Prosiebensat Sells Swedish Unit; Whitbred Jumps on Hotels, Costa Momentum

Sarla Buch
21 Jun, 2017
New York City

Centrica sells two power plants to Czech power producer. The investment manager IP Group offers to buy rival Touchstone for $587 million. Prosiebensat 1 sells its Swedish online travel agency for

[R]4:00 PM Frankfurt – Centrica sells two power plants to Czech power producer. The investment manager IP Group offers to buy rival Touchstone for $587 million. Prosiebensat 1 sells its Swedish online travel agency for €508 million. Whitbread jumped on strong sales at Premier.[/R]

In London trading, FTSE 100 index fell 33.89 or 0.5% to 7,449.09 and in Frankfurt the DAX index decreased 42.18 or 0.3% to 12,773.01.

In Paris, CAC 40 index slipped 19.03 or 0.4% to 5,274.62.

Aviva Plc slipped 0.7% to 534.50 pence after Reuters said the U.K.-based health insurance services provider is planning to eliminate its holdings in stocks and bonds worth about £1 billion or $1.3 billion to support the socially responsible investing.

Centrica Plc advanced 2.9% to 208 pence after the U.K.-based energy producer and distributor agreed to sell its two largest gas-fired power plants Langage and South Humber Bank to a subsidiary of Czech energy company EPH for £318 million or $401 million in cash.

The transaction is expected to complete during the second-half of 2017.

Centrica plans to invest £180 million in new flexible energy storage and gas-fired generation capacity.

IP Group Plc gained 1.1% to 134.90 pence after the U.K.-based investment manager said that it had made takeover offer to £466 million or $587 million for the rival Touchstone Innovations plc.

However, in May Touchstone had rejected the offer.

IP said it had received support from shareholders of Touchstone, representing 74.3% of its issued share capital and the offer document will be delivered in July 2017.

Prosiebensat 1 Media SE dropped 1.6% to €36.82 after Germany-based media and free television services provider divested its Sweden-based online travel agency Etraveli Holding AB to CVC Capital Partners for about €508 million or $565 million.

The broadcaster forecasted fiscal 2018 revenues of about €4.5 billion and operating profit of about €1.15 billion.

Separately, the advertising-financed free television provider agreed to acquire domestic majority stake in balloon underwater dining, trip and bungee jumps services provider Jochen Schweizer GmbH for about €108 million or $120 million.

Provident Financial Plc tumbled 17.4% to 2,368 pence after the U.K.-based consumer financial services provider estimated profits in full-year from the consumer credit divisionprofit to drop to £60 million from £115 million in 2016 after restructuring at its consumer credit business.

Whitbread Plc jumped 4.9% to 4,040 pence after the U.K.-based restaurant and bars operator said comparable sales in the first-quarter ending on June 1 advanced 2.9% and sales in Costa Coffee business increased 1.1% while its total sales jumped 8.7% from a year ago.

Comparable sales in Premier Inn soared 4.7% and total surged 9.2% and comparable sales in restaurants segment rose 0.7% and total sales increased 2.1%.

The hotel chain plans to increase the number of rooms in the Premier Inn UK to about 85,000 and the chain estimate global system sales of £2.5 billion for Costa by 2020.

“We have a clear plan to deliver growth in our existing estate and remain on track to open approx 4,200 hotel rooms, 230-250 Costa coffee shops and install about 1,250 Costa Express machines this year,"" said chief executive officer Alison Brittain.