BP Spin Off, Abivax's 1600% Gains, B&M's Woes

On This episode of Stock Movers:
- BP agreed to sell a majority stake in its Castrol lubricants division to US investment firm Stonepeak Partners to raise about $6 billion.
- French biotech company Abivax started the year with a market value of less than $500 million. After a meteoric rally, it’s now worth more than $8 billion — and some analysts see the potential for even more gains
- B&M's stock has fallen 56% in 2025, extending the previous year’s 34% drop, as the firm struggles to contend with a cocktail of rising competition, increasing wage costs and a pinch on the low-income households that have been key to its past success.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news, The Stock Movers Report,
your roundup of companies making moves in the stock market,
harnessing the power of Bloomberg Data.

Speaker 2 (00:16):
Let's take a look at some of the individual stocks
on the move today here in Europe. I'm Caroline Hebkear
and I'm joined by Kit Rees. So Kit thanks for
being with me. BP ouseing their CEO last week. Now
they're getting rid of a whole division. What's the news.

Speaker 3 (00:35):
Yes, So it's been a busy few weeks of newsflow
for BP, the oil major. So it's agreed to sell
a majority steak in its castrol business to Stone Peak Partners.
So this is part of its plans to divest some
of the assets from its portfolio. So we'll raise about
six billion dollars for sixty five percent stake in the group.
And it looks like the deal is set to complete

(00:56):
to the end of next year. So BP's been grappling
with quite a few issues. It made a sort of
unsuccessful foray into the renewables world, so now it's pivoting
back to focus on fossil fuels, and it's had pressure
from activist investor Elliott in order to kind of accelerate
this revap. So this is part of the move to
kind of go towards oil and gas and away from

(01:16):
other parts of the business. So the shares this morning
that I've just zero point one percent, which is quite
a small move, but it looks like a good move
in the right direction. Investors will probably be quite pleased
about us. But you know, the outlook for next year,
we'll have to see how much more VP does, what
its new CEO is going to be doing in terms
of strategy, and to see if the shares can can

(01:39):
continue to recover.

Speaker 2 (01:41):
Yeah, absolutely, that is the one for us to think about.
Then in the new year, as a VP does seem
to be seeing its share price increase. In terms of
other things that we're thinking about. Is that time of
year where we hand out some informal awards. You're giving
a gong to Abivas.

Speaker 3 (02:02):
Why yes. So this is a French biotechnology company, and
biotech tends to be quite a binary Beth investors. So
these companies have drugs in development and either the trial
results are positive and we see huge kind of rallies
in the shares, or the negative and you can see
very big falls. So Abuvax's shares are up more than

(02:24):
one six hundred percent this year, making it easily the
top perform in the stock six hundred index, basically because
it got positive trial results for its bow disease drug.
So this is a positive development for the company. Biotechs
which have successful trial results can attract M and A interest,
especially from US companies. But they're going to be a

(02:46):
few key catalysts we'll be watching out for next year.
So it's going to get its Phase three maintenance results
for its ulcerative colitis treatment in the second quarter, and
there's also going to be some trial results for its
crone disease treatment in the second half. So we'll have
to see if it can sustain these absolutely enormous gains
which are putting it on track forwards best year on record.

Speaker 2 (03:07):
Okay, I like to think about that stock then an
interesting one. Not everyone though, get us to be the best,
So tell us about B and M kit.

Speaker 3 (03:18):
Yeah, so this is sadly the second worst performer in
the stock six hundred index the shares, but the B
and M shares have more than half this year, and
it's on track Ford's worst year on record, following also
what was a pretty underwhelming twenty twenty four, so it's
been a sort of a series of unfortunate events. The
company is grappling with the higher cost of hiring and

(03:39):
also rising competition from lower cost rivals. It operates in
the discount retailer segment of the market, and low income households,
who are kind of its main customers, have also been
grappling with the cost of living crisis, so the company's
cut guidance several times this year. It's CUFO has exited
following an accounting error, and it's also got a relatively

(04:01):
new CEO, and he said that the turnaround could take
up to eighteen months, so we'll have to see how
this pans out for BNM next year to see if
it can deliver on its revamp. It said that it's
looking to do things such as cutting key food prices
and reducing the number of products, but it could be
a long way for the chefs to recover next year.

Speaker 1 (04:23):
This Stock Movers report from Bloomberg Radio. Check back with
us throughout the day for the latest roundup of companies
making news on Wall Street and for the latest market
moving headlines. Listen to Bloomberg Radio Live catch US on YouTube,
Bloomberg dot com, and on Applecarplay and Android Auto with
the Bloomberg Business app.