Source: Sharecast
STOCKS TO WATCH
Land Securities on Monday said it had exchanged contracts for the sale of its Queen Anne's Mansions office block in London to Arora Group for £245m. The property firm said the disposal was part of its plan to release £2bn of capital from offices by 2030, as it focuses its portfolio on assets which can deliver sustainable income and EPS growth over the long term.
Great Portland Estates said on Monday that it had secured three new fully managed leasing deals, totalling 11,720 square feet of "premium, refurbished office space". Great Portland said the new leasing deals, which were across two London properties, had provided it with a further £2.5m in annual rent at an average of £212 per square foot, 2.8% ahead of March's estimated rental value.
NEWSPAPER ROUND-UP
The bosses of Britain's largest listed companies took home record high pay packets for the third successive year, according to a report. Analysis found that the record set in the last financial year means the average FTSE 100 chief executive is now paid 122 times the salary of the average full-time UK worker. – Guardian
Sanjeev Gupta is preparing a last-ditch attempt to save the remaining arm of his Liberty Steel business as government officials step up planning for a collapse of the business within days. Gupta is understood to have spent the weekend planning an 11th-hour rescue deal to save the company's Speciality Steel UK division days before a courtroom showdown with its creditors on Wednesday. – Guardian
A FTSE 250 property giant has hired lawyers to investigate claims about its company culture made by a whistleblower, The Telegraph can reveal. Bosses at Great Portland Estates told staff late last week that a law firm had been called in to conduct an investigation into its culture after concerns were raised by a former employee of the West End-based property giant. – Telegraph
Benefit sanctions have fallen sharply under Labour after a jump in the number of claimants who say they are too sick to look for work. Figures published by the Department for Work and Pensions show that 109,570 people claiming Universal Credit had their payments docked in May for failing to comply with benefit rules. – Telegraph
The publishing industry has warned that books created by artificial intelligence - often imitating autobiographies - are a growing concern, and called on retailers to issue clearer warnings to consumers. Sky News has spent months tracking apparent AI recreations, particularly sports books, that have been sold on Amazon as Kindle e-books, as well as printed versions. – Sky News
US CLOSE
Major indices delivered a mixed performance on Friday after hotter-than-expected wholesale inflation numbers continued to weigh on stocks.
At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.08% at 44,946.12, while the S&P 500 shed 0.29% to 6,449.80 and the Nasdaq Composite saw out the session 0.40% softer at 21,622.98.
Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com