Superdry takes a tumble after its co-founder sells £71m stake
CLOTHING brand
Superdry fell out of fashion with investors after the company’s co-founder cashed in on a £71m stake, raising doubts over its recent share price rally.
Julian Dunkerton, who has guided the business from a Cheltenham market to London’s main market, slashed his holding to 18.5pc after dumping a 6.7pc stake.
His second major stake sale in 2018 “raises the question of what the EX-CEO thinks about the value of the current share price” and earnings momentum has “slowed from the historic strong double-digit growth rates”, broker Liberum warned.
The sale played into fears of spluttering growth after the company warned in May of weakening revenue next year. After rallying 23pc from June’s three-year low, Superdry slumped to the bottom of the FTSE 250, tumbling 129p to £12.36.
Elsewhere, UK miners enjoyed their strongest day in three months after the Chinese government unveiled a stimulus package to offset the impact of its trade conflict with the US.
The fiscal stimulus unveiled by the Chinese government is “tiny” but investors should brace for “more aggressive” spending if the trade war escalates, ING’S Iris Pang explained. Beijing’s willingness to support the Chinese economy from Donald Trump’s tariffs attack and earnings from overseas rivals soothing investors’ nerves boosted metals giants Glencore and BHP
Billiton 17.4p to 327.4p and 92.2p to £17.02, respectively. Their heavy weighting on the FTSE 100 underpinned its 53.26-point rise to 7,709.05 as markets rallied on a slew of corporate earnings beating expectations.
ITV edged down 0.3p to 170.5p despite JP Morgan predicting that the wave of deal making in the US media sector would spread to Europe.
After a deluge of bids in America, involving media mammoths Disney, Fox, AT&T and Time Warner, the Wall Street bank argued that ITV was the best European candidate to be swept up in the next spate of deals.
The broadcaster’s own content and the fact that it “operates in an English language market” makes it an attractive takeover target for both US and European media companies, its analysts told clients.
Soft drinks maker Britvic regained its fizz after allaying concerns that the C02 shortage would blow its full-year guidance off course, lifting it 35p to 814p. Frontier Developments
jumped 60p to £12.20 after Jefferies initiated coverage of the games maker with a “buy” rating while Royal Mail advanced 4.4p to 470.5p after HSBC upgraded it to “buy”, arguing that concerns over the decline of letter volumes has been overdone.