Companies in the news ... and how they were assessed

BHP Billiton: cheerful weather for commodities?

The world’s largest miner made a shocking $6.4bn loss last year – the largest in its history, said Daniel Grote on Citywire. BHP Billiton “counted the cost” of the vicious commodities rout and the Samarco dam disaster in Brazil. But investors didn’t care. The most salient part of the announcement for them was “the upbeat tone” of management. “There is some sense that prices have stopped falling,” said BHP chief Andrew Mackenzie. And perhaps the worst of the commodities crisis really is over. The good cheer propelled mining stocks across the FTSE higher. But investors should beware getting carried away, said Emma Haslett in City AM. BHP’S figures “aren’t quite as bad as thought” (analysts had expected a $7bn loss), but they’re not exactly “good”. As analyst Naeem Aslam of Think Markets notes: “Until we see the demand picking up in China, pressure will remain on these mining stocks.” Meanwhile, the Samarco disaster, which saw 19 people killed when a dam owned by BHP burst last year, continues “to take its toll”. BHP wrote down $2.2bn for ongoing costs, including compensation claims. The miner is keen to stress “the depth of its response”, said Jonathan Guthrie on Ft.com. Very sensible. “Failures of community relations can have dire consequences for natural resources companies.” Ask BP.

Sports Direct et al: named and shamed

Good news for Sports Direct’s long-suffering workforce, said Simon Goodley in The Guardian. Thousands of warehouse workers will receive back pay totalling around £1m after the retailer admitted breaking the law by not paying the national minimum wage. The company and its employment agencies also face fines of up to £2m. The payments, backdated to 2012, could be worth up to £1,000 for some workers. But a further 1,700 employed by the agency Transline may initially receive “just half the back pay they are owed”, because the agency is refusing to refund unpaid wages dating from before it took over the contract two years ago. The Government is clearly determined to continue its predecessor’s tough line on the minimum wage, said The Daily Telegraph. A recent letter from business groups, protesting plans to raise it to £9.02 by 2020, got short shrift. And delinquent companies are being “named and shamed” in their scores. In the largest list to date, 198 businesses, which collectively owed £466,219 in arrears over the past year, have been “called out”. The worst offender was the San Lorenzo restaurant in Wimbledon, which owed 30 employees a total of almost £100,000. It has now paid up.

Itv/entertainment One: Pep talk

Is there no end to Peppa Pig’s seductiveness? Fresh from rebuffing a £1bn offer from ITV, the cartoon character’s owner, Entertainment One, is being wooed by several other suitors, said The Sunday Times. They include KKR, the “buy-out giant” which owns Toys R Us; the German TV giant Prosieben; and the French media group Vivendi. Aimed at preschoolers, Peppa Pig is a runaway international hit that has aired in 180 countries, making its Canadian owner, which is listed in London, a “target for predators”. Entertainment One also has around 40,000 other TV and film titles. “ITV’S swoop reflects its desire to reduce its reliance on advertising income by beefing up its content business.” CEO Adam Crozier wants to turn the broadcaster into “a production powerhouse”, said Alex Brummer in the Daily Mail. Given the way advertising “has been balkanised by digital media”, that seems a sensible way to protect future revenues. Entertainment One is holding out for more – and “no one wants to overpay”. But if Crozier decides to spend a little more on Peppa, “investors shouldn’t get in his way”.

Gawker: auctioned off

The American wrestler Hulk Hogan has claimed his final pound of flesh, said Tom Kludt on CNN Money. Having forced the salacious news site Gawker into bankruptcy in June – following a “devastating” privacy lawsuit that resulted in a $140.1m damages bill – it was sold off in “a court-supervised auction” on Tuesday. The move marks the end of a 14-year reign for Nick Denton, the British enfant terrible of US gossip, who launched Gawker from his apartment in 2002, and later created several other sites including the “now-shuttered” Valleywag and the tech site Gizmodo. The operation came to grief when Gawker published footage of Hogan having sex; the wrestler’s subsequent lawsuit was financed by the tech entrepreneur Peter Thiel. This week’s auction attracted several bidders, including tech publisher Ziff Davis, which submitted a “stalking-horse” bid of $90m, and Penske Media, owner of Variety magazine. But it was Spanish-language broadcaster Univision that triumphed, with a winning bid of $135m.