Good morning: House prices rose 0.4 per cent month-on-month in July, as house price growth slowed. Year-on-year house prices are up 7.6 per cent, compared with 8.7 per cent in June, according to the latest survey from Halifax. The average UK property price rose to £261,221.
Russell Galley, managing director at Halifax, said: “Latest industry figures show instructions for sale are falling and estate agents are experiencing a drop in their available stock. This general lack of supply should help to support prices in the near term, as will the exceptionally low cost of borrowing and continued strong customer demand.”
Wales and the north of England posted the strongest annual rates of house price inflation, while the south west also recorded a double-digit year-on-year rise. London continues to lag all regions with a year-on-year rise of 2.5 per cent.
On the corporate front this morning:
• Operating profits at the London Stock Exchange rose 156 per cent to £1.17 billion. At the statutory pre-tax level profit was £1.08 billion. Total revenue over the period was 4.6 per cent higher at £3.3 billion.
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• The outsourcer Capita has moved back into the black, posting a £261.1 million profit for the first six months of the year. The company reported a £28.5 million loss for the same period last year. Jon Lewis, chief executive, said: “We are delivering on our plans and remain on track to deliver organic revenue growth this year for the first time in six years.”
• Sanne Group, the UK-listed provider of administration services for specialist fund managers, looks to be preparing to bring a bidding war for the company to a head. The company has extended the deadline for the private equity suitor Cinven to make a firm offer or walk away until August 30. It has been in talks with Cinven over an indicative £1.4 billion, 875p-a-share offer. Sanne is also in advanced talks about a 920p-a-share takeover by Apex Group, a competing provider of services to the financial industry. Cinven is considering its options.
• ContourGlobal, the power generation group, nudged full-year profit forecasts higher as it reported that revenue rose 38 per cent to $935 million in the first six months of the year.
• The generic drugs group Hikma Pharmaceuticals has reported a 15 per cent rise in net profits to $326 million in the six months to the end of June. Revenue rose by 7 per cent to $1.21 billion.
The focus will switch to the US at lunchtime with the release of the closely watched employment report (1.30pm). The non-farm payrolls data is forecast to show that 870,000 jobs were created in July, up from 850,000 in June. Year-on-year average earnings growth is expected to have risen to 3.8 per cent from 3.6 per cent.
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Finally, Ofgem has, as expected, raised the energy cap for average annual consumption on the standard tariffs by £139 to £1,277. The move will affect up to 15 million households.
Please do keep sending me your thoughts and corrections at richard.fletcher@thetimes.co.uk and don’t forget to follow me on Twitter @fletcherr.
That is it from me. I’m off for a couple of weeks. Graham Ruddick, deputy business editor, will bring you the morning email for the next fortnight.
Richard
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