Glantus Holdings took off on Wednesday after announcing the takeover discussions with Accel-KKR and their subsidiary company Basware Corporation.

Glantus Holdings shares were 77% higher at the time of writing on Wednesday.

Accel-KKR has until 16th August 2023 to make a firm intention to make an offer or announce they do not intend to pursue a takeover.

Glantus Holdings has developed technology to help companies manage their accounts payable and announced a €5.5m loss for the twelve months to 31st December 2022.

Bidstack shares were down over 10% at the time of writing on Wednesday after receiving requests to call a general meeting to consider removing two directors, Glen Calvert and Lisa Hau, from office.

The in-game advertising company said they received a series of nine letters from  Interactive Investor Services Nominees, Hargreaves Lansdown (Nominees) and Lawshare Nominees on behalf of investors with holdings amounting to 5.25% of the issued ordinary share capital.

The company is required to call a general meeting within 21 days of receipt of a valid requisition and hold that meeting within 28 days.

Bidstack shares have lost over 74% of their value since the beginning of 2023.

Full-year revenue for 2022 rose 101% to £5.3m, but Bidstack’s loss after tax widened to £7.7m.

Keller Group, the world’s largest geotechnical specialist contractor, is on track for a record first half as orders pick up and operating margins expand. The company’s projects include metro tunnelling in Melbourne and deep sewerage system in Singapore.

Keller Group released a trading statement Wednesday ahead of the release of their interim results due to be released 1st August which will now be highly anticipated by investors after the company said their operating profit will be materially aherad of prior expectations.

The company also said higher operating profits and strong performance will be passed on to investors through a 5% increase in their interim dividend to 13.9p.

“The actions we have taken to improve operational execution have resulted in an increased operating margin and a record performance in the first half of the year,” said Michael Speakman, CEO of Keller Group.

“This significant progress, together with the increased momentum and our robust order book, gives us the confidence to increase our expectations for the year. The underlying strength of the Group’s performance provides confidence in our longer-term prospects and is reflected in the Board’s decision to increase the interim dividend by 5% for the first half”.

Keller Group shares were over 12% higher at the time of writing.

Global equity markets were quiet on Tuesday with US cash bond and equity markets closed for the Independence Day holiday.

The FTSE 100 was up 2 points to 7,530 at the time of writing. US futures markets were open but were little changed.

After yesterday’s sell-off, a slight rebound in AstraZeneca shares helped offset weakness in Sainsbury’s and UK banks. Some UK housebuilders were softer after being downgraded by JP Morgan.

“Earlier this year housebuilders were breathing a sigh of relief as the surging mortgage rates seen in the wake of the mini-Budget eased. That’s no longer the case amid sticky UK inflation and the prospect of higher rates for longer,” said AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould.

“Ahead of a string of updates from the sector, negative commentary from investment bank JPMorgan is putting the likes of Persimmon and Barratt Developments on the back foot.”

Persimmon and Barratt Developments were down 0.3% and 0.1%, respectively.

UK banks

UK banks were weaker after the FCA summoned them to discuss low savings rates. Savings rates have failed to keep up with rising interest rates, and banks’ practices are being scrutinised.

Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds and NatWest will meet with the FCA this Thursday.

“The FCA’s approach will be particularly interesting as its new “Consumer Duty” framework comes into force at the end of July 2023 and will empower the FCA to set higher and clearer standards of consumer protection across the financial services sector and require firms to put their customers’ needs first,” said Gareth Mills, Partner at law firm Charles Russell Speechly.

“How they enforce those requirements is likely to form a large basis of this week’s discussions with the big banks”.

Sainsbury’s

Sainsbury’s was one of the FTSE 100’s top fallers on Tuesday despite reported strong sales growth in the first quarter. The supermarket said reducing prices to compete with budget supermarkets had helped volumes rise.

“Sainsbury’s has come out the gate swinging, insisting that its efforts to keep prices low have seen shoppers buying a higher number of items, with first-quarter sales rising over 9%,” said Sophie Lund-Yates, lead equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown.

“This comes at a time when chatter about unfair profiteering from the big supermarkets has reached fever pitch. This supermarket giant has spent a great deal on reducing prices, especially around Aldi price match campaigns and the introduction of Nectar prices.”

This investment in winning market share may sacrifice margins for the full year, and shares fell 2%.

Sainsbury’s is pushing forward with aggressive price strategies and is stealing market share from competitors as volumes rise.

Sainsbury’s has implemented a ‘Food First’ strategy to match prices with budget competitors Aldi and Lidl. Their efforts are paying off, with group like-for-like sales excluding fuel rising by 9.8%. Grocery sales were 11% higher in the first quarter.

The supermarket noted food prices were starting to fall, and they were passing these savings on to customers by cutting prices on over 120 everyday items since March.

“If the overall value of a supermarket’s sales were not going up at a time of rampant food inflation, something would be seriously wrong, but what’s more telling in the latest update from Sainsbury’s is news of an increase in volumes,” said AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould.

“Under Simon Roberts, who took over the business a little more than three years ago, there has been a renewed focus on its core food retail operation and this seems to be paying off. The market positioning of Sainsbury’s means it could be taking some business away from the more premium-priced Waitrose and Marks & Spencer, helping to compensate for any market share lost to the German discounters Aldi and Lidl.

“The company is also benefitting from its deliberate push to use its Nectar loyalty scheme to offer keener prices to repeat customers, cribbing the idea from its main rival, Tesco.”

Sainsbury’s maintained their outlook and guided for an underlying profit before tax of between £640 million and £700 million in the full year.

Sainsbury’s shares were down 1.8% at the time of writing.

Equity analysts at JP Morgan have downgraded FTSE 100 UK housebuilders as the immediate outlook for the UK housing market worsens.

JP Morgan have downgraded their price targets for Taylor Wimpey, Persimmon, Barratt Developments and Berkeley Group Holdings.

Persimmon cut to ‘neutral’ from ‘overweight’ with a new price target of 1,090p, down from 1,600p.

Taylor Wimpey price target cut to 94p from 130p, ‘neutral’ rating maintained.

Barratt Developments price target cut to 390p from 430, ‘neutral’ rating maintained.

Berkeley Group price target cut to 4,400p from 4,800p, JP Morgans remains ‘overweight’.

The downgrades resulted in lower share prices for the four housebuilders on Tuesday.

Recently released data from Nationwide showed the average UK house price rose 0.1% in the month to June, but this was before the Bank of England hiked interest rates by 0.5%.

Average 5-year fixed mortgage rates rose above 6% this week.