Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, radio News, The.
Speaker 2: Stock Movers Report, your roundup of companies making moves in
Speaker 2: the stock market, harnessing the power of Bloomberg Data.
Speaker 3: Well, let's take a look at some stocks on the
Speaker 3: move today in Europe. I'm Stephen Carroll with Lizzie Burden,
Speaker 3: and we're joined by Bloomberg's Breaking News editor Louise Me
Speaker 3: and Louise Good morning. Let's start with the UK insurer Beasley,
Speaker 3: shares dropping after it rejected a takeover bid.
Speaker 1: Indeed, yes, so rejected a bid from Zurich, the Swiss
Speaker 1: insurance firm, and that's for seven point seven billion pounds,
Speaker 1: so it's almost thirteen pounds a share essentially. So Beasley
Speaker 1: have rejected that just earlier this morning, saying that it
Speaker 1: materially undervalues the company and they're kind of emphasizing their
Speaker 1: long term prospects as a standalone company. So this is
Speaker 1: the third proposal from Zurich Insurance. They've all been rejected
Speaker 1: by Beasley, but they've only actually gone public with this
Speaker 1: with the with the third one, the actual offer that
Speaker 1: was on Monday, So that's the as I say, they
Speaker 1: almost thirteen pounds a share, which marked a fifty six
Speaker 1: percent premium to buz's closing price the day before that,
Speaker 1: on the last trading day before that, on the friday.
Speaker 1: So when they went public, shares swored about thirty to
Speaker 1: thirty percent, and then, as you say today, they once
Speaker 1: they've rejected that offer, shares fir about seven percent, and
Speaker 1: then I've actually paid their losses slightly books, but they're
Speaker 1: still far higher than they were a week ago before
Speaker 1: this offer was disclosed.
Speaker 4: So the question now is what will happen.
Speaker 1: Will Zurich follow up with a higher bid, or will
Speaker 1: this attract more suitors. So we'll be keeping an eye
Speaker 1: for potential M and A in their insurance space.
Speaker 3: Well.
Speaker 1: In the meantime, turning to B and M, louise turnaround
Speaker 1: costs weighing on the discount retailer. Indeed, yes, so B
Speaker 1: and M cut their guidance again today. They are essentially investing,
Speaker 1: as you say, in their turnaround plans, they're going back
Speaker 1: to basics. They've said that this investing in prices in
Speaker 1: clearing stock is all weighing on profits. They now see
Speaker 1: earnings next year of up to four hundred and seventy
Speaker 1: five million pounds. It was previously five hundred and twenty
Speaker 1: million pounds. This is ongoing struggles. They had a profit
Speaker 1: warning on October. They cut their guidance again two weeks
Speaker 1: later after an accounting era, all on the back of
Speaker 1: more competition in the space, higher wages as a lot
Speaker 1: of retailers or all retailers are seeing in Britain. So
Speaker 1: there was a note from Bloomberg Intelligence Intelligence on the
Speaker 1: back of B and m's update today saying, you know,
Speaker 1: it confirms there aren't really any expectations of easy recoveries
Speaker 1: for it, but there is a small glimmer of hope
Speaker 1: or light.
Speaker 4: That same sort of sales fell less than expected.
Speaker 1: So that's their BIA saying that's a bit of an
Speaker 1: early positive sign in terms of their turnaround. And B
Speaker 1: and M themselves has said they're confident in boosting their
Speaker 1: long term performance. So shares initially dropped on the back
Speaker 1: of the guidance cup but last SNY look they pushed
Speaker 1: slightly into the green potentially on that bit of future positivity.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so indeed want to keep an eye on as
Speaker 3: well as we're looking at those BNM shows. As you say,
Speaker 3: just turned into the positive up by six tens of
Speaker 3: one percent. Let's go to Telenor next, the Norwegian telecoms
Speaker 3: provider selling a steak in a tie operator.
Speaker 4: Yes, a bit more MNA action.
Speaker 1: So selling a steak in Thai telecoms firm True Corp
Speaker 1: for three point nine billion dollars. They had about thirty
Speaker 1: percent holding in that company. They've sold it to a
Speaker 1: company that's actually owned by the chairman of True that
Speaker 1: the Tai telencoms firm, and they're part of one of
Speaker 1: Asia's wealthiest families. And it comes with the context of
Speaker 1: Teleanor having been overhauling its operations. They're focusing on their core,
Speaker 1: their Nordic business that accounts for most of their revenue. So,
Speaker 1: for example, they've already sold their Pakistani operations or agreed
Speaker 1: to sell them a couple of years ago.
Speaker 4: They've got a new CEO.
Speaker 1: Shares up this morning on the back of this latest
Speaker 1: steak sale, investors saying, you know, it makes strategic sense.
Speaker 4: It aligns with the aim of reducing.
Speaker 1: Their exposure on Asia and focusing on their Nordic corpusness.
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