(Alliance News) - Retailer JD Sports Fashion PLC on Monday confirmed it has filed to appoint administrators at its Go Outdoors unit.
The FTSE 100 company said the notice means a 10-day moratorium has been implemented, so the outdoor apparel seller's creditors cannot take any legal action, nor continue with existing proceedings without court permission.
"Administrators have not yet been appointed, and the group will make no further comment at this time," JD Sports added.
Sky News late Saturday reported that JD Sports had called in administrators at the unit, which has a workforce of about 2,500.
Go Outdoors operates about 60 stores in the UK, most of which are located in out-of-town retail parks.
It's further evidence of the pressure piling onto UK retailers amid the Covid-19 pandemic. High street names such as Debenhams, Laura Ashley and Cath Kidston have recently sunk into administration.
JD Sports stores reopened in England and Northern Ireland earlier in June, after Covid-19 lockdown measures eased.
The news about Go Outdoors comes just over three years after the UK competition watchdog approved the GBP112.3 million acquisition.
Meanwhile, last week, JD Sports appealed the UK Competition & Markets Authority's decision to block its acquisition of Footasylum. JD Sports was in May ordered to sell Footasylum, which it initially agreed to buy for GBP90 million.
Here is what you need to know at the London market open:
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MARKETS
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FTSE 100: called down 1.1% at 6,225.40
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Hang Seng: down 0.7% at 24,484.34
Nikkei 225: closed down 0.2% at 22,437.27
DJIA: closed down 208.64 points, 0.8%, at 25,871.46
S&P 500: closed down 0.6% at 3,097.74
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GBP: firm at USD1.2382 (USD1.2368)
EUR: unchanged at USD1.1200 (USD1.1204)
Gold: up at USD1,751.50 per ounce (USD1,742.20)
Oil (Brent): down at USD42.06 a barrel (USD42.66)
(changes since previous London equities close)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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Monday's Key Economic Events still to come
1100 BST UK CBI industrial trends survey
1100 BST Ireland wholesale price index
1600 CEST EU flash consumer confidence indicator
1000 EDT US existing home sales
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UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson will discuss reopening the hospitality sector and loosening the two-metre social-distancing rule in England with his top Cabinet colleagues and scientists, PA reports. Johnson and his most senior ministers will on Monday discuss the next steps for the lockdown with chief scientific adviser Patrick Vallance and chief medical officer for England Professor Chris Whitty. Johnson will then on Tuesday outline the plans to Parliament for pubs, restaurants, hotels and hairdressers to reopen in England from July 4, and a likely loosening of the distance rule to aid the restart to the economy. It comes as a Tory former minister said the government appeared "a bit knackered" as it responded to the challenges of post-outbreak Britain.
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UK government ministers will be handed powers to scrutinise foreign takeovers of businesses to ensure they do not threaten the country's ability to tackle future public health emergencies. They fear that the economic disruption caused by the coronavirus crisis will make firms with critical functions more susceptible to takeovers from "hostile approaches" or "malicious parties", according to the Department of Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy. The government will table changes to the Enterprise Act 2002 in Parliament on Monday, in a bid to safeguard national security by protecting key companies and technologies. Ministers would be able to intervene if a business directly involved in a pandemic response, such as a vaccine research firm or protective equipment manufacturer, was eyed for a takeover. Powers would also be expanded to intervene in mergers in artificial intelligence, cryptographic authentication technology and advanced materials by lowering the threshold for scrutiny to take place.
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The Irish health minister has welcomed the latest zero Covid-19 death announcement. Simon Harris said it was cause for hope and would re-energise people to stick with the coronavirus guidelines. His comments came after the National Health Public Emergency Team reported no new coronavirus-linked deaths in its daily update on Sunday. It is the third time since March that no deaths have been reported in a 24-hour period. The death toll in Ireland remains at 1,715. There were six new confirmed cases of the virus on Sunday, taking to 25,379 the total since the outbreak began in Ireland.
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US President Donald Trump's re-election campaign rejected claims that a social media campaign by TikTok users was behind lower than expected turnout for Saturday's rally in the state of Oklahoma. The Trump 2020 team issued a statement denying that bogus reservations were made by people registering their mobile numbers, and blamed the media and protesters for dissuading people from attending. Broadcaster CNN reported on Sunday that there had been coordinated efforts by users on TikTok to register for a free ticket but then not attend the event. Trump boasted in the lead-up that nearly 1 million people had applied for tickets to the event in Tulsa's 19,200-seat arena. But footage of the rally showed thousands of seats remained empty. The Tulsa fire brigade told Forbes magazine around 6,200 attended, though the 2020 campaign suggested the figure was much higher.
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BROKER RATING CHANGES
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BERENBERG CUTS MAN GROUP TO 'HOLD' ('BUY') - TARGET 148 (160) PENCE
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BERENBERG CUTS ASHMORE GROUP TO 'SELL' ('HOLD') - TARGET 331 PENCE
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CREDIT SUISSE CUTS AGGREKO TO 'UNDERPERFORM' ('OUTPERFORM') - TARGET 295 (575) PENCE
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GOLDMAN SACHS CUTS BODYCOTE TO 'SELL' ('NEUTRAL') - TARGET 520 (510) PENCE
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RBC RAISES FEVERTREE DRINKS TO 'OUTPERFORM' ('SECTOR PERFORM') TARGET 2500 (1100) PENCE
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COMPANIES - FTSE 100
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SEGRO said it has sold City Park Vienna, comprising a cross-dock warehouse, a recently developed urban warehouse park and development land, to Nuveen Real Estate for EUR65 million. SEGRO said the disposal successfully concludes its presence in Austria, in line with the company's strategy.
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COMPANIES - FTSE 250
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Cineworld Group said it has agreed with a group of private institutional investors the terms of a new USD250 million secured debt facility with a maturity of 2023. The company said the move further strengthens its balance sheet as cinemas begin to re-open around the world.
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Close Brothers said Adrian Sainsbury has been promoted to succeed Preben Prebensen as chief executive. Sainsbury will take up the new position, and become an executive director, with effect from September 21. He has been managing director of Close Brothers' Banking division and a member of the group executive committee since November 2016, having joined Close Brothers in 2013 as CEO of the Commercial division.
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COMPANIES - MAIN MARKET AND AIM
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Mothercare said it is making "significant progress" with its transformation plan with around two-thirds of global retail locations now open following lockdowns. Mothercare said that in line with plans to recapitalise the business with the minimum possible further dilution for shareholders, it remains in discussions with a number of prospective new debt providers regarding entering into new facilities. As at June 19, the total secured debt - including drawings on the retailer's GBP24 million revolving credit facility, other guarantees and letters of credit - was GBP18 million, and these liabilities remain secured over the group as a whole. Mothercare said it understands that there remains a further amount to be paid out from the administrators of Mothercare UK which is expected to reduce this secured debt further. The troubled retailer said it is making good progress with the search for a new permanent CEO and is now at shortlist stage. Mothercare said Glyn Hughes, who has been acting as the interim CEO, has ruled himself out of the search, expressing his desire to step down to pursue other opportunities.
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COMPANIES - GLOBAL
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Merck & Co said it completed the acquisition of Themis, a company focused on vaccines and immune-modulation therapies for infectious diseases and cancer. The deal, initially announced in May, will see Merck, through a subsidiary, acquire all outstanding shares of Themis in exchange for an undisclosed cash payment. Merck said an "initial focus" of the deal will be to ramp-up the progress of a measles vector-based SARS-CoV-2 vaccine candidate currently in pre-clinical development. Themis has a broad pipeline of vaccine candidates and immune-modulatory therapies developed using its measles virus vector platform, said Merck.
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American Airlines Group announced plans to secure an extra USD3.5 billion in funding as it looks to "enhance the company's liquidity position". The carrier proposed a USD1.5 billion senior notes offering, due 2025, and added it plans to enter a USD500 million loan facility due 2024 when it closes the offering. American Airlines said it will use the proceeds to refinance another loan which matures next March. It also proposed a stock offering worth USD750.0 million and a convertible senior notes offering, due 2025, worth the same amount.
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Monday's Shareholder Meetings
Ethernity Networks
Saga
Wincanton
Avacta
President Energy
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By Tom Waite; thomaslwaite@alliancenews.com
Copyright 2020 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
