Miners struggle in flat FTSE 100, Dowlais recovers

The mining sector put pressure on London’s top flight today after declines of 3% for Rio Tinto and Anglo American in early trading.

Glencore, which earlier posted an in-line production update, fell by 1% or 5.9p to 496p as traders reacted to a fall in commodity prices.

The FTSE 100 index stood 1.72 points lower at 7900.89, with top flight newcomer Dowlais the best performing stock as it steadied following an opening day hammering.

The company, which includes GKN’s automotive and powder metallurgy businesses, has been demerged from blue-chip company Melrose Industries. The shares fell 21% yesterday but are up 3% or 3.6p to 120.8p today.

Defensive stocks were also in favour as United Utilities and National Grid both rose 9.5p to 1084.5p and 1140p respectively, while BAE Systems added another 7p to 1027.5p as the defence giant continues to trade at record levels.

The FTSE 250 index fell 13.60 points to 19,122.27, with takeover target Network International up 11% or 40p at the 400p level proposed by a second potential private equity bidder.

Music lovers need to be on their guard against ticket scams, major bank warns

Reports of people being scammed when trying to buy concert tickets have surged, a major bank is warning.

With demand to attend live events soaring after the coronavirus lockdowns, Lloyds said music lovers hoping to see their favourite artists perform live this summer need to be on their guard.

According to the bank’s data, reports of people being scammed when buying concert tickets have surged by 529% over the past year, with victims losing £110 on average.

Read more here

Oil price under pressure, Asia markets struggle

The Brent crude price is near to $80 a barrel after falling 6% this week as fears mount that higher interest rates will squeeze demand.

The decline, which continued in dealings this morning, means the spike following OPEC’s surprise move to cut output has been wiped out.

Industrial metals such as copper and tin also came under pressure yesterday amid expectations that central banks are poised to announce more interest rate hikes in the coming weeks.

The FTSE 100 index, which has a big commodities focus, is expected by IG Index to open flat at 7898 as a lacklustre week for global markets draws to a close. In Asia, stocks endured a difficult session with the Hang Seng and Shanghai Composite down by more than 1%.

Bid battle breaks out for Network International Holdings with fresh £2 billion offer

London-listed payment services firm Network International Holdings was at the centre of a bid battle this morning after it confirmed it had received a second approach from a would-be buyer.

The company said Brookfield Asset Management was offering 400p per share bid, more than the £387p on the table from a rival consortium of suitors made up by CVC Advisers and Francisco Partners Management.

The new bid values Network at around £2.2 billion.

Network is focused on the Middle East and and processes payments worth over $42 billion in payments in 2021 (£34 billion). It previously said it was “minded to accept” the lower offer.

It added today that it “is currently evaluating the Brookfield Proposal with its financial advisers and a further statement will be made in due course,” also describing the approach as “highly preliminary”.

Network’s stock closed at 360p yesterday.

Sureserve set to be snapped up by private equity

Energy and heating services contractor Sureserve is set to be the latest London-listed firm to be snapped up by private equity, having agreed a £214.1 million takeover offer from Cap10.

Cap10 will pay 125p per Sureserve share, 35p more than the contractor’s current share price.

“Cap10 believes that, under private ownership, with the ability to focus on long-term strategic goals and the right access to capital, Sureserve will be able to accelerate its growth significantly both organically and through M&A,” the Sureserve board says.

The deal comes as a number of other London-listed companies have been targets of private equity interest, amid claims that London stocks are undervalued. Network International, The Hut Group and John Wood Group have all been subject of recent bids.

Bitcoin miner Vinanz makes its debut on the Aquis stock exchange

Bitcoin mining business Vinanz is to make its debut on the Aquis stock exchange.

The firm has acquired the Bitcoin mining operations of Gibraltar-based crypto business Valereum, consisting of 20 Bitcoin mining machines and approximately 4.76 Bitcoins. The machines are all installed, and fully operational, and are based in Nebraska, in the US, at one of the facilities provided by a US-based crypto firm, Compass Mining.

In exchange, Valereum is to receive a stake in Vinanz worth £800k based on its listing price of 3p per share.

“Whilst the Company will focus initially on BTC mining, it will also consider mining of other cryptocurrencies, and operations in the DeFi and Big Data space in the future,” Vinanz said.

Consumer confidence recovery continues

Consumer confidence continues to show recovery after a monthly survey by GfK revealed a six point improvement to minus 30 in April.

As energy bills begin to fall, the forecast for personal finances over the next 12 months increased eight points to -13, which is 13 points higher than this time last year.

The major purchase index is up five points to -28 after a rise of four points to the highest level in over a year.

Client strategy director Joe Staton said improvements were seen across the board: “This is the third month in a row that confidence overall has improved; can we look forward to this momentum building for the year ahead?”

Retail sales fall in March as bad weather hits the high street

Bad weather hit the retail sector hard in March, as the ONS today revealed sales fell by 0.9%.

The decline was more than the expected 0.5% dip.

Clothing sales were hit especially hard, falling by 3.2%. However, the less weather-dependent food sales were also down, which retailers said was likely due to the continuing cost-of-living crisis.

ONS director of economic statistics Darren Morgan noted that things looked better over the longer term, as strong sales in January and February mean that for the year retail sales are still up.

“Retail fell sharply in March as poor weather impacted on sales across almost all sectors,” Morgan said. “However, the broader trend is less subdued, as a strong performance from retailers in January and February means the three-month picture shows positive growth for the first time since August 2021.”