Below are the key morning press headlines, featuring the The Times, The Telegraph, The Daily Mail & more - see the full Press section here.
Another top Just Eat (JE.) shareholder has opposed the £4.9billion hostile takeover of the food delivery firm – but said it would consider a price tag of nearly £1billion more. Aberdeen Standard Investments said the cash bid from Prosus of 710p per share ‘significantly undervalues’ the firm. It is the third major shareholder to come out against the bid. However, Aberdeen joined fellow shareholders SM Trust and Cat Rock in saying it would consider backing Prosus’s proposal if it increased its offer. Between them, the three investors control one fifth of the stock.
Heathrow has accused British Airways of acting against “the consumer and national interest” by attempting to slow down expansion of the airport and depriving passengers of lower fares. BA’s parent company, International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) , has complained to the regulator about the approximately £3.3bn Heathrow will spend on preparations for the third runway, accusing the airport of covering up costs that will affect airlines. The airport’s chief executive hit back at IAG for keeping fares high and attempting to stave off competition. John Holland-Kaye said: “The affordability debate has been around the wrong thing, landing charges of £20 per passenger, rather than competition on fares. “We’re getting on with building the third runway. What IAG would prefer to do is not spend money until after we’ve got planning permission, and delay by two or three years. That’s not in the consumer interest or national interest. In two years’ time Charles de Gaulle [in Paris] will overtake Heathrow as the biggest airport in Europe.”
Sports Direct International (SPD) has appointed advisory group RSM as its auditor, more than a month after an acrimonious split with the accounting firm Grant Thornton. RSM is the UK’s seventh biggest audit firm and Sports Direct will be its biggest client. The advisory group has no other audit clients among the top 350 companies on the London Stock Exchange. According to ARL, a service that monitors corporate advisers and their clients, RSM signs off the accounts of Aim-listed firms including Quiz, Fulham Shore and Cake Box. Sports Direct is a FTSE250 firm with a valuation of almost £1.7bn. Shares in Sports Direct tumbled to their lowest level since 2011 in August after its then auditor, Grant Thornton, quit. Grant Thornton had monitored Sport Direct’s accounts since the retailers floatation in 2007.
Midatech Pharma (MTPH) sank after an unnamed American institutional investor agreed to buy 20% of the Cardiff-based biotechnology group. The investor will take the £2.3million stake by acquiring 3m American depository shares, which can be bought on a US stock exchange. But these value Midatech’s UK-traded stock at 3.9p each, much lower than it has traded at in recent months.
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) revealed activist US investor Harris Associates, most notorious for pushing the Saatchi brothers out of their namesake ad agency, has taken a 5% stake. Problems with its Trent 1000 engines have been a headache for Rolls since 2016, when it was discovered that turbine blades were wearing out more quickly than expected. It has earmarked £1.6billion so far to deal with the fallout, alongside a sweeping turnaround orchestrated by chief executive Warren East. Harris looks for companies which are trading at a lower price than it believes they are worth, saying it only invests in firms that ‘offer significant profit potential’ and ‘are run by managers who think and act as owners’.
Tesco (TSCO) is set to launch high end pop-ups in major cities in the run up to Christmas, it has emerged. The supermarket chain will sell some of its “Finest” products, which are also its most expensive, alongside wine. It is eyeing small sites in London as well as other cities and plans to run the temporary shops-cum-wine-bars for four to six weeks in November and December. The retailer wants to showcase a selection of the items “in a premium, exciting and unexpected way”, The Grocer first reported. Outgoing chief executive Dave Lewis has previously said that Finest “as a brand is one of the largest food brands in the country”.
Fuller Smith & Turner (FSTA) has reinvested some of the proceeds from the sale of its brewing business in acquiring Cotswold Inns & Hotels for £40 million. The deal involves seven hotels and inns in the Cotswolds, including the Manor House at Moreton-in-Marsh, as well as two bars in Birmingham. It excludes the Broadway Hotel, which is being retained by Michael and Pamela Horton, who founded the business in 1997. The properties being acquired by Fuller’s generated revenue of £17.5 million last year and underlying earnings of £3.4 million.