FTSE 250 movers: Petershill surges; Froth comes off M&B

(Sharecast News) - FTSE 250 (MCX) 21,581.31 -0.50%

Petershill Partners rocketed after the investment firm said it plans to delist from the London stock market after concluding it was undervalued as a public company.

Founded by Goldman Sachs in 2007, the firm - which remains majority owned by the Wall Street bank - made its London debut in September 2021.

Since then, Petershill said assets under management had reached $351bn, at an annualised growth rate of 17%.

However, it argued that despite a "strong" operating and financial performance, the firm's share price and valuation had not reflected the quality or underlying value of its assets, financial performance or growth prospects.

The board has therefore opted to delist the business, returning around $921m in cash returned to shareholders.

Under the proposed terms, freefloat shareholders will receive $4.15 in cash for every ordinary share cancelled.

Combined with the $0.052 interim dividend, the offer represents a premium of around 35% to Wednesday's closing price and values Petershill at around $4.5bn.

As at 0830 BST, shares in Petershill had rocketed 33% at 307.58p.

In a joint statement, Ali Raissi-Dehkordy and Robert Hamilton Kelly, co-heads of Goldman Sachs Petershill Group, said: "The operator agrees that this is in the best interests of the company, free-float shareholders and shareholders as a whole.

"The board and operator believe the company has been consistently undervalued despite strong delivery of its strategy and that this is a unique opportunity to return significant near-term value to free-float shareholders."

The firm also published interim results on Thursday, showing partner distributable earnings of $152m in the six months to 30 June, up 9%.

Adjusted earnings before interest and tax rose to $167m from $128m, with a margin of 89% and adjusted earnings per share of 11.4 cents, up from 8.5 cents.

Total capital return was $265m.

Raissi-Dehkordy and Hamilton Kelly said: "We are pleased that our partner-firms have raised $19bn of gross fee-eligible assets in the first half, despite volatile markets earlier in the year."

Shares in Mitchells & Butlers fell more than 7% on Thursday as news that weaker sales in London and at its premium businesses disappointed investors despite the pub and restaurant group holding annual guidance on the back of a 4.2% rise in like-for-like sales.

The Harvester and Toby Carvery owner forecast higher overall cost inflation next fiscal year of around £130m, or 6% of its cost base, but expected to outperform the sector via cost efficiencies.

Chief executive Phil Urban said sales growth in the 51 weeks to September 20 had been broad based, with "strong" like-for-like performances in both food and drink across its portfolio supported by cost management and capital investment.

AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould said: "Fundamentally, Mitchells & Butlers needs to either put up its prices or greatly increase sales volumes so it can achieve economies of scale such as bigger buying power for raw ingredients."

Derren Nathan, head of equity research at Hargreaves Lansdown said the group's diverse brand portfolio, well-invested estate, and focus on efficiency, left it well placed to mitigate cost pressure, while outgrowing the market.

However, he noted that shares in the company have more than doubled over the last three years and the "valuation broadly reflects recent operational improvements".

"With consumer sentiment fragile, and the potential for a further tax grab in the November budget, there's no obvious catalyst for near-term appreciation," he said.

Eurowag lost ground after TA Associates Management sold 61 million shares in the company in a placing. The shares, which represented a stake of around 8.8%, were sold at 92p each.

Drax, Alfa Financial Software, HgCapital Trust, Pollen Street, JTC, Mercantile Investment Trust and BioPharma Credit all fell after trading without entitlement to a dividend.

FTSE 250 - Risers

Petershill Partners (PHLL) 308.00p 33.33% SSP Group (SSPG) 167.50p 7.30% Computacenter (CCC) 2,594.00p 3.68% Playtech (PTEC) 367.50p 2.51% Caledonia Investments (CLDN) 377.50p 1.62% Bytes Technology Group (BYIT) 397.80p 1.43% Ithaca Energy (ITH) 190.90p 1.22% 4Imprint Group (FOUR) 3,100.00p 0.98% NCC Group (NCC) 145.40p 0.97% Lancashire Holdings Limited (LRE) 655.00p 0.92%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Mitchells & Butlers (MAB) 244.00p -7.40% W.A.G Payment Solutions (EWG) 93.20p -4.90% Raspberry PI Holdings (RPI) 410.80p -4.60% Oxford Nanopore Technologies (ONT) 147.80p -4.34% Kier Group (KIE) 205.00p -3.53% Morgan Sindall Group (MGNS) 4,225.00p -3.10% Lion Finance Group (BGEO) 7,400.00p -2.95% Oxford Biomedica (OXB) 565.00p -2.92% Ibstock (IBST) 136.20p -2.85% THG (THG) 37.02p -2.83%