Hill & Smith acquires FM Stainless, TRIG offloads Ireland wind farm

Stocks to watch

Hill & Smith on Tuesday said it had bought US firm FM Stainless for $8.25m (£6.6m). Up to $0.5m is payable, conditional on financial performance targets in the year following acquisition, it added. FM Stainless, located in Ellijay, Georgia, manufactures stainless steel pipe supports, expansion anchors and fasteners principally for water and waste water.

The Renewables Infrastructure Group (TRIG) has exchanged contracts to sell its entire equity interest in the Pallas onshore wind farm in Ireland for €62m, it announced on Tuesday, representing a 15% premium over its last valuation. It said the proceeds would be used to reduce borrowings under its revolving credit facility. The divestment aligned with TRIG's strategy of strategic asset rotation to optimise portfolio performance, following a rigorous review process, with Pallas, built in 2008 and acquired in 2018, being the latest asset to undergo sich a strategic shift.

Pizza chain Domino's reported increased profit, cashflow and shareholder returns in 2023 on the back of solid organic growth, as it announced plans to open 70 new stores in 2024 and hit £2bn in sales within four years. System sales totalled £1.57bn in the 12 months to 31 December, up 5.8% on 2022, with like-for-like systems sales rising 5.8%. The company also revealed its was acquiring full control of Shorecal, the largest Domino's franchise business in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland for €72m.

Newspaper round-up

Thames Water has been accused of “misleading” customers after telling them that just a few pennies in every pound spent on their bills is paid to its lenders. The debt-laded firm is Britain’s biggest water company, serving 16 million customers in London and the south-east of England. It has sent a breakdown of its costs in bills to customers, including spending 48p of every pound on infrastructure, 20p on the supply and treatment of water, and 3p to its lenders. – Guardian

Rishi Sunak risks further criticism from green campaigners after throwing his weight behind the building of new gas-fired power stations, saying he will “not gamble with our energy security”. The government will on Tuesday announce a plan to increase gas power capacity by providing extra certainty to investors that plants have a long-term future, even as Britain moves away from fossil fuels. – Guardian

Nearly four million people are at risk of abandoning work permanently amid a post-lockdown surge in benefits paid to claimants who do not have to find a job. Policy in Practice warned there had been a “marked” post-pandemic shift in welfare that was moving people away from seeking employment, with 3.9 million now receiving out-of-work benefits without having to even look for a job – twice as many as the number of claimants who must try to find work. – Telegraph

Rupert Murdoch and the owner of The Daily Mail have reportedly held talks about a potential joint takeover of The Telegraph alongside UAE-backed RedBird IMI, as opposition to its solo bid hardens. Mr Murdoch’s News UK and DMGT, which owns the Daily Mail, have held talks about putting money into the bid, Bloomberg reported, in a move that would dilute UAE money in the takeover. – Telegraph

The company behind a multibillion-pound project to export power from Morocco is considering an option to transmit electricity to Germany instead of Britain. Xlinks, whose leaders include Sir Dave Lewis, the former Tesco chief executive, plans to build 4.5 gigawatts of wind farms and 7GW of solar farms in the Moroccan desert, together with 5GW of battery storage capacity. – The Times

US close

Wall Street's three main equity indices finished mixed on Monday with markets rangebound ahead of a key reading of inflation that has the potential to the market-moving.

The Dow finished 0.12% higher, rebounding slightly after its worst week since October last week; the S&P 500 fell 0.11%, falling for the second straight session after hitting a fresh record last week, with investors continuing to take profits after an 8% surge so far this year; while the Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.41%.

Analysts widely expect headline inflation to have held steady at an annual rate of 3.1% in February, staying at its 2021-lows, though core inflation should have eased to 3.7% from 3.9%.

Market participants were also bracing themselves for February's producer price index reading due out on Thursday - some of the last major macro figures before the Federal Reserve meets for their next monetary policy meeting next week.

Facebook parent company Meta traded 4% lower after former president Donald Trump branded the firm an "enemy of the people" in comments around a hypothetical ban of social media rival TikTok.