Proactive Investors -
- FTSE 100 down 22 points at 7,462
- Nationwide: Black Friday transactions up on last year
- Consumer confidence improves in November
Entain pays £585 million to settle Turkish bribery probe
Entain PLC (LON:ENT) has agreed to pay £585 million to settle a bribery probe into its former Turkish business.
The betting operator which owns Ladbrokes and Corals said it would also make a charitable donation of £20 million and pay a £10 million contribution to the HMRC and CPS costs.
The settlement relates to HMRC's investigation into the company's legacy Turkish-facing business, which were sold in 2017, and the activities of former third-party suppliers and former employees of the group.
HMRC originally launched an investigation in 2019 into “potential corporate offending” by a Turkish-facing online betting and gaming business that Entain owned between 2011 and 2017.
Entain, formerly known as GVC, was accused of failing to have the correct procedures in place to stop people taking part in bribes that benefit the business.
Entain said the terms were in line with those laid out in August when it updated the market on the case.
The financial penalty, disgorgement of profits and the charitable donation will be paid in instalments over four years.
Market Movers
Risers
Vodafone Group PLC (LON:VOD) is the FTSE 100’s biggest riser, up 1.3%, on the back of reports that Swisscom-owned Fastweb could be interested in purchasing its Italian business.
Fallers
RUA Life Sciences PLC (LON:RUA), a medical device company specialising in the Elast-Eon biostable polymer, saw its share price drop 12% in the wake of its trading update, which recorded a 28% drop in revenues for the six months ended 30 September 2023.
Team17 Group PLC (LON:TM17) shares plunged 42% to 181p as the games developer and publisher said it expects revenues to be “modestly ahead” of expectations but said cost overruns and a number of accounting impairments will reduce earnings.
Vodafone edging closer to sale of Italian arm
Italian telecom operator Fastweb is exploring a potential deal for Vodafone Group PLC’s local operations, Bloomberg reported, citing people with knowledge of the matter.
Fastweb, which is owned by Swisscom AG, is among suitors that have been studying a potential combination with Vodafone Italy, the people said, asking not to he identified because the information is private, the report said.
Vodafone has also continued to hold on-and-off discussions in recent months with French billionaire Xavier Niel’s Iliad SA about a potential merger of their Italian businesses, the people said, adding that there is no certainty whether Vodafone will decide to proceed with any transaction.
Trade strong ahead of Black Friday, says Barclays
In the week leading up to Black Friday, Barclays (LON:BARC) reported transactions were up 1.42% year-on-year as retailers continued to launch sales earlier in the month.
The data from Barclays, which sees nearly half of the nation’s credit and debit card transactions, shows the number of transactions were up 1.42% on last year and up 2.25% compared to the equivalent week in October.
Additional consumer research* conducted by Barclays found that more than a third (34%) of consumers plan to shop in the Black Friday/Cyber Monday sales this year, increasing to 50% for those aged 18-34.
A similar proportion (37%) said they intended to skip Black Friday 2023.
Marc Pettican, head of Barclaycard Payments said: “Over the last few years we’ve seen Black Friday sales arrive earlier and earlier, with shoppers spreading their spending over a longer period of time."
"Although the cost-of-living may be impacting some shoppers' spending on non-essential items, many are still taking the opportunity to bag a Black Friday bargain" he added.
"No doubt this will be welcome news to retailers who may have anticipated a slower November as shoppers' budgets continue to be squeezed," he suggested.