Caledonia buys majority stake in Direct Tyre Management, Plus500 lifts full-year expectations

Stocks to watch

Caledonia Investments said it had paid £55m to buy a majority stake in Direct Tyre Management, a provider of outsourced tyre management services to fleet operators. The management team has reinvested alongside Caledonia to acquire 100% of the business from investors including Palatine Private Equity, Caledonia said on Monday.

Plus500 reported strong financial and operational results for the first half on Monday, with an 8% increase in revenue to $398.2m and a 6% rise in EBITDA to $183.9m. The company's cash balances surpassed $1bn for the first time, enabling significant shareholder returns totaling $185.5m through dividends and share buybacks. Plus500 said it expected its full-year results to exceed current market expectations, reflecting continued growth and strategic progress, particularly in the US market.

Barratt Developments and Redrow have reported that their impending £2.5bn merger should complete later this week despite local competition concerns raised by regulators. Both parties are now engaging with the Competition and Markets Authority following the conclusion of its first review earlier this month, which raised concerns about the supply of new build private residential housing in one of the more than 400 local areas where the two companies overlap. Barratt has now waived the CMA condition to the merger, which “removes uncertainty for the employees, supply chain and wider stakeholder groups of both businesses”.

Newspaper round-up

Fashion brand Ted Baker’s remaining 31 stores in the UK are to close this week, putting more than 500 jobs at risk. Started as a men’s clothing label in Glasgow in 1988 by entrepreneur Ray Kelvin and becoming known for its quirky advertising and floral prints, Ted Baker’s UK arm entered administration in March after racking up losses. – Guardian

Britain’s biggest banks are facing a deadline to repay more than £100bn of pandemic-era loans, which experts say could benefit savers as banks and building societies compete for customers with attractive rates in a “messy” dash for cash. More than 70 lenders ranging from high street banks and building societies such as HSBC and Nationwide to digital and specialist lenders such as Starling Bank and Aldermore collectively borrowed £193bn from the Bank of England as part of an emergency programme rolled out in the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. – Guardian

Boohoo is in a stand-off with suppliers after the struggling fast-fashion seller withheld payments over claims the quality of clothing was too poor. It is understood the online budget specialist has targeted manufacturers it alleges are responsible for producing a high proportion of faulty goods, and is refusing to pay them until the problems have been resolved. – Telegraph

One of the North Sea’s biggest gas producers is threatening to end investment in Britain because the tax regime has become too unstable to support offshore energy producers. Serica Energy, which produces 5pc of the UK’s gas supply and around 600,000 barrels of oil a day, is preparing to shift future investment to Norway instead. – Telegraph

US close

Stocks on Wall Street managed a positive finish on Friday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.24% at 40,659.76.

The S&P 500 added 0.2% to 5,554.25, and the Nasdaq Composite was ahead 0.21% at 17,631.72 by the closing bell.