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Signs that a takeover by a major US peer is back on track have pushed DS Smith back to the top of the blue-chip rankings.
In what looks set to be an important day for the British packaging group, US rival International Paper (IP) said it is moving forward with its proposed takeover of DS Smith after Brazilian pulpmaker Suzano ended talks to buy the American firm.
It is understood that the agreement between Suzano and IP was conditional on the US company dropping its bid for DS Smith.
Suzano said IP had not spoken to him about an offer at the highest price he was willing to pay and therefore the talks had been cancelled. That removed a potential obstacle to the acquisition of DS Smith.
Takeover: US rival International Paper said it is pressing ahead with its proposed acquisition of DS Smith after Brazilian pulp maker Suzano ended talks to buy the US firm
In April, DS Smith agreed to be bought by IP for £5.8bn after FTSE 100 packaging company Mondi fended off a bidding battle.
DS Smith rose 15.7 per cent, or 57.8 pence, to 426.2 pence, and Mondi added 3.6 per cent, or 53 pence, to 1,531 pence.
The mood in the markets was mixed. The FTSE 100 fell 0.6 per cent, or 45.65 points, to 8,179.68, while the FTSE 250 rose 0.2 per cent, or 33.70 points, to 20,331.80.
Heavyweight mining stocks were hit by negative comments from brokers. Berenberg analysts downgraded both Anglo American, down 1.5 per cent, or 37.5 pence, to 2,490 pence, and Rio Tinto, down 1.7 per cent, or 91 pence, to 5,176 pence. .
Burberry also fell sharply – down 2.1 per cent, or 19.3 pence, to 899.8 pence – as Deutsche Bank analysts cut their sales forecast for luxury goods amid weaker data from China and the US.
Stock Watch – Harworth Group
Harworth Group, the land regenerator that began life as part of UK Coal, rose 7.5 per cent, or 11p, to 157p after selling a 48-acre former power station site in Leeds to the US giant of Microsoft software for 106 million pounds.
It is expected to provide Microsoft with a data center, a battery energy storage facility and an energy-from-waste facility.
Harworth believes the deal will represent at least £4bn of local investment.
Bunzl added 1.1 percent, or 32 pence, to 3,070 pence after the distribution and services group raised its guidance for the year based on better margin performance in the first half and acquisitions.
Serco rose 4.3 per cent, or 7.4 pence, to 180.2 pence after making good progress in the first half. The subcontractor now expects underlying operating profit for 2024 of £270m, up from £260m previously.
And Mears Group added 3.5 per cent, or 12.3p, to 368p after the social housing and maintenance services company expects its 2024 performance to be modestly above current market forecasts.
Clothing retailer Quiz fell 24.6 per cent, or 1.29 pence, to 3.98 pence after an 11 per cent drop in revenue between the beginning of April and the end of May, and sales in the UK United Kingdom continued to be affected.
Digital marketing group Next 15 Group fell 10.5 per cent, or 95p, to 806p after it said spending by technology clients remained weak, although overall transactions were resilient.
And Sanderson Design lost 19.5 per cent, or 20p, to 82.5p, warning that the market for high-end wallpaper and furniture had fallen further since April.
But cloud payments and data protection firm PCI-PAL gained 12.6 percent, or 7 pence, to 62.5 pence, after a confidential agreement with competitor Sycurio to resolve a patent dispute.
And Longboat Energy rose 7.4 per cent, or 1.5 pence, to 21.75 pence after publishing a report which it said confirmed the gigantic scale of the Kertang project in Southeast Asia, which is now will focus, having agreed to sell its plant in Norway. business.
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