The FTSE 100 will open at 8am. Among the companies with reports and trading updates today are Tui, Ten Entertainment, BAT, Paragon Banking Group, Weir Group and Stagecoach. Read the Wednesday 6 December Business Live blog below.
The operator of one of Britain’s biggest tenpin bowling businesses Ten Entertainment has agreed to a £287million takeover by US private equity house Trive.
The board of Ten Entertainment, which has 50 venues across the UK, has backed the deal, urging shareholders to vote in favour.
The 412.5p per share offer is at a 33.1 per cent premium to TEG’s closing share price on Tuesday, and 150 per cent to its IPO price of 165p in April 2017.
TEG chair Adam Bellamy said:
‘TEG is one of the UK’s largest listed leisure businesses, with a highly capable management team and a strong track record of growing sales and profit. In particular, since reopening after the Covid pandemic, TEG has achieved record results with Group Adjusted PBT of £26.1m delivered in FY22.
‘I am confident that the growth strategy we have in place for the business will continue to deliver for all our stakeholders. However, whilst TEG has performed well in the public markets in comparison with its peers, the Acquisition provides all TEG Shareholders with the opportunity and certainty of an exit which I believe recognises the underlying value in our business.
‘The price offered by Bidco represents an attractive premium to TEG’s prevailing share price and accordingly the TEG Directors have no hesitation in recommending the offer to our shareholders.’
‘No sign of respite’ for Lindsell Train investors
Star fund manager Nick Train warned there was ‘little sign of respite’ as the London-listed trust he runs reported another slump in the value of its portfolio.
Lindsell Train Investment Trust was hit by its heavy exposure to consumer giants including Unilever, Diageo and Laurent Perrier, whose shares have tumbled.
Train admitted the fund was stuck in a long period of under-performance as it reported a 3.6 per cent slump in its net asset value in the six months to the end of September – and shares slipped yesterday by 2.3 per cent.
Tui profits take off
Tui operating profits more than doubled to €977million in the year to 30 September on the back of strong demand for holidays, cruises and hotels, and Europe’s biggest travel operator expects earnings to grow by another quarter in 2024.
The first full year unaffected by pandemic travel restrictions since 2019 saw Tui score revenues of €20.7billion, exceeding pre-Covid levels.
Demand for holidays has soared this year, with easyJet , Ryanair and Jet2 reporting bumper results, but war in the Middle East and the threat of recession have prompted warnings that profits may have peaked.
TUI said bookings for the current winter season and next summer gave it confidence that operating profit would grow by at least 25 per cent in this financial year on revenue at least 10 per cent higher.
‘Our strategic initiatives to enhance value and the current booking trend direct us to expect a encourage improvement in 2024,’ Tui’s chief executive Sebastian Ebel said.
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BUSINESS LIVE: Tui profits take off; Ten Entertainment set for takeover; BAT targets ‘Smokeless World’
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