Segro sells portfolio of big box properties, Just Eat rejects revised Prosus offer
London open
The FTSE 100 is expected to open three points higher on Tuesday, having closed down 0.08% at 7,233.90 on Monday.
Stocks to watch
Segro said it had sold a portfolio of UK big box warehouses for £241m to a fund advised by Morgan Stanley Real Estate Investing in joint venture with Thor Equities Group. The transaction was expected to complete by the end of the year, Segro said on Tuesday. The portfolio comprises seven stand-alone big box warehouses with a total floor space of 203,400 square metres.
Online food takeaway service Just Eat on Tuesday rejected a revised 740p-a-rival share offer from Prosus, saying it “significantly” undervalued the company. Prosus is competing for control of Just Eat with Dutch rival Takeaway.com, which agreed a £4.8bn merger that would create one of the world’s biggest online food delivery companies. The Amsterdam-listed offshoot of South African technology group Naspers made a 710p a share cash offer in October and last week raised the stakes.
Ashtead reported a 14% improvement in revenue in its first half on Tuesday, to £2.68bn, as its rental revenue rose 13% to £2.45bn. The FTSE 100 equipment rental giant said its operating profit for the six months ended 31 October was £771m, up from £679m, as its earnings per share improved 11% to 111.8p. It declared an interim dividend of 7.15p per share, up 10% year-on-year.
Computacenter said its full year adjusted profit before tax is now anticipated to be ahead of consensus expectations of £136.2m, while earnings per share are also on course to beat forecasts following material progress in the last 11 months. The IT specialist added that its strong performance had been driven by both its established businesses and the fact that its US-based FusionStorm acquisition has begun to perform in line with expectations following a difficult start to the year.
Newspaper round-up
Employers in Britain have “hit the pause button” on job hiring, according to a survey of the labour market that shows demand for new workers has tumbled to a seven-year low. ManpowerGroup said years of strong jobs growth had ended in 2019 as Brexit uncertainty and a slowdown in global trade took their toll on business confidence. – Guardian
An energy company once labelled western Europe’s biggest polluter is planning to become the world’s first carbon-negative business within 10 years. The owner of the Drax power plant, once a coal-fired behemoth, is the first company in the world to set out plans to absorb more carbon emissions from the air than it creates by 2030. – Guardian
British science is to be handed a major boost from a US property developer preparing to plough up to $500m (£380m) into building new laboratories across the country. San Diego-based real estate firm Creative Science Properties has teamed up with estate agent Savills to scout out locations in Cambridge, Oxford and London where new labs could be built. – Telegraph
Piggybank has become the latest payday lender to go bust, leaving customers in limbo over loan repayments. The company said yesterday that it had stopped new lending and had gone into administration. Customers should continue to make their repayments in the normal way, it added. Its demise comes after the failures of Quickquid, 247Moneybox and Wonga, Britain’s biggest short-term lender. – The Times
President Trump tried to undermine Amazon’s bid for a $10 billion Pentagon contract to hurt Jeff Bezos, the company’s founder and chief executive, it has been claimed Mr Trump exerted “improper pressure” on the bidding process to harm his “perceived political enemy”, lawyers for Amazon said in court papers. – The Times
US close
US stocks closed lower on Monday as investors awaited further updates on US-China trade.
At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.38% at 27,909.60, while the S&P 500 was 0.32% softer at 3,135.96 and the Nasdaq Composite saw out the session 0.40% weaker at 8,621.83.
The Dow closed 105.46 points lower on Monday after seeing out the previous week in the green following the release of a key monthly jobs report that easily topped expectations on the Street.
As far as the early part of the week was concerned, market participants were keeping a keen eye on developments in Washington's protracted trade war with China - with just six days to go until the Trump administration is set to slap Beijing with another $156bn-worth of tariffs.
Larry Kudlow, director of the White House's National Economic Council, said on Friday that both sides were "close" to an agreement, but cautioned that Donald Trump was more than prepared to "walk away" if certain conditions could not be met.
China's assistant commerce minister Ren Hongbin said on Monday that Beijing hoped to make a deal with Washington "as soon as possible".