Cineworld boss creates a scene By Geoff Foster
THE curtain again came down on Cineworld as another bout of nervous selling dragged the shares a further 14.2p lower to 473p making a fall of 10pc in just more than a week. Europe’s second-biggest cinema operator has come under increased pressure since news of the resignation of Philip Bowcock, its well respected chief financial officer. He is apparently leaving to ‘pursue other interests’ and cited a ‘lack of chemistry’ with chief executive Mooky Greidinger who, along with his brother, owns 29pc of the equity.
One fund manager said: ‘Dress it up as you like, but there’s obviously been a big row. The Greidinger brothers will live to regret it.’
He said Bowcock had smoothed the way for Cineworld’s acquisition of Poland-based Cinema City International, adding: ‘Remember, it was part financed by a £110m rights issue at 230p a pop, and was considered a good deal for CCI’s shareholders but not for Cineworld’s. Bowcock persuaded many disbelievers to come onside.’
The Greidingers will have to make sure his replacement can also fully communicate with the City and shareholders.
Broker Peel Hunt remains a buyer and says in the short to medium term, the fundamentals of the business remain unchanged. The group is entering a period which is set to be dominated by the release of Hunger Games: Mocking-Jay Part II and Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens. There is potential for significant upgrades towards the back-end of the year.
Despite late reports that the IMF was withdrawing its negotiators from Greek debt talks citing major differences with the Greek government on issues including pension reforms and tax rates, the Footsie closed 16.47 points up at 6846.74 and the FTSE 250 59.32 points higher at 18,089.45. Wall Street followed Wednesday’s gain of 236 points with an early improvement of 59 points on hearing US retail sales increased by a better-thanexpected 1.2pc in May.
Property stocks were boosted by talk of a pending bullish sector circular. British Land rose 19p to 850p, Land Securities 27p to 1296p and Hammerson, which sold the Bercy 2 shopping centre in Paris to Tikehau Capital Partners for €64m (£46m), was up 10.5p at 660.5p.
Insurance giant Prudential climbed 27p to 1615p on a Charles Stanley upgrade to accumulate from hold. Mike Wells’ appointment as chief executive should ensure continuity of the group’s successful strategy of delivering profitable growth in Asia and cash from the mature US and UK businesses. Shares, at present levels, offer high-quality growth at a very reasonable price. Royal Mail posted a fall of 23.2p to 493.3p after the Government sold a 15pc stake for 500p a share.
Vodafone was sold down to 235p before closing 7.1p off at 237p. For the first time, the mobile phone giant this week announced it is to offer its mobile customers a £5 discount on fixed broadband and telephony. Broker Deutsche Bank believes a TV service will be added at a later date. Its target price is 260p. Vague bid talk lifted explorer Nostrum Oil
& Gas 19p to 550p. Talk that a big seller had been cleared and that Stifel rated it a buy with a 160p target price helped Intelligent Energy rally 5p to 89p, but it’s still a million miles away from the £3 flotation price. The broker believes IE has established an energy service arm to provide back-up power to telecom tower companies, using its remote engine-monitoring expertise to improve diesel performance.
Placed at 133p by broker Liberum Capital, shares of Israeli software company
Adgorithms closed at 139p. The company has developed proprietary algorithmic software that enables automated campaign management in the high-growth online advertising market.
Boxhill Technologies rose 11pc (0.02p) to 0.26p after a bullish trading update. The payment software and lottery group hit the jackpot by reporting that profitability for the three months to end-April exceeded profitability in the six months ended January 31 this year.
Management remain confident that the full-year result will show revenue for the year ended July 31 at least double last year’s revenue.
First Property Group jumped 3.75p to 44p following a 22.4pc leap in annual profits to £8.08m, helped by profits made by the fund management business and the purchase of six properties in Poland and Romania.
Majestic Wine dipped 1.5p to 443.5p despite a Liberum Capital upgrade to buy from hold and target price of £5. The broker views the acquisition of Naked Wines as transformational which offers investors international growth and a proven online model.
David Gibbon’s appointment as chief financial officer gave Cloudbuy a 0.5p fillip to 24p. He comes with 18 years’ experience as a finance boss for technology companies.