Carlsberg agrees to buy Britvic, Ocado planning third Japan fulfilment centre

London open

The FTSE 100 is expected to open seven points lower on Monday, having closed down 0.45% on Friday at 8,203.93.

Stocks to watch

Danish brewing giant Carlsberg on Monday said it had reached a deal to buy UK soft drinks maker Britvic for £3.3bn after two previous bids were rejected. Under the terms of the acquisition, Britvic shareholders will get £13.15 a share, including a special dividend of 25p a share. Britvic two weeks ago said it had rejected two proposals from Carlsberg, one at £12 and another at £12.50p a share.

Online grocery group Ocado is planning to build a third customer fulfilment centre (CFC) in Japan as part of its ongoing partnership with Japanese peer AEON. The new Kuki-Miyashiro facility, which will go live in 2027, will operate using the Ocado Smart Platform and follows other Ocado-AEON CFCs in Midori-ku and Hachioji. “Today is an exciting moment for AEON and Ocado’s relationship as we deepen our already strong partnership,” said Ocado’s chief executive Tim Steiner.

Student accommodation provider Unite Group reported strong rental growth and increased property values in an update on Monday, with expected rental growth of at least 7% and 98% to 99% occupancy for the 2024-2025 academic year. The FTSE 100 company said it had secured planning approval for a 934-bed development in Glasgow, and achieved significant milestones in Newcastle. As of 30 June, property values in its USAF and LSAV portfolios increased by 3.2% and 2.8%, respectively, driven by rental growth.

Newspaper round-up

Boeing will plead guilty to a criminal fraud charge stemming from two deadly crashes of 737 Max jetliners, after the government determined the company violated an agreement that had protected it from prosecution for more than three years, the US the government said in court filing late on Sunday. Federal prosecutors gave Boeing the choice this week of entering a guilty plea and paying a fine as part of its sentence, or facing a trial on the felony criminal charge of conspiracy to defraud the US. – Guardian

The UK will press for “job guarantees” in return for taxpayer-funded investment during talks with the Indian-owned Tata Steel about the future of its flagship Port Talbot site. The new business secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, said he believed there was a “better deal available” for the south Wales site and the steel industry as a whole, as he confirmed on Sunday that negotiations with Tata were continuing. – Guardian

Millions of passengers could be compensated for late flights if a landmark legal case against British Airways and easyJet proves successful. British Airways and easyJet are battling to throw out the case, which risks forcing airlines to pay out hundreds of millions of pounds to passengers over late flights. The two carriers have been sued in the High Court over claims they must automatically compensate travellers whose flights are severely delayed or cancelled. – Telegraph

Administrators of a failed investment business backed by celebrities and members of a south London church have labelled it a “Ponzi” scheme and say they wish to pursue the bankruptcy of its directors. Insolvency practitioners from Begbies Traynor said that bankrupting Ashley Reading, 54, and his daughter Cameron, 24, who ran Fortress Capital Partners, would allow a full investigation of their personal affairs, including bank and credit card statements. – The Times

Britain’s biggest asset manager has made the case for higher executive pay in the UK, warning that a gap between the bosses of British and American companies risks a flight of talent to the United States. Schroders, the investment group that oversees about £760 billion of assets, including stakes in some of the London stock market’s biggest companies, analysed the pay packages handed to 2,353 chief executives in Britain and America. It found that on average UK bosses were paid one fifth of the money earned by their peers across the Atlantic. Even adjusting for the size of companies, chief executives in the US were paid more than twice that of their rivals in Britain, Schroders said. – The Times

US close

Wall Street stocks closed higher on Friday as traders returned from the Independence Day break to some hotly anticipated labour market data.

At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.17% at 39,375.87, while the S&P 500 advanced 0.54% to 5,567.19 and the Nasdaq Composite saw out the session 0.90% firmer at 18,352.76.

The Dow closed 67.87 points higher on Friday, reversing losses recorded in its truncated Wednesday session.

Investors were primarily focused on last month's nonfarm payrolls report on Friday, with the Labor Department revealing nonfarm payrolls had risen by 206,000 in June, ahead of estimates for a reading of 190,000.

Significantly, readings on non-farm payrolls for the prior two months were revised down by a combined 111,000.