Johnson Matthey stormed to the top of the FTSE 100 leaderboard amid takeover speculation after an industrials investor doubled its stake.

The chemicals giant, which will be booted out of the blue-chip index later this month, soared 9.9 per cent, or 160.5p, to 1790.5p yesterday as Standard Latitude Master Fund increased its holding from 5.2 per cent to 10.1 per cent, according to a stock market filing.

The move means New York-based Standard Industries is now the largest shareholder in the London-listed firm.

It first bought into Johnson Matthey in April last year.

Lacie Midgley, analyst at UK-based investment bank Panmure Gordon, said Standard Industries has a track record of active investment in the chemicals sector.

The firm bought WR Grace, a major process catalyst producer, for £5.6billion in July 2021.

Midgley added that Johnson Matthey could not be ruled out as a takeover target given the ‘current share price fundamentally undervalues the sum-of-the-parts’. Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at online trading firm CMC Markets UK, added that the move could also mean that ‘pressure will build for a partial break-up of the business’.

The London-listed firm earlier this year signed a three-year strategic partnership with the Norwegian hydrogen company Hystar.

The FTSE 100 rose 0.3 per cent, or 25.41 points, to 7464.54.

But the FTSE 250 slipped 0.4 per cent, or 68.8 points, to 18536.9.

Oil prices rose 1 per cent as Brent Crude edged above $87 a barrel.

The gains lifted BP 3 per cent, or 13.3p, to 500.8p and Shell added 1.4 per cent, or 33p, to 2444.5p. Dettol maker Reckitt Benckiser said Kris Licht will join as chief executive on October 1.

The consumer goods group – which also makes Durex and sore-throat-sweet Strepsils – announced Licht’s appointment at the end of April.

He has served as president of Reckitt’s health business, and will replace Nicandro Durante, who took over last October.

Shares rose 0.1 per cent, or 8p, to 5710p.

Frasers Group raised its stake in online retailer Boohoo for the second time this week.

Mike Ashley’s retail empire, which owns Sports Direct, Jack Wills and Flannels, increased its holding in the fashion brand from 9.1 per cent to 10.4 per cent.

That means Frasers is in control of more than a tenth of Boohoo and Currys (up 0.3 per cent, or 0.15p, to 50.2p) and almost a fifth of Asos (up 2.6 per cent, or 11.4p, to 449.8p).

Boohoo gained 6.1 per cent, or 2.16p, to 37.81p and Frasers Group added 0.2 per cent, or 1.5p, to 808p.

Johnson Service Group bought the largest healthcare linen supplier in Ireland for £27m (€31.5m).

The London-listed group said Celtic Linen, like many businesses within the textile services, was left reeling by the impact of Covid.

Shares yesterday gained 4.2 per cent, or 5p, to 123.8p.

Kinovo, a property services firm, dashed hopes over a possible takeover bid spearheaded by the owner of its top shareholder.

The group last month was approached by private equity firm Rx3, which counts the American comedian Kevin Hart and High School Musical actress Vanessa Hudgens among its advisors, with a 56p-per-share cash offer.

Rx3 is owned by Tim Scott, who holds a 30 per cent stake in Kinovo through his investment company Tipacs2.

But the AIM-listed group yesterday said if the offer was formally tabled then it would not recommend it to shareholders.

Rx3 has until September 21 to decide whether it wants to make an offer, or walk away.

Shares rose 6.1 per cent, or 3p, to 52p.

Tory leadership rival Jeremy Hunt today refused to say whether Boris Johnson is ‘honest’ as he warned the Prime Minister has a ‘big mountain to climb’ in winning back Tory voters.

Mr Hunt, who ran against Mr Johnson for the Conservative leadership in 2019, once again refused to rule out another leadership challenge. 

But the former Cabinet minister insisted now was not the time for renewed efforts to topple Mr Johnson and said he ‘hoped’ the PM would lead the Tories into the next general election.

Mr Hunt’s comments will be seen as a warning shot to the PM – and a clear message to Tory MPs – that he is waiting in the wings should Mr Johnson continue to stumble.

The PM’s position in Number 10 has been put into serious peril by the Partygate scandal, which saw him fined for Covid rule-breaking in Downing Street.

This month’s local election results have also increased fears within Conservative ranks that the party could see its so-called ‘blue wall’ areas across southern England continue to fall to the Liberal Democrats and Labour.

Mr Johnson saw the Tories lose both the Chesham and Amersham and North Shropshire constituences to the Lib Dems in Westminster by-elections last year.

The Conservatives are now also facing a battle to keep hold of Tiverton and Honiton following the recent resignation of porn-watching Tory MP Neil Parish.

At the council elections on 5th May, the Tories lost control of 11 councils – with many of those being ceded to the Lib Dems and Labour – with the Conservatives also suffering the loss of close to 500 council seats.

Mr Hunt, a former foreign secretary and health secretary, today reiterated he could seek a return to the top-level of Government.

But he said the Ukraine war should provide ‘perspective’ on the feverish speculation about the PM’s leadership in the wake of Partygate.

‘I have said many times that I don’t rule out a return to frontline politics myself,’ he told the BBC’s Sunday Morning programme.

‘But I don’t think now is the right moment. Britain has been the most robust member of the Western alliance in the face of the first major war in Europe in our lifetimes.

‘I think the only person who would rejoice if we had a hiatus of several months in the leadership in Britain would be Vladimir Putin.

‘So I don’t think this is the moment for these discussions.’ 

The South West Surrey MP cast doubt on the PM’s ability to once again prove a Tory vote winner as he insisted it would be a ‘mistake’ to dismiss the party’s local election losses as ‘mid-term blues’.

He added: ‘The reason people vote Conservative is because they want economic growth, they want sound money, they want the prospect of lower taxes for their family.

‘None of those things are true at the moment. So the absolute priority for the Government must be to change from a high-inflation, low-growth economy to a low-inflation, high-growth economy.’

Asked if Mr Johnson was the best person to be Tory leader, Mr Hunt replied: ‘I hope he can turn things round because I don’t think this is the moment for a leadership contest.

‘But I would say this, I think the outcome of the next election will be decided not on personalities but on which party has the best long-term plans.

‘How do we defend democracy in a world where China is a bigger economy than the US? How do we spread wealth? How do we fix long-term problems in the NHS?’

Mr Hunt also dodged a question on whether Mr Johnson is ‘an honest man’.

He responded that ‘talking about personalities is not a helpful thing to do’, adding: ‘It’s a simple question but it’s not a helpful thing to do when I’ve just said we need to recognise the international situation is very serious and we need strong leadership from the PM we have.’

Mr Hunt called for fellow Tory MPs to ‘back the PM in the situation we’re in now’, as he described how the Ukraine was made it ‘impossible not to put things into perspective’.

He expressed his hope the party ‘can turn things round under the PM’s leadership’.

Asked if this meant he backed Mr Johnson to lead the Tories into the next general election, scheduled for 2024, Mr Hunt replied: ‘I very much hope so.’

Pressed on whether he would rather be the Conservative leader as the party sought to keep hold of its House of Commons majority, he added: ‘I know you would like to create a suggestion I would want something different, but I really hope we can (turn things around).

‘But I do also hope we recognise that in order to do that we have a big mountain to climb in terms of winning back the support of many of our core voters – not just in the south of England, but particularly in the south of England – who are very concerned at the situation we’re in.’

Lib Dem MP Sarah Olney branded Mr Hunt ‘too cowardly to say what everyone else in Britain is thinking’ over the PM’s honesty.

‘Boris Johnson is a serial liar and not fit to govern this country,’ she added.

‘It is time Jeremy Hunt carried out his patriotic duty and called time on Boris Johnson as Prime Minister.

‘As a Surrey MP he should know the sheer anger felt in former Conservative heartlands at this Government.

‘From Chesham and Amersham to last week’s local election results, it is clear the public have had enough.’

Chemicals giant Johnson Matthey embroiled in bitter legal battle against US buyer of its former health business

By Luke Barr, Financial Mail On Sunday

Updated: 16:52 EDT, 3 June 2023

Some links in this article may be affiliate links. If you click on them we may earn a small commission. That helps us fund This Is Money, and keep it free to use. We do not write articles to promote products. We do not allow any commercial relationship to affect our editorial independence.

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Two of America’s best-known billionaires are at loggerheads over a new Nantucket clam shack.

San Francisco Giants owner Charles Johnson, 90, is trying to block the Straight Wharf Fish Market from opening this summer over fears it will bring noise and congestion to the area where he lives.

Johnson, who is worth an estimated $5 billion, has a simple shack which sits next to the dining spot on the famed tycoons’ enclave.

But another billionaire who also has a property nearby – investment guru Charles Schwab – has come out in support of the new food venture, to the delight of its owners. 

Johnson filed suit on May 12 in Nantucket Superior Court seeking to invalidate licenses the Straight Wharf Fish Market had received from relevant authorities.

He and a group of his neighbors who have residences on the historic Old North Wharf have come out against the 62-seat eatery, arguing it will generate too much noise and congestion.

Local community boards, however, have backed the development.

Gabriel Frasca, one of the restauranteurs behind the project, said the lawsuit may delay their expected opening in July, and that the suit brought by the wealthy cohort of the resistance party had been financially draining.

‘This is one of a number of headwinds we are fighting our way through. We remain hopeful we can open this season, but it is hard to continue to throw time and money at a project that we may have to stop at any moment,’ Frasca told the Boston Globe.

Frasca and his partner Kevin Burleson plan on reviving the space that used to be known as the Straight Wharf Fish Store and Stars Ice Cream, which shut down in 2021. 

He said, at this point, it will be a challenge to meet a planned July opening date.

Johnson has asked the court to overturn the state’s April 11 approval of the restaurant’s liquor license, which was granted by the Select Board in March.

Danielle deBenedictis, Johnson’s attorney, called the decision to approve the liquor license improper due to its perceived ignorance of the ‘traffic, noise, congestion, and parking problems,’ that the restaurant may create.

Johnson’s attorney says his property would be just 18 inches from the clam shack. Though the cabin is modestly sized at just 1,200 square feet, it is valued at nearly $6.5million.

One voice who has come out as pro-clam shack is billionaire businessman Charles Schwab, 85, whose support the owners said is a pleasant surprise.

DeBenedictis had initially told the Select Board that in addition to Johnson, she represented Schwab and a number of other high profile residents of the wharf.

However, last month, Schwab declared in a statement through his attorney that he never opposed the opening of the restaurant and was never represented by deBenedictis, who is also the owner of a Nantucket restaurant and bar The Summer House, as reported by the Nantucket Current. 

An attorney for Schwab said his client had initially been concerned when notified about the project, but ‘quickly adjusted’ his position when presented with a fuller picture of the plans for the restaurant.

Schwab’s attorney wrote in an April letter to the town and state alcoholic beverages commission that ‘the Schwabs and many neighbors at Old North Wharf were originally concerned when told that the Straight Wharf Fish Market would be a nightclub with a bar, dancing, and live music.  

‘However, when a review of the permits showed this was not the case, the Schwabs decided to not oppose’ the restaurant.

‘We all look forward to enjoying a fresh clam roll and cold soft-serve twist cone on the harbor,’ the lawyer, Steve Cohen, wrote.

Schwab paid $10million in 2021 for neighboring cottages in the Old North Wharf named Nautilus and Zenas Coffin. The cottages have several boat slips between them, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Frasca said that the Schwabs have been ‘incredibly gracious’ and that the business team behind the Straight Wharf Fish Market ‘appreciate the faith that they have shown in us.’

The owners have years of experience opening and operating restaurants on the New England island. Plans for this restaurant include a 14-seat dock and menu that will offer classics like lobster and clam rolls, as well as more modern fare.

Frasca told the Globe he was ‘a little surprised’ when he was made aware of the lawsuit, but said he expects Johnson’s suit won’t be the last one facing the restaurant.

‘Really I think Mr. Johnson just doesn’t want to own property next to a clam shack. And though I understand the sentiment, that isn’t a good reason to prohibit a properly zoned business from opening,’ he said.

Despite the ongoing opposition, Frasca says he remains optimistic the restaurant will be able to open this summer.

‘Obviously, missing even a single day of those sales has an outsized impact on our ability to earn a profit,’ he said. ‘Given that most restaurants operate within a 10 percent profit margin (at best), it’s pretty easy to see what the effect of missing any part of peak season would be.’ 

Sarah Alger, an attorney representing the Old North Wharf Cooperative said she believes members of the group are generally in agreement with Johnson’s sentiments.

‘I know there’s been kind of an effort to make this into kind of a David and Goliath story. I don’t really see that as being all that accurate,’ she said. ‘You know, this whole folksy clam shack thing. It isn’t a clam shack. It’s a restaurant.’ 

Sen. Ron Johnson accused Antony Blinken of telling a ‘boldface lie’ to Congress about his communications with Hunter Biden after it his emails with the first son were revealed. 

The Wisconsin Republican revealed that Blinken, when he was still working for the Biden campaign in December 2020, had come in to sit for a transcribed interview with his team. He was then aiming for the secretary of State job, a Senate-confirmed position.  

‘Now, because of more information that’s come out, we know that he lied boldface to Congress about never emailing Hunter Biden,’ Johnson told Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo. 

‘My guess is he told a bunch of other lies that hopefully we’ll be able to bring him and his wife back in, tell them to preserve their records. You cannot trust Joe Biden. You cannot trust Hunter Biden.’ 

Asked if he believed Blinken lied under oath, Johnson said: ‘Yes, he did.’ 

‘He said he did not email Hunter Biden, and now we have those emails. We also know that his wife, using her private email address when she was a[n] employee of the State Department, was basically a conduit between her husband and Hunter Biden as well,’ Johnson continued. 

The Wisconsin Republican said Blinken needs to be subpoenaed, but without Democrat support he would not have the authority to do so. 

‘If he wants to proclaim his innocence, I doubt he’ll do that, but he must and she must preserve their records, their personal emails. When you get to the bottom of this, we need to show how corrupt these individuals are.’ 

The Functional Government Initiative, a government watchdog group, obtained a trove of emails from Blinken during his time in the Obama administration showing Blinken and Hunter Biden writing to each other and setting up personal meetings through his private AOL account during his time as deputy secretary of state. 

Emails obtained by Fox News showed that Blinken met with Hunter Biden at the State Department in 2015 while Hunter was on the board of Burisma. 

Emails from Hunter’s abandoned laptop show Blinken and his wife Evan Ryan have long had contact with the first son. On multiple occasions, Hunter forwarded communications about setting up meetings with Blinken to fellow board members of Burisma.  

Meanwhile, Mike Morell last week told the House Judiciary Committee that he was asked by Blinken – who at the time was a senior member of the Biden campaign – to help discredit the laptop reporting.

Morell was a former acting CIA director, serving for two months in 2011 and four months from 2012 to 2013. He retired from the CIA in September 2013. 

He coordinated a letter from former intelligence chiefs claiming that Hunter Biden‘s laptop was Russian disinformation because he wanted to help Joe Biden‘s presidential campaign.

The Judiciary Committee, led by Jim Jordan, is currently investigating Hunter Biden’s laptop, as well as the Biden family businesses.

Morell ‘recently’ conducted a transcribed interview with Jordan’s team and was asked about the Biden campaign’s response to the laptop.

The laptop, which had been left in a Delaware repair store, was touted by Rudy Giuliani, Donald Trump’s lawyer, as providing evidence of supposed corruption among the Biden family.

The Biden campaign said the efforts to publicize the contents of the laptop bore the hallmarks of a Russian disinformation campaign.

The laptop included explicit photos of the troubled Hunter Biden naked, with prostitutes, and taking drugs, as well as multiple emails and texts between the 53-year-old and his father.

Morell said that he was asked by Blinken to rally former intelligence chiefs to agree that the laptop looked like a smear campaign.

He carried out ‘a little bit of my own research,’ and then reached out to retired CIA senior operations officer Marc Polymeropoulos for assistance in compiling the letter.

The letter was ultimately signed by 51 former intelligence officials, including himself and four other former CIA directors, including John Brennan and Leon Panetta.

The letter was published by Politico five days after The New York Post first reported on the contents of the laptop.

The headline for Politico’s story, on October 19, 2020, was: ‘Hunter Biden story is Russian disinfo, dozens of former officials say.’

The letter alleged that The New York Post story ‘has all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation.’ 

Several media outlets, including DailyMail.com, have since confirmed the contents of the laptop and that it belonged to Hunter Biden. 

Joe Biden used the letter during the October 22 debate against Donald Trump, saying he thought the reporting around his son’s abandoned computer was the work of Russia.

Morell was thanked for his work in coordinating the letter, with Steve Ricchetti, chairman of the Biden campaign, telephoning him after the debate to say thank you.

He was then said to be in consideration for the role of CIA director – a job that ultimately went to William Burns.

Morell, who has been a consultant, strategist, lecturer and author since his resignation almost a decade ago, said he was never formally in talks for the role.

On Thursday, Jordan and Michael Turner, the chairman of the Select Committee on Intelligence, wrote to Blinken requesting his communications with Morell around the laptop.

They issued a statement accusing Morell and the other intel chiefs of ‘concerted effort to minimize and suppress’ information harmful to the Biden campaign. 

‘Based on Morell’s testimony, it is apparent that the Biden campaign played an active role in the origins of the public statement, which had the effect of helping to suppress the Hunter Biden story and preventing American citizens from making a fully informed decision during the 2020 presidential election,’ they wrote. 

‘Although the statement’s signatories have an unquestioned right to free speech and free association—which we do not dispute—their reference to their national security credentials lent weight to the story and suggested access to specialized information unavailable to other Americans. 

‘This concerted effort to minimize and suppress public dissemination of the serious allegations about the Biden family was a grave disservice to all American citizens’ informed participation in our democracy.’