the times | Tuesday May 17 2022 43
MarketsBusiness
T
he £595 million
purchase of
Stagecoach,
Britain’s largest bus
company, by DWS, the
German group, is set to
go through at the end
of this week (Robert
Lea writes).
However, National
Express, the rival bus
group with which
Stagecoach initially
had said it would
merge, has claimed
that its own offer is
“superior” and that it
will not improve it.
National Express
said yesterday that it
“considers the terms of
its proposal to be full
and fair and has
decided that the terms
will not be increased
and are now final, save
that National Express
reserves the right to
improve these terms
with the
recommendation of
the Stagecoach board.
“The board of
National Express
continues to encourage
Stagecoach
shareholders to take
no action in relation to
the DWS offer.”
Stagecoach’s board
has recommended the
proposal from DWS. It
reversed its decision to
merge with National
Express and insteadthreat to Boohoo” given its scale,
marketing presence and simpler
supply chain. As well as downgrading
their “outperform” recommendation
on Boohoo to “neutral”, the analysts
believe that it is unclear whether the
increasing amount of regulation
around human rights and
environmental issues will hinder the
company or reduce its competition.
The shares closed down 2¼p, or
2.6 per cent, at 79¾p.
Of the minnows, shares in
Synairgen jumped by as much as
50 per cent during the session after
the respiratory drugs discovery group
said that further trial results for its
inhaled SNG001 medicine, a naturally
occurring antiviral protein — which a
few months ago failed in a late-stage
trial testing patients in hospitals with
Covid-19 — showed the drug’s
effectiveness in higher-risk patients.
The shares settled at their highest
level since plunging after
disappointing results in February,
closing up 8¼p, or 31.1 per cent, at 35p.ALAMYDeal is lost in translation
after bidder walks away
Jessica Newman Market report
T
he decision by a would-be
private equity bidder to walk
away from a takeover of
RWS sent shares in the
translation group tumbling
by as much as a fifth yesterday.
Baring Private Equity Asia VIII
Limited confirmed that it would not
be making any offer for the Aim-
quoted group, weeks after saying that
it was in “preliminary stages” of
making a move for the business.
RWS, which translates patents and
other paperwork for businesses, came
across unfazed after the failed
takeover talks, claiming that it had a
“strong future based on its clearly
defined strategy”. Investors were less
optimistic and the shares closed down
82¾p, or 18.6 per cent, at 360p.
After an early drop driven by weakeconomic data from China, London’s
heavyweight mining companies
managed to keep the commodity-
focused FTSE 100 out of the red
thanks to a rise in metal prices. The
index improved 46.65 points, 0.6 per
cent, to 7,464.80, while the FTSE 250
closed flat, up a mere 2.22 points at
19,924.11.
Fresnillo, the Mexican precious
metals miner, topped the leaderboard,
rising 33½p, or 4.6 per cent, to 756¾p,
while Glencore rose 15¾p, or 3.4 per
cent, to 477p and Antofagasta gained
34p, or 2.5 per cent, to £13.82½.
Another big riser was Phoenix
Group Holdings after Goldman Sachs
tipped its clients to buy the stock,
arguing that the insurer’s £1.3 billion
of balance sheet capacity provides
additional options for more mergers
and acquisitions and share buybacks.
The shares rose 17p, or 2.8 per cent, to
633¾p.
Alan Devlin and his team of
analysts at the American bank were
less impressed by Aviva, though,causing the shares to slip 8¾p, or
2.2 per cent, to 394¾p. Devlin said
that while Aviva’s management
deserved praise for delivering the first
two stages of their strategic priorities,
they believe the final stage —
transforming the core portfolio —
“will be much harder and take longer
to deliver”. As a result, he dropped
Aviva from Goldman Sachs’ “buy” list.
Rampant cost inflation prompted
analysts at Berenberg to reduce their
“buy” rating on Kainos to “hold,”
leading the shares to fall 84p, or
7.4 per cent, to £10.47.
On the flip side, Centrica’s shares
swelled 2¾p, or 3.6 per cent, to 79¾p
as Ofgem’s proposed changes to the
UK energy price cap would allow
energy bills to go up to four times a
year, which would power up the
British Gas owner’s profits even more.
Buyers of Boohoo were told to take
their money elsewhere by analysts at
Credit Suisse, who argued that the
rise of Shein, the Chinese fast-fashion
retailer, still posed a “very significantFund splashes out with £400m
natural resourcesA
listed renewable
energy investor
has acquired a
12.5 per cent stake in
the Hornsea 1 wind
farm off the Yorkshire
coast. Greencoat UK
Wind, the first fund of
its kind to invest solely
in renewable energy
generation, bought the
stake from Global
Infrastructure
Partners, the fund
manager, for about
£400 million. On
completion of the deal,
Greencoat said that
the asset would
increase the group’s
net capacity to more
than 1.6 gigawatts.
Hornsea 1 is the
largest operational
offshore wind farm inthe world and has been
running since 2020.
With a capacity of
about 1.2GW, it
generates enough
electricity to meet the
needs of a million
homes. It was
developed and built by
Orsted, the Danishcompany and the
world’s biggest
offshore wind
developer, using
Siemens turbines.
Orsted sold a 50 per
cent stake in the
project to Global
Infrastructure Partners
in 2018 for £4.5 billion.
It still runs and
maintains the farm.
This year the
Renewables
Infrastructure Group
bought a 7.8 per cent
stake in a wind farm
from GIP.
The deal failed to
generate a positive
reaction from investors
and Greencoat shares
closed down 2¼p, or
1.5 per cent, at 152¾p
last night.The Hornsea 1 farm off
Yorkshire can power a
million UK homesWall Street report
After markets racked up a sixth
consecutive weekly loss on Friday,
they began this week in confused
mood, with the S&P 500 and
Nasdaq in the red and the Dow
Jones industrial average rising 26.76
points, 0.1 per cent, to 32,223.42.Company Change
Fresnillo Higher precious metal prices 4.6%
Apax Global Alpha Investors move in after recent share price weakness 4.4%
TP Icap Recovers some losses after recent sell-off 4.3%
Plus500 Raises profit guidance 4.1%
Chrysalis Investments Extends gains 3.9%
Trainline Positive sentiment evaporates -4.7%
Baltic Classifieds Profit-taking -5.2%
Diploma Investors disappointed with half-year results -5.7%
Network International Holdings Gives up recent gains -7.3%
Kainos Analyst downgrade -7.4%
The day’s biggest movers
agreed to a takeover by
DWS in March.
DWS offered 105p a
share in cash for
Stagecoach, a level that
the bus operator has
not traded at for ten
months and 54 per
cent more than
Stagecoach shares
were trading at before
the announcement in
September of a plan to
merge with National
Express. The putative
National Express-
Stagecoach deal was an
all-paper affair pegged
to the value of
National Express
stock.
Shares in Stagecoach
fell ½p, or 0.4 per cent,
to 104¼p; National
Express dipped 2¼p, or
0.9 per cent, to 247½p.Germans
win race for
Stagecoach
Exchange rates
Bid Change
Australia $ 1.767
Canada $ 1.582
Denmark Kr 8.764 +0.02
Euro ¤ 1.178
Hong Kong $ 9.618 +0.02
Hungary 458.427 +4.91
Indonesia 17903.965 +46.82
Israel Shk 4.154 -0.01
Japan Yen 158.137 +0.03
New Zealand $ 1.950
Norway Kr 12.052 +0.08
Poland 5.488 -0.03
Russia 78.937 -0.80
S Africa Rd 19.874 +0.10
Sweden Kr 12.344 +0.03
Switzerland Fr 1.231 +0.01
Turkey Lira 19.059 +0.16
USA $ 1.225
Rates supplied by MorningstarDollar rates
Australia 1.4418-1.4419
Canada 1.2884-1.2885
Denmark 7.1416-7.1421
Euro 0.9597-0.9598
Hong Kong 7.8497-7.8502
Japan 129.13-129.14
Malaysia 4.3960-4.4000
Norway 9.8059-9.8120
Singapore 1.3940-1.3944
Sweden 10.077-10.080
Switzerland 1.0032-1.0032Other Sterling
Argentina peso 144.61-144.62
Australia dollar 1.7689-1.7691
Bahrain dinar 0.4590-0.4661
Brazil real 6.2435-6.2472
Euro 1.1774-1.1776
Hong Kong dollar 9.6307-9.6317
India rupee 95.501-95.532
Indonesia rupiah 18008-18008
Kuwait dinar KD 0.3756-0.3779
Malaysia ringgit 5.3838-5.3887
New Zealand dollar 1.9534-1.9538
Singapore dollar 1.7104-1.7107
S Africa rand 19.903-19.914
U A E dirham 4.4982-4.4985Money rates %
Base Rates Clearing Banks 1.00 ECB Refi -0.50 US Fed Fd 0.75-1.00
Halifax Mortgage Rate 3.59
Treasury Bills (Dis) Buy: 1 mth 0.840; 3 mth 0.890. Sell: 1 mth 0.789; 3 mth 0.8701 mth 2 mth 3 mth 6 mth 12 mth
Interbank Rates 0.9736 0.0000 1.2445 1.6569 0.0000
Eurodollar Deps 0.92-1.17 1.28-1.53 1.44-1.69 1.86-2.11 2.66-2.73Mkt Rates for Range Close 1 month 3 month
Copenhagen 8.7194-8.7834 8.7602-8.7652 137ds 392ds
Euro 1.1806-1.1719 1.1775-1.1774 13pr 37pr
Montreal 1.5798-1.5882 1.5807-1.5809 3pr 13pr
New York 1.2218-1.2295 1.2269-1.2269 0pr 8pr
Oslo 11.959-12.053 12.033-12.037 17ds 30ds
Stockholm 12.303-12.369 12.365-12.368 106ds 358ds
Tokyo 157.48-159.22 158.43-158.44 18ds 57ds
Zurich 1.2251-1.2330 1.2307-1.2313 20ds 60ds
Premium = pr Discount = dsSterling spot and forward rates
Gold/Precious
London Grain Futures metals (US dollars per ounce)
LIFFE Wheat (close £/t)
May 350.00 Jul unq Nov 352.00
Jan unq Mar unq Volume: 824
London Metal Exchangeg
(Official)
Cash 3mth Dec 22
Copper Gde A ($/tonne)
9265.0-9270.09225.0-9227.09175.0-9185.0
Lead ($/tonne)
2093.0-2094.02104.0-2106.02077.0-2082.0
Zinc Spec Hi Gde ($/tonne)
3583.0-3583.53576.0-3578.03227.0-3232.0
Alum Hi Gde ($/tonne)
2790.0-2791.02820.0-2822.02775.0-2780.0
Nickel ($/tonne)
26100.0-26105.026125.0-26130.026450.0-26500.0
Tin ($/tonne) 15mth
34950.0-35000.034775.0-34825.033995.0-34045.0
European money
deposits %
Currency
1mth 3mth 6mth 12mth
Dollar
0.13 0.20 0.29 0.55
Sterling
0.97 1.26 1.67 0.81
Euro
0.10 0.15 0.20 0.50Data as shown is
for information
purposes only. No offer is made by
Morningstar or this publicationBullion: Open $1812.95
Close $1812.18-1812.43 High $1816.79
Low $1789.27
AM $1853.60 PM $1852.70
Krugerrand $1793.00-2890.00 (£1461.37-
2355.47)
Platinum $945.00 (£770.22)
Silver $21.42 (£17.46)
Palladium $2012.00 (£1639.87)