James Halstead reports robust UK and North American markets

Investing.com -- Ocado Group PLC (LON:OCDO) said on Friday it will receive a $350 million cash payment from Kroger after the U.S. retailer decided to close three robotic fulfilment centres and cancel plans for another site.

Shares in Ocado jumped around 10% in London trading on the news.

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The payment, due in January, reflects Kroger’s move to shut the three customer fulfilment centres (CFCs) in early 2026 and to abandon the planned Charlotte, North Carolina facility. Ocado said the agreement offsets the loss of future capacity fees tied to those locations.

"The clarity provided by Ocado is welcome given the ongoing uncertainty as to what Kroger would do with Charlotte/Phoenix due to come online next year," Morgan Stanley analyst Luke Holbrook commented.

The announced $350 million payment amount exceeds the previously anticipated $250 million and will “take a significant chunk out of the net debt” without further loss of fee revenue, Jefferies analyst Giles Thorne said in a note.

Ocado reiterated that the closures will reduce its fiscal 2026 fee revenue by about $50 million. The company maintained its goal of turning cash flow positive this year, pointing to continued growth in live and upcoming sites alongside tighter cost discipline.

Thorne said that pro-forma net debt will fall from £1.05 billion to roughly £0.75 billion once the payment is received.

This marks the good news, the analyst said. The bad news is that a total of four sites will now be shuttered by Kroger, rather than the three initially signalled.

Even so, Thorne said it was “welcome to hear that the remaining 5 CFCs are seeing further operational improvements,” limiting the risk of broader disruption in the Kroger partnership.

Ocado said that rollout of its latest Re:imagined technology continues across the network and that both companies remain closely aligned in operating the five live facilities. In Detroit, Kroger has ordered additional capacity for 2026.

Investing.com -- Shares of Big Yellow Group PLC (LON:BYG) fell 5.3% on Friday after Blackstone Europe announced it would not proceed with a takeover offer for the company.

The decision follows Big Yellow’s announcement on December 4 that it had concluded there was "no basis to continue discussions" with Blackstone and would not extend the put-up or shut-up deadline of December 8, 2025.

In a regulatory filing, Blackstone confirmed it has no intention to make an offer for Big Yellow, triggering restrictions under Rule 2.8 of the City Code on Takeovers and Mergers.

The private equity firm did reserve the right to set aside these restrictions under certain circumstances, including with agreement from Big Yellow’s board, if a third party announces a firm intention to make an offer, if Big Yellow announces a Rule 9 waiver or reverse takeover, or if there is a material change in circumstances as determined by the Panel on Takeovers and Mergers.

Rothschild & Co is acting as financial adviser to Blackstone in connection with the matter.

The termination of takeover talks has put pressure on Big Yellow’s share price as investors adjust to the company’s continued independent status after speculation about a potential acquisition had previously supported the stock.

Investing.com -- Halma plc has acquired E2S Group Ltd for £230 million in cash, expanding its presence in industrial safety markets.

The acquisition will be funded from Halma’s existing facilities and supports the company’s continued expansion into fire detection and alarm systems. E2S will be integrated into Halma’s Safety Sector.

Founded in 1992, E2S designs and manufactures high-performance notification, initiation and detection devices primarily used in hazardous environments across heavy industries and complex manufacturing. The company is headquartered in London, with operations in the USA and France.

E2S products are crucial for alerting personnel to potential dangers in various regulated end markets including oil and gas, renewable energy power, and manufacturing. The company’s revenue for the 12 months to December 31, 2025, is forecast to be approximately £44 million.

Marc Ronchetti, Group Chief Executive of Halma, said: "We are excited that E2S is joining Halma. The company brings new capabilities in growing, highly regulated industrial safety markets which are critical in protecting human life, and solutions and technologies which are complementary to our existing strengths in fire safety and gas detection."

Brett Isard, Co-founder and CEO of E2S, added: "We’re delighted to join Halma, whose values and focus closely align with ours. Joining the Halma group gives E2S access to global resources and expertise that will help accelerate the next phase of our growth."

This article was generated with the support of AI and reviewed by an editor. For more information see our T&C.

Investing.com -- Quantum Blockchain Technologies (AIM:QBT) has signed non-disclosure agreements with three ASIC manufacturers as part of its effort to commercialize its Bitcoin mining software products, the company announced Friday.

The AIM-listed investment company said these manufacturers will now need to make their mining rigs available to QBT’s testing team at its Milan laboratory, along with access to their source code.

This will allow QBT to install the software version of its Method C AI Oracle, which was launched on November 12, onto the third-party mining rigs.

QBT had previously begun joint analysis of the hardware version of Method C AI Oracle with one of these manufacturers, as announced on April 8. However, since integrating the hardware version into ASIC architecture could take up to 18 months, both parties agreed to prioritize the software version for faster commercial deployment.

The company has also signed an NDA with a Bitcoin mining pool, aiming to help pool nodes generate better quality hash rates to mine more Bitcoin. This approach could potentially bypass the need to modify the operating systems of all mining rigs using the pool.

Regarding patent applications, QBT is working with patent lawyers to respond to queries from examiners in Europe and the US, which it described as standard procedure for most patent applications.

Additionally, QBT is collaborating with a startup that designs mining solutions around the Blockscale Intel ASIC to test the validity of the company’s Methods A, B, and C across various SHA-256 implementations.

Francesco Gardin, CEO and Executive Chairman, said: "The Company is now engaged with the ASIC manufacturers it has been targeting over the past year. The Board believe QBT’s technology proposition is unique within the Bitcoin industry, which is the main reason why there is such a high level of interest from mining companies assessing our technology."

This article was generated with the support of AI and reviewed by an editor. For more information see our T&C.

Investing.com -- Unilever PLC announced Friday that the demerger of its ice cream business, now known as The Magnum Ice Cream Company N.V. (TMICC), will complete on Saturday.

The ordinary shares of TMICC are expected to begin trading in Amsterdam, London, and New York on Monday, December 8, 2025.

This announcement follows TMICC’s publication of its prospectus on Wednesday for admission to listing and trading on Euronext Amsterdam, the Official List of the FCA, and the London Stock Exchange’s Main Market.

TMICC’s registration statement for trading on the New York Stock Exchange became effective on Thursday.

Unilever also confirmed plans to consolidate its existing issued share capital shortly after the demerger.

This consolidation, which was approved by shareholders on October 21, aims to maintain comparability between Unilever’s share price and per-share metrics before and after the demerger.

According to the timetable provided, TMICC shares will commence trading at 9:00 a.m. Amsterdam time (8:00 a.m. London time) on Monday on Euronext Amsterdam and the London Stock Exchange, and at 9:30 a.m. New York time on the New York Stock Exchange.

The share consolidation is set to become effective at 8:00 a.m. on Tuesday, December 9, with new Unilever shares beginning trading on the London Stock Exchange at that time, followed by Euronext Amsterdam at 9:00 a.m. Amsterdam time, and the New York Stock Exchange at 9:30 a.m. New York time.

Statements for TMICC shares and fractional payments resulting from the demerger are expected to be dispatched by December 22, while certificates for new Unilever shares and fractional payments from the share consolidation should be dispatched by December 23.

This article was generated with the support of AI and reviewed by an editor. For more information see our T&C.