Warren East helps Rolls-Royce finish on a high by buying into the company’s turnaround
The Government is reportedly considering nationalising Rolls’ submarine business
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Your support makes all the difference.The new Rolls-Royce chief executive Warren East helped the aircraft engine maker finish a difficult week on a high by buying into the company’s turnaround.
Mr East dipped into his pocket and bought just shy of £100,000 worth of shares in Rolls, up 3p at 576.5p, showing faith in a revival for the company which has been hammered by five profit warnings in less than two years.
This week, Mr East, who took charge in July, got rid of the aerospace and land and sea divisions, which led to the departure of two senior managers.
That followed reports that the Government would consider nationalising Rolls’ submarine business, which powers the Trident nuclear deterrent, to defend Rolls against a foreign takeover, given that it has lost a third of its value this year.
The FTSE 100 lost 50.12 points to 6,052.42, with Thursday’s rally triggered by the Fed’s move to lift US rates causing a hangover yesterday.
Reports suggested that the US surgical implant maker Stryker had tabled an $18bn (£12bn) offer for knee and hip replacement specialist Smith & Nephew, which was 52p fitter at 1,172p.
Stryker’s chief executive revealed last year that it had looked at a deal for S&N before choosing instead to spend billions buying back its own shares.
A report from the Hong Kong-based broker CLSA suggested struggling Standard Chartered – whose shares have slumped 40 per cent this year amid a slowdown in its main Asian market, making it the biggest non-mining faller on the FTSE 100 – could be vulnerable to a takeover.
They touted DBS as the most likely acquirer, although the Singapore bank told Bloomberg “it’s not on our agenda”. StanChart finished up just 1.7p at 551.6p.
The embattled miner Anglo American, the worst blue-chip performer of the year, put on 15.1p to 278.65p, while Shell’s backers welcomed a 9p rise to 1,469p, providing some relief for the bruised commodity markets.
On AIM, Applied Graphene Materials, which says it can commercialise the “miracle material”, dipped 9.61p to 184p as it banked £10.1m in a placing and open offer.
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