JLEN buys combined heat and power operator Cramlington, Serco lifts guidance for 2021
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The FTSE 100 is expected to open eight points higher on Monday, having closed up 0.65% on Friday at 7,134.06.
Stocks to watch
Environmental infrastructure fund JLEN said it had bought Cramlington Renewable Energy Developments, which owns a biomass combined heat and power plant, and its underlying contracts for an undisclosed sum. The deal was made on a debt-free basis and represents JLEN's first investment into a large-scale biomass CHP Plant, the company said on Monday.
Serco lifted its guidance for 2021 as it announced that its joint venture with Engie has been awarded UK defence infrastructure contracts with a total potential value of £3.4bn over an initial term of seven years.
Sequoia Economic Infrastructure said on Monday that its net asset value had improved 0.13% on the month for May, to 102.41p per share. The FTSE 250 specialist infrastructure investor said interest income added 0.48% and foreign exchange movements advanced the net asset value by 0.01p per share, while asset valuations themselves were 0.36p lower month-on-month. It said the decrease in asset valuations was mainly due to several sizable US power positions being marked down, and a “significant” price decline in one of its least liquid positions based on a small secondary trade in the bond near the end of May.
Newspaper round-up
The head of the UK’s biggest business lobby group has warned that the corporate world is “way off track” in tackling the climate crisis. Tony Danker, the director-general of the CBI, called on the government to do more to unlock the resources of the private sector by publishing new guidance on heating and transport. - Guardian
A joint venture between Rishi Sunak’s billionaire in-laws and the internet retailing giant Amazon is in a multimillion-pound dispute with the Indian tax authorities, a Guardian investigation has found. The disclosure adds to the list of legal battles currently involving the joint venture, following news on Friday that India’s competition commission has been given permission to relaunch an investigation into Amazon. - Guardian
The US technology giant Qualcomm has opened the door to a rival investment in Arm if the British microchip company's $40bn (£28bn) sale to Nvidia is blocked. Cristiano Amon, Qualcomm’s incoming chief executive, told The Telegraph it would be prepared to buy a stake in Arm alongside a consortium of industry players if owner SoftBank were to float the company instead of selling it to Nvidia. - Telegraph
Ministers are weighing up a plan to block landlords from kicking pubs and restaurants out of their properties for failing to pay billions of pounds in rent during the pandemic. Officials are considering proposals to ring-fencing historic debt built up by pubs and restaurants during Covid-19, in a move which would allow hospitality companies to continue negotiations with their landlords rather than immediately diverting large sums of cash to pay off bills. The scheme could mean landlords are unable to start evicting commercial tenants. - Telegraph
EDF’s announcement last week that it was closing the Dungeness B nuclear plant in Kent seven years early punched an unwelcome hole in Britain’s low-carbon power supplies. Now, The Times can reveal that further such blows are likely to follow as EDF admits that two other plants are also at risk of early closure. The French energy giant is bracing for safety issues at Torness in Scotland and Heysham 2 near Lancaster that could force both to shut years before their planned 2030 closure dates. - The Times
US close
Wall Street equities kept their heads above water on Friday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average managing gains of 0.04% to 34,479.60.
The S&P 500 added 0.19% to 4,247.44, and the Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.35% by the end of trading to close at 14,069.42.