TI Fluid Systems to buy Cascade Europe, Ashtead posts record first quarter

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The FTSE 100 is expected to open 34 points lower on Tuesday, having closed down 0.16% on Monday at 7,452.76.

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TI Fluid Systems said it had agreed to buy Hungarian firm Cascade Engineering Europe for €25.4m (£21.7m) in cash. Cascade makes thermal fluid connectors and other plastic injection moulded components for the automotive industry. TI Fluid said the business had a "strong reputation for its technical expertise and product quality, with in-house capabilities from design and development to tooling, prototyping and serial manufacturing".

Consumer goods firm PZ Cussons has offered to buy out the minority-held shares of PZ Cussons Nigeria (PZCN) for £22.8m with a plan to de-list the business from the Nigerian stock exchange. Cussons said buying the 26.73% stake "will significantly simplify and strengthen its business in Nigeria, putting in place a sustainable structure and platform to maximise long-term growth and value".

Equipment rental group Ashtead posted a record performance in its fiscal first quarter, with double-digit growth across the board, as it delivered a bullish outlook for the rest of the year. Revenues at constant currency rose 19% year-on-year in the three months to 31 July to $2.7bn, while adjusted pre-tax profit increased a lesser 11% to $615m as a result of higher financing costs.

Newspaper round-up

A rescue deal to save the majority of Wilko’s stores has been put at risk as some key suppliers want outstanding debts repaid upfront to guarantee continuing to provide products to the chain. Doug Putman, who engineered a turnaround of HMV in the UK and owns Toys R Us in Canada, has been negotiating a deal to save as many as 300 of Wilko’s 400 stores, throwing a lifeline to its more than 12,000 staff. – Guardian

Developed and emerging economies must use a summit this weekend to forge an international agreement to increase wealth taxes on the global rich, campaigners have said. In an open letter to the G20 before its meeting in Delhi, the group of almost 300 millionaires, economists and politicians say urgent action is needed to prevent extreme wealth “corroding our collective future”. - Guardian

The era of cheap energy prices in Britain is over, families have been warned, with households facing a fresh rise in their bills next year. Investec on Monday predicted that the energy price cap will go back above £2,000 in January, marking the first increase in a year. – Telegraph

The world’s super-rich are ploughing some of their millions into London offices, partly because they want to point them out to their friends while wandering through Mayfair and the West End. Over the past 12 months, ultra-high-net-worth individuals and cash-rich family estates have bought offices in the capital worth about £1.3 billion, data from Knight Frank, the property agent, shows. – The Times

More than a fifth of savers have lowered their pension contributions or have stopped paying into a retirement pot because of mounting pressures on the cost of living, research suggests. In a poll of 2,000 people, 8 per cent said they had cut the amount they paid into a retirement scheme and a further 14 per cent said they had scrapped contributions altogether. – The Times

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Markets remained closed on Wall Street on Monday for the Labor Day holiday.