Grafton Group to buy Dublin-based Proline, UKCM makes two property investments

Stocks to watch

Building materials distributor Grafton Group has agreed to acquire Proline Architectural Hardware, it announced on Tuesday. The FTSE 250 firm described Proline as a “leading distributor” of architectural ironmongery products for doors from a single location in Dublin. It said completion of the acquisition remained subject to approval by the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission in Ireland.

UK Commercial Property REIT has acquired an ASDA supermarket in Torquay, Devon from Aviva Investors for £16.6m, it announced on Tuesday, and agreed to forward fund the development of a purpose-built student accommodation asset at 41-45 Gilmore Place in central Edinburgh for £29.1m. The FTSE 250 company said the purchases would be funded through existing cash resources, with it having also disposed of the M8 Interlink Industrial Estate, Coatbridge for £25.4m.

Newspaper round-up

Almost 40,000 retailers in the UK were in “significant financial distress” even before the introduction of tighter restrictions over the weekend forced non-essential shops to shut. Research by the insolvency specialist Begbies Traynor found that 39,232 retailers – both online and bricks and mortar operations – were experiencing severe financial problems in the three months to 9 December. This was up 11% on the previous three months and 24% higher than the same period a year earlier. - Guardian

The government was operating an illegal “buy British” policy when it signed contracts with a small UK firm to supply Covid antibody tests, claim lawyers who have filed a case against the health secretary. The Good Law Project said there were a number of other companies in a better position to supply antibody tests in June and August, when the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) agreed deals worth up to £80m with Abingdon Health without going out to tender. - Guardian

Ministers are set to miss their target for a major overhaul of the UK's creaking broadband network, MPs have warned - putting Boris Johnson's ambition to level up the country at risk. The Government will fail to deliver on an already watered-down pledge to give 85pc of the UK gigabit-speed internet by 2025, according to members of the Culture select committee. - Telegraph

House prices will fall by as much as 5 per cent next year as unemployment chokes demand for new homes, analysts have warned. In its latest outlook for the sector, Halifax said that the property market would soon succumb to the wider economic downturn. It said that prices would fall by between 2 and 5 per cent next year. - The Times

The Co-operative Bank has ended takeover talks with the American private equity group Cerberus. The bank disclosed last month that it had received an approach, which City sources suggested was from Cerberus. Yesterday it said that discussions about a deal had ended. - The Times

US close

Wall Street stocks turned in a mixed performance on Monday as concerns regarding a "new" strain of Covid-19 in the UK somewhat offset positive stimulus headlines.

At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.12% at 30,216.45, while the S&P 500 was 0.39% weaker at 3,694.32 and the Nasdaq Composite saw out the session 0.10% softer at 12,742.52.

The Dow closed 37.40 points higher on Monday, halting losses recorded on Friday as lawmakers on Capitol Hill struggled to reach an agreement on a new stimulus package.

Republicans and Democrats finally reached a long-awaited stimulus deal over the weekend, a $900.0bn relief package to provide direct payments and jobless aid to struggling Americans.

Congress passed a one-day spending bill in order to avoid a full government shutdown on Monday, with lawmakers voting in favour of the relief and funding bill later in the day and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin saying the money would go out as soon as next week. The bill was set to hit Donald Trump's desk next.