THE DAILY BRIEFING

PODCAST BACKING

Property tycoon Nick Candy and his wife, actress Holly Valance, have bought more shares in podcast provider Audioboom. The news came after the AIM-listed company raised £2.6m after placing new shares earlier this month. Shares rose 2.9pc or 0.08p to 2.62p per share.

SPEEDY SALE

Tool rental firm Speedy Hire has offloaded its large mechanical plant fleet for £14.4m to Ardent Hire in an effort to reduce its debt.

The fleet, which includes dumper trucks and excavators, generated revenues of £3.2m and operating profits of approximately £1.9m in the 12 months to July.

As part of the deal, Speedy Hire has entered into a five-year re-hire agreement with Ardent, with an option to extend by a further two years.

JAPANESE LOSS

The world’s biggest pension fund plunged into the red in the last quarter as the Brexit vote caught it on the hop.

Japan’s Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF) lost £39.4bn in the three months to the end of June, reducing assets to £978bn.

The shock EU referendum result on June 23 sparked a sharp rise in the yen that knocked the value of GPIF’s overseas investments.

CONTRACT WIN

Balfour Beatty has scored a £35m contract to build a major junction in Perth, Scotland.

The London-based construction giant will deliver the first phase of the Perth Transport Futures Project – building a junction and link road.

Work will begin next month, and is expected to be complete in spring 2019. Shares were up 0.76pc or 2.1p to 280p.

PROPERTY DEAL

Industrial warehouse property owner Segro has sold Heston & Airlinks Industrial Estate near Heathrow Airport to a fund called Capital Industrial Four for £79.5m.

Shares slipped 0.63pc or 2.8p to 443.2p.

PROFITS SLIDE

IT firm Computacenter said businesses delaying spending ahead of the EU referendum earlier this year led to a slowdown in contracts as half year revenue grew by 2.8pc to £1.4bn. Half year profit fell 13.1pc to £25.3m. Its interim dividend rose 12.5pc to 7.2p.