Meaningful losses for retailer J Sainsbury this morning after a posting last night that the Qatar Investment Authority was selling close on one half of its holding in the company. The move will mean the wealth fund is no longer the biggest investor in the company, but it will still retain significant exposure. It’s worth noting that the QIA stake was as high as 25% almost two decades ago, when they attempted to pursue a full takeover bid. The Sainsbury share price was more than 4% lower in early trade.
Engineering group Smiths has this morning announced the sale of its Smiths Detection business to CVC Capital for an enterprise valuation of £2bn, equating to 16.3 times operating profit. This is the lates stage in Smiths’ refocusing on its efficient flow management and thermal solutions verticals. The plan is for a large part of the proceeds – expected to be £1.85bn – to be returned to shareholders, although no details on the timing or mechanism here are revealed. The impact of the deal would see headline operating profits fall by around one quarter based on FY25 data. The Smiths Group share price was up as much as 5% at the opening bell but has given back some of this upside.
Private healthcare provider Spire issued a trading update this morning, noting a positive performance since the publication of interims in July. Revenues rose 3.6% in the following four months and mitigation efforts have helped overcome cost challenges form inflation and rising wage bills, but NHS commissioning activity is down and as a result management have guided full year EBITDA towards the bottom end of the previously forecast range. The Spire share price was down more than 13% shortly after the open.
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