Oil explorer slips after a row with rebel investor

SHARES in oil and gas exploration firm Bowleven tumbled as a row broke out with its largest shareholder.

The business hit back after activist investor Crown Ocean Capital, which holds a 16.2pc stake in the firm, sent an open letter to shareholders which, among other allegations, claimed the bosses were making too much money.

Bowleven said that while it did not believe shareholders were best served by a series of public claims and counterclaims, there were ten significant errors in the letter which it wanted to address, and set about deconstructing the claims.

In the letter, Crown Ocean said Bowleven board members had received remuneration totalling £35.4m over a ten-year period, but the company said the figure was actually £26.5m.

Bowleven said the salaries of its three executive directors were in line with rivals.

Crown Ocean, which has proposed new board members, also questioned the current board’s independence and accused it of using a share buyback programme to influence the share price in their own interest – something that Bowleven denies.

The Monaco-based activist, which yesterday snapped up another 2.2m shares in Bowleven, wants a boardroom overhaul.

It is also pushing for the firm to abandon its oil exploration business and operate as a holding company instead, returning excess cash to shareholders.

Bowleven urged its shareholders to vote against Crown Ocean’s resolutions at its general meeting next month. The activist said it stood behind its letter. Shares slipped 2.9pc, or 1p, to 33.5p.

The FTSE 100 finished the week up 0.3pc, or 22.04 points, at 7299.96.

Unilever shares soared as it rejected a bumper bid from the US company Kraft Heinz. Up 13.4pc, or 449.5p, to 3797p, it was among the highest risers of the day.

Elsewhere, analysts at N+1 Singer said that there were signs of a turnaround at Carpetright.

The broker has put a ‘buy’ rating on the stock, which it said had suffered from under-investment and unresolved legacy issues after the Harris family sold the business and set up a competitor. Shares fell to an all-time low in December.

But N+1 said a transformation was gaining momentum and 6.8pc sales growth in January was the start of the journey. Shares climbed in early trading but finished down 0.1pc, or 0.25p, at 208.75p.

Essentra surged despite announcing that profit for the year had plunged 29pc.

The firm, which makes packages for personal care products, said that it had been a year of challenge and change.

Essentra issued three profit warnings over the past 12 months as it battled integration issues with a business it acquired in 2015. The problems saw profit in the firm’s largest division fall 44pc.

Total revenue tumbled 9pc in the year and operating profit fell to £132m, from £172m the previous year. But Essentra said a turnaround programme was under way. It said it had started a comprehensive business review and is focusing on re-establishing stability and accountability.

While the firm warned that revenue and profit were likely to be lower this year too, chairman Paul Lester said the business was still fundamentally strong.

Shares rocketed 14.9pc, or 62.9p, to 484.4p. Arix Bioscience climbed on its first day of trading.

The firm floated on the stock exchange yesterday after raising £100m from investors.

The life sciences firm’s offering was oversubscribed as it attracted backers include pharma firms UCB and Takeda and the fund manager Neil Woodford.

Chief executive Dr Joe Anderson said the strong demand from investors was a vote of confidence for the sector. The share price closed flat at 209p.