Proactive Investors - UK heading for mildest, of mild recessions - Capital.
Ruth Gregory at Capital Economics told BBC Radio 4 that the UK was heading for the mildest of mild recessions after today's GDP figures.
She said the figures showed a clean sweep of weakness, and showed the impact of high interest rates and high borrowing costs.
She said the economy is likely to remain subdued in 2024 as high interest rates act as a drag on activity but doesn't think it will move the dial too much for the Bank of England's meeting on Thursday.
???? ouch!Monthly #GDP can be volatile but the 0.3% m/m fall in October is disappointing, with services, manufacturing and construction all down... ????
Big picture - UK economy is flatlining. pic.twitter.com/QdBe3ArVfT
— Julian Jessop (@julianHjessop) December 13, 2023
The BoE is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged on Thursday for the third month in a row.
Impellam agrees £483 million bid from HeadFirst
Impellam Group PLC (LON:IPEL) has agreed a £483.2 million bid from HeadFirst Global BV concluding talks which were first made public in July.
The Luton-based recruiter said the deal was worth 557.2p per share in cash and 392.8p in principal amount of loan notes.
Shareholders will also be entitled to the 55.9p dividend declared in November, plus two further dividends totalling 78.5p which Impellam has yet to declare.
Taken together, the terms are worth 1,084.4p per Impellam share the company said.
Impellam, is majority-owned by Michael Ashcroft, a British businessman who was formerly deputy chair of the UK Conservative Party.
He said he was “delighted” with the deal, noting that “significant value have been created for Impellam shareholders.”
Walgreens considers London IPO for Boots - report
Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) is dusting down plans on a potential exit from its UK drugstore chain Boots, which could include a listing in London, according to Bloomberg.
The Illinois, US-based retailer has been holding early talks about ways to separate Boots, which could be valued at about £7 billion, Bloomberg said, citing people with knowledge of the deal.
The report, which comes nearly 18 months after a previous sale process was scrapped, said one option being considered was an initial public offering (IPO) in London.
A Boots stock offering would be a big boost to the London stock market, which has been hit by a steady flow of companies opting to list elsewhere.
UK IPO fundraising has fallen more than 50% this year to about US$1 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Walgreens is in cost-cutting mode and has brought in new chief executive Tim Wentworth to attempt to turn around the business.
On Monday, Walgreens had its senior unsecured credit rating cut to junk by Moody’s Investors Service, which cited the drugstore chain’s high debt relative to earnings.
UK economy contracts more than expected in October
The economy shrank by more than expected in October as the UK continues to battle to avoid a recession.
Figures from the Office for National Statistics showed that GDP fell 0.3% in October following growth of 0.2% in September, worse than the 0.1% fall predicted by economists.
GDP was flat (0.0% growth) in the three months to October.In the month of October, GDP fell 0.3%.
➡️ https://t.co/k1USftqo5r pic.twitter.com/OUdm9sRpaO
— Office for National Statistics (ONS) (@ONS) December 13, 2023
Over the three months to October, the ONS said GDP showed no growth compared with the three months to July 2023.
Services output fell by 0.2% in October, driven by a fall in information and communication, and was the main contributor to the fall in growth in GDP, following growth of 0.2% in September.
Production output fell by 0.8% in October, driven by widespread declines in manufacturing, after showing no growth in September.
The construction sector fell by 0.5% in October after growth of 0.4% in September.