Chancellor Philip Hammond will have at least £10 billion in extra firepower to meet Government spending pledges after the lowest borrowing since 2002, official figures signalled on Friday. The boost for Hammond comes 10 days ahead of a Budget in which he will come under pressure to find an extra £20 billion a year for the NHS and make good on Theresa May’s recent Conference pledges of an “end to austerity”. The best September for the public coffers since 2007 saw borrowing of £4.1 billion, nearly half a billion lower than expected. For the first half of the financial year, cumulative borrowing is £19.9 billion, the lowest for 16 years and £10.7 billion below a year ago.
Provident Financial (PFG) today admitted it was still feeling the hangover of the botched overhaul that plunged the company into crisis more than a year ago. The firm’s attempts to replace its army of part-time collectors with a full-time workforce using a new IT system proved disastrous, sending collection rates plunging. The Provvy, as it is affectionately known, also had to launch an emergency £300 million rights issue after a regulatory probe. Provident said today that its recovery plan for the home credit business was “substantially complete” but collections remain some 10% below historic levels.
Funding Circle (FCH) boss Samir Desai came out fighting today as he defended the peer-to-peer lender’s decision to float. It went public on October 3 but its shares immediately plummeted below its 440p float price as investors believed it was overpriced. Desai says it was unlucky to float before a heavy market correction but believes it was the right call. He said: “If you look at the long-term value the shares are cheap. They’ll bob up and down. We floated before a market correction when investors were cycling out of tech stocks like Google, Amazon and Facebook.”
Intu Properties (INTU) on Friday agreed to open its books to a consortium led by property tycoon John Whittaker, after the suitor made an improved £2.9 billion approach for the shopping centres owner. The Lakeside owner, which in April saw Hammerson ditch a £3.4 billion swoop for its business, revealed it received an indicative 205p-per-share proposal on October 11. This was raised to 215p per share on Wednesday. The proposal is from Peel Group, owned by Intu’s deputy chairman Whittaker, Saudi Arabian investor Olayan and Canada’s Brookfield. Whittaker and the investors, who collectively already own 29.9% of FTSE 250 firm Intu, first revealed they were weighing a bid in early October
The new chief executive of the London Stock Exchange Group (LSE) made a bold early move on Friday, splashing out £384 million in a deal to take the company’s stake in clearing house LCH above 80%. That deal comes amid concern about how £70 billion worth of derivatives contracts held by EU institutions will be traded post Brexit. David Schwimmer, the former Goldman Sachs man appointed to the LSE last April to replace ousted Xavier Rolet, shrugged off the Brexit fears. He said the deal reflects “continued confidence in LCH’s opportunities for further growth as it develops its business in partnership with its customers”.
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) on Friday cheered bumper demand from tourists for London rooms and vowed to dish up a $500 million payout for investors. The FTSE 100 firm behind the Holiday Inn and Crowne Plaza chains said revenue per available room in the capital rose 3.6% in the third quarter. The rest of the UK slipped 0.4%. Finance boss Paul Edgecliffe-Johnson said the firm’s famous Park Lane hotel had its strongest-ever summer. He added there were a number of Middle Eastern tourists in town, as well as guests using London as a base while visiting the Farnborough Air Show.
London’s office landlords remain bullish despite Brexit, with new data showing businesses are on the hunt for 9 million square feet of space in the capital. Property agent JLL calculated that there is 9 million square feet of “active” demand for central London offices, up from 6 million square feet this time last year. It said the majority of the demand is coming from the banking and finance sector. Developers speaking at the Mipim UK property conference this week said firms were concerned about supply running low and trying to secure the best headquarters to attract top employees.
