Top story

Philippines-based spirits group Emperador has agreed to buy Beam Suntory’s Spanish brandy and sherry businesses, including Harveys, for €275m.

Emperador will purchase the Fundador, Harveys, Terry and Tres Cepas brands, as well as production operations in Jerez and Tomelloso, Spain.

The deal comes on the back of Emperador’s £430m acquisition of the Whyte & Mackay whisky braqnd last year.

Harveys is the number one selling sherry wine in the United Kingdom.

“A recent review of our portfolio of brands and supply chain footprint led us to believe that our Spain-based brandy and sherry business could be of greater value to another company,” said Steve Fechheimer, head of strategy and corporate development at Beam Suntory. “Our teams in Jerez and Tomelloso are outstanding, and I am confident that the operations and the brands produced there have a very bright future as part of Emperador”

Winston Co, President of Emperador said: “We look forward to continuing to invest behind the acquired brands, welcoming the transferring employees to Emperador and engaging with the local community.”

Morning update

McColl’s (MCLS) has issued a trading update for the 13 weeks to 29 November. Fourth quarter sales are up 2.7% and 3.1% for the year to date, but fourth quarter like for likes are down 1.8% taking full-year like for likes down by 1.9%.

Like for like sales in premium convenience are down by 0.6% but standard convenience like for likes have dropped by 4%. McColl’s said is remained on target to have 1,000 stores by the end of 2016 after acquiring 60 new convenience stores.

James Lancaster, chief executive commented: “I am delighted to report significant progress on our strategic initiatives for the financial year, continuing our expansion into convenience and capturing further market share. Whilst the sector continues to be challenging, total company like-for-like sales improved in the quarter, and have held up well in our developed convenience stores over the course of the year. We therefore expect results to be in line with the board’s expectations for the year.”

Diageo (DGE) has completed the restructuring of its South African business, which sees it sell its share of its joint venture in the country to Heineken and The Ohlthaver & List Group of Companies (the controlling shareholder of Namibia Breweries).

The sell-off was announced back in July with the Guinness owner set to now operate in the region through wholly owned subsidiaries. Diageo has received a total net cash consideration of ZAR2.5bn (£117m) for the equity and debt positions it has sold.

Tomorrow could see Morrisons officially kicked out of the FTSE 100. The supermarket has been on the brink of relegation from the index all year and is currently the FTSE 100 constituent with the third smallest market cap, with Worldpay, Provident Financial and Irish investment company DCC all set for promotion.

The FTSE 100 has jumped 0.5% so far this morning to 6,388.2pts on the back of gains in Asia and stronger Chinese manufacturing data.

Marks & Spencer (MKS) is up 1% to 507.5p so far today and Reckitt Benckiser (RB) has rebounded 0.7% to 6,275p, but worries mount for Morrisons (MRW) which is down another 1.4% to 150.3p and Tesco has fallen another 0.6% to 166.2p.

Yesterday in the City

With Morrisons on the brink of demotion from the FTSE 100, yesterday was a further blow to its hopes of a late reprieve after the supermarket fell another 1.4% to 152.5p. The supermarket has now lost a quarter of its value since early March 2015.

Yesterday was not a great day for the food retail and consumer sector generally as it helped lead a FTSE 100 fall of 0.3% to 6356.1pts.

Unilever (ULVR) was down 1.5% to 2,834, Reckitt Benckiser (RB) was down 1.3% to 6,230p and British American Tobacco (BAT) was down 0.8% to 3,868p.

The supermarkets followed Morrisons down, with Tesco (TSCO) losing 1.2% to 167.2p and Sainsbury’s (SBRY) down 0.9% to 253.8p.

Away from the FTSE 100 the picture was a little better, helped by Cranswick’s 5.7% share price rise top 1,797p and setting a new 12-month high after reporting a 22% rise in first half profits on revenues up almost 10%.

Greencore (GNC) shares also shot up 4.5% to 337.7p after its strong food to go sales momentum announced last week, while Greggs (GRG) was up 2.2% to 1,243p and Booker (BOK) rose 2.1% to 180.4p.

Topics