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Sirius Minerals rises after dishing out £65,000 worth of shares to two employees

Last updated: 15:30 05 Oct 2018 BST, First published: 09:10 05 Oct 2018 BST

woodsmith mine

Sirius Minerals PLC (LON:SXX), the company behind one of the UK’s most ambitious civil engineering projects of recent times, has dished out £65,000 worth of shares to two employees.

FTSE 250-listed Sirius said it made the award to the unnamed workers after they hit “certain milestones” set out in their contracts.

The awards come at a pivotal time for the company, which is currently seeking a further £2.6-£2.7bn (US$3.4-US$3.6bn) from lenders for its Woodsmith fertiliser project in North Yorkshire.

The budget has been revised up by a further £300-£460mln in recent weeks, largely because of changes to an underground tunnel.

Sirius, which is valued at £1.3bn, saw its shares rise 1.1% to 27.2p on Friday afternoon.

Quiz becomes latest retailer to have a go at House of Fraser

QUIZ PLC (LON:QUIZ) has warned that revenue for the year would miss market forecasts after taking a hit from the collapse of House of Fraser in the first half.

Shares tumbled 25.5% to 110p in afternoon trading.

The fashion retailer, which has historically operated 11 House of Fraser concessions and sold its products through the department store chain’s website, said sales at its store and concessions weakened in September due to less footfall. 

QUIZ took a £0.4mln charge in the first half related to House of Fraser’s entry into administration in August after which Sports Direct International agreed to buy the chain for £90mln.

Revenue rose 19% year-on-year in the first half, but online sales through third-party sites missed expectations.

Fevertree fails to fizz again but Berenberg still thinks it can sparkle

Shares in Fevertree Drinks PLC (LON:FEVR) have failed to fizz for the second day in a row, but that hasn’t stopped Berenberg pushing out a bullish ‘buy’ note on the posh tonic maker.

Analysts at the venerable German bank reckon Fevertree can “grow considerably” over the next few years, driven by demand for its drinks in the US, where it has recently taken over direct management of its operations.

They cite a rapidly growing premium spirits markets across the pond, wider use of bottled mixers in bars and restaurants and the already “substantial progress” made by premium mixers in the off-trade channel (supermarkets etc).

Berenberg kept its ‘buy’ rating in place as it upped its price target to 4,250p from 3,350p.

But the stock, which lost 7% on Thursday, is down another 3.3% today to 3,252p this morning, with sources close to the company seemingly at a loss as to why.

Royal Mail takes another beating from the City

Royal Mail PLC (LON:RMG) shares took another battering on Friday after Citigroup downgraded the stock following the postal operator’s profit warning earlier this week.

The FTSE 100 company had £800mln wiped off its stock market value on Monday after slashing its profit guidance for this year to £500mln-£550mln, compared with £694mln last year.

“The outlook for Royal Mail remains challenging even after the recent reset — While the recent profit warning saw the share price slide by c. 25%, we think this has only served to highlight ongoing risks which the company faces in the near-term,” said Citi analysts in a note to clients.

“Furthermore, despite the significant reset the shares remain more expensive than some European Postal peers.”

Citigroup cut its rating on the stock to ‘sell’ from ‘neutral’ with a target price of 300p.

Shares fell back towards that number this morning, dropping 3.2% to 343.1p.

Aukett Swanke blames “slow” trading as second half fails to bring a change in fortune

Architecture firm Aukett Swanke Group PLC (LON:AUK) still expects to make a loss this year after warning that second-half trading remained “slow”.

The AIM tiddler – its market cap is less than £4mln – won a few new contracts towards the end of the year but progress through the early stages has been “intermittent”.

As a result, revenue increased only slightly compared with the first half of the year, although Aukett’s bosses have been working to reduce costs to try limit the damage.

Despite the weak trading, the company said its cash management “has been effective”, with £694,000 of cash in the bank at the end of September versus £317,000 six months earlier.

Shares were down 8.1% to 2.05p on Friday morning.

£100mln wiped from Centamin’s market cap

Centamin PLC (LON:CEY), one of London’s biggest gold miners, has cut its annual production target after reporting a 25% drop in quarterly output from its flagship Sukari mine in Egypt.

The FTSE 250 group blamed delays to planned operational improvements as it reported total gold production of 117,720 ounces (oz) in the three months ended September 30 versus 156,530oz in the year-ago period. It was, however, a pick up on the 92,800oz it mined in the second quarter.

Centamin now expects annual production of around 480,000, down from its earlier target of between 505,000-515,000oz. Shares lost their shine, dropping 8.6% to 99.4p.

Intu deputy chairman mulling takeover bid

Intu Properties PLC (LON:INTU), jilted at the altar this year by Hammerson PLC (LON:HMSO), has a new suitor.

The shopping centres property group is being put under the microscope by a consortium including The Peel Group, owned by Intu’s billionaire deputy chairman John Whittaker. Between them, the three consortium members own around 30% of Intu.

The consortium's consideration of the possible offer is at a preliminary and exploratory stage and no approach has been made to the board of Intu yet.

Shares jumped 28% to 190p.

 

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