Vistry sells 1,750 homes to Blackstone; UK retail sales rise slightly in May – business live

British Airways is reportedly hiring 350 additional staff at Heathrow in London to avoid the summer airport chaos seen two years ago.

The carrier, owned by IAG, expects this summer to be its busiest since the pandemic and will hire about 350 new workers in customer services and ground handling, Bloomberg News reported, citing a spokesperson for the airline. BA is also upgrading some of its computers and other technology at Heathrow.

Fewer British companies were taken over by foreign firms between January and March, according to official figures –- but this precedes a flurry of foreign takeover interest in London-listed firms including Royal Mail and the miner Anglo American.

There were 144 completed takeovers of UK companies in the first quarter, down from 171 in the previous quarter and 184 in the year-earlier period, the Office for National Statistics said.

The total value of inward merger deals, where overseas businesses acquire British firms, declined by 39% to £6.1bn, the lowest figure since late 2020.

However, there are some big deals to come. Royal Mail is in the process of being sold to the Czech billionaire Daniel Křetínský, with the postal services owner agreeing terms and conditions on a £3.57bn offer last Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Australia’s BHP walked away from its pursuit of Anglo American on the same day. BHP, which had proposed paying almost £39bn for Anglo American, gave up after failing to persuade its rival miner to accept a takeover offer or extend talks.

In Germany, Europe’s biggest economy, unemployment has fallen slightly.

Official figures showed 1.42 million people were unemployed in April, 1,000 fewer than in March, a 0.1% dip. Compared with April last year, the number was up by 67,000, or 4.9%. The unemployment rate, adjusted for seasonal and irregular effects, remained at 3.2% compared with March.

German economics journalist Holger Zschäpitz said:

British American Tobacco, the maker of Lucky Strike and Dunhill cigarettes, has warned that dwindling cigarette sales in the US and the surge of illegal disposable vapes could lead to lower sales and profits.

Despite some early signs of economic recovery, Americans “remain stretched” and cigarette sales across the US industry are down 9% so far this year, according to BAT. The company expects its revenues and adjusted profit from operations for the first half of the year to be down by low single digits compared to a year earlier.

Tadeu Marocco, the chief executive, said:

Our guidance also reflects ongoing macro-economic pressures, particularly in the US market and continued lack of effective enforcement against the growing illicit vapour segment.

However, BAT expects sales to improve during the second half, resulting in a slight increase in sales and adjusted profits in 2024.

The company received a boon when Rishi Sunak’s anti-smoking plans were put on hold due to the 4 July election. The tobacco and vapes bill, intended to create a ‘smokefree generation’, is one of several laws that won’t make it before the election. It aims to prevent anyone born after 2009 from legally smoking, gradually raising the minimum age every year.

Hargreaves Lansdown analyst Darren Nathan said:

British American Tobacco’s trading update noted that combustible volumes in the US were down a hefty 9%. Nonetheless, underlying full-year growth guidance for low-single-digit revenue and adjusted profit from operations growth remains unchanged.

This will be second-half weighted, so there’s an element of wait-and-see in terms of new product launches and US commercial initiatives. A strong performance from brands such as Lucky Strike is helping to gain volume share in the US and other territories.

Meanwhile, the emphasis in new categories such as vapes is moving from revenue to profit growth, but the use of illicit single-use vapes in the States remains a problem and the group has called for stronger enforcement of regulation.

This year, global tobacco industry volumes are expected to fall 3% from last year.

A homelessness charity has gone into administration following a lengthy standoff with its property fund landlord where it refused to pay rent over the condition of its properties, some of which had black mould and leaking ceilings.

Home Reit, a London-listed real estate investment trust, has been in dispute for more than a year with Noble Tree Foundation which is a tenant of 143 properties in its portfolio after complaints about property repairs.

Home Reit, whose shares were suspended last year, said in a stock exchange statement that Noble Tree Foundation, which represents 7% of rent demanded in April, has entered into administration and was not paying rent.

The charity had withheld several months’ rent from Home Reit and last year told the Guardian that it was owed millions of pounds for repairs and insurance that have not been forthcoming.

The Charity Commission launched a statutory inquiry into Noble Tree last October over alleged conflict of interest and related party transactions.

Homes leased by Noble Tree are let to private rented sector tenants and following the surrender of Noble Tree’s leases, the tenancies will transfer to itself so it can collect income from the properties.

UK and European shares are in the red, while oil prices are extending losses as investors expect more supply later in the year.

The FTSE 100 index in London is down 34 points, or 0.4%, while Germany’s Dax and France’s CAC have both lost around 0.3% and Italy’s FTSE MiB has fallen nearly 0.7%.

Derren Nathan, head of equity research at Hargreaves Lansdown, said:

The markets barely blinked at yesterday’s political turmoil, and with just one month to go before the UK electorate heads to the polls, the FTSE 100 opened just a fraction down…

The Conservative party’s faltering general election campaign suffered a potentially damaging blow when Nigel Farage announced he intended to stand as an MP and lead the Reform party for the next five years.

The former Ukip and Brexit party leader said he would stand in Clacton, Essex, after changing his mind while spending time on the campaign trail. He claimed that he did not want to let his supporters down. Farage will also take over as leader of Reform UK from Richard Tice, pledging to stay in post for a full parliamentary term.

Nathan added:

Brent crude is down… to under $78 per barrel following prices cratering to four-month lows yesterday, after Opec+ nations revealed they would gradually phase out production cuts after September. This, and the weaker economic data seen both sides of the pond, may provide some comfort for those on rate-setting committees hoping for an earlier cut to borrowing costs.

Meme stocks have been in the spotlight again, after a post by social media influencer “Roaring Kitty” suggested he had taken a significant position in GameStop. The shares were up as much as 75% over the day but closed up just 21%. This highlights the extreme volatility and risk in trying to catch the timing of these rallies which have no financial substance behind them.

Brent crude has fallen 1.1%, or 88 cents, to $77.48 a barrel, while US light crude has lost 1.5%, or $1.09, to $73.14 a barrel.

The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) and allies led by Russia, a group known as Opec+, on Sunday agreed to extend most of their oil output cuts into 2025 –- but left rom for voluntary cuts from eight members to be gradually unwound from October.

Airbus is negotiating a major sales of more than 100 wide-body A330neo jets to China, with talks gaining momentum since president Xi Jinping visited his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron last month, Bloomberg News reported.

Some of the biggest Chinese airlines are considering buying the upgraded A330 models. The terms are still being discussed and the timing is uncertain.

Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of business, the financial markets, and the world economy.

Vistry Group, one of Britain’s biggest housebuilders, is to sell a portfolio of 1,750 new build homes to the private equity firms Blackstone Real Estate and Regis Group in a £580m deal. The portfolio will be managed by the private rented housing firm Leaf Living, which is backed by funds managed by Blackstone and Regis.

The portfolio, which is concentrated in the south-east of England, consists of 1,750 homes across 36 Vistry developments. The first completions are expected by the end of June, with the majority of homes expected to complete within the next two years.

Vistry is in the process of selling off properties from its housebuilding division as the company moves towards focusing on its partnerships business, which builds affordable housing for government and non-profit partners.

Greg Fitzgerald, chief executive of Vistry, formerly known as Bovis Homes, said:

By working in partnership with organisations like Leaf Living we can maximise the number of high-quality homes we deliver every year. This agreement supports our differentiated business model, with the certainty provided by the pre-selling of homes enabling us to accelerate our build programmes, guarantee work for our supply chain, reduce sales and build costs and create vibrant new communities.

This year we are on track to deliver more than a 10% increase in new home completions, playing a key part in helping to address the UK’s acute housing shortage.

Blackstone has been investing in UK residential property and acquired 2,915 homes for £819m from Vistry in November. James Seppala, head of European real estate at the firm, said:

Institutional private capital can play an important role in providing high quality housing stock across the UK, particularly in the private rented sector which is significantly undersupplied today. Partnerships such as these can meaningfully accelerate the delivery of new homes and help alleviate structural undersupply across the sector.

Retail sales in the UK eked out modest growth last month, despite a strong bank holiday weekend for retailers.

Sales grew by 0.7% year on year in May, against growth of 3.9% in May last year, according to the British Retail Consortium (BRC). Food sales growth slowed to 3.% year on year in the three months to May from 9.6% a year ago. Non-food sales declined by 2.4%, against growth of 0.7% a year ago.

Helen Dickinson, the BRC’s chief executive, said:

Despite a strong bank holiday weekend for retailers, minimal improvement to weather across most of May meant only a modest rebound in retail sales last month. Although non-food sales fell over the course of the month, the long weekend did see increased purchases of DIY and gardening equipment, as well as strong clothing sales. Growth in computing sales reached their highest levels since the pandemic, with many consumers continuing to upgrade tech bought during that period. Retailers remain optimistic that major events such as the Euros and the Olympics will bolster consumer confidence this summer.

• 8.55am BST: Germany unemployment for May

• 9.30am BST: UK Mergers & acquisitions

• 10am BST: Former Post Office finance chief Chris Day to testify in Horizon inquiry

• 3pm BST: US Factory Orders for April