Pandemic plunderers target Daily Mail
Share in Daily Mail and General Trust jumped by 10% this week after rumours that the newspaper business would be taken private.
You are now subscribed
Your newsletter sign-up was successful
Want to add more newsletters?
Twice daily
MoneyWeek
Get the latest financial news, insights and expert analysis from our award-winning MoneyWeek team, to help you understand what really matters when it comes to your finances.
Four times a week
Look After My Bills
Sign up to our free money-saving newsletter, filled with the latest news and expert advice to help you find the best tips and deals for managing your bills. Start saving today!
Shares in the Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT) jumped by 10% this week after the group said that the Rothermere family, which owns 36% of it, “may take the... newspaper business private if the sale of its insurance-risk unit and online car seller Cazoo goes through”, says Ed Cropley on Breakingviews.
If this happens, shareholders will get 251p a share as well as a “special dividend” of 610p and DMGT’s stake in the insurance company Cazoo. This amounts to “nearly £12.70 per share”, a sizeable premium over the £10.60 the stock traded at before the news was announced.
DMGT’s decision to take itself private is ironic, given the Daily Mail’s “crusade” against “pandemic plundering” – the takeover spree “that has seen more than 100 UK companies disappear from the stockmarket”, says Ben Marlow in The Daily Telegraph.
MoneyWeek
Subscribe to MoneyWeek today and get your first six magazine issues absolutely FREE
Sign up to Money Morning
Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter
Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter
But with the attractions of being a listed entity “not what they once were”, it’s hard to understand why DMGT has remained public for so long. It “hasn’t raised any capital from shareholders in the... 90 years since floating”. And its shares are on a discount thanks to an “unusual governance set-up”: the owner has 36% of the stock, but all the voting rights.
The family’s voting rights mean that any attempts to stop the deal may be “futile”, says Nils Pratley in The Guardian. But shareholders should ask some “awkward questions”. The 251p a share they are being offered for the paper and related businesses “does not look generous” when you consider that earnings at the Daily Mail’s titles and the exhibitions business are in “recovery mode from the pandemic”.
-
Three companies with deep economic moats to buy nowOpinion An economic moat can underpin a company's future returns. Here, Imran Sattar, portfolio manager at Edinburgh Investment Trust, selects three stocks to buy now
-
Should you add gold to your pension?Gold price movements have been eye-catching over the past year. Should you put some gold in your pension?
-
Three companies with deep economic moats to buy now
Opinion An economic moat can underpin a company's future returns. Here, Imran Sattar, portfolio manager at Edinburgh Investment Trust, selects three stocks to buy now
-
Should you sell your Affirm stock?Affirm, a buy-now-pay-later lender, is vulnerable to a downturn. Investors are losing their enthusiasm, says Matthew Partridge
-
Why it might be time to switch your pension strategyYour pension strategy may need tweaking – with many pension experts now arguing that 75 should be the pivotal age in your retirement planning.
-
Beeks – building the infrastructure behind global marketsBeeks Financial Cloud has carved out a lucrative global niche in financial plumbing with smart strategies, says Jamie Ward
-
Saba Capital: the hedge fund doing wonders for shareholder democracyActivist hedge fund Saba Capital isn’t popular, but it has ignited a new age of shareholder engagement, says Rupert Hargreaves
-
Silver has seen a record streak – will it continue?Opinion The outlook for silver remains bullish despite recent huge price rises, says ByteTree’s Charlie Morris
-
Investing in space – finding profits at the final frontierGetting into space has never been cheaper thanks to private firms and reusable technology. That has sparked something of a gold rush in related industries, says Matthew Partridge
-
Star fund managers – an investing style that’s out of fashionStar fund managers such as Terry Smith and Nick Train are at the mercy of wider market trends, says Cris Sholto Heaton
