Source: Sharecast
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Engineering and consulting business Wood Group has sold its transmission and distribution business in North America as it sheds non-core businesses ahead of its possible takeover by Sidara. North America T&D, which provides power infrastructure engineering for substations, transmission, distribution and renewable generation across Canada and the US, has been sold to Qualus for $110m.
Investment firm Pantheon International said on Friday that its net asset value had increased 3.7% in July to 510.4p per share. The company's total net asset value now stands at £2.3bn, while its market capitalisation sits at £1.4bn. During July, Pantheon invested £7.0m in share buybacks, repurchasing 2.17m shares at a weighted average price of 321.1p per share - an average discount of 35.0% to the prevailing net asset value per share at the time of the transactions.
Ocean Wilsons has once again urged investors to back its £900m merger with Hansa after US investor Arnhold said it would vote against the deal, claiming it undervalued the UK maritime services and investment firm. In a letter to investors, Ocean Wilsons said an independent committee appointed to look at the merger "believes that the combination is in the best interests of Ocean Wilsons' shareholders and unanimously recommends that shareholders vote in favour of the combination at the upcoming shareholder meeting".
NEWSPAPER ROUND-UP
Rachel Reeves should levy a new bank tax and urge the Bank of England to halt bond sales to reduce the government's £22bn-a-year losses from quantitative easing, the IPPR thinktank has argued. In a report called Fixing the Leak, the IPPR's associate director for economic policy, Carsten Jung, says the Treasury should rein in the costs of QE as public finances are tight. – Guardian
The US tariff exemption for package shipments valued under $800 officially ended on Friday, raising costs and disrupting supply chain models for a range of businesses, with Trump administration officials saying the change would be permanent. There is now a six-month transition period under which postal service shippers can opt to pay a flat duty of $80-$200 per package, depending on the country of origin, the officials added. – Guardian
Rachel Reeves's about-turn on her winter fuel raid means the Government will save £1.3bn less than planned after a surge in pension credit claims. The Chancellor and Sir Keir Starmer were forced to reverse their pledge to scrap the winter fuel payment for most pensioners in June following a Labour backbench rebellion. – Telegraph
Billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe has sold his leather jacket brand Belstaff in a fresh retreat for his sprawling Ineos empire. On Thursday, the chemicals mogul unveiled a deal to offload the motorcycle fashion group to the sportswear brand Castore for an undisclosed sum. As part of the deal, Ineos will take a minority stake in Castore, which supplies the England cricket squad as well as the England rugby team. – Telegraph
One of Australia's biggest banks has offered counselling to some of its staff after they discovered they were losing their jobs when the lender accidentally emailed them to ask them to hand back their laptops. The blunder at ANZ occurred when an automated email — which included their exit date — was mistakenly sent to affected employees before they had been informed they were being made redundant. – The Times
US CLOSE
Major indices closed higher on Thursday, as investors weighed Nvidia's latest quarterly update and its implications for the broader artificial intelligence trade.
At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.16% at 45,636.90, while the S&P 500 advanced 0.32% to 6,501.86 and the Nasdaq Composite saw out the session 0.53% firmer at 21,705.16.
Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com