Takeover speculation swirled around the property group behind London’s Carnaby Street and Chinatown district after it was disclosed that Samuel Tak Lee, the Hong Kong billionaire, has bought another 169,590 shares to take his stake in Shaftesbury above 19 per cent.
Mr Lee, 78, is the mid-cap group’s biggest stakeholder, with 53.3 million shares. There have been questions about his intentions over the past six months as he acquired 2.6 million more. He tried to buy the company in the 1990s, The Sunday Times reported in April, before buying Langham Estate which owns property to the north of Oxford Street.
Shaftesbury has had a turbulent year since Britain voted last June to leave the European Union, amid fears over the impact of Brexit on the sector. Having fallen to 873p at the end of January, its shares rallied to 964½p in April as investors considered Mr Lee’s plans. They hit 972p this week but slipped 4½p to finish at 967½p as fears over another property recession put the sector in focus. Intu Properties fell 5¼p to 272p and British Land closed down 10½p, at 630p.
Housebuilders also struggled, with Taylor Wimpey dropping 5¼p to 184¾p, Barratt Developments losing 7½p to 594½p and Persimmon shedding 6p to £23.98.
The FTSE 100 had another volatile day, recording an intraday high of 7,598.78 in the first few minutes of trading before dropping back amid disappointment over the US jobs figures. It finished at 7,547.63, the same level — then a record— at which it finished last week. It rose 3.86 points, or 0.05 per cent, during the day.
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Goldman Sachs urged investors to wake up and smell the coffee, hitting Whitbread with a “sell” rating. Shares in the Costa Coffee owner had all but recovered from their fall from £43.07 to £39.93 in April, set off by concern over weaker sales. While they closed at £42.98 on Thursday, they slumped 73p to finish the week at £42.25.
Premier Inn, another Whitbread brand, is at the heart of the US investment bank’s concerns. Analysts said it was “lagging the broader UK hotel industry”, having calculated that revenue per available room is expected to rise by 1 per cent against a national average of 7 per cent. “While we usually see a lag between foreign exchange weakness and tourist volume pick-ups, we think Whitbread is unlikely to benefit from the trend due to its largely regional business exposure,” the bank said.
“We also expect Costa like-for-like sales growth to be under pressure from still-weak footfall trends and a more uncertain consumer outlook in the UK,” it said. “Over the past six months, Whitbread is up 25.6 per cent on expectations of growth benefits from sterling weakness, which we think is overestimated.”
Oil was under pressure with Brent crude slipping below $50 per barrel after President Trump’s decision to take America out of the Paris climate accord heightened fears that more drilling in the US could increase the global supply glut. BP fell 7¼p to 462¾p and Royal Dutch Shell B finished down 22½p, at £21.35½.
With gold prices rising, Randgold Resources and Fresnillo dominated the FTSE 100, picking up 295p to £76.55 and 60p to £16.51, respectively.
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HSBC maintained its “buy” rating for Easyjet, lifting its target price from £14.50 to £15.50. The airline could be a “marginal beneficiary” from the damage suffered by British Airways last weekend, it said. Investors were wary, though, and its price fell by a penny to £13.89. Shares in International Airlines Group, owner of BA, continue to recover from their fall after an IT glitch that grounded hundreds of flights over the bank holiday. They rose 5½p to 607½p, with a new strike confirmed only after the market closed.
As City workers dreamed of a sunny getaway, it was Carnival that sailed towards the top of the FTSE. Credit Suisse edged up its target for the cruise group from £55.50 to £57.50, boosting it by £1 to £51.35.
The FTSE 250 dropped 7.87 points, or 0.04 per cent, to 20,002.75. Over the week, it fell 22.17 points.
B&M European Value Retail came under pressure after two big shareholders sold 12.5 per cent of the company. SSA, owned by Simon Arora, the B&M chief executive, and CD&R European Value Retail investment sold 125 million shares at 363½p each. Shares in B&M slipped 9p to 361¼p.
At the other end of the index, Greggs jumped 34p to £11.23. Rathbone Brothers, the wealth manager, also rose 50p to £26.48 after analysts at Macquarie lifted their target price from £20.50 to £24.
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Wall Street
American indices closed at record highs for the second day, having touched intraday highs. The Dow Jones industrial average reached 21,206.29, up 62.11 points, the Nasdaq rose 58.97 to 6,305.80 and the S&P 500 closed on 2,439.07, up 9.01.