£160m dental deal puts a smile on chem firm’s face
CHEMICALS firm Elementis advanced after revealing plans to expand its personal care business.
The company has bought speciality chemicals firm Summit-Reheis for £289m.
Summit, which makes ingredients used in personal care and dental products such as anti-perspirants, reported earnings of £22m in 2016 on revenue of £107.6m.
Elementis said the purchase should boost its personal care business annual sales to around £160m.
It was particularly attracted to Summit’s anti-perspirants business – around 60pc of the firm’s sales. The industry is believed to be worth around £10.5bn.
The business took the opportunity to reassure shareholders that full-year earnings were on track to meet expectations. Shares soared 10.1pc, or 27.8p, to 303p.
The FTSE 100 finished up 0.4pc, or 29.25 points to 7258.75. Miners made up many of the top risers of the day as investors welcomed a boardroom shake-up at Rio Tinto.
The miner has recruited three energy executives to its board: Shell’s departing chief financial officer Simon Henry, and the former bosses of Sasol and Centrica.
Nicholas Hyett, equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: ‘The sudden influx of non-execs with energy market experience is intriguing given that oil and gas assets are notably absent from Rio’s current portfolio and the group has been winding down its thermal coal operations.’
Nevertheless Rio shares ramped up 5.6pc, or 190.5p, to 3572.5p.
BHP Billiton was also among the top movers despite the announcement that a fire at a copper mine in Chile injured three workers. Shares gained 2.4pc, or 32p, to 1370p.
Dunelm shares surged as Numis upped its rating on the stock to ‘buy’. Shares in the retailer had fallen earlier in the week after thousands of price hikes at its stores following weak first-half results.
The broker said plans to integrate Worldstores into the business would extend Dunelm’s range and reduce its delivery times, after it acquired the company at the back end of last year.
Dunelm’s chairman certainly seems to share the broker’s positive outlook. Andy Harrison snapped up 31,527 shares in the business at £6.24 each, spending £196,728. It takes his total stake in the firm to 0.07pc. Shares gained 5.3pc, or 32.5p, to 650p.
Real estate company Shaftesbury advanced as it shrugged off Brexit concerns. The group, which owns property around London’s Covent Garden, Soho and Chinatown, focuses on retail, restaurant and leisure space, and lets offices.
Shaftesbury said the West End continued to attract growing numbers of international visitors despite political uncertainties, with tourist numbers boosted by the attraction of a weaker pound.
The business said vacancy rates were low and work on its development in Chinatown was on track to finish in late spring. Shares edged up 0.3pc, or 2.5p, to 898.5p
Student accommodation developer Unite Group has bought a student village for £227m.
The Aston student village in Birmingham has 3,067 beds across five properties. It has entered into a joint venture with Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC for the purchase. Aston University has around 11,000 students.
Unite said it will invest in the accommodation this summer and hopes the site will yield 6pc. Shares inched up 0.2pc, or 1.5p, to 615p.
Motor finance and specialist lending firm S&U rose as figures revealed consumer car finance climbed 8pc in February. In a trading update the business said performance was in line with expectation in the year to January 31.
The group’s motor finance business reached 20,000 new transactions in the year for the first time, beating its previous record by nearly 5,000 deals. The firm now has a record 43,000 live customers.
Shares accelerated 3.3pc, or 72p, to 2225p.