LIVE BUSINESS: Thames Water cash raising ‘progressing’; Ashtead Listing Change; Games Workshop Movie Deal

Adam Vettese, market analyst at eToro:

‘Ashtead has warned on profits this morning citing difficulties in its core North American market. The construction market has experienced weakness driven by the longer-lasting higher interest rate environment. This, in turn, has hurt used equipment sales and higher depreciation costs have hit Ashtead’s numbers.

‘Most notable in the update is the long-rumored intention to switch to a US listing. The firm does almost all of its business in North America, reports in dollars and the vast majority of its staff is located in the region. Although this makes sense on many levels, it is still a blow for the UK to see the exit of the 25th-ranked company from the benchmark FTSE100 index. Amid London’s drive to become attractive for upcoming IPOs, it is far from the best time to see one of its stalwarts depart for pastures new.

“After a bit of a shaky start to the year, Ashtead shares had been marching towards the record levels we saw post-pandemic, but took a few steps back this morning.”

The French production company behind the Paddington films will list in London this month after investors approved the spin-off of its parent company.

In a boost for the city, Vivendi shareholders voted overwhelmingly in favor of spinning off Canal+ and other parts of the business at a meeting in Paris.

Shares of the newly independent Canal+ will begin trading in London on Monday of next week.

Food price inflation in the UK rose slightly last month, industry data shows, adding pressure on shoppers’ already tight Christmas budgets.

Research firm Kantar said annual food price inflation was 2.6 percent in the four weeks to December 1, after being 2.3 percent in the previous four-week period. .

Prices are rising most rapidly on products such as toothbrushes, smoothies and cold juices and fragrances, and falling most rapidly on items including household paper products, dog food and room-temperature savory foods, Kantar said.

Britain’s biggest supermarket, Tesco, led sales with 5.2 per cent growth in the 12 weeks to December 1, while its market share hit its highest level since December 2017 at 28. 1 percent.

UK supermarkets have warned that tax rises in the new Labor government’s first budget in October, along with another rise in the national minimum wage, will be inflationary.

Official data released last month showed UK headline inflation jumped to 2.3 per cent in October. November data will be published next week.

Matt Britzman, senior equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown:

‘The FTSE 100 opened lower this morning, giving up some of yesterday’s 0.6% gain.

‘Yesterday’s rally was driven by mining stocks and fueled by China’s promise of economic stimulus, including looser monetary policy and support for property prices.

“But as we’ve seen in the past with China’s mini-surges, it appears the rumors are fading as investors take a step back to reassess the broader picture.”

Games Workshop has agreed on creative guidelines and reached a final deal with streaming giant Amazon for the adaptation of Games Workshop’s Warhammer 40,000 universe into films and television series.

The agreement, which includes associated marketing rights, sees Games Workshop grant exclusive rights to Amazon in relation to films and television series set in the Warhammer 40,000 universe.

It gives Amazon the option to license equivalent rights in the Warhammer Fantasy universe following the release of any initial production of Warhammer 40,000.

“Film and TV series production processes can take several years,” said the FTSE 100 newcomer.

BP is spinning off its offshore wind farm business into a joint venture with a Japanese rival.

The deal comes as the energy giant’s boss, Murray Auchincloss, reduces focus on renewable energy to return to his traditional focus on oil and gas.

BP has previously said it “aims to be a global leader in offshore wind” and is developing sites in the UK, US, Germany, South Korea and Japan.

Ashtead is proposing to move its main listing from London to the United States, where the equipment rental group earns 98 percent of its operating profits and 86 percent of its revenue.

Its board told shareholders the move would align its primary listing location “with the majority of the group’s business, leadership team and employee base”.

The move would also increase Ashtead’s exposure to US investors and improve the overall liquidity of the group’s shares given access to deeper US capital markets, the group said.

Ashtead, which will retain a secondary listing in the UK, said it would enjoy an “enhanced group profile and marketing strategy” by changing its name to Sunbelt Rentals;

Ashtead also warned of lower annual profits due to a weak commercial construction market in the United States.

The company said adjusted pretax profit fell 2 percent to $682 million for the three months ended Oct. 31, hurt by higher depreciation costs and lower sales of used equipment amid weakness in the commercial construction market in North America.

Thames Water’s planned £3.25bn capital raising is “progressing” with “considerable interest” from buyers, the head of the debt-plagued utility said on Tuesday, as the group’s battle continues. to remain solvent.

The capital raise marks the next stage of a rescue plan after Thames Water secured a £3bn facility to help it survive into the new year.

Thames Water, the country’s largest water supplier, is close to £18bn in debt and is rapidly running out of cash after its current owners refused to provide new money at the start of the year, putting the government awaiting nationalization.

Chief executive Chris Weston said the company was progressing with its recovery plan and saw an improvement in profits, but its environmental performance was worse.

“We have achieved key milestones in establishing a more stable financial platform, agreeing to a liquidity extension transaction proposal and advancing our capital raising process,” he said on Tuesday.

While the £3bn lifeline offered to Thames by a group of creditors in October will temporarily stabilize its finances, its long-term future depends on it raising new capital and restructuring its debt.

A competitive process is underway to raise the £3.25bn of capital Thames Water needs to fund investments until 2030. British financial investor Covalis Capital and French group Suez are among the bidders.

The group has seen “considerable interest” from potential stock investors, Weston said.

The owner of Cadbury is said to be eyeing rival chocolate maker Hershey’s.

If Mondelez’s move is successful, it would create one of the world’s largest bakeries and bring together favorites such as Dairy Milk and Reese’s Pieces.