Check out of Whitbread, was the advice from broker Numis, which downgraded the Premier Inn owner’s shares to reduce.
Investors took heed and sent the stock down 87p or 1.8 per cent to 4,879p, still above Numis’s 4,440p target price. Analyst Wyn Ellis admits that Whitbread has achieved “outstanding success” over the past decade – a fair assessment given that Premier Inn and Costa Coffee, the group’s other marquee brand, have cemented market-leading positions and contributed to a 400 per cent share price rise. However, Ellis argues that the risks are growing – not least from Travelodge and the so-called disruptors such as Airbnb.
After a strong performance in October for stocks, November started with more of a whimper than a bang.
The FTSE 100 rose just 0.71 points at 6,361.80, with weak Chinese manufacturing data largely to blame, causing miners, which produce the raw materials to fuel growth, to decline. Iron ore giant Rio Tinto slipped 37p or 1.6 per cent to 2,321.5p, while rival BHP Billiton dropped 14.5p to 1,026p.
Chatter in the City centred around whether Shell, up 14p at 1,714p, can wrap up its £45bn takeover of fellow oil and gas major BG Group, 4p better off at 1,029p. Speculation is mounting that Shell may have to improve its cash and share offer after its 16 per cent fall since the deal was unveiled in April.
Shares in scandal-stricken Quindell fell 2.75p to 99.5p after the insurance tech company, which is under investigation by the Serious Fraud Office, said its plan to return cash to shareholders on the back of the £637m sale of most of its business to Australian law firm Slater & Gordon would come in stages. The first chunk of £415m is expected in December, while £50m to be paid at the end of 2016, and additional payments of £39.5m along the way.
Restaurant investment group Fulham Shore, run by Pizza Express and Gourmet Burger Kitchen backer David Page, dipped 0.25p to 16.25p after a deal with Bukowski to open another of its American-style eateries in Soho. Bukowski will now also supply certain ingredients to Fulham Shore’s Franco Manca pizza chain.
