Bidding war for Argos owner
SAINSBURY’S faces a bidding war for Home Retail Group after South African furniture retailer Steinhoff made a £1.42billion approach for the Argos owner.
Sainsbury's faces a bidding war for Home Retail Group
The FTSE 250 outfit said in a statement after the stock market closed that Steinhoff, which owns Bensons for Beds and Harveys, could offer 175p a share in cash. Home Retail had said it was willing to back an offer from Sainsbury’s of 161.3p a share, valuing it at £1.3billion.
The supermarket giant is going through Home Retail’s books and has until Tuesday to confirm if it will make a firm bid.
Home Retail said: “The board is reviewing the Steinhoff proposal with its advisers and will make a further announcement. Home Retail shareholders are advised to take no action.”
Sainsbury’s said joining forces with Argos would create a group offering more than 100,000 products from 2,000 stores, making it bigger than John Lewis and the general merchandise business of Marks & Spencer.
Steinhoff said it was supportive of Home Retail’s decision to sell its Homebase DIY chain to Westfarmers of Australia for £340million.
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The FTSE 100 soft drinks bottler hailed good performances in Italy and Greece
Coca-Cola HBC sparkles
LOWER input costs and the first rise in sales volumes for five years in its established European markets added sparkle to Coca-Cola HBC’s profits.
The FTSE 100 soft drinks bottler hailed good performances in Italy and Greece as annual sales volumes rose by 2.6 per cent.
Comparable pre-tax earnings jumped 11.4 per cent to £473.2million, but it took a £173.5million hit from adverse currency movements as the Russian rouble weakened.
Shares rose 39p to 1413p.
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Standard Life reaped the benefits of global expansion and higher contributions into its workplace
Standard Life profit rises
STANDARD Life reaped the benefits of global expansion and higher contributions into its workplace pensions as it shrugged off “volatile” investment markets to lift annual operating profit by 9 per cent to £665million.
It grew its assets under administration by 4 per cent to £307.4billion as a net £6.3billion flowed in.
It added over 250,000 new customers through auto enrolment which helped increase regular contributions into workplace pensions by 9 per cent to £2.9billion.