LondonMetric offloads three warehouses, Brexit uncertainty a problem for Dunelm
London open
The FTSE 100 is expected to open 17 points higher on Monday, having closed up 2.16% at 6,837.42 on Friday.
Stocks to watch
LondonMetric Property on Monday said it had sold three distribution warehouses for £24.3m to various buyers, reflecting a blended net initial yield of 5.4%. The sale price was 4% above book value. Chief executive Andrew Jones said that while the sales would impact on short term earnings, “they are the right property decisions, which strengthen the remaining portfolio”.
Equiniti has won a contract to run the UK media and telecoms watchdog's scheme to compensate users of radio spectrum that is being cleared for use in 5G mobile services. Ofcom's Programme Making and Special Events grant funding scheme will compensate users such as theatres, broadcasters, and live music and sporting events as they have to stop using equipment on the low frequency 700 MHZ band.
Homewares group Dunelm sounded a note of caution about full year results due to “unprecedented” uncertainty caused by Brexit. The company said it expected interim pre-tax profits to come in around £70m after £3.8m in impairment charges. It reported second quarter revenues of £303m, up 2%. “If the homewares market continues to grow at a similar rate to that experienced in the first half, we expect to deliver full year profit before tax modestly ahead of the top of the range of current analysts' forecasts,” the company said.
ContourGlobal has agreed to acquire Alpek's Mexico portfolio of two natural gas-fired combined heat and power (CHP) plants, together with development rights and permits for a third plant, for $724m in cash, it announced on Monday. The FTSE 250 company said an additional payment at closing estimated at $77m would represent the value added tax assessed for the transaction, and was expected to be refunded in full within 12 months of closing. The two CHP plants would provide electricity and steam under long-term contracts to subsidiaries of Alfa Group - a Mexican industrial conglomerate - and other commercial and industrial customers.
Newspaper round-up
US officials arrived in China for the first face-to-face negotiations since a 90-day truce was declared in a trade war between Washington and Beijing, in the hope of ending a bruising confrontation between the world’s two largest economies. Hopes that the sixth round of negotiations between the two sides could yield a breakthrough helped Asian shares rise on Monday, combined with optimism about the state of the global economy on the back of strong US jobs figures on Friday. - Guardian
Returning that garish jumper you got for Christmas from your auntie? You are not alone. Britons will send back a quarter of the online purchases made between Black Friday on November 29 and Boxing Day, adding to the woes of retailers, according to analysis from the Centre for Economics and Business Research in London. This would equate to about £4.8 billion of the estimated £19 billion in online sales. - The Times
Most politicians want to see companies that repeatedly fail to pay their suppliers within 30 days hit with fines and back making the voluntary Prompt Payment Code a legal requirement for large businesses. A survey of 100 MPs across all parties found that almost three quarters backed the measures, which were also endorsed by the business select committee last month. - Telegraph
US close
Stocks on Wall Street ended their last session of the first week of the year well into the green on Friday, as investors welcomed signs of progress in Sino-US trade talks and a very solid non-farm payrolls report covering the month of December.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 3.29% at 23,433.16, the S&P 500 added 3.43% to 2,531.94, and the Nasdaq 100 was 4.48% higher at 6,422.67.