Shire in play?
Offer upped
AbbVie, the US pharmaceuticals giant which has been circling rare diseases specialist Shire for several weeks now has launched its latest, improved bid for the company. After having a £46.26 a share cash and paper bid knocked back last month, AbbVie has returned with a £51.15 a share offer which values Shire at £30bn, of which £22bn will be paid in cash. Shire's board rejected the previous offer and laid out plans for strong growth in the coming years, but the increased bid may be enough to tempt them to the table with AbbVie appealing publicly to Shire's shareholders to "strongly encourage the Shire board to engage in constructive dialogue".
Blip, or worse?
Manufacturing slips
The latest data from the UK manufacturing sector bucked the recent trend of rapid recovery as output dipped in May when production recorded a 1.3 per cent reverse, sharply undershooting analysts' expectations of a slowdown from 0.4 per cent to 0.3 per cent growth. The figures could now affect the GDP outcome for the second quarter of the year and serve as a reminder that recovery will not be all plain sailing and neither will the government's attempts to rebalance the economy.
Buy to let to sell
Portfolio up for grabs
Fergus and Judith Wilson, the couple who have built up the UK's largest private buy-to-let portfolio of almost 1,000 properties, are in the process of selling up. The couple, who bought properties in the Maidstone and Ashford areas of Kent throughout the past two decades, have previously sold off parts of their portfolio and are now attempting to sell the entire lot for a second time having been previously stymied by the financial crisis in 2008. The value of the portfolio is unknown, although in 2010 Mr Wilson said the difference between his portfolio's value and his borrowings was £180m.
Top marques
Luxury cars growth
Luxury car makers Rolls-Royce and Bentley have enjoyed strong growth in recent months, according to their latest sales figures. BMW-owned Rolls grew first-half sales by one-third, powered by a near-40 per cent uplift in Asia Pacific and a 30 per cent rise in sales to the Middle East. Meanwhile, sales in Europe rose by 60 per cent and there was also healthy sales growth in the US. Bentley, which is owned by Volkswagen, sold 5,254 cars in the first six months of 2014, 23 per cent higher than last year, again helped by Asian and Middle Eastern sales growth.
Cooling down
UK house prices
The latest survey of UK house prices by the Halifax suggested that recent efforts to cool the market through tougher lending criteria may be working. Halifax said that house prices on its index fell by 0.6 per cent in June, a fourth monthly fall since December, although over the past three months prices were 8.8 per cent higher than the same period last year and 2.3 per cent up quarter on quarter. Coupled with lower mortgage approval numbers and reports of falling new buyer enquiries, this could add up to at least a stabilisation of house price growth in the coming months.
Short shrift
Record low
Chiming with the recent lack of volatility on the equity markets, short-sellers of equities have reduced their bets against the markets to their lowest level since before the financial crisis. Analysis by Markit and the Financial Times shows the proportion of shares held against short positions in the US, UK and Europe is the smallest it has been since before Lehman Brothers collapsed in 2007, with US and European shorts accounting for around 2 per cent of shares in their indices and UK shorts only 1 per cent.
