in 2021, said in a recent letter to Wood’s board that he was “frustrated by the continued underperformance of the shares . . . [which] languish at 130p — 140p, which, with the exception of just one occasion in the last five years, are the all-time lows,” the Financial Times reported.
Tuil, a former senior portfolio manager at the New York hedge fund Elliott, added:
If the UK public markets are unwilling or unable to engage in Wood’s story, we believe you should undertake a strategic review and actively seek alternative solutions.
He said the US would “seem a logical potential listing venue”. He also said there had been an increase in M&A activity this year and that financing markets “appear to be supportive of public to private transactions”.
Tuil added that it was “time to recognise that the next chapter of Wood’s journey could be best supported by different owners”, and urged the group to “explore the best way to maximise shareholder value, including a sale of the company”.
Boeing cargo plane forced to land in Istanbul without front landing gear
Jasper Jolly
A Boeing cargo plane was forced to land at Istanbul airport on Wednesday without its front landing gear.
Nobody was hurt in the incident, in a flight operated by delivery company FedEx, according to Turkey’s transport ministry.
The Boeing 767 aircraft, flying from Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport, informed the traffic control tower at Istanbul Airport that its landing gear failed to open and it landed with guidance from the tower, the ministry said in its statement. Emergency services were standing by for the landing. The ministry did not give a reason for the landing gear’s failure.
Video of the incident shows the plane’s back wheels touching down, followed by its fuselage, with sparks and smoke streaming from its underside. The plane then skidded to a halt, remaining on the runway.
The runway where the cargo plane landed has been temporarily closed to air traffic, but traffic on the other runways at the airport was continuing without any interruption, the airport operator IGA said.
The incident comes at a time when Boeing’s safety record is under intense scrutiny, after a string of crises and safety issues.
Boeing said yesterday that it had informed regulators about possible failures to carry out mandatory safety inspections on its 787 Dreamliner planes. The US regulator, the Federal Aviation Administration, said it was “investigating whether Boeing completed the inspections and whether company employees may have falsified aircraft records”.
High street bank TSB has revealed plans for 250 job cuts, prompting anger from unions including Unite, which called the move a “grave mistake”.
The cuts will primarily affect staff in fraud operations, central operations, as well as staff in 36 branches, which are now set to be closed. Most of the decisions will be made by June, with staff leaving the bank from September onwards, according to Unite.
It is part of wider plans to cut costs and streamline the bank, announced earlier this yea. TSB said in a statement that it was part of efforts to meet “changing customer needs” and stay competitive.
Unite regional officer Andy Case said:
The decision by TSB to cut 250 roles is a grave mistake. These workers perform essential work in the fraud departments and across the branch network....TSB customers will rightly be concerned by today’s news and they will undoubtedly suffer a downgrade in service from these job cuts.
Case said Unite would hold fresh negotiations with TSB about ways to further reduce job losses.
Accord, another union representing TSB staff, said it had a number of concerns, including:
remaining staff having to cope with increased workloads
the impact of experienced staff leaving the business
changes to business areas, shift patterns and reporting lines
reduced career opportunities
And for those working in branches that are closing or reducing hours, dealing with customers who will be disappointed with these changes plus branch clusters expanding with potential increases in travel time and costs
A TSB Spokesperson said:
To meet changing customer needs and for TSB to remain competitive, we are making changes to simplify the way we operate. These decisions are never taken lightly. Our priority is to consult with impacted colleagues to ensure they’re fully supported, maximising redeployment opportunities where we can.
John Wood Group rejects £1.4bn offer from Dubai rival Sidara
John Wood Group has rejected a takeover offer from its Dubai-based engineering rival Sidara, formerly called Dar Group, as too low.
Shares in the FTSE 250-listed company jumped as much as 26% earlier after a Bloomberg News report on the approach, and are now up 14% at 188.6p, valuing the company at £1.3bn. They are down 15% in the past year.
The engineering firm, one of the North Sea’s biggest services companies, said it received an “unsolicited, preliminary and conditional” proposal from family-owned Sidara worth 205p per Wood share on 30 April. This valued the company at £1.42bn.
The board carefully considered the proposal, together with its financial advisers, and concluded that it fundamentally undervalued Wood and its future prospects. Accordingly, the board rejected the proposal unanimously on 8 May 2024.
There can be no certainty that any offer will be made for the company, nor as to the terms of any such offer, should one be made.
Sidara’s official name is Dar Al-Handasah Consultants Shair and Partners Holdings.
Early last year, the Aberdeen-based firm rebuffed three takeover approaches from the private equity group Apollo Global Management.
CMA urges grocery stores to ensure accurate pricing
Some grocery retailers are displaying inaccurate prices or failing to display prices at all for certain products, Britain’s competition watchdog has found, leading to shoppers spending more than they should.
Missing prices, conflicting prices – when prices on products conflict with those on shelf labels – and prices not being displayed close to products, were the most common problems found by the Competition and Markets Authority in a review of 139 grocery stores in England and Wales.
There were also issues with prices not being clearly legible, the selling price being obscured, and multibuy promotion labels that didn’t specify the price of the items individually.
The CMA conducted on-site inspections and looked at a sample of products, such as fresh fruit and vegetables and products on promotion.
Most of the issues were found at independent food stores and symbol convenience stores (small, independent retailers that operate under a symbol brand name).
The percentage of pricing errors found at each type of store were:
Supermarkets: 4.2%
Symbol convenience stores: 14.4%
Variety stores: 5.6%
Independent food stores: 7.8%
Overall, 60% of the errors resulted in a higher price being charged at the till.
George Lusty, interim executive director for consumer protection and markets at the CMA, said:
We know how frustrating it can be when you get to the till only to find the price doesn’t match what was advertised. While lots of grocery retailers – particularly supermarkets – are complying with pricing rules, this needs to consistently be the case across all types of stores.
It’s important that shoppers can make well-informed choices based on accurate information, especially at a time when lots of people are looking to save money. That’s why we are reminding businesses of the importance of complying with consumer law.
The watchdog has published compliance materials aimed at helping grocery retailers understand what they need to do to comply with the law. The CMA is also calling on the relevant trade associations to share these materials with their members.
London Eye can remain permanently on London's South Bank
Jane Croft
The London Eye, one of London’s most recognisable tourist attractions, can permanently remain on London’s South Bank after the local council confirmed the long term future of the iconic structure.
Lambeth councillors have agreed to discharge a condition attached to the attraction’s original 2003 planning permission that had required the local authority to decide whether the attraction could be retained beyond 2028.
Lambeth Council has agreed that the London Eye can remain in place – with current arrangements continuing beyond 2028. This includes a requirement for 1% of the attraction’s annual turnover to be paid towards the maintenance and management of the public area surrounding the site.
Merlin Entertainments – the UK-based owner and operator of the attraction now known as the Lastminute London Eye – welcomed the decision.
Scott O’Neil, chief executive of Merlin, said:
It is impossible to imagine the London skyline without the iconic structure of the London Eye, and with its long-term future secure, we will continue to invest and expand Merlin’s presence.
AstraZeneca’s share price rose 1.6% after Britain’s biggest drugmaker announced it is withdrawing its Covid-19 vaccine around the world.
The Anglo-Swedish drugmaker said it has begun the worldwide withdrawal of its Covid-19 vaccine due to a “surplus of available updated vaccines” that target new variants of the virus.
AstraZeneca said the decision was made because there is now a variety of newer vaccines available that have been adapted to target Covid-19 variants. This had led to a decline in demand for the AstraZeneca vaccine, which is no longer being manufactured or supplied.
According to independent estimates, over 6.5 million lives were saved in the first year of use alone and over 3bn doses were supplied globally.
Our efforts have been recognised by governments around the world and are widely regarded as being a critical component of ending the global pandemic. We will now work with regulators and our partners to align on a clear path forward to conclude this chapter and significant contribution to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Other countries have already stopped supplying the vaccine. It has not been available for use in Australia since March 2023, though its use was already being phased out from June 2021 due to the widespread availability of newer vaccines.
Although the vaccine was found to be safe and effective overall, it carried the risk of a rare but serious side-effect, known as thrombosis with thrombocytopenia, or TTS. The rare syndrome occurred in about two to three people per 100,000 who were vaccinated with the Vaxzevria vaccine.
The boss of Brewdog, James Watt, is stepping down from the top job 17 years after he co-founded the Scottish brewer and pub group.
He is handing over the reins to chief operating officer James Arrow.
Watt will stay on the board as a non-executive director, and advise the group on strategy. He first told the board last year that he wanted to focus on his other interests. He takes on a newly created non-executive role of “captain and co-founder” and retains his 21% stake in the firm.
BrewDog chairman Allan Leighton said:
James Watt, alongside Martin Dickie, created this great business from a garage in Fraserburgh.
Few have accomplished what he has.
From very humble beginnings under his leadership, BrewDog has grown to become the world’s leading craft brewer, employing 2,530 people across its head office, four breweries and over 120 bars.
I am especially pleased he will continue to offer his insight, creative genius and energy to the board.
However, in 2021 the firm was accused by former workers in an open letter of having a “culture of fear” within the business, with “toxic attitudes” towards junior staff.
And in January, BrewDog faced anger from its employees after dropping out of the accredited real living wage scheme – hiring new staff on the legal minimum instead and freezing pay for bar staff in London as the company tries to reduce costs amid continuing losses.
