Rottweiler sinks teeth into feeble Ted Baker
AN Aggressive activist hedge fund has raised its stake in Ted Baker days after the ailing retailer put out a profit warning.
Toscafund, founded by Martin Hughes who is known in the City as ‘the rottweiler’, has bumped up its holding from 5.9pc to 11.9pc.
While activist investors are often something other shareholders fear, Ted Baker’s stock lifted 5.5pc, or 19.6p, to 372.8p on the news.
The fashion retailer revealed on Tuesday that its annual profits could sink as low as £5m this year, compared with £51m the year before. its share price has fallen by 76pc this year, meaning groups such as Toscafund that are buying in now are doing so on the cheap.
Toscafund has not yet said if it has any plans in store for Ted Baker. But in the wake of the profit warning, a sexual harassment scandal, the departure of senior staff such as chief executive Lindsay Page, and an accounting error, some investors could be hoping for an activist investor with bite as well as bark to turn the ship around.
The FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 both rallied after the Conservatives won an 80-seat majority in the general election.
The FTse 100 closed up 1.1pc, or 79.97 points, at 7353.44, while the FTse 250, which is more exposed to events that happen in the UK, surged 3.4pc, or 714.76 points, to 21507.79.
Across the pond, stock markets in the Us had a mixed reaction to President Trump announcing the country has struck a preliminary trade deal with China and will start negotiations immediately for a ‘phase two’ agreement.
some analysts speculated that the deal fell short of what traders had hoped for. in the wake of the election result, analysts at HsBC upgraded British Airways-owner IAG (up 13pc, or 72.8p, to 629.4p) and Ryanair (3.5pc higher, or 0.49p, to 14.42p) from ‘hold’ to ‘buy’, saying the Tory majority will boost consumer and business spending.
BT shares jumped as it dodged potential nationalisation from a Labour government.
it was also on the up on reports it has struck a deal to split its business in spain into two parts over the next few months – according to local newspapers. shares rose 6.5pc, or 12.37p, to 201.65p.
Top directors and senior managers at investment platform AJ Bell, along with their partners, have landed an £11m pre-Christmas windfall.
Five board members and two senior managers sold 2.2m shares for 400p apiece, bagging £8.7m. The wives of five directors sold a further 577,398 shares, pocketing £2.3m.
The sales occurred earlier this week when AJ Bell employees became able to dispose of their shares for the first time since the company floated on the stock market last December. in total, employees sold shares worth £25.7m. AJ Bell closed up 3.7pc, or 15p, at 420p.
Centamin promoted finance boss ross Jerrard to a temporary chief executive role and brought in mining investor Jim rutherford as deputy chairman, with an eye to replacing founder Josef elraghy as chairman next year.
But enthusiasm about the shake-up, which comes in the wake of a takeover approach from Canadian group endeavour Mining, was muted, with shares falling 1.8pc, or 2.15p, to 119.7p.
student accommodation provider Unite Group advanced after the Competition and Markets Authority chose not to refer its £1.4bn takeover of Liberty Living to an in- depth, second- stage merger investigation. shares rose 2.1pc, or 25p, to 1200p. On AiM, retail investor favourite
Hurricane Energy surged 9.9pc, or 3p, to 33.2p after it said it expects to make annual revenues of £123m. This was higher than the £115m analysts had forecast.