Ocado surges as Deutsche Bank hints at possible buyout by M&S
Ocado surged to the top of the FTSE 100 on Friday as Deutsche Bank hinted at a possible buyout by Marks & Spencer.
Food & Drug Retailers
3,915.61
17:09 25/04/24
FTSE 100
8,078.86
17:14 25/04/24
FTSE 250
19,601.98
17:09 25/04/24
FTSE 350
4,434.34
17:09 25/04/24
FTSE All-Share
4,387.94
16:49 25/04/24
General Retailers
3,915.52
17:09 25/04/24
Marks & Spencer Group
260.70p
17:15 25/04/24
Ocado Group
362.30p
17:15 25/04/24
In a research note on M&S, in which Deutsche lifted its price target on the buy-rated shares to 265p from 195p, it said: "Cash flow is no longer being squandered on an unsustainable dividend but saved to recover the investment grade credit rating that may be required to buy out Ocado."
M&S and Ocado became joint owners of Ocado Retail in August 2019. Marks paid Ocado £750m for a 50% share of the JV, which began trading in September 2020, when Ocado’s partnership with Waitrose ran out.
At 0910 GMT, Ocado shares were up 5.6% at 1,874.50p.
Neil Wilson, chief market analyst at Markets.com, said: "It could happen, seems like a natural evolution to ultimately split the two businesses once the international deals actually start delivering some free cash."