Aston Martin accelerates as boss Palmer is ejected

THE bell finally tolled for Aston

Martin boss Andy Palmer as the company confirmed his ousting yesterday.

The announcement came after two days of media reports saying just as much – and almost as many years of pain for investors.

For though Palmer was once credited with leading the car maker’s recovery after taking the wheel in 2014, his stewardship since it floated in 2018 has proved far more controversial.

From their lofty price of 1900p at listing, the shares had long since plummeted to close at just 35.5p on Friday, a 98pc loss in value.

Perhaps it wasn’t surprising that traders greeted his sacking with a fanfare, sending the stock up 27.8pc, or 9.9p, to 45.36p. Neil Wilson, analyst at Markets, said the reaction was ‘a pretty damning indictment’ of Palmer’s tenure.

Investors may also have been pleased with the former chief executive’s successor, Tobias Moers, who takes over in August.

The German is the boss of highperformance Mercedes division AMG, and a petrolhead to boot.

His time at AMG chimes well with executive chairman Lawrence Stroll’s plan to take the luxury brand back to its roots in high-performance models and racing. Stroll, a billionaire who led a £540m rescue of Aston in January, said: ‘Now is the time for new leadership to deliver our plans.’ Pubs and breweries owner

Marston’s dipped 10.5pc, or 6.95p, to 59.05p, as investors took profits. The owner of Hobgoblin and Pedigree had been trading at just below 33p before it announced a £780m merger with Carlsberg’s UK arm on Friday, sending shares rocketing. The new company, Carlsberg Marston’s Brewery Company, will combine eight breweries and 12 distribution centres and is expected to result in cost savings.

It will also give Carlsberg access to sell drinks in Marston’s pubs.

IT equipment and software provider Softcat fell 6.5pc, or 82p, to 1175p after warning about the potential impact of the crisis.

It sells corporate software made by industry giants such as Microsoft, and access to its own infrastructure such as data centres.

But if the pandemic is followed by an economic downturn, its customers, many of whom are small and medium-sized businesses, may seek to cut spending.

In a third-quarter trading update, Softcat yesterday insisted it had ‘traded satisfactorily’ in the three months to April 30 and that it was ‘encouraged by the resilience of the business thus far’.

But it added: ‘There remains a high degree of uncertainty in the coming months.’

AIM-tiddler Yourgene was on the up. It is planning to launch Covid-19 testing services. The Manchester biotech firm has expanded its lab capabilities to offer ‘private testing’ services to GP surgeries, private clinics and business clients across the UK.

It is also set to launch its own Covid-19 testing kits, also for laboratory use, which it will sell to customers. Its shares rose by 6.9pc, or 1.25p, to 19.5p following the announcement.

Yourgene has also been involved in manufacturing tests developed by fellow biotech firm Novacyt. The latter, through its Southampton subsidiary Primerdesign, was among the first to develop a Covid-19 test and has notched up revenues of £90m, compared to the division’s £5.6m last year, thanks to the breakthrough.

Yesterday it emerged that the firm’s bosses could be set for a big pay day. Chief executive Graham Mullis could get 1.1m shares and finance chief Anthony Dyer 376,643. Novacyt rose 1.6pc, or 5p, to 325p, meaning Mullis and Dyer’s payouts are respectively worth about £3.5m and £1.2m.