54 2GM Saturday June 11 2022 | the timesBusiness
5Jessica Newman Market report
Russia seeks help in
weaker currency
Russia’s central bank has cut
interest rates to their prewar
levels in an attempt to weaken
the rouble and stimulate
economic activity after sweeping
western sanctions imposed in
response to the invasion of
Ukraine. The bank lowered its
key rate by 1.5 percentage points
to 9.5 per cent. The rate had been
as high as 20 per cent in the wake
of the February 24 invasion of
Ukraine and the resulting
sanctions by the United States,
the European Union and other
nations that restrict dealings with
Russian banks, individuals and
companies. The Russian
currency’s exchange rate rose
yesterday to 58.12 rubles against
the dollar, compared with 78.8 to
the dollar on the day before the
invasion. Inflation was an annual
17 per cent in May. The Institute
of International Finance predicts
the Russian economy will
contract by 15 per cent in 2022.Hut investors close
door on board suitor
The board director trying to buy
THG for less than half its listing
price faced a small rebellion at
the ecommerce group’s
shareholder meeting yesterday.
Iain McDonald, 51, of Belerion
Capital, has been a non-executive
director of the Manchester-based
company since 2010. However,
8.95 per cent of shareholders who
voted opposed his re-election.
Matt Moulding, 50, chief
executive and co-founder in 2004
of what was The Hut Group, has
said that being a London-listed
company “sucked from start to
finish”, but he was backed by
99 per cent of shareholders.
Shares in THG have lost 84 per
cent since listing and yesterday
closed down 6¾p, or 5.1 per cent,
at 124p, valuing it at £1.7 billion.
McDonald’s Belerion and King
Street Capital Management, an
American firm, had a 170p-a-
share takeover approach rejected.Rising fuel prices ‘hit
high street spending’
Soaring fuel prices are depriving
high streets of £23 million a day
of consumer spending as
household budgets come under
pressure, figures calculated by the
AA suggest. The cost of a litre of
petrol or diesel is 53p higher than
it was a year ago and, with UK
motorists using about 43.3 million
litres of fuel a day, it means that
£23 million a day is being taken
away from other potential
consumer spending. “High streets
are already reeling from families
cutting back in this cost of living
crisis. With soaring petrol costs,
shop tills are haemorrhaging
£23 million a day to fuel,”
Edmund King, the motoring
organisation’s president, said.
Retail sales in the UK fell by
1.5 per cent in May compared
with last year, while food sales
decreased by 1.3 per cent,
according to the latest BRC-
KPMG sales monitor.Company Change
Apax Global Alpha X Fund sells controlling stake in MyCase 11.7%
CMC Markets Rebounds after Thursday’s dive 10.9%
ICG Enterprise Trust Recovers some previous losses 6.5%
Pantheon International Investors move in after recent weakness 4.2%
NB Private Equity Partners Bounces after two-week slide 3.6%
Aston Martin Lagonda Profit-taking -6.6%
Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust Tracks drop in American technology stocks -6.6%
Anglo American Weaker commodity prices -7.5%
Trustpilot Falls as part of global sell-off -7.8%
Ferrexpo Extends losses -8.7%The day’s biggest movers
A
mid a sea of red on
London’s market
yesterday, only a handful
of shares were trading
higher. One of them wasApax Global Alpha, the private equity
firm: its shares rose to a six-week high
after it said that the Apax X Fund, in
which it is a limited partner, had sold
its controlling stake in MyCase to theApax Global is alpha performer
on a day of red ink across board
AffiniPay, a United States-based
digital platform.
The partnership allows investors
access to a portfolio of private equity
funds advised by Apax Partners. The
group said the sale of MyCase, a
provider of legal practice
management software, valued its
present “look-through” investment in
MyCase at about €22.5 million, a
48 per cent rise compared with thelast unaffected valuation. Shares in
Apax Global Alpha rose 21p, or
11.7 per cent, to 200p.
Other companies in demand
included CMC Markets, which
recovered 26p, or 10.9 per cent, to
265p after its biggest one-day drop in
value for nine months on Thursday;
and Aveva, the industrial software
company that delighted investors this
week with solid annual results. It was
the top gainer in the FTSE 100,
adding 56p, or 2.4 per cent, to £24.34
after analysts at UBS reiterated their
“buy” recommendation.
None of which could stop the wider
FTSE 100 falling 158.69 points, or
2.1 per cent, to 7,317.52 as investors
grew increasingly concerned about a
slowdown in the world economy.
Over the week, the index fell 215.43
points, or 2.9 per cent. The FTSE 250
retreated 400.08 points, or 2 per cent,
to 19,673.32, taking it to a weekly loss
of 599.58 points, or 3 per cent.
Anglo American, the miner,
slipped 291½p, or 7.5 per cent, to £36.13
as commodity prices weakened on the
back of Shanghai’s new coronavirus
lockdown measures. Melrose
Industries was another big faller,
closing down 10p, or 6.1 per cent, at
154½p as it suffered profit-taking after
the announcement of a £500 million
share buyback had boosted its stock
price throughout the week.
Berenberg analysts thought TravisPerkins was not worthy of its “buy”
recommendations any more, given
the limited dealmaking upside for the
FTSE 250 group, as well as less scope
for additional cash returns. The
shares closed down 64½p, or 5.4 per
cent, at £11.25½.
Among London’s smaller
companies, investors were piling into
Netcall after the software company
said it expectedadjusted earnings for
the 2023 financial year to be
“significantly” ahead of previous
expectations after landing a contract
with an unnamed S&P 500 financial
services group. The shares settled at a
seven-month high, rising 18p, or
27.7 per cent, to 83p.
Light Science Technologies, a
small technology company that
provides lighting used to grow crops
in greenhouses, endured a more
bruising session. The shares hit a
record low, falling 2p, or 17 per cent,
to 9¾p after it warned that it was
likely report a loss of about £2 million
for the full year, while revenues were
expected to be about 35 per cent
below market forecasts.Wall Street report
Rapidly rising inflation raised fears
that the Federal Reserve will raise
rates by more than the expected 50
basis points next week. The Dow
Jones industrial average fell 880.00
points, or 2.7 per cent, to 31,392.79, a
weekly drop of 4.6 per cent.