£300m share buyback to reverse land giant’s slide

BRITISH Land Company surprised investors by announcing a £300m share buyback for its current financial year, making it the first real estate investment trust to buy back stock in almost a decade.

The developer – which sold its 50pc share in London’s Cheesegrater building for £575m earlier this year – said buying back its own shares currently offers better value than purchasing property.

Shares are trading at around a 5pc discount to their net asset value after falling by more than 20pc over the last two years.

They rose 3.2pc, or 19p, to 623p and also lifted the value of peer

Land Securities Group, which rose 1.6pc, or 16p, to 1026p.

Double-glazing firm Safestyle became the latest victim of a drop in consumer confidence yesterday.

The AIM-listed firm posted a profit warning after reporting that trading in the second quarter ‘has been more volatile than we have experienced for a long time’.

In an update for the first half of the year, the firm said order levels were up 2pc year-on-year, increasing its share of the UK window market. But it said the second quarter has been particularly unpredictable on a week-by-week basis, meaning profits for the year will be lower than previously anticipated.

‘Given the uncertain market conditions and weaker consumer confidence, we consider it prudent to expect only modest revenue growth again in the second half of the year,’ the firm said.

Broker N+1 Singer reiterated its ‘sell’ rating for the firm following the results and reduced its 12 month price target to 225p.

Analyst Matthew McEachran said the firm has followed in the footsteps of other home improvement companies like Carpetright which have felt the pinch from a lack of consumer confidence.

‘Although spending has been hit this has only recently started to come through, confidence has also been hit by uncertainties relating from political uncertainty,’ he said.

Safestyle shares hit a one-year low, down 16.2pc, or 41.5p, to 221.1p.

Despite being lifted in early trading by a surprise drop in inflation last month to 2.6pc, the FTSE 100 eventually finished down 0.2pc, or 13.9, to 7390.2.

Credit checking firm Experian led losses as it reported a 3pc drop in UK revenues over the three months ending June 30.

This was driven by an expected hit to the firm’s consumer services division as it continues to migrate towards a free memberships structure. More than 2.2m consumers are signed up to free accounts with the firm.

Despite this, the business saw revenues grow by 6pc as a whole, driven in particular by strength in its North American and Latin American divisions. Shares fell 2.1pc, or 32p, to 1532p.

Those betting on IG Group had a cause for celebration yesterday as the online trading firm led the FTSE 350 by a country mile.

The firm, which saw shares crash in December after the Financial Conduct Authority announced plans to crack down on spread betting firms, saw profits rise 3pc to £213.7m in the year to May.

Revenues also jumped 8pc to £491.1m despite a lack of volatility in the market, which typically benefits the firm due to higher levels of trading activity. Shares rose 16.4pc, or 91p, to 646p.

Insurer Just Group increased its savings target to £45m after hitting its previous £40m cost-cutting goal a year earlier than expected. In an update for the first six months of the year the firm also reported a 3pc jump in total new business sales.

Just Group shares rose 6.1pc, or 7.5p, to 131.5p.