Games Workshop strikes film and TV deal with Amazon, FirstGroup agrees to buy RATP London
By Josh White
Date: Tuesday 10 Dec 2024
(Sharecast News) - London open
The FTSE 100 is expected to open 38 points lower on Tuesday, having closed up 0.52% on Monday at 8,352.08.
Stocks to watch
Games Workshop on Tuesday said it had reached a final deal with Amazon to adapt its Warhammer 40,000 universe into films and television series, together with associated merchandising rights after agreeing creative guidelines. Under the terms of the agreement, Games Workshop also granted an option for Amazon to license equivalent rights in the Warhammer Fantasy universe following the release of any initial Warhammer 40,000 production. It added that guidance for the 2024/25 full year remained unchanged.
FirstGroup announced its entry to the London bus market on Tuesday, as it agreed to acquire the French state-owned RATP Dev Transit London, an operator with a 12% market share, for £90m. The FTSE 250 passenger transport operator said the purchase, financed through cash reserves and assumed leases, would include RATP London's 10 depots, 1,000-strong fleet and 90 TfL route contracts, with projected revenues growing to between £300m and £350m annually by 2030. Subject to French government and TfL approvals, the deal was expected to close in the first half of 2025.
International equipment rental group Ashtead announced on Tuesday that it is planning to move to a primary listing to the US, where its management team, operational headquarters and vast majority of operations are already based. The news came as the company delivered a relatively flat first-half report, in which revenues increased 2% to $2.94bn and pre-tax profit fell 2% to $653m.
Newspaper round-up
Rupert Murdoch's three adult children will retain control over their father's media empire upon his death, a Nevada court has ruled after Murdoch launched a campaign to wrest away their power and give it all to his oldest son. The New York Times reported on Murdoch's loss, citing a sealed court decision that was filed on Saturday. The family battle took place outside of the public's eye, despite attempts from the media to gain access to the trial. - Guardian
Tesla lobbied the UK government to strengthen rules on carbon emissions from cars and lorries, according to documents that also show the electric carmaker continued to push for increased taxes on fossil fuel cars. The US carmaker, which is run by Elon Musk, pushed for the British government to strengthen its zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) mandate for cars and introduce equivalent rules for heavy goods vehicles (HGVs), in a letter to Lilian Greenwood, the Labour roads minister. - Guardian
HSBC has been accused of funding deforestation in one of South America's largest forests, increasing scrutiny of the bank's climate policy under Georges Elhedery, its new chief. The lender, which is being restructured under Mr Elhedery, has been blamed for indirectly fuelling the destruction of Paraguay's Gran Chaco. - Telegraph
The TV streaming and film production company behind the Paddington films is to list in London within days after shareholders overwhelmingly approved the break-up of its parent business Vivendi of France. The Paris-based Canal+, which boasts 27 million pay TV customers worldwide as well as rights to the Ealing comedies and Carry On films, will be spun off from Vivendi and listed next Monday in a move seen as a coup for London. - The Times
Insider dealing could be taking place before as many as one in three takeover bids in the UK, regulators have indicated, but the trend is downwards. The Financial Conduct Authority identified suspicious trading activity before 30.3 per cent of bids in 2023, which was down from 35.3 per cent in 2022. Its new methodology suggests, however, that the illegal activity has for years been more commonplace than the regulator had thought because of flaws in the way it previously identified red flags. - The Times
US close
Stocks were lower at the closing bell on Monday as the S&P 500 came off its third consecutive winning week.
At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.54% at 44,401.93, while the S&P 500 lost 0.61% to 6,052.85 and the Nasdaq Composite saw out the session 0.62% weaker at 19,736.69.
The Dow closed 240.59 points lower on Monday, extending losses recorded in the previous session on the back of a November jobs report that pointed to stronger-than-expected growth last month.
While last month's non-farm payrolls report revealed payrolls had risen by 227,000, a significant increase from October's upwardly revised print of 36,000, it failed to hurt expectations of a 25-basis point interest rate cut from the Federal Reserve when it next convenes on 17 and 18 December.
Later in the week, investors will pay strict attention to November's consumer price index on Wednesday, as well as Thursday's producer price index, as traders hope to gain further insight into the Federal Reserve's thinking going into its two-day policy meeting next week.
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