DM1ST6
Selfridges unveiled its Christmas
department yesterday – a
whole five months before the
big day. It may be the height of
summer but the London
store reckons there is
plenty of demand for its
festive range. While it has
kicked off with a small
section,
the main one opens6
Shopping centre giant Hammerson
plunged £320million into the red in
the first half of the year.
The owner of Birmingham’s Bullring,
Bristol’s Cabot Circus and Union Square
in Aberdeen is reeling from a wider
retail crisis.
Since early 2018, 100 of its shops have
been impacted by chains looking to slash
costs or going into administration,
resulting in £5.5m a year in lost rent.
The shift to online shopping, and
people’s nerves about spending has also
forced Hammerson to slash the value of
its property empire by almost £400m
to £9.5billion.
The move was one reason Hammerson
tumbled to a hefty half-year loss, from a
£55.7m profit a year ago.6
Just Eat
and Dutch
rival Takeaway.
com are merging to create one of the
biggest online food delivery companies
in the world.
The £9billion deal will see the
Amsterdam-based firm buy Just Eat at
731p a share, valuing the British
business at £5billion. But investors
appeared to believe a rival bid could be
in the offing, with shares soaring
22%, to 780p –
significantly
above the
offer price.(^40) DAILY MIRROR TUESDAY 30.07.2019
[email protected]
@grahamhiscott
020 7293 3030
mirror.co.uk/business
Edited by
GRAHAM
FINANCE HISCOTT
in the offing, with shares soaring
22%, to 780p –
significantly
above the
offer price.
Ryanair profits
plummeting
Ryanair is counting the cost of
cheaper fares and a soaring fuel bill.
Profits at the budget airline
nosedived 21% to £219million in the
three months to the end of June.
The Irish carrier said its average
fare fell 6%. And while it flogged
27% more add-ons, including priority
boarding and preferred seating,
it wasn’t enough to offset a 24%
jump in its fuel bill.
Ryanair reckons its full-year fuel
costs will be up by £400m, but is
sticking to previous profit forecasts.
Boss Michael O’Leary said: “The
two weakest markets were Germany,
where Lufthansa was allowed to buy
Air Berlin and is selling this excess
capacity at below-cost prices, and
the UK, where Brexit concerns weigh
negatively on consumer confidence
and spending.”
Anglo American ............... 2113.0 +15.0
AB Foods ........................... 2446.0 +52.0
Admiral Group................. 2235.0 +8.0
AstraZeneca .....................7180.0 +275.0
Aviva PLC ............................. 412.8 +2.2
BAE Systems ...................... 539.8 +6.0
BAT ......................................3106.0 +87.0
Balfour Beatty ................... 216.0 -6.6
Barclays ............................... 160.8 +0.7
BHP Group .........................1993.8 +38.8
BR Land Co ......................... 536.6 +1.0
BP...........................................527.0 +4.0
BT ........................................... 194.6 +2.6
Capita Group ....................... 118.7 +0.6
Carnival.............................3689.0 +48.0
Centrica ................................ 90.8 +3.4
Compass ...........................2082.0 +43.0
Diageo ................................3412.0 +89.0
Direct Line...........................329.3 +3.5
Dixons Carphone............... 123.6 +0.5
Easyjet ............................... 1001.5 -29.0
Ei Group .............................. 282.6 +0.4
Ferguson.......................... 6300.0 +142.0
GlaxoSmithKline .............. 1730.0 +44.2
Halfords .............................. 204.6 -0.4
Hays ...................................... 156.2 +1.3
HSBC .................................... 666.4 +4.0
Imperial Brands ...............2190.5 +50.5
International Airlines
Grp ........................................ 438.6 +0.6
ITV .......................................... 113.5 +0.8
Kinwgfisher ....................... 226.1 +2.6
Land Securities ................ 845.2 +4.2
Legal & General ................. 271.1 +1.1
Lloyds .................................... 56.2 +0.2
Marks & Spencer ............... 212.2 +2.7
Morrison .............................. 201.0 +2.7
National Grid ..................... 856.6 +10.2
Next .................................... 5730.0 +18.0
Ocado .................................1258.5 +18.5
Pearson ............................... 922.2 -4.8
Prudential .........................1704.0 +11.5
Reckitt Benckiser ........... 6670.0 +189.0
RELX .................................... 1978.0 +43.5
Rentokil Initial ................... 413.2 +1.6
Rio Tinto ............................4681.5 +76.0
Rolls-Royce .........................887.0 +18.6
Royal Dutch Shell B .......2609.0 +55.0
Royal Mail ........................... 209.0 +0.9
RSA ....................................... 585.0 +7.2
RBS ........................................229.5 +1.6
J Sainsbury ........................ 200.8 +2.0
SSE .......................................1109.0 +15.5
Severn Trent .....................2061.0 +23.0
Serco...................................... 141.2 +0.1
Sports Direct ...................... 214.8 -15.0
Smith & Nephew ..............1848.0 +51.5
Smiths WH ......................... 2128.0 +6.0
Stagecoach ......................... 133.8 -0.5
Standard Chartered ........ 690.2 0.0
Standard Life Aberdeen 306.5 +1.9
TalkTalk ................................108.0 0.0
Taylor Wimpey ....................174.4 +0.9
Tesco .................................... 226.7 +0.7
Thomas Cook .........................4.8 -0.0
Unilever .............................5013.0 +114.0
United Utilities..................805.0 +13.4
Vodafone ............................. 152.2 +6.2
Reach PLC ..............................87.9 +2.3
FTSE 100 up^ 137.5^ at^ 7686.6 2019 high 7686.6 2019 low 6692.7 Oil = $63.63 Holiday £
Euro .................................................. 1.083
Australian Dollar ...........................1.736
Bulgarian Lev ................................ 2.021
Canadian Dollar .............................1.576
Croatian Kuna .............................. 7.668
Czech Koruna ............................. 26.567
Egyptian Pound ...........................17.792
New Zealand Dollar ......................1.743
Polish Zloty ................................... 4.403
South African Rand ................... 16.973
Swiss Franc ..................................... 1.190
Thai Baht ..................................... 35.966
Turkish Lira ................................... 6.534
UAE Dirham ................................... 4.366
US Dollar ......................................... 1.205
s Christmas
y – a
the
ht of
The
average price of a
home in southern cities is
rising at the slowest rate for
seven years. A report out today
from Zoopla found prices across the
south were up just 0.7% in the year to
June. Edinburgh saw the largest rise,
5.1%, followed by 4.9% in Liverpool,
then 4.7% in Cardiff and
Nottingham. London is still the
most expensive city, with an
average house price of
£481,200.
A new low for
Sports Direct
Value of tycoon’s stake plunges by £740m
SPORTS Direct shares are “only
for the brave” after crashing
to a new year low yesterday,
analysts warned.
The firm, controlled by maverick
billionaire Mike Ashley, was
punished by investors after the
chaotic release of its annual results.
The delayed accounts, published
after the stock market closed on
Friday, included a shock £605million
tax bill in Belgium and fresh fears for
its House of Fraser arm.
Jon Kempster, Sports Direct’s chief
financial officer, also resigned just
weeks after Karen Byers, head of
retail, quit.
Sports Direct’s share price slumped
6.5% to £2.11 yesterday – having
crashed more than 20% at one stage
- wiping £80m off its stock market
value. Ashley has seen the value of his
stake in the firm plunge more than
£740m in the past year. Retail analysts
Jonathan Pritchard and John
Stevenson of broker Peel Hunt warned
the focus on House of Fraser risked
overshadowing Sports Direct’s “pretty
shocking” core business, in which
“management seem to be out of
ideas”.
They said in a note: “Sports Direct
now seems to be strategically snook-
ered, checkmated and clean-bowled.
“The shares are hard to value, but
are surely only for the brave.”
Sports Direct’s main retail busi-
ness saw sales rise by just 0.3% to
£2.19bn last year, while underlyingprofits fell 6% to £287.8m. Phoenix
Asset Management, the firm’s
second biggest investor, with a 6%
stake, refused to comment when
asked if it still backed the board.
Meanwhile, the head of its third
biggest investor, Crispin Odey,
likened Sports Direct’s dealings with
the City to those of Lonhro, one of
Britain’s biggest companies in the
1980s, and its controversial boss
Tiny Rowland.
“He’s like Tiny Rowland who
couldn’t be bothered to do
anything with the City,” said
Odey.
Sports Direct last night
blamed the delay in last
Friday’s accounts on it only
receiving the Belgian tax
demand at midday on Thursday,
with more details sent at 11pm.
The firm says it disputes the
notice, which relates to “VAT,
penalties and interest.”MAVERICK
AshleyBritain’s advertising industry
had a marvel-lous start to 2019- despite Brexit.
Firms splashed out
£6billion on advertising in
the first three months of
the year.
The 4.2% rise defied talk of
companies’ concerns ahead of the original
Brexit date of late March, according to
the Advertising Association and
marketing firm WARC.
A string of blockbusters, including
Captain Marvel, boosted cinema
advertising by more than 12%.
AD-MIRABLE
BEGINNING
MARVEL
Brie Larson
in hit filmNo deal hits pound
The pound fell to a 28-month low against the
US dollar yesterday on the growing likelihood
of a no-deal Brexit under Tory PM Boris
Johnson, right.
New Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said the only way
for a deal to be achieved will be if the EU changes its
position. In response, the pound plunged 1.3% against the
dollar to 1.2216. Against the euro it was down 1.4% to
1.0965, although recent manufacturing data shows that the
eurozone sector is also shrinking.