BP sells majority stake in US lubricants division, Supermarket Income REIT acquires three UK supermarkets
By Iain Gilbert
Date: Wednesday 24 Dec 2025
(Sharecast News) - LONDON PRE-OPEN
The FTSE 100 was expected to open 4.8 points lower ahead of the bell on Wednesday, after wrapping up the previous session 0.24% firmer at 9,889.22.
STOCKS TO WATCH
BP has confirmed the sale of a majority stake in its Castrol lubricants division to US infrastructure group Stonepeak in a deal that values the business at about $10bn including debt. The energy giant has been looking to make $20bn in divestments by 2027 in response to pressure from activist hedge fund Elliott Management, which wants the company to cut costs and lower debt. It started the sale process for Castrol in February.
Real estate investment trust Supermarket Income REIT has acquired three UK supermarkets for a total purchase price of £97.6m, at an average net initial yield of 5.5%. Supermarket Income REIT acquired a 110,000 square foot Tesco supermarket in Aylesbury for £56.3m, a 60,000 square foot Sainsbury's supermarket in Sale, and a 30,000 square foot Waitrose supermarket in Frimley.
NEWSPAPER ROUND-UP
Train companies have been warned over price claims made on their ticketing websites after the advertising watchdog banned ads run by three sellers. The Advertising Standards Authority ruled that claims made for fares booked via ScotRail and Greater Anglia's website, as well as by a third-party ticketing site, My Train Ticket, were misleading. In all three cases, the ASA said, it found the companies could not provide evidence to show that people would get the lowest available price by booking train tickets through them. - Guardian
The former Barclays chief executive Jes Staley and the ex-US Treasury secretary Larry Summers were appointed as executors of Jeffrey Epstein's estate, according to a newly released tranche of documents linked to the deceased child sex offender. Filings published on Tuesday by the US Department of Justice included various versions of Epstein's last will and testament, which showed the financier intended to hand responsibility of managing his affairs to associates including the two high-profile men in the event of his death. - Guardian
Billionaire Tory donor Alan Howard has quit Britain for Switzerland, becoming the latest entrepreneur to leave in the wake of Rachel Reeves's tax raid. The hedge fund tycoon, who founded Brevan Howard, shifted his residency to the low-tax haven earlier this year, according to filings seen by Bloomberg. - Telegraph
Sir Keir Starmer has watered down his inheritance tax raid on farmers following a backlash from rural voters. The threshold for the amount of agricultural assets that can be handed down without paying inheritance tax will rise from £1m to £2.5m. The move means couples will now be able to pass on a farming estate worth £5m to their children without incurring an inheritance tax bill. - Telegraph
Two bosses of the private equity group behind deals including an acrimonious takeover of Maker & Son, a luxury furniture business, have been banned from running companies over "unauthorised" banking transactions worth almost £14m. The bans relate to what the government's Insolvency Service called "exploitation" of the banking system, which it said left "behind insolvencies worth more than £52m". - The Times
US CLOSE
Major indices closed higher on Tuesday as market participants digested a number of data points.
At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.16% at 48,442.41, while the S&P 500 advanced 0.46% to 6,909.79, and the Nasdaq Composite saw out the session 0.57% firmer at 23,561.84.
Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com
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