Aero-engine maker Rolls-Royce (RR.) is selling its fuel injection technology firm L'Orange to America's Woodward in a £610m deal, the company confirms on Monday.
The sale is expected to be complete by the end of this year's second quarter and continues the ongoing streamlining of the business under chief executive officer (CEO) Warren East, who used to run UK chip design champion ARM Holdings.
Investors welcome the news, pushing the share price to the top of the FTSE 100 leader board in early trade, up about 2% at 882.6p. That values Rolls at around £16.2bn.
It’s an otherwise quiet start to the week for corporate news on London markets although commodities pressure acts as a drag on certain resources firms. Steel giant Evraz (EVR) is the day’s big FTSE 100 loser, the stock off 7.5% to 420.2p.
This is presumably in response to ongoing concerns of import tariffs as the tit-for-tat trade war between the US and China causes waves.
NEW BOSS FOR ROYAL MAIL, SPECULATION
The weekend papers report a potential change at the top at Royal Mail (RMG), with speculation rife that current CEO Moya Greene plans to stand down from the role later this year.
While the company has yet to confirm or deny the gossip the market shrugs-off the story, the group’s shares staying largely flat at 556.4p in early trade on Monday.
Banking giant HSBC (HSBA) will appoint its Malaysia CEO to the newly created position of head of Belt and Road initiative in Asia Pacific, as it bets on China’s drive to build a modern-day Silk Road to help grow its business.
The appointment, according to Reuters sources, may be made official at the banks Asia analyst presentation event today, 9 April. Shares in HSBC nudge 1% or so higher to 670.3p.
FINAL DICE ROLL AT AVANTI
Debt-ridden broadband satellite provider Avanti Communications (AVN:AIM) has issued further restructuring proposals as its struggles for survival. This includes a debt-for-equity swap that will result in Solos Funds owning 42% of the shares.
The company is guiding for $50m revenue, $86m of costs and $117m of capital expenditure in the year to 30 June 2018. Cash and debt at 31 December 2017 stood at $68m and $1,038m respectively.
That the share price stays unchanged at 10.88p suggest equity investors have long since given up hope of extracting little or no value from their current stakes. The share price has traded as high as 728p as far back as 2010.
Wealth manager Rathbone Brothers (RAT) has this morning confirmed that it is talking to Scottish stockbroker Speirs & Jeffrey about taking over the firm.
It responded to press speculation which valued the bid at £200m.
Investors appear to marginally approve, given the near 1% rise in the Rathbones share price to £23.90.
ACCOUNTING BIG FOUR UNDER FIRE
Away from the stock market, Britain’s accounting watchdog says the world’s ‘Big Four’ accounting firms face fines of £10m or more for serious rule breaches from June, double its record penalty to date.
The big four firms are PwC, KPMG, EY and Deloitte, who check the books of most international blue-chip companies.
Sports car marque Aston Martin is preparing to appoint three banks to manage a possible London stock market listing of the luxury car manufacturer that could value it at between £4bn and £5bn, according to Reuters.
