Gospodarka w Wielkiej Brytanii i giełda w Londynie

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ASDA rolls out self-driving grocery deliveries for 72,000 west London households

ASDA today launched self-driving grocery deliveries for 72,000 households in West London, as part of a trial that could be a first step towards nationwide autonomous supermarket deliveries.

The Issa brothers-owned supermarket giant will partner with self-driving car tech startup Wayve as part of a 12-month trial for customers of the Park Royal ASDA Superstore.

While the vehicles used for deliveries will drive themselves, both an ASDA employee and a Wayve safety driver will still be in the car, with the ASDA employee unloading the groceries.

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Britain’s top 100 companies would be worth towards £500 billion more if they moved their stock market listings to New York, shock analysis for the Evening Standard shows.

Amidst growing fears that the London stock market, once the premier equity index in the world, is in danger of becoming a backwater for equities, research shows the gap in valuations is worse than previously realised.

More and more large businesses are threatening to move their share listing away from London in frustration at the low value given to their shares.

The FTSE 100 market value is today about £2.55 trillion. Based on its combined profits and earnings, it would be £460 billion higher were US share values applied.

The world of investment did not take the UK’s decision to leave the EU too kindly. In fact ever since June 2016 confidence in the UK as a country to invest in has slowly dissipated.

Alan Miller of SCM Direct, who compiled the figures, says Brexit and a focus on ESG (environmental, social and governance) issues have made investors wary of UK shares.

He said: “The world of investment did not take the UK’s decision to leave the EU too kindly, with confidence in the UK as a country to invest in slowly dissipating since June 2016.

“However, the real gulf in valuations is between the US and UK. In the last seven years, the average US company coming to market is valued over a 3-year period at 25x earnings. In the UK it is only roughly 15x earnings.

“UK companies on a like for like basis are valued 18% less than their Us counterparts. This anomaly ventures to suggest that if the UK companies were quoted in New York their valuation would probably be £460 billion higher than it currently is. No wonder investors have become wary.”

These low valuations leave top UK companies vulnerable to bids from private equity. In February Canaccord Genuity drew up a list of 20 top UK companies at risk, including Hikma Pharma, Computacenter, Playtech and RWS.

Last night Dechra Pharma said it is in talks over a £4.6 billion bid from EQT, a Swedish private equity house.

There are growing calls for the government to act to prevent an exodus of companies away from the City. In particular, pension funds, which are encouraged by regulators to buy bonds rather than shares, should be set free, say many.

Miller adds: “The Government must pull the led out to encourage reluctant visitors back into the fold. London must offer attractive regulatory requirements and taxation benefits as soon as possible.”

Alasdair Haynes of Acquis Exchange said: "This is a startling gap in valuations between the US and London and a worrying sign. Regulations need to change. I have been calling for a radical overhaul of stock exchange rules and I hope that the FCA and the government will address these issues with a sense of urgency.”

Miller’s detailed analysis, which can be read below, applies across most sectors. Even the UK’s unloved banking sector would be valued around 25% higher if they were listed in America.

Figures earlier this week showed there have been just five new stock market floats in London this year, raising a paltry £81 million. That is thin gruel for the brokers who rely on deals to stay in business. Job cuts across the City are beginning to cut deep.

The government is planning a series of measures in the Autumn statement to bolster City competitiveness, but there are fears this may be too-little-too late.

https://www.standard.co.uk/business/bri ... 74084.html

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Unemployment rate ticks up to 3.8%
The unemployment rate for December 2022 to February 2023 ticked up slightly, by 0.1 percentage points to 3.8%.

The rate had held steady at 3.7% in each of the previous four months at 3.7%, and was excpected to do the same.

The amount of vacancies also fell, which the ONS said “reflects uncertainty across industries”.

“With the number of people neither working nor looking for a job down again, there were rises in both those in work and those actively looking for a job,” ONS director of economic statistics Darren Morgan said. “However, while the group outside the labour market – termed ‘economically inactive’ – fell, the number among them who were long-term sick rose to a new record high.”

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Dividend forecasts fall

Expected FTSE dividend payouts for 2023 have fallen to £84.8 billion, due to fears of economic uncertainty in the year ahead.

AJ Bell downgraded the forecast for 2023 from £85.8 billion in its latest Dividend Dashboard report, which measures buybacks as well as dividends.

HSBC is expected to be the single largest dividend payer in 2023, ahead of Shell and British American Tobacco.

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London records house prices dip, data for February shows
Average London house prices dipped 1.1% in February from a month earlier, new figures show, as the impact of the disastrous mini-Budget continued to be felt in the capital’s residential market.

Land Registry data reveals London was the English region with the lowest annual growth, 2.9%, with a price of £532,212.

Estate agents and housebuilders experienced a sharp downturn at the end of 2022, with higher mortgage bills and concerns about the economic outlook hitting demand.

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(Sharecast News) - London stocks were set for a flat open on Friday as investors mulled the latest UK retail sales and consumer confidence data.

Figures released by the Office for National Statistics showed that retail sales fell by more than expected in March after the wet weather kept shoppers at home.

Retail sales volumes fell by 0.9% in March, following a downwardly-revised increase of 1.1% in February. Most analysts had been looking for a 0.5% decline.

Within that, food store sales volumes eased 0.7%, reversing February's 0.6% increase, while non-food stores sales were down 1.3%, compared to a 2.4% rise a month previously.

Retailers reported that poor weather conditions throughout much of the month - the sixth wettest March on record since 1836 - affected sales. Department stores and clothing shops were especially affected, with sales volumes off 3.2% and 1.7% respectively over the month.

Year-on-year, retail sales volumes were down 3.1% on March 2022 and 0.7% below February 2020, pre-pandemic.

In the three months to March, sales volumes rose by 0.6% compared to the previous quarter, the first rise in this series since August 2021.

GfK's latest consumer confidence index was -30, a six-point improvement on March and the highest since February 2022, when it was -26.

Within that, all individual measures rose, with expectations for personal finances over the coming year jumping eight points to -13. Expectations for the economic situation rose six points to -34, while the major purchase index was up five points at -28.

The savings index, meanwhile, dipped two points to 19.

Joe Staton, client strategy director at GfK, said there had been "a sudden flow of optimism".

He continued: "As food and energy prices continue to rise and inflation eats into wages, the cost-of-living crisis is a painful day-to-day reality for many. But are all consumers buckling under the pressure? On the evidence of April's figures, the answer is no.

"The brighter views on what the general economy has in store for us, with April's six-point rise cementing a 20-point rise since January, could even be seen as the proverbial green shoots of recovery.

"The major purchase index is higher than it has been for a year and will bring much needed cheer to retailers as head into summer."

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Foreign private equity firms close in on duo of major London deals
A brace of deal announcements today breathed new life into the City’s market for mergers and acquisitions, but also revealed a deepening trend for undervalued Londoncompanies to be snapped up by private equity firms.

Rising fintech star Network International Holdings was at the centre of a fresh, £2 billion offer from a second buyout suitor while smart metering firm Sureserve became the target of a £214 million offer from France.

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LONDON (Reuters) - British sandwich and coffee chain Pret A Manger has raised the price of its monthly coffee subscription service by 20% to 30 pounds ($37.34) but expanded it to include a 10% reduction on everything sold in its shops.

The group, commonly referred to as Pret, launched its coffee subscription service in September 2020, trying out a new business model to get it through the COVID-19 pandemic which hammered its sales. It initially charged 20 pounds a month, increasing it to 25 pounds a month in February last year.

Pret, which trades from 439 UK shops, said on Wednesday the service was being rebranded to "Club Pret".

Subscribers will still be able to get up to five barista-prepared drinks per day, but will also get a 10% discount on all food, snacks and any additional drinks they purchase.

Official UK data published last week showed overall consumer price inflation fell to 10.1% in March. However, prices of food and non-alcoholic drinks were 19.1% higher in March than a year earlier, the biggest such rise since August 1977.

Pret, owned by investment firm JAB and founder Sinclair Beecham, said the coffee subscription service has been "hugely successful".

It said the service is used 1.25 million times per week in the UK, up 11% year-on-year, and has been rolled out to the United States and France.

Pret declined to say how many subscribers it has.

In 2021, Pret set out a plan to double the size of its business by 2026. Globally it trades from over 550 shops.

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Czołowy ekonomista Banku Anglii Huw Pill rozzłościł mieszkańców Wielkiej Brytanii twierdzeniem, że wszyscy muszą zaakceptować fakt, że są biedniejsi i przestać zabiegać o podwyżki, bo w przeciwnym razie ceny nadal będą rosły - donosi "The Guardian", zaznaczając, że sam Pill zarabia po podwyżce ponad 900 tys. zł rocznie.

Czołowy ekonomista Banku Anglii Huw Pill w amerykańskim podcaście "Beyond Unprecedented" wyjaśnił, że Wielka Brytania znalazła się w sytuacji, w której cena importowanego przez nią gazu ziemnego wzrosła o wiele bardziej niż to, co eksportuje.

- Jeśli to, co kupujesz, poszło w górę bardziej niż to, co sprzedajesz, to będziesz w gorszej sytuacji - skwitował Pill, ironizując, że nie trzeba być ekonomistą, aby zrozumieć tę prostą zasadę. - Istnieje ogólna niechęć do zaakceptowania gorszej rzeczywistości, w której się znaleźliśmy - dodał.

Mieszkańcy muszą pogodzić się z faktem, że są biedniejsi
Ekspert zauważył, iż w odpowiedzi na wyższe rachunki i szalejącą inflację, pracownicy zaczęli walczyć o podwyżki płac, co spowodowało, że firmy zaczęły przerzucać nowe koszty na klientów, tym samym jeszcze bardziej zwiększając inflację.

Dalsza część artykułu pod materiałem wideo

Dlatego zdaniem Pilla wszyscy mieszkańcy Wielkiej Brytanii muszą zatem zaakceptować fakt, że są biedniejsi i przestać domagać się podwyżek, bo w przeciwnym razie ceny dalej będą rosły.

Tymczasem, jak donosi "The Guardian", ekonomista sam niedawno dostał podwyżkę, dzięki czemu rocznie ma zarabiać około 930 tys. zł, podczas gdy według najnowszych oficjalnych danych mediana średniego dochodu jednego gospodarstwa domowego w UK w zeszłym roku wyniosła poniżej 168 tys. zł.

Jak podaje "The Guardian", związki zawodowe, które organizują trwające od miesięcy strajki w różnych sektorach gospodarki, domagają się dla swoich członków podwyżek na poziome zbliżonym do rocznej stopy inflacji. Ta w marcu wyniosła 10,1 proc., co było wprawdzie spadkiem w stosunku do 10,4 proc. w lutym, ale nadal jest to znacznie powyżej celu inflacyjnego.

https://www.msn.com/pl-pl/finanse/najpo ... 0144&ei=14

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Wielka Brytania i Polska podpisały w piątek umowę o wartości 1,9 mld funtów, na mocy której do Polski dostarczony zostanie nowoczesny brytyjski system obrony powietrznej
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Wielka Brytania i Polska podpisały w piątek umowę o wartości 1,9 mld funtów, na mocy której do Polski dostarczony zostanie nowoczesny brytyjski system obrony powietrznej - ogłosił rząd w Londynie.

Zgodnie z nią, 22 polskie baterie obrony powietrznej, będące elementem programu Pilica+, zostaną wyposażone w produkowane przez brytyjską firmę MBDA modułowe pociski przeciwlotnicze (CAMM) i wyrzutnie.

CAMM to najnowszej generacji system obrony powietrznej, będący w służbie zarówno brytyjskich sił lądowych, jak marynarki wojennej. Pociski mogą być użyte do ochrony rozmieszczonych wojsk czy krytycznej infrastruktury. Mogą one z odległości 25 km trafić w poruszający się z prędkością dźwięku obiekt wielkości piłki tenisowej. CAMM są już w Polsce - na wyposażeniu brytyjskiej armii, która pomaga w ochronie jej przestrzeni powietrznej po inwazji Rosji na Ukrainę.

Umowa jest jednym z największych dwustronnych porozumień w dziedzinie obrony powietrznej pomiędzy europejskimi członkami NATO i jest zwieńczeniem miesięcy bliskiej współpracy między Wielką Brytanią a Polską. Jest ona też najnowszą z szeregu umów obronnych z Polską, po umowie o współpracy w zakresie zamówienia i eksploatacji trzech fregat Arrowhead-140, będących wariantem brytyjskiego okrętu wojennego, a także zeszłorocznej umowie o ścisłej współpracy w zakresie kompleksowej obrony powietrznej, która obejmowała pilną dostawę wstępnego zestawu systemów CAMM.

Odegraliśmy kluczową rolę w zwiększeniu obrony euroatlantyckiej od czasu barbarzyńskiej inwazji Putina na Ukrainę, a to przełomowe porozumienie między Wielką Brytanią a Polską jest kolejnym przykładem tego, jak wraz z naszymi sojusznikami jesteśmy zaangażowani w ochronę naszego bezpieczeństwa dla przyszłych pokoleń - oświadczył brytyjski premier Rishi Sunak.

Jestem zachwycony, że głębokie i historyczne więzi obronne Wielkiej Brytanii i Polski robią kolejny krok naprzód dzięki podpisaniu największej w historii Wielkiej Brytanii umowy eksportowej w dziedzinie obronności z Polską. Jesteśmy zaangażowani we wspieranie planów modernizacji obronnej Polski, a ten program modernizacji obrony powietrznej zapewni Polsce i Wielkiej Brytanii zdolność do kontynuowania ochrony naszych obywateli i wzmacniania bezpieczeństwa NATO - podkreślił z kolei minister obrony Ben Wallace.

Jak zaznaczył brytyjski rząd, umowa pozwoli na stworzenie 500 nowych miejsc pracy w zakładach MBDA w Wielkiej Brytanii.

https://www.msn.com/pl-pl/finanse/najpo ... d5c3&ei=15

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Elsewhere, figures released by Nationwide showed that house prices edged higher in April following seven consecutive months of declines. House prices ticked up 0.5% on the month following a 0.7% drop in March, to an average of £260,441.

On the year, meanwhile, house prices fell 2.7% in April following a 3.1% fall the month before.

Nationwide chief economist Robert Gardner said that while annual house price growth remained negative, "there were tentative signs of a recovery" with the monthly uptick.

"April's monthly increase follows seven consecutive declines and leaves prices 4% below their August 2022 peak," he noted.

"Recent Bank of England data suggests that housing market activity remained subdued in the opening months of 2023, with the number of mortgages approved for house purchase in February nearly 40% below the level prevailing a year ago, and around a third lower than pre-pandemic levels. However, in recent months industry data on mortgage applications point to signs of a pickup."

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Gold is broadly unchanged at $2031 an ounce, while the pound has consolidated its position above the $1.26 threshold ahead of tomorrow’s decision by the Bank of England monetary policy committee.

With the annual rate of inflation still in double digits, UK interest rates are widely forecast to see another quarter point increase to 4.5%.

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Spoons hails record trading as sales surge past pre-pandemic levels
J D Wetherspoon said it saw its highest ever trading day over the bank holiday weekend as it predicted sales would surge past pre-pandemic levels.

The pub chain said sales increased 12.2% in the 13 weeks to the end of April, and said it expected its full-year sales to hit a new record, with profits to be towards the top of market expectations.

But in a warning shot to MPs, boss Tim Martin said: “Inflation, especially in labour, energy and food costs, remains a more intractable issue.

“In order to bear down on inflation, political parties should encourage free enterprise, rather than a reliance on additional regulations. A lack of understanding, among some senior politicians, about the need to encourage a successful free market economy, presents a real threat to the future prosperity of the country.”

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Gold is broadly unchanged at $2031 an ounce, while the pound has consolidated its position above the $1.26 threshold ahead of tomorrow’s decision by the Bank of England monetary policy committee.

With the annual rate of inflation still in double digits, UK interest rates are widely forecast to see another quarter point increase to 4.5%.

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Funt brytyjski nadal wykazuje niezwykłą siłę, osiągając w stosunku do dolara amerykańskiego blisko 11-miesięczne maksimum. Ta aprecjacja waluty jest w dużej mierze spowodowana podwyżką stóp procentowych przez Bank Anglii (BoE) o 25 punktów bazowych do 4,5% oraz rewizją w górę prognoz brytyjskiego PKB przez Komitet Polityki Pieniężnej (MPC). Ponieważ RPP oczekuje dłuższej normalizacji inflacji i możliwości dalszych podwyżek stóp, rajd funta ($GBPUSD) powinien być kontynuowany

Decyzja BoE o podniesieniu stóp procentowych po raz 12. z rzędu podkreśla trwającą walkę Banku Anglii z inflacją. Koncentracja banku centralnego na zapobieganiu utrzymującej się presji inflacyjnej, szczególnie w obszarach takich jak sytuacja na rynku pracy i wzrost płac, sygnalizuje dalsze potencjalne zacieśnienie polityki pieniężnej. Takie podejście może nadal wpływać na szerszy krajobraz gospodarczy i rynki finansowe.

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The Bank of England lifted interest rates by 25 basis points on Thursday to the highest level since 2008 as it combats inflation at highly elevated levels, but also mentioned the resilience of the economy as it upgraded its growth projections.