J Sainsbury has scrapped talks to sell its banking division nearly a year after saying it had been approached by potential buyers.
“Whilst the board of Sainsbury’s believe that it was in the best interests of shareholders to explore these expressions of interest, it has concluded that these do not offer better value for shareholders than will be realised through retaining Sainsbury’s Bank,” it said.
The supermarket had said in November 2020 that it would consider selling Sainsbury’s Bank, which provides products including mortgages, credit cards and insurance to more than 2m customers, after receiving “very preliminary” expressions of interest. Sky News reported in August that US private equity firm Centerbridge was nearing an agreement to buy the unit for approximately £200m.
Briefly
UK inflation is likely to rise “close to or even slightly above 5 per cent” early next year, the Bank of England’s chief economist has warned, as he said the central bank would have a “live” decision on whether to raise interest rates. In his first interview in the role, Huw Pill declined to disclose how he would vote at the BoE Monetary Policy Committee’s November 4 meeting, saying “it is finely balanced”.
British retail sales unexpectedly dropped for a fifth month in a row, driven by a sharp fall in furniture stores. The volume of monthly retail sales in Great Britain fell 0.2 per cent in September from August, the Office for National Statistics said. That missed forecasts of a 0.5 per cent expansion in a Reuters poll and marked the longest period of consecutive monthly declines since records began in 1996.
Insulation and roofing supplier SIG said that while supply issues persist, order books continue to build and the outlook for materials shortages has become clearer. In a trading update just a month after its interim results, SIG said full-year underlying operating profit will be ahead of market forecasts. Demand had remained solid and cost increases were being passed through to customers, meaning profitability continued to improve, it said.
London Stock Exchange said its integration of financial data provider Refinitiv remained on track with no change to previous guidance on costs or synergies. For the third quarter LSE reported 2.1 per cent revenue growth, with total income on a pro forma underlying basis rising to £1.78bn. A tougher comparison period meant fourth quarter income growth would not be as fast, LSE said.
InterContinental Hotels said average daily room rates were in line with pre-pandemic levels in the third quarter on 60 per cent occupancy. The hotelier reported revenue per available room for the quarter down 21 per cent compared with 2019.
Wise co-founder and chair Taavet Hinrikus was selling up to 11m A shares in the currency transfer company, or about 1.1 per cent of the total. Bookrunners said the stake had been placed overnight at 815p against an 850p closing price on Thursday.
Procook, the kitchenware brand, is pushing on with plans to float on the LSE’s premium segment. It expects that admission will occur in November 2021.
Beyond the Square Mile
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has awarded almost $200m to a former bank employee who raised concerns about the manipulation of the Libor interest rate benchmark, marking the largest-ever payment under US whistleblower programmes.
The Federal Reserve has adopted rules banning its policymakers and senior staff from buying individual shares and other investments after questionable financial trades last year led to the resignations of the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston and the president of the Dallas Fed in September.
European leaders warned Poland that the union was prepared to deploy further legal sanctions against it in response to its defiance of EU law, as they urged the country to walk back its challenges to the bloc’s judicial foundations.
Essential comment before you go
“This government seems to have quite a low opinion of business,” writes Helen Thomas. “Just not low enough to regulate it properly.” The Financial Reporting Council’s board is half empty and recruitment for the top job at The Competition and Markets Authority has been a sorry tale. Candidates with industry experience are unlikely to get on with a government that has shown little affinity with or interest in the corporate world.