Cobham offer for Ultra Electronics agreed, LondonMetric sells Primark warehouse

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The FTSE 100 is expected to open 50 points lower on Monday, having closed up 0.35% at 7,218.71 on Friday.

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Defence group Cobham on Monday said its £2.57bn offer for UK-based rival Ultra Electronics had been agreed. Cobham is offering £35 a share and “legally binding and enforceable commitments” to the UK government on national security matters.

LondonMetric Property has exchanged on the sale of its distribution warehouse in Thrapston, Northamptonshire, to EQT Exeter for £102m, it announced on Monday, reflecting a net initial yield of 4.1%. The FTSE 250 real estate investment trust said the 785,000 square foot warehouse is let to Primark for another 11 years, at a rent of £4.4m per annum. Completion of the sale would be in February, generating an additional £2.2m of income, with total proceeds 8% above the 31 March book value.

Newspaper round-up

Ticket resale websites such as Viagogo and StubHub could be shut down or hit with large fines if they are found to break consumer protection rules, under proposals by the competition regulator to stop “unscrupulous” touts ripping off fans. In a landmark intervention that comes as the live events industry recovers from Covid-19 restrictions, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said existing laws were too weak. - Guardian

Fewer than a quarter of UK companies struggling to hire staff after the easing of pandemic restrictions plan to increase the wages they offer to lure new recruits, according to a report. Employers’ hiring confidence has hit a nine-year high as firms attempt to tackle what some recruiters have described as the worst staff shortages since the late 1990s, according to research from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD). - Guardian

Hopes are growing that a trade deal with New Zealand, the second ground-up accord of the post-Brexit era, can be secured within weeks. An insider at the Department for International Trade said an announcement on New Zealand before the end of August is “highly possible” as discussions intensify. A deal would come hot on the heels of Britain’s outline agreement with Australia, which was unveiled in June. - Telegraph

Older workers face being left out of Britain’s economic recovery after figures showed they are more likely to be stuck on the furlough scheme than under 25s for the first time. Economists warned the older cohort left on furlough are vulnerable to job cuts as the scheme winds down, potentially forcing many into early retirement. - Telegraph

The American private equity firm that first put Wm Morrison in play is gearing up to trump a rival £6.7 billion offer for the British supermarkets chain this week and to persuade its target’s board to change its recommendation. Clayton Dubilier & Rice, which counts Sir Terry Leahy, the former Tesco chief executive, as an operating partner, has until Friday’s bid deadline to make a higher offer or walk away. It started the bid battle in June with a 230p-a-share possible offer, but competition from a consortium led by Fortress, another American buyout group, means that it will have to raise its price by at least a fifth to beat its rival. - The Times

US close

Stocks on Wall Street managed a positive finish on Friday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.04% at 35,515.38.

The S&P 500 added 0.16% to 4,468.00, and the Nasdaq Composite was ahead 0.05% at 14,822.90.