MARKET REPORT: Renewi set to give up the UK after offloading bin enterprise

A British waste manager is set to leave the UK.

Renewi, which has a history tracing back to the Scottish construction firm Shanks & McEwan, set up in 1880, has offloaded its municipal division to Biffa for £131million to focus on Europe’s recycling markets. 

It will continue trading in the Netherlands, Belgium, France and Portugal.

Chief executive Otto de Bont said the sale is a ‘transformational milestone’ and its share price added 1 per cent, or 6p, to 639p.

The announcement came alongside annual results that showed revenues fell slightly to £1.44billion in the 12 months to March 31.

Dumped: Waste management firm Renewi, which traces back to the Scottish construction firm Shanks & McEwan set up in 1880, has offloaded its municipal division to Biffa for £131m

Renewi was formed in 2017 in a merger of Shanks and Dutch firm Van Gansewinkel. In September the London-listed firm rejected a £636millio takeover bid.

It said its UK business remain a ‘significant cash drag’ and has cost it £24million in the two years. 

The FTSE 100 rose 0.6 per cent, or 47.98 points, to 8231.05 and the FTSE 250 was up 1.2 per cent, or 234.53 points, to 20,670.87.

US chipmaker Nvidia is now worth more than the entire FTSE 100 as the tech giant cashes in on soaring demand for artificial intelligence. Its market value yesterday hit £2.2trillion to surpass the £2.1trillion of all the blue-chip companies combined.

Electronics retailer Currys rose 7.2 per cent, or 5.15p, to 76.6p after analysts at Berenberg upgraded their rating. It came just two weeks after the company said its sales are growing again.

Asset manager Premier Miton headed 7.1 per cent, or 5.5p, down to 72.5p down as clients continued to withdraw their money from funds. 

Stock Watch – TPX Impact

Business consultant TPX Impact jumped 33.9 per cent, or 11p, to 43.5p following a strong financial year.

The company, which created a digital dashboard for the UK Health Security Agency to publicise data on Covid during the pandemic, expects revenues to rise more than 20 per cent to around £84million in the 12 months to the end of March.

Debt fell to around £7million – the lowest level for more than three years.

Net outflows rose to £46million in the first half to March 31 – up from £32million the year before.

Property firm London Metric sold seven properties for £31.3million, and bought six warehouses for £45million. Shares added 2.9 per cent, or 5.8p, to 204.4p.

North Sea producer Enquest rose 8.7 per cent, or 1.28p, to 16p after its production was higher than expected in the first four months of the year.

Rajiv Sharma is to step down as chief executive of thread maker Coats after eight years to be replaced by the former GKN Aerospace boss David Paja. 

Coats added 1.5 per cent, or 1.3p, to 86.6p. Small and mid-cap investor Kelso Group – up 1.7 per cent, or 0.05p, to 3p – the owner of shares in four London-listed firms, said it hopes that UK equities continue to increase in value. 

Virgin Wines outlined plans for a share buyback worth more than £360,000, and rose 6.7 per cent, or 3p, to 48p.

Sales at news publisher National World, which is behind titles such as The Scotsman and The Yorkshire Post, soared 18 per cent to £39.5million in the 21 weeks to May 25, lifting it 8.9 per cent, or 1.25p, to 15.25p.

Low-sodium salt firm Microsalt, which floated on AIM in February, reported a £2.7million loss in 2023, up from £2million the year before, and plunged 12.7 per cent, or 13p, to 89.5p.

Molecular diagnostics firm Novacyt sank 15.9 per cent, or 10.6p, to 56p due to lower demand for Covid testing. Revenues fell 45 per cent to £11.6million in 2023 while its losses swelled from £20million to £28.6million.