Good morning, it's Paul here. Apologies, I forgot to put up the placeholder article last night.

So far, the following have caught my eye;

Carpetright (LON:CPR) - CVA & fundraising proposals

QUIZ (LON:QUIZ) - trading update


There's still no news on who has bought the big block of GAME Digital (LON:GMD) shares. Having had a ponder overnight, I jumped the gun by suggesting that the buyer might be Sports Direct. It still could be, triggering a bid for the whole company. On balance though, I'm more persuaded by Gromley's suggestion that the overhang was probably placed with various institutional buyers. Anyway, the overhang is gone, which is good news.

EDIT: all has now been revealed in subsequent "holding in company" RNSs. I was correct that Elliott Advisors (Duodi) has sold out completely, its 36.5% stake in GMD. However, my theory that Sports Direct might have bought the overhang, and launch a bid, was wrong. Gromley's theory was correct - that the overhang has been placed with institutions.

There are some excellent new names on the GMD major shareholder list, in particular I very much like that Gervais Williams' outfit, Miton, has taken 13.1% of the company at 35p. Canaccord has taken 11.8% for discretionary clients (possibly something to do with Hargreave Hale, I wonder?), and J O Hambro has taken 5.1%. The balance I suppose would probably have been distributed to under 3% holders, hence not requiring an RNS.

All in all, whilst falling short of my hopes for a takeover bid, this is a very pleasing outcome. A huge overhang of GMD shares has been eliminated in one fell swoop. We also have some big name institutions coming on board at 35p, which very much reinforces the bull case for the new strategy of developing "BELONG" format stores, both standalone, and within Sports Direct shops.

End of EDIT

Escalating tensions in the Middle East, and President Trump's unique & bizarre way of handling things, is certainly introducing fresh nerves into the market. It sounds as if the USA is about to launch missile strikes on the Assad regime again, and Russia is threatening to shoot them down. All rather worrying, and not helpful to markets.

On the positive side, apparently warm weather is on the way for…

Unlock the rest of this article with a 14 day trial

Already have an account?
Login here