Asian gains help lift FTSE, Shaftesbury on the road to recovery

“The FTSE 100 starts a new week in decent fettle after Asian stocks managed to eke out some fragile gains overnight,” says AJ Bell Financial Analyst Danni Hewson.

“M&A remains in focus amid weekend reports of a private equity bid for Sainsbury’s, begging the question will there be any companies left at the end of this corporate raiding exercise?

“The takeover chatter helps underling appeal of the UK supermarket sector to overseas bidders, following the battle for Morrisons, but further transactions could raise questions about having such key components of the country’s food security in the hands of overseas private equity firms.

“Bitcoin continues its recent recovery, moving above the $50,000 mark it last attained in May though still some way short of its $65,000 record as PayPal announces plans to launch its cryptocurrency trading platform in the UK.

“Earlier in the summer speculation that Amazon might be about to step up its involvement in bitcoin off the back of a key hire also gave it a boost.”

Shaftesbury

“It could be a long old road back from the pandemic for West End property investor Shaftesbury but at least it has begun the journey.

“A key waypoint for Shaftesbury will be the anticipated return of office workers in the autumn. While people are no longer being asked to work from home in England, many employers are taking a cautious approach to getting people back into offices so there’s a chance that Shaftesbury could be feeling a bit lost in a couple of weeks.

“However, footfall has recovered, led by day trippers and tourism and levels of occupancy and rental income are offering some encouragement to Shaftesbury.

“Shaftesbury is also to be commended for being proactive on the things it can control, like converting properties in the portfolio to better fit tenants’ demands and needs.

“At present Shaftesbury has a reasonable amount of liquidity to hold out for the return to normality it expects to emerge by 2023. However with the Delta variant continuing to rage and concerns over a bad winter flu season to come, Shaftesbury’s hard won progress in recent months still feels pretty fragile.

“And longer term there is the question of whether the West End will ever return to its former glories, Shaftesbury must hope that it does, and sooner rather than later.”

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