SSE sells stake in its energy transmission business, SCS trading in line
By Josh White
Date: Friday 25 Nov 2022
(Sharecast News) - London open
The FTSE 100 is expected to open flat on Friday, having closed up 0.02% on Thursday at 7,466.60.
Stocks to watch
Energy utility SSE is selling a 25% stake in its electricity transmission network business to the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan Board for £1.46bn. The company said the deal would "unlock significant growth in both the transmission business and across the wider SSE group".
Furniture and flooring retailer SCS Group said in an update on Friday that it was trading "resiliently" and ahead of the prior year, with total like-for-like order intake for the 16 weeks ended 19 November down 9.1%. The company put that down to a reduction in orders in the first 10 weeks of the financial year, when the comparative period benefited from strong pent-up demand following the last national lockdown. Its board said it was "encouraged" by its recent performance, with current trading in line with full-year expectations.
Newspaper round-up
Demand for rental homes across the UK has jumped by nearly a quarter in a year, research has found, piling more pressure on an oversubscribed market and pushing record private rents even higher. The number of people enquiring about homes to rent is up 23% on this time last year, according to the property website Rightmove, driven in part by some would-be buyers putting their plans on hold in the hope that mortgage rates will drop in the new year. - Guardian
Mike Ashley's Frasers Group has bought Gieves & Hawkes, one of London's oldest bespoke tailors. Frasers, which already owns Sports Direct, House of Fraser, and the Flannels designer casual wear chain, is understood to have taken on the Gieves & Hawkes brand and five UK stores, including the flagship in the tailoring heartland of Savile Row, London. It is not clear how many jobs have been saved under the deal. - Guardian
Hundreds of first-time buyers are at risk of missing out on support from the Government's Help to Buy scheme because of a deadline imposed on developers to finish building qualifying properties by the end of 2022. Buyers using the taxpayer-backed loan programme to get on the property ladder must complete new-build compliance checks before the new year according to rules set by the Housing Department - even though the scheme itself is not being wound up until March. - Telegraph
Car factory production rose in October but the industry fears it may be a case of one step forward, two steps back amid the growing prospect of a recession. Latest figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, the industry trade body, show 69,524 vehicles rolled off assembly lines last month, a rise of nearly 4,800, or 7 per cent, in the same month last year. That increase brings the total for the year to 721,000, down 10 per cent year-on-year. - The Times
Atom Bank has pushed back its flotation by at least two years after tapping backers for another £30 million, giving it a post-deal valuation of £460 million. The fast-growing, Durham-based online lender is now aiming for a "liquidity event" in 2024 or 2025, having previously pencilled in 2022 or 2023. A liquidity event could be an initial public offering on the stock market or a trade sale. - The Times
US close
Stock markets were closed on Wall Street for the Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday, having finished in the green in the prior session.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.28% at 34,194.06 at the end of trading on Wednesday, while the S&P 500 rose 0.59% to 4,027.26 and the Nasdaq Composite was ahead 0.99% at 11,285.32.
Trading is set to resume stateside on Friday, although the session will be shortened due to the holiday and close at 1300 EST.
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