Source: Sharecast
Shares in Zoopla and PrimeLocation owner ZPG shot up 30% after directors agreed to be taken over by US private equity firm Silver Lake Management for 490p per share in cash, or £2.2bn.
Analysts at Liberum said the price represents a 24.7x annualised estimated 2018 price to earnings, showing that there are buyers prepared to pay "punchy" multiples for high quality assets. "The question now is whether there is a counter-bid. If there is one, we think the most likely candidate is Axel Springer, which has a collection of online property classified assets throughout assets but nothing in the UK, although - interestingly - they recently took a stake in Purplebricks."
Energy services company Wood Group saw trading momentum pick up across its business throughout the first quarter of its trading year, leading the group to confirm its 2018 outlook. On Friday, Wood Group told investors its performance had been led by its Asset Solutions America business, principally driven by a pick up in capital projects activity in power, downstream, and chemicals.
In a wider note on the sector, broker Numis said John Wood was "bigger, stronger and safer" post its Amec acquisition "and it is not yet being given credit for what we believe it is very likely to deliver", being material Amec cost synergies, debt reduction and 22% EPS cagr to 2020.
Renishaw was lower as investors took profits two days after Wednesday's trading update sent the shares 17% higher, with the retreat hastened by a downgrade to ‘reduce’ from Peel Hunt.
Overall Renishaw is world leading company, chipped in Jamie Constable at broker N+1Singer, but the shares were trading at 31.2 times June 2018 earnings per share with 1.1% yield and 28.5 times 2019 EPS the broker kept its rating at Hold.
Singer had attended the company's once-per-year “peek inside”, where management's presentation focused on additive manufacturing and 3D printing, saying they thought a third of all additive systems in world were installed in last 12 months. "Circa 80% of these are mid-sized 250mm machines, which is where Renishaw’s machines are," Constable wrote. "The key drive now is to reduce the cost per part to drive wider adoption. Renishaw have launched a new product, RenAM500Q, where the Q stands for Quad, i.e. it has four lasers so operates faster. There is a good software sale associated with these applications too."
FTSE 250 - Risers
ZPG Plc (ZPG) 487.80p 30.01%
Wood Group (John) (WG.) 644.00p 9.64%
IWG (IWG) 241.90p 5.86%
Stobart Group Ltd. (STOB) 239.50p 3.68%
Virgin Money Holdings (UK) (VM.) 343.50p 3.65%
Rightmove (RMV) 4,767.00p 3.56%
Vedanta Resources (VED) 779.40p 3.53%
Auto Trader Group (AUTO) 381.60p 2.94%
FirstGroup (FGP) 104.60p 2.75%
Stagecoach Group (SGC) 154.50p 2.73%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Renishaw (RSW) 5,240.00p -5.07%
Purecircle Limited (DI) (PURE) 361.00p -4.75%
Capita (CPI) 123.05p -4.28%
Superdry (SDRY) 1,200.00p -4.00%
Sirius Minerals (SXX) 33.04p -3.05%
IP Group (IPO) 136.20p -2.99%
Alfa Financial Software Holdings (ALFA) 335.50p -2.75%
Convatec Group (CTEC) 228.30p -2.35%
CLS Holdings (CLI) 241.50p -2.23%
Sanne Group (SNN) 620.00p -2.21%
