Sirius drops 20pc after it taps investors for £310m

THERE was no doubting yesterday’s big story: Sirius Minerals’ long-awaited £2.9bn second-phase financing.

Well, what we actually got were the mechanics of how this giant, multi-part fundraiser will work rather than the completed deal.

The cash will be used to bore a mine around a mile below the North York Moors and 23 miles horizontally to extract and transport a fertiliser called polyhalite to the River Tees.

Financing plans include tapping investors for £310m by issuing shares at 15-18p each. Market mechanics, therefore, dictated the stock would drop in anticipation of the cash call. It fell 20.5pc, or 4.48p, to 17.42p, wiping just over a fifth from the value of Sirius.

The debt portion is made up of a convertible bond and secured senior debt (bringing in £770m) and a revolving credit facility for just under £2bn.

Sirius has until October 30, the day before the latest Brexit deadline, to find lenders to chip in to the credit facility. It will be interesting to see who gets a deal done first – Theresa May, or Sirius chief executive Chris Fraser.

The FTSE 100 traded sideways until Wall Street chimed in, pulling the index of blue-chips 0.3pc, or 22.44 points lower, to 7418.22. Disappointing manufacturing data from China dented the performance of the miners, which supply huge quantities of iron, coal and copper to the country.

Antofagasta was off 12.5pc, or 23.2p, at 908p and super-major

Anglo American was down 1.6pc, or 31.1p, to 1981.4p.

Next (down 1.2pc, or 72p, at 5766p) delivered a fairly dour assessment of the retail sector in

January when it set its 2019 expectations. Today, the chain delivers a first-quarter trading update. Blue- chip property website

Rightmove suffered subsidence, slipping 1.4pc, or 7.9p, to 540.6p after Deutsche Bank downgraded the stock.

Rentokil Initial ticked up 0.8pc, or 3p, to 390p after the Competition and Markets Authority said it may approve proposals relating to its £40m takeover of the pest control arm of smaller rival Mitie. The regulator had expressed concerns the takeover could present risks to prices and customer choice.

A warning on challenging markets proved toxic for shares in FTSE 250 chemicals firm Elementis, which sank 14.6pc, or 8.2p to 162.5p.

Shares in publican Greene King suffered from profit-taking, falling 7.5pc, or 51.6p, to 641p, despite like-for-like sales growth in its year- end trading update. Asset manager Jupiter was brought down to earth after reporting net outflows of nearly £500m in its first quarter. The shares sank 2.3pc, or 8.7p, to 375.3p.

Among the small caps, oil minnow Cluff Natural Resources was boosted 3pc, or 0.07p higher, to 2.55p after Shell agreed to pay £461,000 for a 50pc stake in a North Sea licence.

Podcast firm Audioboom hit the right notes, rising 2pc, or 0.05p, to 2.5p after raising £2.8m from a premium-priced share placing.

Things were looking less bright for Griffin Mining, which slumped 10.9pc, or 12p, to 98p after lower zinc prices helped chop its fullyear profits almost in half.

Shares in Mirriad Advertising stayed flat at 6.5p after appointing John Pearson – the former CEO of Virgin Radio and song app firm Shazam – as its chairman.

There was a strong degree of finality to investment firm Eight

Peaks after it said it would delist from AIM, causing shares to crash 57.9pc, or 5.5p, to 4p.