Finally, Falkland Oil & Gas’s float was certainly not the success some thought it would be. On Wednesday dealing rooms were awash with talk that the stock would soar on its maiden session, and possibly double. As it turned out, the company listed at 40p and closed at 48.5p. RAB Capital, one of Falkland’s biggest shareholders, enjoyed a strong run ahead of the float on hopes that the AIM-listed hedge fund would make a killing on its stake It dropped 6p to 37.5p in disappointment.. There is something of a revolution going on at GUS. Bit by bit the group is waking up to the revelation that conglomerates went out of fashion at about the same time as ra-ra skirts
There is something of a revolution going on at GUS. It cut Burberry, the luxury goods brand, free some time ago, and repeated the trick in South Africa this month with its Lewis retailing business.
Ridge Mining was 8p better at 69p after Donald McAlister, the finance director, picked up 10,000 shares at 60p each.Elsewhere, Cundill Investment Research, a Canadian value fund, declared a 4 per cent holding in Highbury House Communications, down 1p to 11.75p. Shares in the publisher are trading just above an all time low of 8.5p after a massive profits warning last month. Meanwhile, Jack Petchey, the veteran investor, continued to add to his holding in Stylo, which ended unchanged at 59.5p. He bought an extra 150,000 shares leaving him with a total holding of 11.8 million or 28 per cent. Lonrho Africa, once the fiefdom of the tycoon Tiny Rowland, jumped 1.25p to 13.75p prompting suggestions that corporate action may soon be on the way. The group has in effect become a cash shell after a sell-off of its various business over the past three years which included a series of hotels across Africa, various motor dealerships and even pig farms.
She’s sold off or closed the peripheral overseas interests, and she’s disposed of the Hodder Headline publishing business, yielding a decent return of capital to shareholders. She’s also installed some basic retail disciplines in the core high street chain. Yet outside newspaper and magazine distribution which ironically for a business once earmarked for sale, continues to flourish she’s yet to answer the question of what WH Smith is for.Ms Swann’s idea is that the group can best use its retail space and still impressive footfall by establishing authority in four core product categories. These are books, cards, stationery and home entertainment, in particular, DVDs.
Most people who visit a WH Smith buy in only one of these categories, if they buy anything at all. If she can persuade them to buy in two, then she’ll be making progress.Yet it’s an awfully tough challenge, hemmed in as WH Smith is by the big supermarket chains on the one hand and more specialist operators on the other. US stocks were hit by disappointing earnings from General Motors and lacklustre economic data.Michael Page, the recruitment giant, ended the day as one of the worst performers in the FTSE 250 index, down 8p at 169p, after Citigroup cut back its rating to “hold” from “buy”. The US broker said it was sceptical that Michael Page could continue to go on beating expectations in the coming months. At the small cap end of the market, MyTravel dropped 0.15p to 4.85p as analysts suggested that shares in the travel group were worth less than 2p under the terms of the company’s restructuring. The deal, a debt-for-equity swap, will see MyTravel’s creditors take control of the group, leaving its present shareholders with just a 4 per cent share in the restructured company.
There was another day of brisk trade in ML Laboratories, steady at 18.75p. Although the fund manager Hermes has been selling down its stake, word has it that David Kirch, a Jersey-based entrepreneur, has been adding to his holding He is believed to control a little less than 5 per cent now. The FTSE 100 fell 5 points to 4,629 after a poor start to trading on Wall Street. In the banking sector, Lloyds TSB lost 3.25p to 437p after SG Securities slashed its rating to an outright “sell” from “hold” and set a price target of just 400p. Hence CSR dropped 1.75p to 355.25p, Imagination Technologies fell 3p to 81p and ARM Holdings retreated 2p to 85p. The Swiss group complained that orders had remained weak through September and warned that it did not expect a pick-up before the end of the fourth quarter. SG fears this is not a good thing for Lloyds, given its prediction that British consumers “will struggle more than most” in the coming years.
