Playtech pain after being ditched at the altar again
Playtech shares tumbled to their lowest level in nine months after a long-running takeover battle fizzled out without a buyer.
The stock sank 18.2pc, or 94p, to 422p after Hong Kong-based TT Bond Partners (TTB), the gambling software company’s third largest shareholder, announced it would not be making an offer for the firm as a result of ‘challenging market conditions’ despite the deadline to make an offer having been extended twice.
The decision by TTB to abandon its pursuit of Playtech marks an end to a heated nine-month-long tussle over the future of the company. Last October, the company agreed a £2.7bn offer from Australian casino group Aristocrat Leisure, which sent the share price soaring.
But the bid attracted interest from other potential suitors including another Hong Kongbased firm, asset manager Gopher Investment. Playtech was also circled by a vehicle led by former Formula One team boss Eddie Jordan. Speculation over the company’s future intensified after the Aristocrat bid collapsed earlier this year after only 55pc of shareholders approved the deal, well short of the required threshold of 75pc.
In response to TTB’s decision to pull out yesterday, Playtech chief executive Mor Weizer said the company retained ‘strong momentum’ and remained ‘confident’ in its growth prospects.
But AJ Bell analyst Danni Hewson said Playtech had now been ‘ditched at the altar more times than investors care to remember.’
The FtSe 100 dropped 1.6pc, or 116.56 points, to 7039.81 and the FtSe 250 fell 1.2pc, or 230.7 points, to 18480.66. Market sentiment was again weighed down by recession fears after the International Monetary Fund ( IMF) warned the outlook for the global economy had ‘darkened significantly’ in recent months.
IMF head Kristalina Georgieva also predicted the organisation would downgrade its global growth forecasts for 2022 and 2023 in an update later this month, adding that disruptions to European gas supplies could ‘plunge many economies into recession.’
The concerns sent Brent crude to under $98 a barrel. The slide sent shares in Shell down 3.3pc, or 65.6p, to 1936.4p and BP fell 3.5pc, or 13.25p, to 363.95p.
Mining groups were lower as traders fretted a global recession could cause a decline in commodity prices. Fresnillo fell 5.9pc, or 40.6p, to 644p, Rio tinto dropped 4.7pc, or 225p, to 4567p, antofagasta slipped 4.8pc, or 49.9p, to 991.6p and Glencore eased 4.1pc, or 17.15p, to 401.3p. anglo american also lost 5.1pc, or 137.5p, to 2547.5p despite announcing a partnership with Japanese firm
Nippon Steel.
Car insurers dropped after motor insurer Sabre warned soaring costs and inflation were weighing on the sector. Sabre plunged 39.8pc, or 75p, to 113.6p, admiral tumbled 18.1pc, or 427.5p, to 1933.5p and Direct line slumped 11.7pc, or 27.6p, to 208.8p.
Customer review website trustpilot sank 22.1pc, or 20.75p, to 73.25p after reporting a slowdown in revenue growth and warning it faced a ‘rapidly changing and uncertain macroeconomic environment’. It reported revenue growth of 18pc to £62m in the six months to the end of June, but this was slower than the 31pc recorded in the same period last year.
Music fund hipgnosis said the value of its portfolio jumped 9.9pc to £1.9bn for the year. The company, which buys up the rights to songs and earns money from their royalties, also said revenue for the year jumped 24.7pc to £170m. The company holds the music catalogues of Shakira as well as Neil Young. Shares jumped 1.3pc, or 1.4p, to 109.6p.