Sainsbury’s is now well positioned to compete with online retailer Amazon after winning its bid for Argos.
Sainsburys have bought Argos for £1.2b. They are currently waiting in a queue with a numbered ticket waiting to pick it up.
— Darren Jones (@DarrenRJones) 18 March 2016
“I hope the Sainsbury CEO signed the contract with a 2 inch biro,” added the tweeter.
Hours before Friday’s deadline, rival Steinhoff lost interested and instead outbid FNAC for French white goods retailer, Darty. That left the field clear for Sainsbury’s to pipe up with their final bid of £1.4bln for the Home Retail Group.
In what is set to be a clash of the retail titans, the supermarket is likely on the way to becoming Amazon’s biggest UK competitor.
The acquisition means it is able to compete where Amazon always wins: online and delivery.
Amazed @Sainsburys perceive @Argos_Online to be worth £1.2Bn. A few years ago when retailers were going under I'd have bet they'd be next
— 10anta (@10anta) 18 March 2016
Horse Hill reared its head again after some unexpected results from the Gatwick drill site.
Initial flow testing suggested that oil flow would equate to 8.5% of Britain’s daily onshore production
Horse Hill stakeholders, including UK Oil & Gas (LON:UKOG) and Solo Oil (LON:SOLO), are looking to extend production testing and are applying for regulatory permission.
“This is truly a game changing well,” declared Solo Oil Chairman, Neil Ritson.
#gatwickgusher flowed North Sea like oil rates from an onshore well just south of London. The #UK should count itself lucky with Horse Hill.
— David Lenigas (@DavidLenigas) 21 March 2016
Elsewhere, online pollster YouGov PLC (LON:YOU) rose to £41.5 million in the six months ended January 2016 from £36.2 million recorded in the same period a year ago. Profit after tax stood at £1.3 million, compared to a loss of £0.3 million.
Broker Numis Securities upgraded it to a “buy”, indicating a potential upside of 31% from the stock’s current price.
But YouGov users have more pressing matters:
@YouGov You need a fourth option 'Don't Care'
— Neil Rudd (@NeilRudd) 21 March 2016
And finally, Tungsten Corporation’s (LON:TUNG) Edmund ‘Edi’ Truell resigned from the board after the company rejected proposals to combine the electronic invoicing platform’s assets with his other businesses.
Exclusive: City financier Edi Truell to step down from board of Tungsten after making secret approach to buy it. https://t.co/QMlKtStfDx
— Mark Kleinman (@MarkKleinmanSky) 20 March 2016
“The resulting effect of this conceived combination would be that Tungsten's primary asset would be a minority stake in an enlarged group of disparate, illiquid assets controlled by Mr Truell and Tungsten itself would be transformed into an investment vehicle,” said the board.