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Equity view

Primary Health Properties on Friday said it had bought the Townside Primary Care Centre and adjacent office building in Bury, Lancashire for £40m. The centre is a purpose-built primary care hub which is fully let to NHS Property Services and a pharmacy. The office accommodation is also fully let with 90% of the income secured against Bury Council.

Mattioli Woods has bought financial planning and wealth management business Richings from its shareholders for up to £1.8m. The AIM-listed wealth manager said on Friday that it will pay an initial £0.9m and a potential further £0.9m dependent on the attainment of specified performance targets in the two years after completion.

Amigo Holdings' profit increased in the first quarter but the embattled subprime lender warned its balance sheet was insolvent after a court turned down its rescue plan. Pretax profit for the three months to the end of June rose to £16m from £3m a year earlier as revenue fell by a third to £32.5m after the company ceased new loans during the Covid-19 crisis. Operating costs fell to £6.5m from £11.2m and impairments dropped to £7.6m from £18.5m.

BBGI Global Infrastructure reported a 0.2% improvement in its investment basis net asset value in its first half on Friday, to £918.1m. The FTSE 250 firm said that made for an investment basis net asset value per share of 137.8p at period end on 30 June, up 0.03% from the end of December.

Building materials supplier CRH raised annual guidance and increased its dividend as interim core earnings rose by a quarter. Earnings for the six months to June 30 came in at $2bn, up 25% on a better-than-expected 15% increase in sales to $14bn. The dividend rose 4.5% to 23 cents a share.

Fund administration business Sanne has agreed to be taken over by Apex Group in a £1.5bn deal. Under the terms of the deal, announced late on Wednesday, Apex will pay 920p per share in cash. This is a premium of around 53% to the undisturbed Sanne closing share price on 13 May and above the 875p a share bid made by private equity firm Cinven.

Gambling company Rank Group revealed on Thursday that chief financial officer Bill Floydd will stand down from the role in order to take up the same role over at Watches of Switzerland. Rank said Floydd, who joined Rank in 2018, had tendered his resignation and was expected to make the move to Watches of Switzerland, where he will succeed current CFO Anders Romberg, at the end of 2021.

Gold and silver miner Polymetal raised capital expenditure forecasts to reflect global inflation and accelerated several projects to take advantage of high silver prices. Polymetal on Thursday said first-half net profit rose 11% to $419m as silver and gold prices increased 59% and 8% respectively. Revenue was up 12% to $1.27bn.

Building materials and DIY group Grafton on Wednesday reported record profits and reinstated its dividend after a strong performance from its Woodies business in Ireland. The company said adjusted pre-tax profits soared 340% to £148.6m on revenues up 46.1% to £1.02bn. A dividend of 8.5p a share was declared.

Great Portland Estates said on Wednesday that it has pre-let 121,800 sq ft at 50 Finsbury Square, EC2 to telecommunications group Inmarsat. The group’s refurbishment will extend the office floor plates within the existing envelope of the building, create a large reception area as well as improve the retail, leisure and amenity offer, GPE said. Practical completion is scheduled for late 2022.

Bingo hall and casino operator Rank Group said UK tax authorities have decided not to appeal against a tribunal ruling over value added tax on slot machines. Rank said the first-tier tribunal had agreed a 60-day extension to allow Revenue and Customs (HMRC) and Rank to agree the exact size of the claim, with the gambling firm still expecting to receive around £80m.

Augean shares surged on Wednesday after the waste management company agreed to be bought by Eleia, a special purpose vehicle formed by investment funds managed by Ancala Partners and Fiera Infrastructure, in a £341.2m deal. Under the terms of the takeover, Augean shareholders will receive 325p per share in cash, which represents a 30.8% premium to the undisturbed closing share price on 26 May. It is also an 8.3% premium to the offer of 280p a share made by Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners (MSIP), which was announced on 30 July.

Spectris has agreed to sell its NDC Technologies business to Nordson for $180m (£130m). The supplier of high-tech instruments said on Tuesday that the deal is in line with its strategy to simplify and focus its portfolio and is the last of the divestments identified in 2019 as part of its ‘Strategy for Profitable Growth’.

Pharmacy chain Boots will make medicines and painkillers for milder ailments available through Deliveroo on Tuesday in a UK trial pilot scheme. Boots and Deliveroo's deal will mean customers can also purchase makeup, toiletries, baby products and snacks and will add to the delivery giant's growing business delivering groceries and other products besides takeaway food orders.

Biotechnology company PureTech Health swung to a loss in its first half, it said on Tuesday, amid rising costs. The FTSE 250 company reported a net loss of $75.4m (£55.94m), swinging from a $124m profit a year ago, which the board put down to increased costs, as well as a fall in contract revenue.

Software-as-a-Service provider Essensys said on Tuesday that full-year actual currency revenue and adjusted underlying earnings were both expected to be in line with consensus estimates. Revenue, at actual currency, was in line at £22.0m, down from £22.5m a year earlier, with recurring revenue representing 87% of total income at £19.1m.

WPP said it had bought Satalia, a technology company offering artificial intelligence solutions for clients, for an undisclosed sum. Satalia’s clients include BT, DFS, DS Smith, PwC, Gigaclear, Tesco and Unilever. The company builds technologies that helps clients change their business strategies and improve operational efficiency, WPP said on Monday.

Mitie has agreed to sell its document management business to outsourcer Swiss Post Solutions (SPS) for £40m. In the year to the end of March 2021, the business delivered revenue of £48m and earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of £4.2m.

West End property owner Shaftesbury on Monday reported a recovery in rent collection and said footfall was also showing signs of improvement as shoppers returned after the easing of Covid restrictions. The company said it collected 55% of contracted rent in July and was confident of further collections over the coming month. For the quarter to June 30 Shaftesbury collected 51% of contracted rent, up from 40% in the previous three months.

Renold, a supplier of industrial chain and power transmission products, upgraded its expectations for 2022 on Monday amid a record high order book. In an update for the four months to the end of July, the company said the strong momentum seen in the fourth quarter of the last financial year has been maintained in the new year, resulting in the continued recovery of revenues and order intake.

Economic news

British car manufacturing output declined 37.6% in July, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, with just 53,438 units made last month. The drop represented the worst July performance since 1956 as manufacturers were forced to deal with the global shortage of semiconductors, summer shutdowns and staff shortages due to the "pingdemic".

Broadcaster ITV and engineering firm Weir are set for a demotion from the FTSE 100 in the next reshuffle, while takeover targets Morrisons and Meggitt are in line for a promotion. Shares in both Morrisons and Meggitt have surged of late due to M&A interest, with the former having agreed last week to be taken over by US private equity firm Clayton Dubilier & Rice in a £7bn deal.

The Competition and Markets Authority has sent an open letter to Covid-19 PCR test providers, warning that a range of harmful practices in the sector could breach consumer protection law. The CMA said it was concerned with providers advertising up-front prices for PCR tests which do not include additional charges that everyone must pay, advertising cheap PCR tests which were only actually available in very small quantities or were not available at all, failing to deliver PCR tests or provide results within stated timescales, or at all and refusing to provide consumers with refunds where tests are not provided within advertised and/or agreed timescales.

The UK’s second-busiest airport announced plans to bring its second runway back into use on Wednesday, with a public consultation to start on 9 September. Gatwick Airport in West Sussex technically has two parallel east-west runways, but due to the proximity of them to each other, only one is in use as a runway with the other a taxiway.

The latest residential property data from HMRC showed an “expected by noticeable” fall in provisional transaction numbers in July as the first stage of winding down the stamp duty holiday took effect, following a surge in ‘forestalling’, or completing transactions earlier, in June. According to the tax collector’s provisional numbers, a total of 73,740 residential transactions took place in the UK in July, which was 4.2% higher than a year ago, but 62.8% lower than in June.

UK retail sales grew in August at the fastest pace since December 2014, according to the latest survey from the Confederation of British Industry, while orders growth hit a survey record high. The CBI’s measure of the volume of sales rose to +60 from +23 in July, versus expectations for a drop to +20.

UK manufacturers saw the worst stock shortages on record in August, while manufacturing output growth eased, according to a survey released on Monday by the Confederation of British Industry. The CBI’s index for stock adequacy declined to -14 from -11 in July, coming at its weakest level since records began in 1977 and marking the third month in a row in which a new record-low outturn was set. The weakness was driven by the electronic engineering and plastic products sub-sectors.

The UK recovery lost momentum in August amid shortages of staff and materials, according to a survey released on Monday. The flash IHS Markit/CIPS composite purchasing managers’ index - which measures activity in the services and manufacturing sectors - fell to 55.3 from 59.2 in July, hitting its lowest level since February and coming in below expectations for a reading of 58.4.

Wet weather saw visits to retailers fall 1.7% across the UK last week, with all but one part of the country seeing declines, while growth in the same week last year made for a tougher comparator. According to data from retail analysis outfit Springboard, high streets saw visits drop 2.2% week-on-week, while shopping centres saw more modest declines of 1.3%, and retail parks slipped just 1%.

The UK government said it was taking action against 82 PCR Covid test providers as part of a clampdown on “cowboy” pricing practices. An initial investigation discovered that the companies were listing “misleading” lower prices on government websites than on their own.

International events

French consumer confidence dipped slightly in August despite a spike in Covid-19 cases and new rules requiring a pass to enter many retail outlets, according to a survey published Friday. The INSEE official statistics agency said its monthly consumer confidence index fell to 99 from 100 in July. The index peaked at 102 in June - the highest since the pandemic started - as vaccination rates picked up and coronavirus restrictions were eased.

Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell signalled on Friday that the US central bank is on track to start tapering asset purchases later in the year if the economy continues to show progress. Speaking at the virtual Jackson Hole symposium, Powell said the US economy had reached the point where it no longer needs monetary support, but also that there are no plans to raise interest rates any time soon.

The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits rose a little more than expected last week but remained near a pandemic low, according to figures released by the Labor Department on Thursday. US initial jobless claims pushed up by 4,000 to 353,000 from the previous week’s level, which was revised up by 1,000. Analysts had expected a level of 350,000.

Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan stuck with his call for a September taper announcement on Thursday. In an interview with CNBC, Kaplan said: "Based on everything I am seeing I don’t see anything at this point that would cause me to materially change my outlook.

German business sentiment deteriorated again in August amid supply chain issues, according to a survey released on Wednesday by the Ifo Institute. The business climate index fell to 99.4 from 100.7 in July, missing expectations for a reading of 100.4.

Orders in the US for goods made to last more than three years dipped last month, dragged down by a decline in demand for civilian aircraft. According to the Department of Commerce, in Seasonally adjusted terms, total durable goods orders slipped in July at a month-on-month pace of 0.1% to reach $257.2bn (consensus: -0.3%).

The German economy grew more than initially estimated in the second quarter as coronavirus restrictions eased, according to figures released on Tuesday by Destatis. German GDP growth for the three months to June was revised up to 1.6% quarter-on-quarter from an initial estimate of 1.5%, having contracted 2.0% in the first quarter of the year.

Eurozone business activity slipped slightly in August but was still on track to produce a strong third quarter, according to an IHS Markit survey published on Monday. The survey’s Flash Composite Purchasing Managers' Index, seen as a good guide to economic health, fell to 59.5 in August from 60.2 last month. A figure above 50 indicates growth.