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
4,025.37
09:55 05/07/22
FTSE 100
7,164.24
09:55 05/07/22
FTSE 250
18,488.39
09:55 05/07/22
FTSE 350
3,966.61
09:55 05/07/22
FTSE All-Share
3,933.33
09:55 05/07/22
General Retailers
3,018.21
09:55 05/07/22
Marks & Spencer Group
139.00p
09:55 05/07/22
Ocado Group
792.40p
09:55 05/07/22
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."