CITY WHISPERS: Pressure on Rolls-Royce as bull run runs out of steam

The list of investment platform Interactive Investor’s most popular shares in June contained most of the usual suspects.

Lloyds Banking Group, Legal & General, Vodafone and Glencore all featured high. But an AIM-listed tiddler managed to break through the ranks.

Miner Premier African Minerals was the ninth-most-traded stock after it said it was in talks with a possible partner that would buy materials from a project in Zimbabwe. 

However, one frequent flier dropped out of the mix. Rolls-Royce, whose shares are up almost 60 per cent this year, was missing from the top 10.

For months it had been the best-performing stock in the FTSE 100.

Last week, Barclays said its estimates for Rolls’s interims were ‘subdued’, echoing UBS’s verdict. After an absolute bull run, it looks like new-ish boss Tufan Erginbilgic needs to prove he can follow through on his tough talk.

The pressure is on.

Sir Nigel Wilson recalls painful past

Speaking of Legal & General, Sir Nigel Wilson has offered up a painful story from his past. 

Wilson, who is coming to the end of his more than decade-long tenure as head of the insurer, quipped recently that he needed better career advice now than he’d had in the past.

‘I was approached by Apple many years ago to be chief financial officer,’ he told a City event. 

‘My good friends advised me it was not a good career change. I am about to change career. I would like some new good friends.’

Couple suing Diageo over distillery vapour 

Those partial to a dram might think living next to a distillery is a dream come true.

Not so for the Chalmers, a couple who have won the right to sue drinks giant Diageo over claims that ethanol vapour from its Bonnybridge site between Edinburgh and Glasgow has devalued their home.

The emissions escaping from the wooden barrels, known as ‘angels’ share’, can lead to something resembling black mould.

The Chalmers originally raised the case in the Court of Session in Edinburgh seeking £40,000 in damages.

Diageo contested the action, but a move to have it dismissed has been rejected.

The company says it is ‘disappointed’ by the court’s decision and is considering options for an appeal.

Trouble at More Acquisitions AGM?

The word on the street is that things could kick off at tomorrow’s annual meeting for More Acquisitions, set up to hunt for and buy a firm focusing on the green transition.

Tensions have been high between a few shareholders and the board ever since a deal to buy Wiltshire-based Megasteel collapsed. 

While attention will be on the annual meeting, some investors want an extraordinary, one-off get-together to vote on unseating directors.

There are claims that a notice to requisition a meeting was submitted – but the firm says it has not received a request meeting the basic requirements for it to be processed.

                                                                                                              Contributor: John-Paul Ford Rojas