(Alliance News) - The following is a summary of top news stories Monday.
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COMPANIES
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Sophos Group has agreed to a GBP3 billion takeover by US-based private equity firm Thoma Bravo, the two announced. Thoma Bravo has offered USD7.40, or 583 pence, per share. Cybersecurity company Sophos closed at 425.5p on Friday in London, meaning the offer price is at a 37% premium. The price values Sophos, a member of the FTSE 250 index, at GBP3.01 billion, and gives it an enterprise value of GBP3.11 billion when including its debt. Sophos listed on the London Stock Exchange in July 2015 with a 225p share price and GBP1.01 billion market cap.
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Emerging markets-focused asset manager Ashmore Group reported a 0.1% rise in assets under management for the quarter ended September, to USD91.8 billion. There was a 0.4% fall in blended debt, its biggest investment theme, while external debt grew 2.6% and local currency remained flat. Ashmore's corporate debt assets under management declined by 3.2%. The slight rise in overall assets under management reflected net inflows of USD2.4 billion, offset by a negative investment performance of USD2.3 billion.
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Iron ore pellet firm Ferrexpo said it is aware of media reports surrounding Chief Executive Kostyantin Zhevago, but said no legal action has been taken against him and he "strongly denies" any wrongdoing. Last week, Bloomberg reported Ukraine has added Zhevago to an international wanted list after he failed to report for questioning about former business commitments. He has been named as a suspect in absentia, Bloomberg continued, and investigators have begun court proceedings to find him. Bloomberg said Ukrainian investigators believe he has committed "large-scale" money laundering and embezzlement.
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Energean Oil & Gas has sold assets in the UK and Norway to Neptune Energy for USD250 million in cash. The assets were only recently purchased as part of Energean's takeover of Edison Exploration & Production, but they have been swiftly moved on with Energean looking to focus on the Mediterranean.
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Visa and Mastercard have announced their departure from Facebook's Libra project in a potentially fatal blow to the social network company's plan for a worldwide digital currency. Along with the two payment giants, several other large companies have said they are exiting Libra. Payment processing company Stripe said it is stepping back, as well as online auction company eBay. PayPal was the first of Libra's big partners to leave, announcing last week it would no longer be involved. Facebook faced substantial criticism over its plans to create a separate, private currency system to allow cross-border payments.
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MARKETS
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UK shares were lower across the board amid continued investor caution, despite reports of progress made on US-China trade talks and Brexit negotiations. Weak trade data from China showed the impact of the country's tariff battle with the US. Bid target Sophos was a bright spot, up 36% in the FTSE 250. Wall Street was pointed lower, with Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite futures down 0.5% to 0.7%.
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FTSE 100: down 0.6% at 7,203.75
FTSE 250: down 1.5% at 19,748.53
AIM ALL-SHARE: down 0.2% at 867.63
GBP: down at USD1.2551 (USD1.2698)
EUR: flat at USD1.1036 (USD1.1030)
GOLD: up at USD1,493.60 per ounce (USD1,476.20)
OIL (Brent): down at USD59.12 a barrel (USD60.30)
(changes since previous London equities close)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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Hopes for a Brexit breakthrough have been kept alive after a suggestion from the Irish deputy premier that a deal could be struck as early as this week. UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson is coming under pressure to concede more ground to Brussels, and it has been reported that the UK has dropped a demand that a deal should include a veto for the Stormont Assembly on customs arrangements. UK and EU officials continue talks in the Belgian capital on Monday, with the prospects of an agreement in time for Britain to leave with a deal on October 31 in the balance. Time is rapidly running out if there is to be an agreement to put to EU leaders to sign off on at their two-day summit starting on Thursday. The EU's chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, said "technical-level" talks between officials over the weekend had proved "constructive", while Irish deputy premier Simon Coveney urged caution and said "we're not there yet" – but added that "a deal is possible".
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Heavy rain in the last week of September drove a fall in retail footfall in the UK with shopping centres being hit the hardest, the British Retail Consortium-Springboard Footfall & Vacancies Monitor showed. Footfall declined by 1.7% year-on-year in the five weeks to September 28, the same rate of decline BRC figures showed in the same period in 2018.
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Johnson is putting a crackdown on violent and foreign criminals at the centre of the first Queen's Speech of his premiership in a bid to "restore confidence" in the justice system. The package of 22 bills to be set out on Monday will include legislation to keep serious criminals in prison for longer, impose tougher sentences on foreign offenders who return to the UK and provide better protection for victims of domestic abuse. They will sit alongside measures intended to invest in the NHS, strengthen environmental protections and raise living standards through increasing the national living wage to GBP10.50 an hour. At the same time ministers are preparing to rush through a bill to ratify any Brexit deal Johnson is able to agree this week in Brussels in time for Britain to leave on the EU on October 31.
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The UK Labour party's renationalisation plans will cost at least GBP196 billion, according to the Confederation of British Industry. The business organisation said the price for the party's proposals for water and energy utilities, train companies and Royal Mail was equivalent to all income tax paid by UK citizens in a year. And the figure is close to the combined total of the GBP141 billion health budget, and the GBP61 billion spent on education, analysis by the CBI said.
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China's imports and exports fell by more than expected in September, official data showed, as cooling demand at home and abroad hit trade in the world's second-largest economy. Globally, China's exports dropped 3.2% in September from the same period last year, while imports dived 8.5%, according to data from the customs administration. The EU has replaced the US as China's top trading partner amid a bruising tariffs spat, with imports from the US down 26.4% on-year in September. China promised to increase US agricultural purchases in a partial US-China deal announced Friday, which also includes protections for intellectual property and opening up financial markets. US President Donald Trump heralded the agreements as phase one of a "substantial deal". In exchange the US agreed to postpone a tariffs increase - from 25% to 30% - set to take effect on Tuesday on billions of dollars of imported Chinese goods.
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Tens of thousands of rescue workers were searching Monday for survivors of powerful Typhoon Hagibis, two days after the storm slammed into Japan, killing at least 35 people. Hagibis crashed into the country on Saturday night, but brought hours of heavy rains even before it arrived, causing landslides and filling rivers until they burst their banks. More than 110,000 rescuers, including 31,000 troops, worked through the night and into Monday, a national holiday, searching for people trapped by the disaster. Local media said at least 35 people had been killed, with the Kyodo news agency reporting nearly 20 people were missing. Government figures from Sunday night were lower, though updates were expected on Monday.
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Syrian government forces were deployed Monday to Kurdish-led areas in north-eastern Syria following an agreement between the Kurds and Damascus to confront a Turkish incursion into the area, a monitor group and state media said. The move means Syrian troops are around six kilometres away from the Turkish border. Turkey started an incursion into northern Syria on Wednesday targeting Syrian Kurdish militias, which it says are linked to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party that is waging an insurgency within Turkey. The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said government forces had entered areas between the cities of al-Hassakeh and Ras al-ain. The embattled Syrian Kurds said Sunday they had agreed with Damascus to deploy government forces along the border with Turkey, in a step signalling rapprochement between the two sides.
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