Below are the key morning press headlines, featuring the The Times, The Telegraph, The Daily Mail & more - see the full Press section here.
Europe’s richest man Bernard Arnault on Monday made a $14.5bn (£11.3bn) bid to buy Tiffany & Co, the jeweller famed for its extravagant engagement rings and white diamond necklaces worn by the likes of Audrey Hepburn for the film Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Arnault’s €194bn (£167bn) LVMH luxury goods empire, which features brands such as Louis Vuitton, Dior and Moët & Chandon, announced it had made a $120-a-share offer to buy the US jeweller, which was founded by 25-year-old Charles Lewis Tiffany in 1837. Tiffany said it was carefully reviewing the proposal, but said it was not in discussions with its Paris-based suitor, which it mistakenly referred to as LMVH in its statement. Tiffany employs more than 14,000 people, and operates about 300 stores around the world including its flagship store next to Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue. The shop, where Hepburn’s Holly Golightly character mused “nothing very bad could happen to you”, is undergoing a $250m refit.
Sales at Boots have fallen further in the UK as it struggles with brutal conditions on the high street and lower funding from the NHS, which impacts its prescriptions. The chemist chain is closing 200 shops to keep a lid on costs. It posted a 2.1% fall in sales in the fourth quarter. Pharmacy sales were down 1pc, while retail sales declined 2.7%. Boots’ owner, US-based Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA), said profits for the enlarged company were down by almost 10pc, primarily because of its lacklustre performance in Britain. Alexander Gourlay, co-chief operating officer, said it expects the 200 shops to shut by the end of next year.
The takeover battle for Just Eat (JE.) heated up on Monday as its preferred merger partner launched an attack on the investment vehicle that is trying to gatecrash the party. Just Eat has recommended its shareholders accept a merger with Takeaway.com, but investment vehicle Prosus is trying to derail the deal with its own £4.9billion cash bid for Just Eat. Prosus also has a stakes in Delivery Hero and Takeaway.com but is pushing to bring Delivery Hero and Just Eat together and has been selling down its stake in Takeaway.com. Takeaway.com has now demanded that Prosus does not vote in the proposed Just Eat merger, claiming there is a conflict of interest. The issue arose after Prosus started selling off its stake in Takeaway.com at below-market prices, which has subsequently pushed Takeaway.com’s share price down. Because the proposed merger is based on Just Eat shareholders being given shares in Takeaway.com, there is now concern that the deal may not go through because the value of the deal has dropped as shares continue to fall.
Embattled Aston Martin Holdings (AML) suffered a fresh blow as one of the banks which shared a £30m pay-out from advising on the luxury car maker’s disastrous float urged investors to dump its shares. Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BAML) cut its rating on Aston from neutral to sell, slashing its target price from 550p to just 400p in the process – 79% less than the stock’s value when it went public. Aston floated a year ago with the shares priced at £19.
HSBC Holdings (HSBA) has warned it may be forced to slash even more jobs after a brutal three months in which profits fell almost a fifth. Interim chief executive Noel Quinn threatened to wield the axe again just weeks after it emerged the bank was planning to cut 10,000 roles, and blasted the lender’s performance as “not acceptable”. It came as HSBC announced profits of $4.8bn (£3.7bn) for the third quarter – down 18% on the same period last year. Only $100m of that figure was generated outside Asia, piling pressure on divisions to up their game in Europe and the US. The poor results have increased fears over job cuts.
Sir Martin Sorrell splashed out on two more acquisitions in the UK and South Korea as he continues to grow his new advertising firm S4 Capital (SFOR) . Sorrell is acquiring digital analytics firms ConversionWorks, which is based in London, and Datalicious Korea, based in Seoul. MightyHive, a part of S4 , will merge with the two companies, which will then be rebranded as MightyHive, the group said. ConversionWorks helps firms such as Boots, Diageo, Schuh, Giffgaff and Wiggle predict how their customers will behave, target them, and gather data. Datalicious Korea helps firms measure if their social media campaigns are paying off and its clients include Samsung, Adidas Korea, and Lotte Members. The new additions are just the latest of a string of acquisitions which has seen the group expand to 15 countries and 21 cities.
The chief executive and biggest shareholder in Ferrexpo (FXPO) has stood aside temporarily while he deals with allegations of embezzlement in Ukraine. The company said that Kostyantin Zhevago, who is also its controlling shareholder, wanted to “focus on resolving certain matters in Ukraine relating to one of the businesses he owned until 2015”. Ukrainian prosecutors have said that they want to question the 45-year-old over suspected embezzlement from Bank Finance & Credit, a Ukrainian lender that he used to control. The bank was declared insolvent in 2015 while holding $174 million of Ferrexpo funds. Chris Mawe, 57, Ferrexpo’s chief financial officer, is to become acting chief executive in a move the company said was “necessary and in the interests of all shareholders” to “enable Mr Zhevago to focus on matters in Ukraine without impacting the company”.’
Hammerson (HMSO) executives could have their bonuses cut after the shopping centre owner launched a consultation on pay reforms in response to an investors’ revolt. The company said yesterday that it was consulting “major shareholders and voting advisory agencies” on its remuneration policy “to ensure that executive reward continues to be aligned with shareholder interests”. Almost a third of investors at the company’s annual meeting in April rejected its executive pay policy, which included multimillion-pound incentives for David Atkins, 53, its chief executive, and other directors. The revolt came after Hammerson fell from a £413 million profit in 2017 to a pre-tax loss of £266.7 million last year.
Cairn Energy (CNE) fell to 162p after it abandoned an offshore well in Mexico. Analysts at RBC Capital Markets said that the site was a “key well in an important basin for Cairn that could have added around 30p per share to our valuation”. The Edinburgh-based oil and gas explorer also will have to wait until next year for a decision on its long-running $1.4 billion tax dispute with the Indian government, although Cairn said that it “continues to have a high level of confidence” in the merits of its claim.