Wood Group engaging with Apollo, Network International gets takeover offer

London open

The FTSE 100 is expected to open 22 points higher on Monday, having closed up 0.36% on Friday at 7,871.91.

Stocks to watch

Oil and gas engineering firm Wood Group said it had decided to engage with US private equity group Apollo to see if a firm offer can be made on a potential £1.66bn takeover. Wood has rejected four proposals from Apollo but has now decided to grant access to documents for due diligence after a fifth approach at 240p a share, the company said on Monday. It added that a deadline for a firm bid had been extended to May 17 from April 19.

Payments firm Network International said on Monday that it has received a non-binding takeover proposal from a consortium of CVC and Francisco Partners about a cash offer of 387p a share. This follows a series of prior proposals that were rejected. Network said that having "carefully evaluated" the proposal with its financial advisers, it has concluded that it would be minded to recommend it should a firm intention to make an offer be announced.

Recruitment company PageGroup on Monday maintained guidance as it reported a 2.4% decline in first quarter profits, driven by sharp falls in the US and Asia as potential staff declined firm job offers and clients delayed hiring decisions. The company posted gross profit of £262.7m on a constant currency basis, in actual terms a foreign exchange tailwind helped profits to rise by 1.8%. In the US, profits fell 7% and Asia-Pacific 17%, offsetting a 6.8% rise in Europe, Middle East and Asia, Page’s biggest market.

Newspaper round-up

More than 1m small businesses may be paying energy bills significantly above market rates after becoming trapped in long-term contracts fixed when prices reached a historical peak last year. Trade groups representing businesses from metalworkers to convenience stores have joined forces to warn of a “perilous situation”. – Guardian

The former head of Britain’s financial crime prosecutor has said “red flags were ignored” in the rush to distribute taxpayer-funded emergency loans to businesses during the pandemic, and questioned whether fraud was taken seriously by the government. Parliament’s spending watchdog estimates fraud and error were likely to have cost the UK government as much as £16bn across the various Covid loan schemes, including those for small businesses. – Guardian

National Grid is preparing to pay people to reduce their electricity usage at peak times again next winter as it draws up plans to keep the lights on without emergency back-up coal plants. Millions of pounds were paid to households that took part in the “demand flexibility service” last winter by rescheduling energy-intensive activities such as cooking or using washing machines. – The Times

The CBI’s board is facing criticism from senior industry figures for its decision to turn to insiders to steer it through misconduct allegations, with the appointment of Rain Newton-Smith facing fresh scrutiny from politicians and business leaders. Writing in The Times today, Ann Francke, chief executive of the Chartered Management Institute, said the lobby group had “remained within its own boardroom to identify what actually needs to change, and how”. – The Times

One of Britain’s biggest outsourcing companies was tonight scrambling to figure out if sensitive data had been stolen from its systems after a Russian-speaking cyber gang posted a cache of documents online. Capita, which holds public sector contracts worth billions of pounds including enforcing the BBC licence fee, said it had “not been able to confirm” whether the files posted online were taken from its systems. – Telegraph

US close

Stocks on Wall Street closed weaker on Friday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 0.42% at 33,886.47.

The S&P 500 lost 0.21% to 4,137.64, and the Nasdaq Composite was off 0.35% at 12,123.47.