TBC Bank buying stake in e-commerce firm My-ge, LondonMetric to fund new Croda facility
London open
The FTSE 100 is expected to open 45 points higher on Monday, having closed up 0.71% at 7,117.15 on Friday.
Stocks to watch
Georgia's TBC Bank on Monday said it was buying a 65% stake in domestic e-commerce company My-ge for GEL 19.45m (£5.47m) in cash, valuing the company at £29.93m. My-ge runs websites covering automotive, consumer-to-consumer and housing with a combined 1.7m unique monthly visitors.
Safestore announced on Monday that it was forming a joint venture with Carlyle European Real Estate Fund, to acquire M3 Self Storage, which operates six prime storage locations in Amsterdam and Haarlem in the Netherlands. The FTSE 250 company said it would invest in a 20% equity stake on completion for a consideration of €5m, and provide management services to the joint venture. Completion was expected to take place by the end of August.
LondonMetric Property has agreed to purchase and fund a new 232,000 square foot distribution warehouse for £24m, reflecting a yield on cost of 5.2%, it announced on Monday, The FTSE 250 firm said the warehouse had been pre-let to FTSE 100 speciality chemical company Croda on a 20-year lease at a rent of £1.3m per annum, subject to annually-payable RPI-linked rental uplifts of between 1% and 3%. It said the warehouse, next to junction 36 of the M62, would be used as Croda’s global distribution hub, with the tenant to invest a “significant” amount in a “state-of-the-art” automated facility.
Newspaper round-up
British house hunters have launched a surprise August buying spree before the scheduled Brexit date, with new data showing sales reached their highest point since 2015 during the usually sleepy summer period. The number of agreed sales rose by 6.1% year on year in the month to 10 August, according to property website Rightmove, which claims to track nine in 10 UK house purchases. – Guardian
Shareholders in companies listed on the world’s stock markets pocketed more than half a trillion dollars in dividends during the second quarter of the year, a record for investors’ payouts. But despite dividends hitting an all-time quarterly high of $513.8bn (£423bn), the pace of year-on-year growth slowed to just 1.1%, compared with 14% this time last year. – Guardian
The Chinese auto giant BYD is exploring a rescue of the troubled “Boris bus” maker Wrightbus, as the Government comes under pressure from the DUP to save jobs in Northern Ireland. Around 1,400 roles are on the line as the 73-year-old company races to secure either a new owner or fresh funding. – Telegraph
When Mifid II was rolled out in the aftermath of the financial crisis, transparency sat at the heart of Europe’s biggest market reform in over a decade. Nearly two years on, however, flaws within the sprawling set of financial rules are becoming ever more apparent. With costly research operations being slashed, the phrase “content is king” has never rung more hollow. City insiders claim the depletion of analyst coverage – sparked by Mifid’s call for more transparent fees – has given rise to price wars, disastrous deals and an exodus of star analysts. - Telegraph
US close
Wall Street stocks closed higher on Friday as investors remained focused on the bond market and US-China trade relations.
At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 1.20% at 25,886.01, while the S&P 500 closed 1.44% at 2,888.68 and the Nasdaq Composite ended the session 1.67% stronger at 7,895.99.
The Dow closed 218.21 points higher on Friday following a mixed session the day before as a result of a strong set of results from Walmart and some positive economic data, which helped to offset worries over China vowing to counter the latest round of tariffs from the White House.
While Thursday's session ended on a mostly positive note, sentiment remained highly volatile as worries about a weaker global economy and US-Sino relations were keep traders on the edge of their seats.
Donald Trump said on Thursday that he was of the opinion that the US and China's trade dispute would be a relatively short one, stating that China wanted to reach a deal.
Falling bond yields, which rattled markets during the week, climbed back from their historic lows on Friday, easing some recession fears.