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’Snap news
Breaking pre-market news on Wednesday,
- Rio Tinto to invest further $3.1bn in Pilbara mine — statement.
- BHP Billiton loses local government backing for Potash bid — report.
- Home Retail benchmark pre-tax profit tumbles 23 per cent;
Snap news
Breaking pre-market news on Thursday,
- Credit Suisse posts Q1 net profit of SFr2.1bn – statement.
- Deutsche Bahn agrees £1.6bn bid for UK’s Arriva – statement.
- Bank of Ireland in talks on rights issue – statement.
Snap news
Breaking pre-market news on Monday,
- Sports Direct may increase offer for Blacks Leisure, which says it has not breached selective disclosure rules – statement and statement.
- Desire Petroleum says reservoir quality at Liz prospect poor – statement.
Snap news
Breaking pre-market news on Tuesday,
- Deutsche Bank says CEO Josef Ackermann 2009 compensation was €9.55m – statement.
- BNP Paribas may acquire KBC Groep’s Japan unit – Bloomberg.
- Debenhams sees H1 profit ahead of prior year – statement.
Snap news
Breaking pre-market news on Tuesday,
- Mike Ashley’s Sports Direct is considering bid for Blacks Leisure – statement and statement.
- AIB reports FY operating loss of €2.4bn – statement.
- Lyondell said to reject $14.5bn Reliance bid – Bloomberg.
Shareholder activism – Mike Ashley style (updated)
You have to admire the chuzpah of the Sports Direct owner — he’s the one on the right by the way.
His company might face an OFT probe into alleged cartel activity in the sports retail market, and a criminal investigation by the Serious Fraud Office.
Snap news
Breaking pre-market news on Monday,
- BAA reports FY pre-tax loss of £821.9m – statement.
- Lufthansa halts 67 per cent of flights as four-day pilot strike starts – Bloomberg.
- Sports Direct says will vote against resolutions proposed by Blacks Leisure at this week’s AGM – statement.
Call off the search, Sports Direct edition
It’s over.
After a two and half year search, the UK’s biggest sports retailer has finally found someone brave enough to take on the job of chairman.
From RNS on Tuesday.
Sports Direct International plc today announces the appointment of Dr Keith Hellawell QPM as non-executive Chairman of the Board with immediate effect.
Snap news
Breaking pre-market news on Thursday,
- National Express board plans cash call before end of the year, continues to evaluate Stagecoach offer – statement.
- Credit Suisse reports SFr2.4bn net profit for the third quarter – statement.
UK’s JJB, Sports Direct, raided in probe
The offices of JJB and Sports Direct were raided on Thursday as part of an investigation over possible price fixing and fraud. The Office of Fair Trading is in the early stages of a probe of the sportswear retailers,
Welcome to the world of sporting retail…
… in the UK.
If maverick businessman Mike Ashley – he’s the one the right – needed something to take his mind off the Newcastle United sale process, he’s certainly got it.
From the London stock exchange’s Regulatory News Service (RNS).
Through the keyhole with FT Alphaville
Yep, we have come over all Lloyd Grossman.
The game is to guess whose pad this might be:
A premiership footballer perhaps? A soap star? An ageing light entertainer? Or what about the boss of a struggling sportswear retailer?
That’s right,
Snap news
Breaking pre-market news on Thursday,
- Credit Suisse reports revenues at CHF9.5bn (Q1 08: CHF2.9bn) – statement, FT story.
- Northern Rock sees debt owed to the government increase to £9.8bn (Dec 08:
Blacks Leisure in talks on offers
Blacks Leisure, the UK outdoor goods retailer, has received two approaches for a possible offer, including one from Mike Ashley, the founder of Sports Direct who holds a 29.9% stake. Shares in the company rose 42 per cent to 38p after it confirmed it was in early stage talks with unnamed companies about an offer for the group.
Sports Direct falls 51% in ‘hardest year’
Sports Direct said on Thursday that trading in its first year as a listed company had been the hardest it had ever faced, as it reported a 51 per cent drop in underlying pre-tax profits.
The sports retailer,
Sports Direct’s Ashley rebuilds Amer stake
Mike Ashley, founder of UK sports retailer Sports Direct, has returned to playing the stock market by rebuilding a stake in Finland’s Amer Sports that was sold in November. The renewed 5% investment in Amer,
Hokey Cokey Ashley gets back into Amer
In, out, in, out, shake it all about. An unpleasant mental image early on a Wednesday morning. But Mike Ashley has got his sports retailer doing a Scandinavian variant of the Hokey Cokey with Helsinki-listed Amer Sports.
Sports Direct founder entertains and blames
Mike Ashley, the maverick founder of Sports Direct, has blamed the troubled state of the UK retail group on “three train wrecks” – summer rain, slow Christmas trading and the poor performance of the England national football team.
Mike Ashley — direct
Just in time for the extraordinary meeting and interim results of UK sports retailer Sports Direct on Wednesday, Mike Ashley’s old friend Chris Ronnie at JJB Sports has bought the Original Shoe Company chain for £5m from the controversial Sports Direct chief,
Nike to UK’s Ashley: Stay out of Umbro bid
Mike Ashley is engaged in talks with Nike as the US sportswear company tries to persuade the maverick UK entrepreneur not to block its agreed bid for Umbro, kit sponsor to the England football team. The talks are the first sign that Ashley is willing to negotiate with Nike over its £285m takeover of Umbro,
Sell Sports Direct, advises red-faced Merrill
Investors in Sports Direct, the UK sports retailer, were Wednesday advised to sell the stock by Merrill Lynch, less than a year after the bank brought the retailer to market at more than three times its current share price.
Merrill finally capitulates on Sports Direct
We think this is technically known as throwing in the towel. Merrill Lynch, joint broker to Sports Direct and bookrunner on the retailer’s February IPO, has chopped its rating to ‘sell’ and slashed its outlook.
UK insurers’ body hits at Sports Direct
The embattled billionaire Mike Ashley faces a new row with the City after the Association of British Insurers criticised Sports Direct over the way the company has been run since joining the stock market,
Sports Direct in share buy-back
Mike Ashley, deputy chairman of Sports Direct, edged closer to taking private the UK sports retailer he founded after announcing a share buy-back plan that could raise his holding to as much as 72.2%. Sports Direct,
England football loss puts retailers on the defensive
Croatia’s 77th-minute winner against England in football on Wednesday helped knock almost £100m from the market value of Sports Direct, the UK sports equipment retailer, on Thursday as shareholders joined football fans in ruing a hapless performance at Wembley.
Sports Direct sells Amer stake
Sports Direct, the retailer controlled by Mike Ashley, is to reduce its debt after selling a stake in a Finnish sportswear company at a profit. The controversial UK company announced after the market closed that it had sold its entire holding in Amer Sports,
Sports Direct raises Umbro stake
Mike Ashley took on Nike, the world’s biggest sportswear brand, by doubling his retail chain’s stake in Umbro, in an audacious gambit to safeguard his interests in the maker of England football shirts.
Ashley blocks Nike. Comprehensively
An intriguing “print” in the market for sportswear group Umbro on Tuesday: a parcel of 16m shares changed hands at 195p apiece – an 11 per cent stake in a company that America’s Nike was hoping to take over.
Russia 2, England 1, Umbro 33
It smacks of opportunism. With the national football team melting in front of our eyes here in the UK, and with sales of replica shirts and the like set to plummet as a result, someone has lobbed in a bid for Umbro,
Sports Direct swoops for Nevisport
The Sports Direct group of the UK sporting goods entrepreneur Mike Ashley is understood to have made yet another acquisition, buying Nevisport, a Scottish outdoor sports chain. Mr Ashley, who has infuriated the City by failing to provide detailed financial information,