| Famous Brands' acquisition of the upmarket Gourmet Burger Kitchen chain in 2016 came back to bite it after the surprise Brexit vote added to already weak consumer sentiment in the UK. The same goes for Brait's purchase of UK fashion retailer New Look in 2015. Gourmet Burger Kitchen has been through a company voluntary arrangement, a process similar to business rescue, and New Look is about to launch one. Famous Brands has impaired its investment in GBK while Brait already values its investment in New Look at zero. There could be light ahead though. Both groups updated the market on their investments yesterday. While GBK is showing signs of a recovery even after Famous Brands cut off financing, Brait is investing more in New Look as the chain gets back onto its feet. Investors may be dressing the retailer up to be sold. More on those stories in your final newsletter for the week, along with results from Exxaro, a possible rights issue for PPC and Jubilee's latest deal that sent its shares close to 10% higher yesterday. Also, all the latest mergers and acquisitions news from DealMakers. I hope you have a good day. Stephen Gunnion Managing Editor, InceConnect
Latest from Ingham Analytics It seems an eternity since West Texas Intermediate (WTI) May Futures traded at minus $40/bbl. Today, a similar contract is plus $42/bbl. Incidences such as these do not occur in isolation.Further disruption in the oil patch is not out of the question following the catastrophic events of April 2020. At this point it is more likely that Brent will get weaker in absolute terms whilst WTI is more likely to be range bound around currently levels of approximately $40/bbl. Traders should be very wary. "Rolling in the Deep..." provides directional indicators in this regard. And on the topic of oil, take note of Ingham Analytics caution on Sasol, both "Going, going for a song" and other notes on the website. | 