Water firms ordered by Ofwat to pay back customers more than ￡157m due to poor performance

BRAVE BOLD BRILLIANT BUSINESS NEWS – 12TH OCTOBER 2024

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GENERAL

Water firms ordered by Ofwat to pay back customers more than ￡157m due to poor performance - Ofwat said the money would come off bills for households and businesses in 2025-26, with the total rebates set to be calculated in December.?Last year, the water regulator ordered firms to repay ￡114m as part of a similar move.

European IPO activity falls by more than 90% in third quarter - Regulatory changes and political uncertainty in the run up to elections in the UK and France were blamed for the dramatic fall in activity - but the rest of the year is also expected to stay “relatively quiet”.?Overall, Europe saw 8 IPOs raising just €0.3bn (￡250m), a fall of €3.3bn compared to the same period last year and a drop of €6.3bn compared to the previous quarter.

ON?THE?UP

JD Wetherspoon smashes profit expectations - Profit at JD Wetherspoon over the last year exceeded even the high expectations from the market, bringing in ￡73.9m of pre-tax profit, compared to expectations of ￡72m. The chain of pubs reported it had made more than ￡2bn in sales over the year to the end of July, an 8% increase from last year and bringing up profit by more than 74%. “Sales continue to improve. In the last nine weeks, to 29 September 2024, like-for-like sales increased by 4.9%,” said Wetherspoons chief Tim Martin.

Ticketmaster in UK returns to profit ahead of Oasis reunion tour boost - The London-headquartered division has reported a pre-tax profit of ￡19.7m for 2023, up from the pre-tax loss of ￡12m it fell to in 2022. Newly-filed accounts with Companies House also show that the arm’s turnover rose from ￡126.6m to ￡153.5m over the same period. The results have been published after Ticketmaster acted as one of the three ticket sellers for Oasis’ reunion tour earlier this year.

London City Airport back in the black after losing almost ￡100m during Covid - The hub has reported a pre-tax profit of ￡6.6m for 2023 having made a loss of ￡1.1m in the prior 12 months. London City Airport had last made a pre-tax profit when it reported a total of ￡47.8m in 2019. Since then it lost ￡48m in 2020, ￡45.5m in 2021 and ￡1.1m in 2022.

Marston's PLC toasts sales growth as disposals help it slash debt pile - Marston’s has enjoyed a surge in its pub sales over the last year, while also trimming its debt pile by about ￡300m after selling off its remaining stake in its historic brewing business.?The London-listed company saw a 4.8% rise in like-for-like sales over the past year, amid strong growth across both its food and drink divisions.?Net debt has fallen to about ￡885m, Marston’s said, down ￡300m compared with the same point last year, amid a number of disposals across the business.

SHEIN overtakes boohoo in UK as profits double - Shein has overtaken rival Boohoo in the UK as the Chinese fashion giant revealed a near 40% increase in sales and surging profits.?Pre-tax profit at Shein UK doubled from ￡12.2m to ￡24.4m in the year to end of December.?Sales for the fashion giant rose 38% to ￡1.5bn, 30% more than Boohoo Group’s UK sales of ￡1.1bn last year.

新百伦 doubles sales in two years as profit jumps - The UK arm more than doubled its sales in the space of just two years as its profit jumped by more than ￡140m.?The Cheshire-headquartered division has posted a turnover of ￡882.1m for 2023, up from ￡679.7m in 2022 and ￡413.5m in 2021.?New Balance went from making a pre-tax profit of ￡6.6m to ￡148.2m over the 12 months.

Netflix reports record UK profit after password sharing crackdown -?The London-headquartered division has reported a pre-tax profit of ￡60.6m for its latest financial year.?The new total comes after the streaming giant posted a pre-tax profit of ￡34.1m in 2022.?The results also show that Netflix’s revenue also jumped from ￡1.54bn to ￡1.66bn over the same period.

IN THE DOLDRUMS

TGI Fridays secures rescue deal - but with loss of more than 1,000 jobs - TGI Fridays will remain on UK high streets after a rescue deal was secured for the restaurant chain - but more than 1,000 staff have lost their jobs.?Thirty-five restaurants are closing immediately after they were not included in the sale, resulting in 1,012 redundancies.?However, 51 sites have been rescued in the sale to Breal Capital and Calveton.?It means nearly 2,400 jobs have been saved across the chain.

Vistry the house builder shares plunge after builder warns on profit - The group has warned that its profit will be ￡80m lower than expected this year due to issues with some of its housing developments.?The FTSE-250 firm told markets that it had “recently become aware” of higher-than-expected costs in nine of its 300 developments.?It subsequently lowered its profit guidance for 2024 by ￡80m, taking expected adjusted profit before tax to ￡350m, a cut of around 20%. It lowered guidance for 2025 by ￡30m and for 2026 by ￡5m.

Honda in the red despite ‘fun’ motorcycles helping to boost European sales by ￡1bn - The increasing popularity of ‘fun’ motorcycles helping to boost Honda’s European sales by almost ￡1bn failed to stop the brand falling into the red during its latest financial year.?The Berkshire-headquartered European division achieved a revenue of ￡4.498bn for the year to 31 March, 2024, up from the ￡3.523bn it reported for the prior 12 months.

Lakeland losses widen amid ‘challenging economic conditions' - Pre-tax losses grew from more than ￡1.1m the year prior to nearly ￡2m at the kitchenware chain for the year ended 31 December.?Sales also fell slightly from ￡154m to almost ￡153m for the period.

Channel 4 reports record loss as advertising troubles persist -?In 2023, its total revenue dropped by 10.4% year-on-year to ￡1.02bn, including a 9.7% decline in total advertising revenue. It led to a record loss of ￡52m, compared to the previous year’s pre-tax surplus of ￡20m.?In a brighter spot for the broadcaster, digital revenues grew by 10% to ￡280m, now making up 27% of total revenue – a figure expected to hit 30% in 2024, one year ahead of forecast.

ONES TO WATCH

Virgin Wines launches tie-up with Ocado Retail - The tie-up, which started this month, gives Ocado customers access to an “exclusive collection” of 50 wines from the Virgin Wines portfolio. According to the online alcohol specialist, the collaboration marks the first time the wines will be available to buy as individual bottles, having previously only been accessible to Virgin Wines customers and as part of multi-bottle cases.

SHEIN gears up for investor meetings ahead of London IPO - The Chinese online retailer is set to hold informal roadshows primarily in Europe. During these events, it will address questions from major investors and gauge their interest in investing. Shein aims to launch its float within the current quarter, pending approval from regulator the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

Frasers Group increases Mulberry England stake days after takeover bid rejected - The luxury fashion retailer said Frasers subscribed for 4.0m shares at the 100p per share fundraising price, through clawback provisions available to major shareholders. Before the fundraising, the Sports Direct owner held 22.1m shares in Mulberry, representing just under a 37% stake. This latest deal increases the group’s holding to over 37%.

Builders' ￡2.5bn merger backed after monopoly probe - A ￡2.5bn merger of two housebuilding firms has been approved, after they allayed fears about the price of new homes in Shropshire and Cheshire. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) had raised concerns that Barratt's takeover of Redrow could affect the market in Whitchurch and nearby Nantwich. The companies each have a large development in one of the towns, and have now agreed that remaining homes will be sold by an independent agent.

The Very Group to appoint banks as it eyes ￡2.5bn sale - The Very Group is set to enlist Barclays, JP Morgan, and Morgan Stanley to manage a strategic review that could potentially mark the end of the Barclay family’s long-standing ownership of the ecommerce giant. The investment banks, whose appointments are likely to be confirmed within days, will kickstart a full or partial auction of The Very Group.?Retail industry insiders speculated that the business, which owns very.co.uk and littlewoods.com, was likely to be valued in the region of ￡2.5bn – down from its previous valuation of ￡4bn.

谷歌 threatened with break-up by US - The US government says it is considering whether to ask a judge to break up search engine giant Google, in a move that could reshape how technology giants do business.?The Department of Justice (DoJ) says the measures may include "structural requirements” to prevent Google from maintaining its internet search "monopoly".?In response, Google warned that the proposed changes could have unintended consequences for US businesses and consumers.

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