54 2GM Saturday August 1 2020 | the timesBusiness
5Nothing going on but the rent
Louisa
Clarence-Smith
Market reportT
wo of Britain’s biggest
landlords were among the
top gainers on the FTSE 100
as a drop in bond yields sent
investors in search of
income.
Land Securities and British Land,
which have a combined £25 billion
portfolio of offices, shopping centres
and retail parks, advanced yesterday
even as lenders forecast sharp falls in
commercial property valuations this
year. The surge came as British ten-
year government bond yields hit a
record low of 0.070 per cent because
of concerns about weak global
economic data and a second wave of
coronavirus infections.
Ian Williams, economist at Peel
Hunt, the broker, said: “With bond
yields so low, any assets that offer
income are appealing.” Lloyds
Banking Group predicted this week
that commercial property prices
would fall by 20 per cent this year in
its “base case” scenario. Natwest
forecast a 16 per cent to 22.1 per cent
decline
Nevertheless, Land Securities
closed up 17¾p, or 3.2 per cent, at
576½p; British Land rose by 8½p, or
2.4 per cent, to 366p. Other property
companies also benefited. Segro, the
warehouse owner, gained 17½p, or1.9 per cent, to 969¼p; Capital &
Counties, which owns a vast estate in
Covent Garden in London, added
3½p, or 2.6 per cent, to 140p.
The FTSE 100 lost 92.23 points, or
1.5 per cent, to 5,897.76, as gloomy
corporate updates from BT, the
telecoms group, and International
Consolidated Airlines Group, owner
of British Airways, compounded
concerns about the severity of the
economic fallout from Covid-19. The
index of leading companies sufferedits first monthly decline since the
coronavirus-driven crash in March,
falling 288.48 points, or 4.7 per cent,
in July. The more domestic-focused
FTSE 250 retreated 84.40 points, or
0.5 per cent, to 16,932.65, resulting in
a monthly fall of 1.3 per cent. “Despite
the fall in sterling, global investors
remain nervous about Brexit and
therefore may favour continental
European equities,” Mr Williams said.
Travel stocks were the biggest
fallers on the FTSE 250 as hopes of arecovery in the European travel
industry faded. Tui, Britain’s biggest
travel operator, lost 18½p, or 6 per
cent, to 288p; Carnival, the cruise
operator, shed 50p, or 5.7 per cent, to
826½p; Easyjet, the budget airline, fell
29½p, or 5.6 per cent, to 493¼p.
Equiniti Group, the provider of
pensions and share registration and
dividend payment services, recovered
11p, or 9.4 per cent, to 127¾p having
fallen 18.4 per cent the previous day
on its first-half earnings. Panmure
Gordon upgraded the stock to “buy”
from “hold” on analysts’ expectationsthat the headwinds from trading
trends will ease in the second half.
Elsewhere, Smartspace Software,
an Aim-listed software specialist,
jumped 16½p, or 47.8 per cent, to 51p
after signing a distribution agreement
with Softcat, the computer
infrastructure group, for its tools to
help employers implement Covid-
related policies in the workplace,
including contact tracing and
recording of sanitisation and room
and desk booking.Wall Street report
The impressive figures from the big
tech companies offset worries about
what new help, if any, companies
affected by Covid-19 might receive.
The Dow Jones industrial average
edged up 114.67 points, or 0.4 per
cent, to 26,428.32.Company Change
Pets at Home First-quarter sales fell less than feared 21.5%
Sabre Insurance Barclays raises target price after half-year report 10.0%
Equiniti Rebounds after sharp fall on previous day’s results 9.4%
Spirent Communications Positive analyst review 8.5%
BMO Commercial Property Trust Investors in search of yield flock to property stocks 7.7%
Easyjet Negative read across from IAG update -5.6%
Carnival Second wave fears dampen hopes of a summer tourism recovery -5.7%
Tui AG Travel stocks under pressure on second wave fears -6.0%
BT Group Forecasts sharp earnings fall on Covid-19 impact -8.6%
International Cons Airlines Gp Plans to raise €2.75 billion to bolster its finances -9.0%The day’s biggest movers
Name Pre-tax figure
Profit (+) loss (-)DividendArgo Group (finance HY) $0.2m ($1.5m) nil
British American Tobacco (consumer HY) £4.59bn (£3.86bn) 52.6p p Nov 12
Impellam (support HY) -£24.4m (£5.2m) nil
Intertek (support HY) £130.8m (£206.3m) 34.2p p Oct 8
Int Consolidated Airline Gp (transport HY) -€4bn (€1.1bn) nil
Kerry Group (consumer HY) €265.5m (€331.1m) €0.259 p Nov 13
London Stock Exchange (finance HY) £362m (£363m) 23.3p p Sep 22
Natwest (banking HY) -£770m (£2.69bn) nil
Savannah Energy (engineer HY) -$105.4m (-$24.6m) nil
6 Results in brief are given for all companies valued at more than £30 million. f = final p = payableResults in brief
news in brief
Train costs on taxpayers
Train companies’ debts will appear on
national balance sheets, the Office for
National Statistics has said. All
revenue and cost risks were switched
to the UK and Scottish governments
in the spring amid the virus crisis,
costing taxpayers £3.5 billion.
Operators “should be classified to the
public sector for statistical purposes,”
the ONS said. No 10 officials disputed
trade unions’ claims that this meant
railways were now publicly owned.James Murdoch quits
James Murdoch has resigned as a
director of News Corp. The parent
company of The Times and The Sun
said last night that the resignation of
Mr Murdoch, 47, was due to
“disagreements over certain editorial
content published by the company’s
news outlets and certain other
strategic decisions”. He is the son of
Rupert Murdoch, 89, executive
chairman of News Corp, and brother
of Lachlan, 48, the co-chairman.Pay revolt at JD Sports
Almost a third of JD Sports
shareholders rebelled against the
company’s remuneration report and
policy, as well as new proposals for a
long-term incentive plan. Glass Lewis
and ISS were opposed because the
pay policies reward directors in cash,
rather than shares. JD Sports said it
was “disappointed”. Peter Cowgill,
chief executive, has cut his salary by
three quarters during the pandemic
crisis and deferred a £3 million bonus.