American Express deal sends travel agent flying
Travel firm Hogg Robinson soared after a double whammy of a takeover offer and the sale of part of its business.
american express Global Business Travel has made a bid for the company, which has also agreed to sell its payments technology arm to visa.
Founded 170 years ago as an insurance firm, Hogg robinson employs 14,000 people across 120 countries. visa will pay £141.8m for its Fraedom subsidiary, which provides payments and management software to financial firms.
In the year to March 31, 2017, Fraedom generated £8.1m of the group’s £33.1m pre-tax profit, and £33.1m of its £335.1m revenue.
Hogg said the sale will strengthen its balance sheet and it plans to return ‘substantial proceeds’ from the sale to shareholders.
The other arm of Hogg’s business is HrG, a global travel management company, which provides corporate services such as consultancy, creating travel itineraries and arranging conference and meeting venues. HrG reported revenue of £302 min the last financial year. am ex GBT will pay up to 120p a share for the business, which closed on Thursday at just 79p.
Yesterday shares rocketed 48.7pc, or 38.02p, to 116.02p.
The FTSE 100 finished down 1.1pc, or 78.26 points, at 7092.43. Just seven stocks on the main market ended the day in the black. Chemicals giant Johnson Matthey found itself among the greatest-fallers list as it emerged it is to sell it UK car battery business to US engine maker Cummins.
The subsidiary specialises in battery systems for electric and hybrid cars. It’s a huge area of growth at the moment as major car manufacturers across the world up their production of the vehicles. The two businesses will also work in a partnership, developing battery materials for commercial heavyduty applications. Shares tumbled 4.3 pc, or 141p, to 3110p.
The AA continued its descent from the previous day after Credit Suisse slashed its target price for the stock from 140p to 125p.
Shares in the recovery group dropped 4.6pc, or 5.8p, to 119.3p.
Ashmore Group, too, continued on a downward trajectory after half-year results the day before showed profits had fallen. Jefferies raised its target price for the stock, but shares fell a further 8.6 pc, or36. 2p, to 386.6p.
Direct Line leapt as 2017 operating profit came in better than expected at £ 610m, up from £403.5 ma year ago. lower than expected weather claims helped boost performance and the group wrote £3.4bn of premiums over the year. Shares climbed 2.7pc, or 10p, to 378.5p. Physiomics secured its third major pharmaceutical client in as many months, winning a £70,000 contract with a global top ten pharmaceutical client. The firm’s virtual Tumour technology simulates cells within tumours to predict how they may react to different treatments. Chief executive Jim Millen said the flurry of deals was ‘a real sign of confidence in our technology’. Shares gained 10.8 pc, or 0.78p, to 7.98p. Bowling alley operator Ten
Entertainment added two more sites to its numbers after buying locations in Chichester and Warrington. The firm floated on the stock exchange last april and has been expanding its portfolio ever since. Shares dipped 2pc, or 5p, to 239p as Ten revealed the sites would require investment.
a 52pc increase in revenue couldn’t keep digital radio and music provider 7digital’s shares out of the red.
revenue for 2017 is expected to be £17.3m, up from £11.3m the year before, while its losses are set to be ‘significantly reduced’. But an ongoing restructuring seems to have made investors nervous. Shares fell 1.5pc, or 0.08p, to 4.8p.