Warehouse REIT completes four lettings, Primary Health Properties CEO to retire

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The FTSE 100 is expected to open 22 points lower on Monday, having closed up 0.06% on Friday at 7,476.63.

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Warehouse REIT, the specialist urban and 'last-mile' industrial warehouse investor, has completed four long-term lettings totalling 121,400 sq ft, increasing portfolio occupancy to 93.3% from 92.7% as at September 30. Paul Makin, investment director of Tilstone Partners, advisor to Warehouse REIT, said: "The UK warehouse occupier market remains in robust health, reflecting the breadth of tenant demand in a market beset by structural undersupply.”

Primary Health Properties said chief executive Harry Hyman would retire at its annual general meeting in 2024. This intention is consistent with plans outlined after the Medicx merger announced in January 2019 that Hyman would commit to managing PHP for a further five years.

Microsoft has bought a 4% stake in London Stock Exchange Group as part of a 10-year strategic partnership for next-generation data and analytics and cloud infrastructure solutions. LSEG said on Monday that as part of the partnership, its data platform and other key technology infrastructure will migrate to Microsoft Azure, enhancing its existing cloud migration strategy. Workspace, LSEG's next-generation data and analytics workflow solution, will become interoperable with certain Microsoft applications and the companies plan to introduce innovative new cloud-based analytics services.

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Twitter is relaunching its subscription service on Monday, offering users verified status for $8 (£6.50) a month or $11 a month on their iPhone. The move follows a botched revamp of the service last month that resulted in a host of impersonator accounts appearing on the platform as some users took advantage of the chance to launch bogus “verified” accounts for major companies and public figures. – Guardian

UK power prices have hit record levels as an icy cold snap and a fall in supplies of electricity generated by wind power have combined to push up wholesale costs. The day-ahead price for power for delivery on Monday reached a record £675 a megawatt-hour on the Epex Spot SE exchange. The price for power at 5-6pm, typically around the time of peak power demand each day, passed an all-time high of £2,586 a megawatt-hour. – Guardian

Channel 5 is spearheading a bid to scupper longer television ad breaks on ITV over concerns the move would hand its rival a £150m revenue boost. Regulator Ofcom is reviewing whether to relax limits on advert breaks for public service broadcasters from an average of seven to nine minutes per hour to reflect growing competition from streaming services. – Telegraph

WhatsApp is threatened with a shut down in Britain as ministers press ahead with plans to require easier access to messages for police and MI5, the messaging app has warned. Will Cathcart, head of WhatsApp at Meta, which also owns Facebook and Instagram, told The Telegraph he was prepared to see the app blocked for British smartphone users rather than weaken its security. – Telegraph

National Grid has triggered emergency plans to fire up old coal plants as cold, still weather sparked fears of a supply shortage this evening. The company responsible for keeping the lights on has instructed two coal-fired units at Drax power plant in Yorkshire to be warmed up ready for potential usage today. – The Times

US close

Wall Street closed in negative territory on Friday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 0.9% at 33,476.46.

The S&P 500 lost 0.73% to 3,934.38, and the Nasdaq Composite was 0.7% weaker at 11,004.62.