Blackstone, private equity giant backs ￡10bn AI data centre deal in UK

BRAVE BOLD BRILLIANT BUSINESS NEWS – 5TH OCTOBER 2024

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GENERAL

Blackstone , private equity giant backs ￡10bn AI data centre deal in UK -?￡10bn investment into the UK will create one of the largest artificial intelligence data centres in Europe. The investment will build a data centre in Blyth, in the north east of England, creating more than 4,000 jobs. Construction of the site is expected to begin next year. It comes after the government officially designated data centres as Critical National Infrastructure, ranking them as important as emergency services, finance, healthcare, energy, and water systems.

ON?THE?UP

OpenAI , the maker of GPT, value surges to $157bn in funding deal - OpenAI?has raised $6.6bn in its latest funding round, as investors including its early backer Microsoft continue to bet big on artificial intelligence (AI). The deal gave the tech company a value of $157bn (￡118bn) - similar to investment bank Goldman Sachs and more than most of America's biggest companies, making it one of the most valuable start-ups in the world. OpenAI said the money would allow it to stay at the cutting edge of AI research.

特易购公司 ?ups guidance after first-half performance ‘exceeds expectations’ - Tesco increased its retail adjusted operating profit guidance to ￡2.9bn, from ￡2.8bn, after it “delivered volume growth ahead of expectations”. Continuing sales at the grocer grew 3.5% in the 26 weeks ended 24 August 2024, the first half of its fiscal year, up from ￡30.4m in the first half of 2023 to ￡31.5m in 2024.

British Land splashes out on portfolio of retail parks - Property giant British Land announced that it has acquired a portfolio of seven high-quality retail parks for ￡441m. The company said the deal would be funded from existing resources as well as an equity placing of approximately ￡300m, by way of an accelerated bookbuild offering. The group acquired the retail parks from Canadian investment giant Brookfield. They have a passing rent of ￡29.5m and a net initial yield of 6.7%. The assets are 99% occupied, and all “benefit from a major superstore anchor.”

KP Snacks , Hula Hoops maker defies cyber attack and strikes as profit nears ￡100m - The Slough-headquartered business, whose brands also include KP Nuts, Butterkist, Pom-Bear and Popchips, has reported a pre-tax profit of ￡93.7m for 2023, up from the ￡64.3m it achieved in 2022. Newly-filed accounts with Companies House also show the firm’s turnover jumped from ￡546m to ￡626.7m over the same period.

Audible , UK’s love for original content helps double UK profit - Profit at the UK arm of audiobook and podcast giant Audible, which is owned by Amazon, doubled during its latest financial year, it has been revealed. The London-headquartered division has posted a pre-tax profit of ￡29m for 2023, up from the ￡14.7m it achieved in 2022. Audible’s UK turnover increased from ￡225.9m to ￡241.8m over the same period.

JD Sports Fashion revenue hits record as US expansion pays off -?Revenue at the retailer reached just over ￡5bn in the 26 weeks to 3 August 2024, up by 5.2% year on year.?Profit before tax rose by 2% to ￡405m, while earnings per share rose 4.5% to 5.15p. Like-for-like sales growth in the first half of the year was 0.7%, and underlying operating margins were in line with last year.?

Dishoom creates nearly 300 jobs and serves up record sales of ￡100m+ - The London-headquartered restaurant chain has posted a turnover of ￡116.8m for 2023. The latest figure comes after Dishoom reported a turnover of ￡94.9m for the previous financial year.

IN THE DOLDRUMS

Profit slashed at Britain’s Got Talent maker Fremantle ?- The London-headquartered division has reported a pre-tax profit of ￡9.4m for 2023, down from the ￡22.9m it achieved in 2022. Newly-filed accounts with Companies House also show its turnover decreased from ￡374.3m to ￡364.8m over the same period.

耐克 withdraws full-year guidance as sales plunge ahead of new CEO arrival - The sportswear giant has been grappling with slowing consumer demand and declines across key markets as direct-to-consumer sales dropped 13% to $4.7bn (￡3.8bn), while wholesale revenues dipped by 8%.?The retailer’s European operations were particularly hard hit with EMEA revenues down 13% to $3.1bn (￡2.5bn), as both footwear and apparel sales declined amid stiff competition from rising brands such as Hoka and On in the running market.

Mulberry England rejects ￡83m takeover offer from Fraser Group - The board of Mulberry have rejected the ￡83m takeover offer from Mike Ashley’s Fraser Group.?The owners of Sports Direct, Evans Cycles, House of Fraser and Jack Wills said it would make an offer for the 63% of the luxury brand it did not already own at 130p a share.?It made the surprise move after Mulberry unveiled an emergency ￡10.75m share placing to shore up its battered balance sheet.?Mulberry had said it needed to raise cash after it fell to a ￡34m pre-tax loss in the year to the end of March.

Tesco Mobile in the red despite sales passing ￡1bn - The provider, which is a joint venture between the supermarket giant and Virgin Media 02, has reported a pre-tax loss of ￡449,000 for 2023. The loss comes after the business posted a pre-tax profit of ￡8.3m in 2022.

boohoo bosses consider break-up of retailer - Various shareholders have urged the board to spin off some of its top performing brands as it seeks to boost its share price, which has dropped more than 85% over the last five years. Insiders believe there is potential value in offloading or spinning off Karen Millen and Debenhams and selling young, fast fashion retailers such as PrettyLittleThing, Boohoo and BoohooMan.

Leon restaurant chain’s loss-making streak continues amid Asda takeover - Leon lost almost ￡20m in the year it was sold by the billionaire Issa brothers to Asda, it has been revealed. The company had been purchased by the brothers’ Lancashire-based EG Group in 2021 before most of the group’s UK operations were sold to the supermarket giant for ￡2bn in October 2023. At the time, Leeds-headquartered Asda was owned by the Issa brothers and TDR Capital, with Walmart holding a 10% stake. However a deal, which was announced in June this year, is about to be completed which will see Zuber Issa’s shares in Asda bought by TDR Capital.

ONES TO WATCH

Saga in talks with Belgium’s Ageas over insurance deal?- The London-listed firm said that it was “in discussions with Ageas with regard to a potential partnership arrangement” for the business. Saga added that "no deal is guaranteed and a further announcement will be made “as appropriate.”?

Authentic Brands Group snaps up Champion in $1.2bn deal - The Ted Baker and Hunter owner first said in June that it would buy Champion from US clothing company HanesBrands. The US sporting giant generates nearly $3bn (￡2.25bn) in global retail sales annually and is Authentic’s second biggest acquisition after snapping up Reebok from Adidas for €2.1bn (￡1.8bn) back in 2022.

John Lewis & Partners hails instant sales pick up after return of famous price pledge?- John Lewis has seen an immediate response to the return of its Never Knowingly Undersold pledge with website and store sales picking up “aggressively.”?The department store group announced last month that it was bringing back the famous century old tagline that was axed by its former boss Pippa Wicks in 2022. As a result John Lewis has matched or dropped 30,000 prices since September 9.

Nationwide Building Society completes Virgin Money takeover to create high street banking titan - Nationwide has completed its ￡2.9bn takeover of Virgin Money.?The UK’s biggest banking merger since the financial crisis, the deal comes amid increasing consolidation among mid-sized lenders.?With the takeover completed, David Duffy has stepped down as Virgin Money’s chief executive and been replaced by former Nationwide CFO Chris Rhodes.

Rightmove rejects fourth REA bid as ‘unattractive and undervaluing’ firm - London-listed Rightmove has said the ￡6.2bn offer “remains unattractive”. “The board has unanimously concluded that the latest proposal is unattractive and materially undervalues Rightmove,” the company said. “Shareholder interests would be better served through the execution of Rightmove’s standalone strategic plan.”

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