BUSIENSS LIVE: Ithaca cuts UK investment; Travis Perkins boss exits; S4 Capital suffers weak ad market

A transatlantic bidding war has broken out for London-listed packaging group DS Smith.

The FTSE 100 company said last night that it is in talks with US rival International Paper over a potential takeover bid worth 415p per share or £5.7 billion.

The discussions come just weeks after DS Smith backed a lower offer of 373p per share or £5.1 billion from fellow Footsie group Mondi.

That would have created an £11 billion packaging giant listed in London.

Sir Martin Sorrell’s S4 Capital reported a 25 percent drop in core profits in a ‘difficult’ 2023, illustrating a downturn in advertising markets that the company is expected to continue next year.

There is reluctance among S4 Capital’s clients to commit to larger projects and new business.

The group expects customers to remain cautious in the short term as it forecasts another decline in comparable net sales in 2024 and profits to be roughly around the same level as 2023’s £93.7m.

“After our first four years of strong net sales growth, we had a difficult 2023 due to challenging global macroeconomic conditions, recession fears and high interest rates.

‘This resulted in reluctance from customers to engage and extended sales cycles, especially for larger projects, a difficult year for new customers, and a reduction in spend at some regional and smaller customer relationships. We saw better relative performance and continued resilience across our top 20 and top 50 customers, with our ten largest customer relationships strong.

“We have taken significant steps over the past year to reduce costs and maintain a disciplined approach to operational efficiency. We aim for 2024 like-for-like net sales to be lower than the previous year, with broadly similar profit levels to 2023.”

Travis Perkins chief executive Nick Roberts will step down from his role after five difficult years at the helm, Britain’s largest building materials supplier announced this morning.

Chairman Jasmine Whitbread said: “On behalf of the Board of Directors, I would like to thank Nick for his dedication and contribution to the company over the past five years.

‘While good progress has been made in modernizing the business, the Board fully recognizes the underperformance of the business over recent reporting periods, in the context of ongoing economic challenges and end market weakness.

‘We remain fully focused on improving profitability and increasing cash flow generation, as well as accelerating changes to our business model to create a simpler, more efficient business, well positioned to emerge stronger when the markets to recover and to grow shareholder value.’

The boss of British gas owner Centrica saw his wages almost double last year after high energy bills boosted the company’s share price.

Centrica chief executive Chris O’Shea took home £8.2 million in 2023.

That compared to £4.5 million the year before – a figure he said was impossible to justify.

North Sea oil group Ithaca Energy plans to scale back investments in Britain after profits came under pressure in 2023 due to the UK Energy Profits Levy.

Ithaca Energy’s full-year profit fell to $215.6 million from $1.03 billion last year as the company produced about 70,239 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe/d), compared to record production of 71,403 barrels of oil equivalent the year before.

The group paid an EPL rate of 35 percent, meaning it paid $333.4 million in the year. The sector also suffered from large writedowns and the impact of weaker oil prices.

The Energy Profits Levy continues to have a direct impact on investment in the UK North Sea, with projects in both our operated and non-operated projects being postponed or canceled. The extension of the Energy Profits Tax for another year until sunset in March 2029 underlines the ongoing fiscal uncertainty facing our sector.

Interim boss and chief financial officer Iain Lewi said:

‘The Energy Profits Levy continues to have a direct impact on investment in the UK North Sea, with projects in both our operated and non-operated projects being postponed or canceled.

‘The extension of the Energy Profits Tax for another year until a sunset date of March 2029 underlines the ongoing fiscal uncertainty facing our sector.’