BUSINESS LIVE: Inchscape sells UK retail unit; PageGroup profits slump; Kingfisher chair exits

Chair of E0uropean home improvement retailer Kingfisher, Andrew Cosslett will step down in June after seven years in the role and will be succeeded by non-executive director Claudia Arney.

The changes will take place at the conclusion of the company’s annual general meeting on 20 June, said the FTSE-100-listed owner of B&Q and Screwfix in Britain and Castorama and Brico Depot in France.

Arney has served as an independent non-executive director of Kingfisher since 2018 and is currently chair of Deliveroo and a non-executive director of Derwent London.

London-listed stocks start the week on a lower note as escalating tensions in the Middle East cause market participants to tread cautiously, while downbeat corporate earnings also weigh

Precious metal miners lead sectoral losses, sliding 2.9 per cent, while heavyweight oil and gas shares have dipped 1.6 per cent, tracking lower crude prices as market participants dialled back risk premiums amid news of escalating tensions in the Middle East and fears of a wider regional conflict.

On the data front, figures on US retail sales for March are due Monday, while British consumer prices and retail sales data is due later in the week.

PageGroup has shed 6.4 per cent after the recruiter reported a nearly 13 per cent fall in group gross profit in the first quarter.

Marks and Spencer chairman Archie Norman has become the latest boss to sound the alarm over Labour’s plans to reform workers’ rights.

Policies fronted by the party’s deputy leader Angela Rayner would see staff given rights from day one in new jobs as well as a crackdown on zero-hours contracts.

PageGroup profits fell by nearly 13 per cent in the first three months of the year, due to slow hiring across its markets, and said job flows deteriorated toward the end of the quarter.

Global recruiters have flagged persistent challenges in the hiring market due to low confidence among employees and employers accompanied with a slowdown in the technology sector and slower recovery in China.

‘Conversion of final interviews to accepted offers is still the most significant challenge, as candidate and client sentiment remains subdued reflecting the general macro-economic uncertainty in most of our markets,’ CEO Nicholas Kirk said.

London-listed car dealer Inchscape has agreed to sell its UK retail business to Group 1 Automotive UK in an all-cash deal worth £346million, following a strategic review launched in January.

Inchscape group CEO Duncan Tait:

‘As we continue to deliver on our strategic ambition of becoming the leading global distribution partner to our OEM partners worldwide, this transaction represents a significant step along that journey.

‘Our UK Retail business is a high-quality business, with an experienced and high-performing management team, and has been an important part of the Group’s growth.

‘With our active international expansion into higher value distribution activities, the strategic importance of the UK retail operations has become limited. The Board has therefore concluded it is the right time for a new owner to take this business forward.

‘This transaction aligns with our strategic priorities, simplifies our business and represents a compelling opportunity to deliver meaningful returns to our shareholders. We believe it will enhance the Group’s overall value proposition and enables us to drive growth and long-term value creation for all stakeholders as we further develop our differentiated distribution platform.’

Auto Trader has unveiled which used cars are currently flying out of second-hand dealers fastest – and which are sat gathering dust on forecourts.

The data suggests Britons are turning to cost-effective used hybrids, with the top 10 dominated by the green fuel type.

Nationwide’s £2.9billion attempt to take over Virgin Money has won the backing in principle of the most influential lobby group for mutuals.

Peter Hunt, founder of Mutuo, the UK’s leading advocate for building societies and co-ops, said a successful deal would be a watershed moment.