Good morning: The economy is poised to roar back to life with growing confidence among businesses and consumers, a hat-trick of closely watched surveys has claimed. The surveys, released overnight, revealed:
• Consumer confidence has risen to its highest level since August 2018, according to analysis by YouGov, the pollster, and the Centre for Economics and Business Research.
• A separate survey by BDO, the professional services firm, put job market optimism at a three-month high.
• Finally, finance bosses of large companies now believe that the pandemic will have less of a negative impact than previously thought and are at their most optimistic in at least 14 years, according to a quarterly survey by Deloitte.
On the corporate front this morning:
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• The cybersecurity company Darktrace has confirmed plans to list its shares on the London Stock Exchange. Sky News reported last night that the float could put a value of up to £3 billion on the company.
• PensionBee, which enables customers to transfer and aggregate legacy pension pots into a single platform, has set the price range of its float at 155p to 175p a share. This implies a market value of between £346 million and £384 million. It values the 45 per cent stake of Romi Savova, 35, the founder and chief executive, at up to £173 million. She is not selling shares.
• Heathrow passenger numbers fell by 83 per cent in March compared with the same month last year, Britain’s biggest airport reported.
• In a brief trading update Unite Group, the provider of student accommodation, reported “increased confidence from both UK and international students as lockdown restrictions begin to ease”.
• Investec Wealth, the largest shareholder in Brevan Howard’s London-listed hedge fund Macro, has asked the board to explore a merger with Brevan Howard’s Global fund, in which it also holds a substantial stake.
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• Hammerson, the shopping centre group that owns Birmingham’s Bullring, has confirmed a report in The Sunday Times that it is in talks to sell its retail parks to the Canadian private equity firm Brookfield to bolster its finances.
I’ll be on Times Radio just after 4.30pm today to talk through the day’s market action with John Pienaar. You can also catch me Monday to Thursday at about 7.50am on the breakfast show with Aasmah Mir and Stig Abell. Listen online, on DAB radio, your smart speaker or via the Times Radio app.
Please do keep sending your thoughts, observations (and corrections) to me at richard.fletcher@thetimes.co.uk and don’t forget to follow me on Twitter.
Have a great day.
Richard
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