TheChek News Flow

Fashion retailer Asos already has its own corporate venture arm, the aptly-named Asos Ventures. And now the publicly listed U.K. company is getting into to the startup accelerator business with a new fashion tech program being run in partnership with (and by) Telefónica’s Wayra.

The 8 month-long accelerator, which will be housed at Wayra’s London base, is on the hunt for “mature startups with a proven track record” who play in the fashion tech and ad space, and who can potentially complement Asos’ existing online fashion retail business, helping the company improve the Asos experience of its 11 million world-wide customers.

And, like other Wayra-run accelerators, there’s also the possibility, where a strategic fit applies, to tap into Telefónica’s 300 million customer base, although your mileage in this regard will vary. Corporate accelerators have a habit of over-egging this aspect of the programs they run.

Specifically, here’s how Asos’ Wayra-run program will work: Both Asos and Wayra will invest a combined £34,000 for an equity stake in the range of 5 to 10 per cent. Chosen startups will be housed at Wayra’s London academy where they’ll receive 8 months office space, mentoring and business development support. The latter will come via Wayra’s own staff and mentor network, as well as through high level support from Asos itself.

During a call, Director of Wayra U.K. Gary Stewart, told me that since Wayra/Telefónica’s primary business isn’t running accelerators for other corporates, the partnership with Asos had to have a strategic fit for both companies, in terms of the kind of startups the program is aiming to attract but also the mentoring and biz dev support Asos will bring to the table.

For example, he told me, it was important that products and services developed by accelerated startups can, where appropriate, be tested with Asos’ customer-base and that support will come from the very top of Asos. In other words, that this is about the development of actual and successful companies, not simply PR or ticking the innovation or social responsibility box for the corporates involved.

Stewart also stressed that in many ways the new program will run just like other Wayra accelerators, with the difference here being that it targets a specific vertical and has a second backer/partner in the form of Asos. Despite the fashion retailer talking up its own needs, in terms of how startups can help it better reach customers, there’s no prior requirement to work with Asos’ existing software stack. “We don’t play the API game,” adds Stewart.

That said, suggested areas where applying startups can bring value to Asos include: helping customers navigate its catologue of 80,000 products; new ways of thinking about search; tech to power outfit or style recommendations and personalisation; helping Asos’ product taxonomy work harder; making content shoppable; big data and NLP; and retail logistics and last-mile delivery.

It’s worth noting, however, that the program is ruling out startups in the wearable tech, 3D printing or fashion design space.

“Asos has always been known as a digital leader and this partnership will help us continue to serve the needs of our customers as they evolve,” says Cliff Cohen, Asos CIO, in a statement. “There are specific areas where we would like to accelerate innovation, but we are also excited to hear what ideas come back from the start-ups themselves. The potential here, for ASOS, our customers and the companies we end up working with, is huge and Wayra UK is the perfect partner to work with on this search”.

03-MAY-2016 13:23:32

FRANKFURT, May 3 (Reuters) - Investor Active Ownership, which has secured a 7 percent stake in Stada STAGn.DE, has no immediate plans to push for a sale of the German maker of generic drugs and consumer care products, a person close to the activist investor told Reuters.

"Active Ownership is currently not preparing a sales process, management change and also not a break-up," the source said on Tuesday.

It would instead work together with Stada's management on strategies that create value, the person added.

Officials at Active Ownership and Stada declined to comment.

The investor says on its website it was typically seeking board seats and advisory roles in the publicly listed small- and mid-size companies that it invests in.

"Together with management, we define value-enhancing strategies and measures and are ready to support their implementation as supervisory board members and advisors," it says on the website.

Active Ownership Fund SCS has acquired a direct 5.05 percent stake in Stada and holds about an additional 2 percent via stock options, an April 1 regulatory filing shows.

German daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and the Wall Street Journal earlier cited sources as saying Active Ownership acquired the stake to potentially push for a sale of the generic drugmaker.

Zodiac Aerospace has not received any takeover offers - sources - Reuters News

03-MAY-2016 12:06:19

PARIS, May 3 (Reuters) - Zodiac Aerospace ZODC.PA has received no takeover offers despite recent speculation of bid interest in the aircraft interiors and systems maker, two people familar with the matter said on Tuesday.

"The board has received no takeover offers," one of the sources said.

Another said the board had not discussed the issue.

A spokesman for the company confirmed this but declined further comment.

ML

* MEDA - Miss v bbg. Sales SEK4.3bn, -6% y/y & EBITDA of SEK1.3bn, -11% y/y..

JUST EAT - Q1 order growth of 41%. Guidance raised by 2/4% on rev/EBITDA..+5%

BNP - Strong. Clean net profit 38% beat, tax rate lower at 27% v 36%....+3-4%

RGU - Inline with mgmt exp, cash gene improved & net debt dropped slightly+2%

CENTAMIN - EBITDA of $67.5 mn +27.5% YoY, 41% QoQ on higher production....+2%

SWISSCOM - EBITDA 4.5% beat at 1081 with Q1 rev CHF 2'885m v 2'888 cons.+1-2%

ABERDEEN - Mixed. EPS inline as revs missed by 3% but costs 2% better...+1-2%

NEXANS - Q1 sales headline beat & positive comment on margin development+1-2%

ALLIANZ - Pre reported strong Q1 results yday but driven by one-offs....+1-2%

SOLVAY - EBITDA 3% beat. Topline missed cons by 5% so better margins......+1%

BRENNTAG - Reinstate as BUY, PO EUR 63. Valuation attractive on 17x PE....+1%

ARM - Mediatek guiding for +24 to +32% QoQ growth vs consensus of +7%.....+1%

HSBC - Headline beat. Adj PBT $5.4bn v cons $4.3bn. Capital 20bps light...+1%

FRES SE - Sales inline but EBIT 1% ahead & EPS 6% ahead. Reits '16 & '19..+1%

BOLIDEN - Beat. Rev SEK 8.8bn, -15% YoY, 6% below cons, 22% of our FY.....+1%

SENVION - We INITIATE with BUY recommendation and PO of EUR 22............+1%

PGS - Mixed, no material change to outlook. 11% beat on rev & EBITDA......u/c

FIAT - Reaches self-driving cars deal with Google; Il Sole. No details....u/c

STRAUMANN - Q1 rev beat & org growth +12%. Raises FY16 rev guidance.......u/c

AVIVA - Completes acquisition of additional 23% share in Aviva India......u/c

BPOST - Rev €604.5m v €605.7m & EBITDA €175.9 v €171m cons. Reits FY......u/c

PHILIPS - Announce IPO of lighting division after finding no buyer........-1%

LUFTHANSA - Slight beat. Yields worse than expected, costs better.........-1%

FMC - Slightly weak. Sales inline, EBIT -1% vs cons and NI -3% vs cons....-1%

COMMERZBANK - Messy. Stripping 3 big one offs, revs & PBT look 11% light..-2%

BMW - Mixed. Auto margin ok 9.4% v 9.1% cons, but EBIT miss and cash weak.-2%

HUGO BOSS - Q1 sales 1% miss, with retail SSSG -6% (vs. -1% in Q4) key....-2%

CGG - Miss. Rev 24% miss, EBITDA 71% light and net loss misses by 42%.....-3%

INFINEON - Mixed. Q2 beat with EBIT 9% ahead, but lower FY guide on FX....-3%

UBS - Weak across divisions. PBT CHF 1.4bn v 1.6bn, CET1 14% v 14.4% cons.-3%

CS

Aberdeen +1% AuM £292.8b... better than CSe 291

Aurubis +1% CS initiate with OUTPERFORM (Valuation)

BMW -1-2% Revenues 6% light vs cons

BNP +1-2% income, revenue beat expectations, CET1 up 20bps QoQ

Boliden +2-3% Mining and Smelting have beaten

Det Norske -1% CS downgrade to UNDERPERFORM (Valuation)

DNO -1% CS downgrade to UNDERPERFORM (Valuation)

Dufry +1% Q1 revs are around 1% ahead

Fresenius +1% Q1 sales 0.5% light, EBIT 2.3% beat

Genel -1% CS downgrade to UNDERPERFORM (Valuation)

HSBC +1-2% PBT 11% ahead, revenues and costs better

Infineon -3% good enough but 3Q guidance poor

Just Eat +3-5% No's strong, outlook good

Lundin Pet -1% CS downgrade to UNDERPERFORM (Valuation)

Lufthansa -2-3% SALES 6,920 vs cons 7,017, demand soft

Miners +0.5% Copper -1.05%, Brent -0.85%, Iron Ore closed, China +1.70%

Norstrom Oil +1% CS initiate with OUTPERFORM (Growth)

Nexans +2% Q1 sales inline, organic growth better

Philips -1-2% Plans to 'only' list max 25% of the lighting business

Prosieben +1-2% Q1 sales ahead, confirms outlook

Pfiffer Vac M/P Sales inline, EBIT 0.7% light

Solvay +1-2% Small beat. Guidance reiterated

Smiths -1% Spec among bidders for Pfizer Inc.’s pumps biz

Straumann +1% Sales 1% beat, confident on outlook

Swisscom +1-2% 1Q Rev. In Line With Ests.; Keeps Outlook

UBS -2-3% Q1 adjusted PBT 16% below CSe

Veritas -5% Revenue down to $313m (cons ~$425m)

MF

*IFX-Sales 1.6b(1.6),Segment Results 228m(198.6),Net 180m(170)........-2.5%

*UBS-NI 707m(735),IB 253m(380),WM 557m(654),WM US 211m(246)...........-3.5%

*BNP-Net 1.81b(1.26),LLP 757m,CET1 11%,FICC Rev -13%,CIB 403m.........+2%

*CBK-NI 163m(160.5),LLP 148m(170),CET1 12%,Rev Pre LLP 2.31b(2.3).....-2%

*PHILIPS-Announces intention to proceed with lighting unit IPO........U/C

*FRES SE-Rev 6.91b(6.94),Ebit Ex 959m(936.8),NI Ex 362m(346.4)........+1%

*FRES MED-Rev 4.205b(4.2),Op Inc 540m(542.6),EPS 75c(76),o/l unch.....+0.5%

*ORKLA-OPG Rev 8.61b(8.47),PT 1.25b(992.8),NI 1.1b(815)...............+1%

*SWISSCOM-Rev 2.89b(2.89),Ebitda 1.08b(1.03),Ebit 535m(512)...........+1.5%

*STRAUMANN-Rev 223m(219.8),Raises FY16 Organic outlook................+1.5%

*SOLVAY-Rev 2.93b(3.12),Ebitda 602m(581.5),Ebit 408m(361.5)...........+1%

*BMW-Ebit 2.46b(2.52),PT 2.37b(2.46),Rev 20.9b(22.3),Margin 9.4%......-1%

*BOSS-Sales 642.6m(647),Ebitda 93.5m(96),GM 64.1%(64.5),Retail -6%....-1.5%

*DUFRY-Rev 1.63b(1.613),Ebitda 147m(142.5),Sees Org Grth +ve for yr...+1.5%

*LHA-Ebit -53m(-71),Rev 6.91b(7.07b),Net Inc -8m(-105),FCF 578m.......-0.5%

*BRAAS MONIER-Rev 249.9m(254.67),Ebit -7.8m(-6.6),Confirms FY o/lk....-0.5%

*PRO7-Sales 802m(781.4),Ebitda 170m(166.5),Net Inc 76m(74.9),FY ok....+1.5%

*MORPHOSYS-Rev 12.1m(11.9),Ebit -9.7m(-12),NI -7.2m(-8.3),o/l ok......+0.5%