Intel, Tesla, Super Micro, Salesforce and Marston’s [Video] #UKFinance

Shares in Intel had a muted end to Monday’s session, despite the troubled US chipmaker announcing the abrupt retirement of its CEO Pat Gelsinger.

Intel said that Gelsinger, who led efforts to turn around the company for more than three years, had retired effective 1 December and has stepped down from the company’s board of directors.

The chipmaker named CFO David Zinsner and former head of client computing Michelle Johnston Holthaus as interim co-CEOs.

After reporting disappointing second quarter results in August, Intel announced plans to deliver $10bn (£7bn) in cost savings by 2025, which included cutting about 15,000 jobs, or around 15% of its workforce.

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Shares plummeting following this news, with shareholders then suing the chipmaker who claimed they were misled about the company’s financial performance.

Danni Hewson, head of financial analysis at AJ Bell (AJB.L), said: “There will be plenty who now wonder if Pat Gelsinger simply found he’d bitten off more than he could chew when he returned to the company where he’d spent most of his career, finally in the guise of CEO. His task was always going to be a tough one – Intel’s playing a serious game of catch up in a race that’s moving at warp speed.”

“The chipmaker should have been right out in front of the AI boom but somehow ended up on the back foot and attempts to claw back lost ground seem to have been beset with problems,” she added. “Perhaps a new broom rather than an old hand is what’s needed to really to get to grips with the scale of the issues facing Intel right now.”

A Delaware judge who had previously voided Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s $56bn compensation package earlier this year, denied the billionaire this pay pact for a second time on Monday.

Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick of the Court of Chancery initially voided pay package in January because of what she called “extensive ties” between Musk and the people negotiating the pay package and a lack of public disclosure about Musk’s relationships with those who approved the deal.

Tesla stock holders then approved the pay package a second time in June after a public-relations campaign that featured an open letter from Tesla chair Robyn Denholm.

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The electric vehicle (EV) maker argued that this should have been enough for McCormick to overturn her initial decision but the judge disgreed.

“[A] stockholder vote standing alone cannot ratify a conflicted-controller transaction,” McCormick said.

This latest decision comes as Musk gears up to take an advisory role in president-elect Donald Trump’s incoming administration, having been appointed to co-lead the extra-governmental Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

Tesla shares closed Monday’s session 3.5% in the green and were down more than 1% in pre-market trading on Tuesday.

Super Micro Computer (SMCI)

Shares in embattled server maker Super Micro Computer surged 28% on Monday, after it announced that an independent review of its business found no evidence of fraud or misconduct.

Super Micro said it would also look for a new chief financial officer based on recommendations of the special committee conducting the review.

In a filing to the SEC, Super Micro said: “The evidence reviewed by the Special Committee does not give rise to any substantial concerns about the integrity of the Company’s senior management or Audit Committee, or their commitment to ensuring that the Company’s financial statements are materially accurate.”

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Super Micro’s stock has been on a bumpy ride since an August report by short seller Hindenburg Research claimed, among other things, “accounting manipulation” at the company.

The server maker then said it would delay the release of its annual report and in October, its accounting firm Ernst & Young (EY) resigned.

Last month, Super Micro announced it hired a new auditor, BDO and also submitted a compliance plan with the SEC to avoid delisting from the Nasdaq.

Salesforce (CRM)

A major focus for investors in the third quarter results from Salesforce, due out after market close on Tuesday, will be any signs as to how the company’s big bet on AI is panning out.

When Salesforce revealed more details about its suite of autonomous AI agents ahead of its annual Dreamforce conference in September, the company said the Agentforce platform represented the “third wave of the AI revolution”.

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Shares in the company had seen some choppiness earlier in the year, falling sharply after the release of its fiscal first quarter results in May.

However, Salesforce’s second quarter figures lifted investor spirits, as it topped estimates on both top and bottom lines.

For the third quarter, Salesforce guided to third quarter revenue of between $9.31bn and $9.36bn. The company also raised its full-year earnings guidance to a range of $10.03 to $10.11 per share, up from a previous forecast of $9.86 to $9.94 per share.

Shares in Salesforce were flat ahead in pre-market trading on Tuesday morning.

In the UK, pub group Marston’s posted 64.5% growth in underlying profit before tax to £42.1m ($53.4m) for the year ended 28 September, in its preliminary results released on Tuesday.

Shares jumped 7.5% after Marston’s said its Christmas bookings were also tracking ahead of last year.

Marston’s said the sale of its 40% stake in the Carlsberg Marston’s Brewing Company marked a “defining moment for the group, creating a pure-play hospitality business wholly focused on running and operating pubs, as well as significantly enhancing financial and operational flexibility”.

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The pub group said that proceeds from the sale of this stake had helped drive a “material” reduction in net debt, with it down 25.5% year-on-year to £883.7m.

In addition, it said that while policy changes announced in the autumn budget put some additional pressure on costs, it believed the overall package of measures was “manageable” in the context of its targets from its recent capital markets say for investors.

Dan Coatsworth, investment analyst at AJ Bell, said: “The company has benefited from having a bias towards boozers which are community-centred and located in suburban and rural areas rather than city centres. This chimes well with socialising trends in the wake of the pandemic.”

“All-in-all, shareholders are likely to be raising a glass to CEO Justin Platt as he approaches the end of his first year in charge, with the shares up more than a quarter year-to-date despite a challenging market environment.”

Other companies in the news on Tuesday 3 December:

Victrex (VCT.L)

Greencore (GNC.L)

SSP Group (SSPG.L)

On The Beach (OTB.L)

Paragon Banking (PAG.L)

DiscoverIE (DSCV.L)

Marvell (MRVL)

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