Americans in swoop on bus operator FirstGroup
A TOP UK transport company has rejected an ‘opportunistic’ takeover approach from a backer of the Caesars Palace hotel in Las Vegas.
which owns Greyhound buses and Great Western Railway, has been approached by private equity firm Apollo Global Management. FirstGroup shares closed up 7.4pc or 7p at 101.8p yesterday, valuing the company at more than £1.2bn.
That was two hours before it announced the approach and shares could rise further today. First said: ‘The board ... believes it fundamentally undervalues the company, and is opportunistic.’
Firms owned by New York-based Apollo include Brit Insurance and Norwegian Cruise Line. It also has stakes in whirlpool brand Jacuzzi and is the third-largest investor in Caesars Entertainment, owner of Caesars Palace.
The owner of car-buying website webuyanycar.com put the pedal to the metal as the rest of the auto industry crunches into reverse. In an upbeat trading statement, secondhand car dealer BCA Marketplace said it was trading ‘ahead of expectations’, as it reported strong profit growth and lowerthan-expected debts.
The FTSE 250-listed firm said webuyanycar.com continued to ‘succeed and grow’, while its remarketing business, which helps companies sell their vehicles, had won new contracts and kept a number of old ones.
Analysts at N+1 Singer said the update should ‘trigger a reasonable bounce in the share price’, reiterating a ‘buy’ rating. Shares rose 6.1pc, or 10p, to 173.4p.
The FTSE 100 followed other major stock markets into the red as conflict between the US and Russia intensified, ending down 0.13pc, or 9.61 points, at 7257.14.
Centrica was one of the FTSE’s biggest fallers after its subsidiary British Gas decided to hike bills of 4.1m customers by an average of £60 a year. Shares plunged 2.6pc, or 3.65p, to 138.9p. Shares in mining giant BHP Billiton ticked up 1pc, or 14.2p to 1448.4p after Deutsche Bank upgraded it from ‘hold’ to ‘buy’. FTSE 100 airline EasyJet slipped back after it submitted a new bid with a consortium for stricken Italian airline Alitalia. Shares slipped 1.8pc, or 29.5p, to 1609.5p.
Sister company EasyHotel fared better, however, as it issued a bullish trading update. The Aim-listed budget hotel operator, which owns 27 sites across Europe, reported a 33.6pc jump in sales in the six months to March 31. Shares in charter jet provider
Air Partner took off despite it admitting the accounting error that decimated it last week was worse than it thought.
In a problem stretching back to 2011, it made mistakes in the way it accounted for client payments, meaning it would have to cut its profit over the period by £3.3m.
Now, it says that is likely to be more than £4m. To soothe nervous shareholders, it took the unusual step of announcing its dividend before its full-year results. It will pay 3.8p per share for the year ending January 31. Its shares jumped 26.8pc, or 19.8p, to 93.8p.
On AIM, Range Resources will give up three exploration licences in Colombia after a spat with the oil regulator, which made a £37.4m claim – now dropped – against it and partner Optima Oil Corporation over unfulfilled work commitments and credit issues. Shares shot up 11.1p, or 0.02p, to 0.25p. Payment tech firm Universe
Group’s shares rose despite falling revenue and profits, and ‘significant uncertainty’ over its £2m contract with collapsed Conviviality, the owner of the Bargain Booze chain. But a major new deal with a international forecourt operator pushed shares up 2.3pc, or 0.12p, to 5.62p. by Paul Thomas