(Alliance News) - The UK Takeover Panel early Thursday declared the auction for waste removal company Augean over, with the consortium of London-based Ancala Partners LLP and Toronto-headquartered Fiera Infrastructure Inc declared the winner.
Ancala and Fiera's vehicle Eleia bid 372 pence per Augean share, topping the 361p offered by Morgan Stanley Infrastructure's bid vehicle Antwerp Management. Both offers were all in cash. Prior to the auction, MSIP had offer the highest, at 340p, versus 325p from Eleia.
Augean shares were quoted at 368.00p early Thursday, up 0.1%.
Eleia said the Augean board will unanimously recommend its offer to shareholders.
The offer values Walton, England-based hazardous waste treatment and disposal company at GBP390 million. It is a 50% premium to the company's stock price in late May before the takeover offers started coming in.
Here is what you need to know at the London market open:
----------
MARKETS
----------
FTSE 100: up 0.2% at 7,094.19
----------
Hang Seng: up 0.9% at 24,440.69
Nikkei 225: Tokyo market closed for Autumn Equinox Day holiday.
DJIA: closed up 338.48 points, 1.0%, at 34,258.32
S&P 500: closed up 1.0% at 4,395.64
Nasdaq Composite: closed up 1.0% at 14,896.85
----------
EUR: down at USD1.1715 (USD1.1738)
GBP: flat at USD1.3655 (USD1.3659)
USD: up at JPY109.85 (JPY109.57)
Gold: down at USD1,764.00 per ounce (USD1,778.80)
Oil (Brent): up at USD76.37 a barrel (USD75.44)
(changes since previous London equities close)
----------
ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
----------
Thursday's Key Economic Events still to come
Japan Autumn Equinox Day holiday. Financial markets closed.
0930 CEST Germany flash producer price index
1000 CEST EU flash PMI
0930 BST UK CIPS-Markit flash manufacturing and services PMI
1200 BST UK Bank of England interest rate decision
0830 EDT US jobless claims
0945 EDT US flash manufacturing PMI
0945 EDT US flash services PMI
1000 EDT US leading indicators
1030 EDT US EIA weekly natural gas storage report
----------
US President Joe Biden and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron had a "friendly" phone call Wednesday to defuse a deep row over submarine sales to Australia, promising to meet in person to repair the transatlantic relationship. The call, which the White House said lasted about 30 minutes, was the first between Biden and Macron since France recalled its ambassador over the surprise US announcement of a deal to build nuclear submarines for Australia – scuppering a previous French deal to sell conventional submarines. Paris called the US-Australian plan, which was launched as part of a new Indo-Pacific security group along with Britain, a stab in the back and also pulled its ambassador from Australia. In a joint statement after the call, the two leaders vowed to launch "in-depth consultations... for ensuring confidence" and to meet in Europe at the end of October. The statement also said Macron would order France's ambassador back to Washington next week. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters the talk "was friendly" and Biden was "hopeful this was a step in returning to normal".
----------
UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss will push for Mexico's support for the UK to join an international trade pact as she visits the country on Thursday. Truss will travel to Mexico from the United Nations General Assembly in New York, where she has represented the UK with Prime Minister Boris Johnson. It comes after Johnson conceded an agreement with the US was not about to be struck, following meetings with President Joe Biden. But Truss will focus on the Comprehensive & Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, and discuss plans to develop a new and updated deal between the UK and Mexico. The CPTPP is a free trade agreement between Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam. The UK applied to join in February, and in June the CPTPP announced that the accession process would begin.
----------
Ratings agency Fitch cut its growth forecast for China's economy this year citing a slowdown in the country's colossal property sector, which is also facing headwinds over faltering real estate developer Evergrande. China enjoyed a swift economic rebound from the Covid-19 pandemic, but strict new rules on the country's developers have caused a deleveraging rush and helped push housing giant Evergrande to crisis point. Financial markets have tumbled over fears that the Chinese group could collapse, leading to possible contagion in the world's second-biggest economy and beyond. Fitch Ratings said it expected growth to come in at 8.1% this year, compared with a previous 8.4% estimate, saying the "main factor weighing on the outlook is the slowdown in the property sector".
----------
BROKER RATING CHANGES
----------
JEFFERIES RAISES PANTHEON INTERNATIONAL TO 'BUY' ('HOLD')
----------
COMPANIES - FTSE 100
----------
Royal Mail said the first five months of trading saw continued revenue growth across the group, with both domestic arm Royal Mail and international operation GLS reporting higher revenue. In the five months to the end of August, group revenue grew by 8.2% year-on-year and by 18% compared to the same period in 2019. At Royal Mail, revenue increased by 7.2% year-on-year and by 12% against the same period in 2019. At its GLS international logistics unit, revenue rose 9.3% from the same time last year and by 31% versus the same period in 2019. Royal Mail said adjusted operating profit for the six months to the end of September is expected to be GBP395 million to GBP400 million, with at least GBP230 million from Royal Mail unit. It posted adjusted operating profit of GBP37 million at its interim results last year. Chair Keith Williams said: "Domestic parcels performance continues to be more robust against ongoing challenges in international. Whilst we continue to expect further normalisation of parcel performance as we unwind from the pandemic and anticipate some upward pressure on costs, both adjusted operating profit and margin are expected to be higher in the second half compared to the first half. GLS continues to deliver good volume and revenue growth, both year on year and against 2019. Whilst we are seeing upward pressure on costs in a number of our markets, we maintain our outlook for the full year of low single-digit revenue growth and 8% operating margin."
----------
Reckitt Benckiser said trading since its half-year results in July has been in line with management expectations. The household hygiene and home products firm said it continued to be confident in delivering 2021 like-for-like net revenue growth in a range of 0% to 0.2% and adjusted operating profit margins between 22.7% to 23.2%. Reckitt posted like-for-like net revenue growth of 12% and an adjusted operating profit margin of 23.6% for 2020. Reckitt said the guidance excludes the IFCN China business, as the disposal of this business completed in early September.
----------
Activist investor Bluebell Capital Partners has bought a stake in GlaxoSmithKline and criticised Chief Executive Officer Emma Walmsley, Bloomberg reported. In a letter seen by the news outlet, Bluebell called for a "thorough and robust process to identify the best (internal or external) candidate" to lead the company after it spins off its consumer division to focus on pharmaceuticals. "The lack of Walmsley's industry knowledge was also very evident during the latest investor update," the letter said, echoing criticism from Elliott Investment Management. In July, Elliott called for pharmaceutical experts to pick the "right leadership" for GSK after the spinoff - a coded attack on Walmsley, whose background is in consumer products. That led GSK to release a statement saying Walmsley is the right leader for after the spinoff. London-based Bluebell's stake in GSK is only worth about GBP10 million, Bloomberg said, citing a person familiar with the situation. GSK has a market capitalisation of GBP71.90 billion.
----------
COMPANIES - FTSE 250
----------
Gambling and financial trading software provider Playtech said it made strategic and operational progress to date in 2021, despite the challenges posed by the pandemic. For the six months to June 30, revenue was EUR457.4 million, down 4% from EUR476.7 million last year, as the company swung to a pretax profit of EUR278.1 million from an EUR19.2 million loss. Playtech declared no interim dividend, in line with the year prior. The company said it saw continued progress on US strategy as it launched with Parx Casino in Michigan and made new partnerships with Scientific Games and Novomatic, alongside continued progress with bet365 and BetMGM in New Jersey. Looking ahead, Playtech said it made a strong start to the second half. Due to the strong interim performance, combined with the easing of lockdown restrictions, Playtech said it was confident in its prospects for the remainder of 2021 and beyond.
----------
Thursday's Shareholder Meetings
Adept Technology Group PLC - AGM
Alpha Financial Markets Consulting PLC - AGM
Begbies Traynor Group PLC - AGM
Bradda Head Holdings Ltd - AGM
Colefax Group PLC - AGM
DaVictus PLC - AGM
Empyrean Energy PLC - AGM
Enteq Upstream PLC - AGM
finnCap Group PLC - AGM
Fuller Smith & Turner PLC - AGM
Kainos Group PLC - AGM
Liontrust Asset Management PLC - AGM
Panoply Holdings PLC - AGM
President Energy PLC - AGM
Trakm8 Holdings PLC - AGM
Versarien PLC - AGM
Vertu Capital Ltd - AGM
----------
By Tom Waite; thomaslwaite@alliancenews.com
Copyright 2021 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
