William Hill is a winner as it seals US casino deal
INVESTORS cheered as bookie
William Hill made further gains in the US after the sports betting ban was lifted.
It inked a 25-year partnership with US casino operator Eldorado Resorts, giving it access to a growing pool of 23m customers across 11 US states.
UK betting firms have been pouring into the US since the Supreme Court ruling in May which lifted the ban. The country became even more important to the sector after a crackdown on gambling machines in the UK that pushed William Hill’s shares to a five-year low in August.
Under the deal, Eldorado will get a 20pc stake in William Hill US. It is chief executive Philip Bowcock’s third US deal in just over one month, sending shares up 4.83pc, or 12p, to 260.5p. Troubled athleisure retailer
Footasylum continued its slide, meaning it has now sunk about 60pc since its Monday profit warning.
It fell 12.42pc, or 4.75p, to 33.5p amid a damning note from analysts at Peel Hunt who recommended investors start dumping stock. The team noted: ‘Our conversation with the company did not leave us feeling that the business is about to stabilise, nor that the shares have stopped falling. Management seems to have lost its confidence.’
Overall the FTSE 100 closed down 1pc, or 74.58 points, to 7,383.28 points, amid a rollercoaster day for the pound.
Sterling fell early amid business pessimism before leaping after Bloomberg reported that Germany had abandoned key Brexit demands, suggesting a deal with the UK might be on the horizon.
However, it lost momentum after the reports were denied by both countries, while analysts cautioned Germany’s stance was not so crucial to the outcome.
Sliding currencies in Turkey and South Africa, meanwhile, battered packaging firm Mondi, which has a strong presence in both countries. Adding to the Turkish lira’s freefall, the rand weakened as South African data confirmed the country was in recession.
Mondi fell 1.63pc, or 35p, to 2,115p. Turkey also weighed on tour operator Thomas Cook (down 4.94pc, or 4.05p, to 77.9p), while South Africa dented Mediclinic International – down 2.51pc, or 12.5p, to 486.2p.
Fresh from selling its US shale oil wells to BP in an £8bn deal,
BHP splashed out around £27.4m to get a better grip on copper.
The Anglo-Australian miner, under pressure from activist investor Elliott, bought a 6pc stake in Australian miner SolGold, which owns the promising Cascabel copper-gold project in Ecuador.
Miners are keen to get more copper projects as demand is expected to grow, but major projects are thin on the ground.
BHP tried to buy 10pc of SolGold in 2016 for £23m, but was shot down by bosses who said their offer was inadequate.
It is now paying around £27.4m for Guyana Goldfield’s 6pc stake.
Investors in SolGold cheered, sending shares up 20.6pc, or 4.4p, to 25.8p. BHP shares were held back, however, by concerns about renewed tensions between the US and trade partners, which sent commodity prices tumbling.
BHP fell 1.02pc, or 16.6p, to 1,618.4p, while Rio Tinto was also down 0.27pc, or 9.5p, to 3,564p.
Anglo American fell 1.15pc, or 17.8p, to 1,530p. Investors in troubled Chemring were cheered after it was hired by the US department of defence to help it detect chemical weapons.
Shares plunged 20pc in August after a worker died in an explosion at its key site in Salisbury.
They ticked up yesterday 5.37pc, or 11p, to 216p.