Numis Securities believes Mr Parker needs to announce a further restructuring of Whitbread if he is going to stave off a private-equity-type bid. The broker suggests that the sale of Marriott and the reduction in Whitbread's pension deficit has removed two of the company's poison pills, making it especially vulnerable. During the relatively short period of time he has been at the helm of the group, Mr Parker has been quite radical. First he decided to sell off the Marriott hotels chain and soon after he surprised the City with a sizeable return of cash to shareholders He now has numerous options for further reforms. However, Numis reckons the sale or significant restructuring of a division is the bare minimum required to fight off predators.As far as Whitbread's figures are concerned, analysts expect the group to post a slight drop in first-half pre-tax profits to about £124m from £128m last year.TODAY: Results: Full year - Egdon Resources; Scott Tod. Interims - Alterian; Hitachi Capital.TOMORROW: Results: Full year - None. Interims - BP; Reckitt Benckiser; Westbury; Whitbread.WEDNESDAY: Egg should unveil an improvement in third-quarter profits but the numbers will be overshadowed by a statement from Prudential, its majority shareholder, about the future of its 79 per cent stake in the internet bank.
Recent reports have suggested Prudential's new chief executive Mark Tucker plans to hold on to Egg. Investors hope tomorrow's interim results from Whitbread will see Alan Parker, its chief executive, give a clear indication about the future form of the group. The leisure group has been surrounded by intense takeover speculation for the past month, with the Reuben Brothers, UBS and Cinven all named as potential acquirers of the company. Otherwise it could be in the invidious position of having to ditch work on less advanced but no less exciting products for other cancers and for Parkinson's.. It has a second product allowing e-commerce websites to call any customers who get stuck, and will launch new software that can trigger mobile phone alerts, that will, for example, remind people to activate a credit card.The risk is that in the short term the one-off software sales will fall faster than the new recurring revenues are built up, but the company looks an impressive bet for the long term.BioMedica seeks cash boost for cancer drug testWhen may Oxford BioMedica tap investors for more cash? This is becoming a concern for investors in the biotech company, whose shares dipped sharply last week as speculative investors sold out.BioMedica, led by Professors Alan and Susan Kingsman, is based on cutting-edge cancer research out of Oxford University, and is developing drugs that use a genetically-modified virus to tackle tumours.It needs to conduct a big trial to prove its lead product, TroVax, is a genuinely safe and effective treatment for cancer, but it has yet to sign up a partner with deep pockets and may have to go it alone next year.It has about £17m in the bank but no revenues, so embarking on a £10m-plus study looks high risk, unless it tops up the kitty soon. This makes for more stable revenues and means it can offer the service to smaller businesses, who have fewer callers to their helplines.The company already has an impressive blue-chip client list and is about to go on a marketing offensive. You get to stay calm, and the company using the software gets a reputation for good customer service.NetCall was something of a basket case when Mr Bang joined last year, but he is confident now not just that the company has been saved but that its telecoms technology is impressive enough to ensure it has a bright future.The business model has been switched from one seeking one-off software sales to one where NetCall routes call centre calls through its own servers.
The public resent the charges and are refusing to use the machines, the company says.The main reason for the disaster, though, is that it has simply put its machines in the wrong place. Lots of them are making hardly any transactions at all and are having to be moved. David Massie, the chairman, who owns 13 per cent of the shares, fired Mr Tod when they disagreed about the future of the business: Mr Massie wanted a halt to the expansion plans until the existing machines were repositioned, Mr Tod wanted to do both in tandem.So now the company is being served with a legal demand for an extraordinary general meeting and votes to remove Mr Massie, reinstall Mr Tod and appoint two new non-executive directors to supervise a strategy of renewed growth. The high profile press and political campaigns against cash machine charges were amongst the factors blamed when the company issued a devastating profit warning in January, saying it will fall into the red, against all its early promise. The company says it amassed the support of about 50 per cent of the shareholders before firing Mr Tod. So expect fireworks. Scott Tod operates some 2,200 of those standalone cash machines that charge for the privilege of taking your own money out. Mr Tod says that, including the family stake of 28 per cent, he expects the support of shareholders representing 50 per cent of the company.
