Frasers Group (LON:FRAS ) shares moved 4.05% to 389.6p as it eyes up Debenhams
Shares jumped as Debenhams bidders were reportedly given until the middle of this week to make a £300m rescue bid for the department store chain, the Times wrote this morning.
Prospective buyers, including Mike Ashley’s British retailer Frasers Group, have been told to make ‘a binding commitment’ by the close of business on Wednesday afternoon this week.
‘Advisers for Debenhams are turning up the heat on bidders, while they weigh alternative options for the ailing retailer. They could liquidate the chain or sell parts of the business to the group of hedge funds that owns its debts, led by Silver Point Capital,’ the Times wrote.
Debenhams, which collapsed into administration in April, has hired Lazard to conduct a sale process. Mike Ashley, who also owns the retail giant Sports Direct, reportedly submitted an offer to Debendams in recent weeks as the auction for the retailer nears completion.
According to reports, Frasers Group is understood to have made an offer of about £125m for Debenhams which boasts 124 stores in the UK and has 12,000 workers on its payroll.
Stockbroker Liberum has rated Frasers as a 'buy' with a 550p target (current price: 360p).
Shares in Frasers Group have moved into positive territory and have increased around 8% higher in the past week since news of its move to acquire Debenham has been unveiled.
Metals Exploration (AIM:MTL ) shares skyrocket 196.55% to 2.15p following return from suspension
Shares in the natural resources and exploration group soared after shares resumed on the AIM market following the completion of its proposed restructuring announced on Friday.
Following completion of the restructuring, the Company's existing loan documentation has been replaced by a new senior debt facility, a new mezzanine facility and a revolving credit facility, on the terms set out in the Company's announcement of 11 September 2020.
This means it will no longer be subject to set fixed principal and interest repayment schedules and will no longer be in default with effect from completion of the restructuring.
Chief Executive, Darren Bowden, said the drawn-out debt restructuring process would provide Metals Exploration with “more flexible and commercially attractive debt terms.”
“The end result places the Company in a financial position where its debt burden does not jeopardise its future solvency. Both the Company and the Lenders will share the upside and downside risks of gold price and operational performance fluctuations,” said Bowden.
He added, “Having completed this process management's immediate focus will be on dealing with the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and on ramping operational performance at Runruno back to pre-pandemic levels."
United Carpets Group (AIM:UCG ) shares rose 30.77% to 4.25p after a strong period
In a trading update, the UK’s third largest chain of specialist retail carpet and floor covering stores, said trading had been robust since stores reopened in May 2020 with good demand from consumers increasing like-for-like sales by 23.8% for the 19 weeks to 1 October 2020.
Since stores reopened, United has recovered much of the ground lost during lockdown when stores were closed for over 8 weeks and virtually no revenue was generated.
The Company told investors that it continues to be in a ‘strong financial position’ with cash and cash equivalents amounting to around £5.4 million as at 30 September 2020.
£2m of that relates to the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan (CBIL), at nil cost for 12 months, recently secured to underpin the Group's finances and provide additional liquidity.
United said it has sufficient capital to support the business through the current challenges and is well placed in the event of any further restrictions due to the ongoing Covid-19 crisis.
"Since our stores were allowed to re-open, we have been encouraged by a strong period of trading. Customers appear to have been making up for the purchases they would have made during lockdown, with an increased focus on home improvements,” said CEO, Paul Eyre.
Sareum Holdings (AIM:SAR) shares jumped 30.31% to 2.3p as it awaits US patent
The small molecule therapeutics specialist saw a recent breakthrough with autoimmune treatment SDC-1801 through a new formulation that will enable a higher exposure level.
An application to commence first human trials is expected to be made during Q1 2021 following successful toxicology studies in rodents which showed ‘excellent tolerability.’
Meanwhile, the group recently unveiled that it expects to hear sometime this month if the group will receive grant funding from the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) for preliminary studies of Sareum's TYK2/JAK1 inhibitors, a potential COVID-19 anti-inflammatory.
In its results for the year ended 30 June 2020, Sareum said a response is expected by the end of the month which, if successful, will enable initial studies to begin shortly thereafter.
Sareum has also completed formulation work for oral dosing of cancer immunotherapy candidate SDC-1802. Further manufacturing work is planned over the coming months.
Sareum presented new findings back in October 2019 showing that SDC-1802, dosed orally as a monotherapy and in combination with chemotherapy, significantly reduces tumour growth in models of solid tumours and blood cancers.
Earlier this month, the group received an allowance for its US patent covering SDC-1802, the grant of which will complete the patent protection of this compound in all major territories.
In addition, it advanced its licensed programmes during the year including a deal for its FLT3+Aurora inhibitor programme targeting blood cancers with a Chinese pharma group.
"Sareum has continued to make good progress with the preclinical development of our proprietary dual TYK2/JAK1 inhibitor programmes,” said CEO, Dr Tim Mitchell.
Sareum posted a loss for the year of £0.99m (FY19: £1.45m) and reported cash in the bank of £1.80m at the end of the period (£1m at 31 December 2019; £0.92m at 30 June 2019).
TUI Group (LON:TUI) shares fell 7.59% to 298.2p after tighter COVID-19 measures send travel stocks into a slump
Shares in the Anglo-German multinational travel and tourism firm took a hit after travel stocks were amongst those affected by a second wave of COVID-19 in the US and Europe.
After the weekend saw a sharp increase in reported daily cases of coronavirus, countries across Europe such as Italy and Spain introduced tighter restrictions on a national level.
According to Yahoo Finance, Travel stocks took the hardest hit across Europe with British Airways-owner IAG (IAG.L) and Lufthansa (LHE.DE) falling 2.1% and 1.8%, respectively.
Tui confirmed earlier this month a large capital raise to shore up its balance sheet, though it said it would be 'significantly lower' than the £910m to £1.35bn suggested in media reports.
The Company said the capital raise is 'among many measures' it is contemplating and that it had not made a final decision on the timing or the size of the package, according to reports.
The Europe’s largest travel group agreed to a further financial €1.2bn bailout from the German government earlier this month to cover “seasonal fluctuations” over the winter.
“Against the background of current press reports, Tui AG states, in view of the still very volatile market environment resulting from the Covid-19 crisis, it continues evaluating various measures to achieve an optimal balance sheet structure and maturity profile,” said TUI.