果冻传媒

Shares in Capita (CPI) rose nearly 6 per cent this morning after the outsourcer said revenues for the first four months of the year were in line with expectations and that the sale of its struggling contact centre business was progressing well.

Adjusted group revenue rose 2.9 per cent year on year, benefiting from the phasing of some contracts. Public Service, the company鈥檚 largest division, grew 5.8 per cent, helped by higher central government volumes and an uplift from a Northern Ireland contract.

The smaller pensions solutions segment reported revenue growth of 23.4 per cent, driven by the full-year impact of its Civil Service Pension Scheme contract, although the implementation of this has not gone to plan and the group faces potential penalties for its mishandling of the pension scheme. 

The group held its 2026 guidance, including expectations for positive free cash flow before the impact of business exits. First-half results are due on 4 August.

Anglo American (AAL) has agreed to sell its remaining steelmaking coal mines in Australia鈥檚 Bowen Basin to Dhilmar, a UK-registered resource group, for up to $3.88bn (拢2.9bn), including an upfront payment of $2.3bn.

The remainder is dependent and variable on whether steelmaking coal prices reach pre-set levels 鈥� a common arrangement in mining deals of this magnitude. Anglo said it plans to use the proceeds to reduce net debt, which stood at 38 per cent of shareholders鈥� funds at the end of last year.

There is some potential small-cap M&A activity this morning, after Alternative Income Reit (AIRE) said it was considering a possible offer from larger peer and 26 per cent shareholder Glenstone Reit (GG:GPRO).

Alternative Income had previously rejected a 66.5p per share cash offer from Glenstone in November 2025 that valued the company at a 20 per cent discount to its stated net asset value, and an 11 per cent discount to the previous day鈥檚 closing price.

Larger peer AEW UK Reit (AEW) withdrew its offer to buy Alternative Income on 21 April due to issues in the due diligence process. AEW鈥檚 offer was at a 3 per cent discount to Alternative Income鈥檚 net asset value.

Shares in Alternative Income fell 3 per cent in early trading.

Average asking prices for UK property rose 1.2 per cent in May, according to property portal Rightmove. The average price increased by 拢4,000 to 拢378,000.

However, asking prices are still 0.3 per cent lower than at the same time last year. There are also considerable regional variances: prices rose 3 per cent versus the prior year in the more affordable north east and north west of England, but fell 2 per cent in each of London and the south east.

Activity has been fairly resilient, with agreed sales down 4 per cent versus the same period in 2025, and up 2 per cent in 2024.

The number of homes for sale is at its highest level for May since 2015, suggesting a buyers鈥� market.

Rightmove鈥檚 mortgage tracker also reported a slight fall in the average two-year fixed rate to 5.18 per cent from 5.42 per cent last month.

Shares in Vistry Group (VTY) fell 6 per cent in early trading, outpacing losses in fellow housebuilders by 3 percentage points, after the housebuilder wrote to subcontractors asking them to pause construction on certain sites, in an attempt to preserve cash. 

Specifically, Vistry鈥檚 North West Midlands business asked subcontractors to pause construction of all private market homes unless they had planned legal completion dates on or before 30 June 2026.

In the letter, whose contents were first reported by the Sunday Times and which Investors鈥� Chronicle has also seen, Vistry says that 鈥渋t has become necessary for our business to implement WIP [work in progress] control measures to manage expenditure鈥�. The implication is that the housebuilder does not want to burn cash on building homes for which it will not be able to recognise accounting revenues and profits for the half-year ended June.

Vistry told the Sunday Times: 鈥淲e published our AGM trading statement last Wednesday, which clearly presented the actions we are taking to improve cash generation and reduce debt levels. These include reducing inventory, delaying or slowing the building of some sites, adopting higher hurdles for land buying and pausing the share buyback programme.鈥� 

Shares have now fallen nearly 60 per cent in 2026.

Read more: Should investors worry about Vistry鈥檚 liquidity levels?

Premier Inn owner Whitbread (WTB) was back in the spotlight this morning, after US activist investor Corvex Management called for the group to put itself up for sale.

The New York-based fund, which holds a 7 per cent stake in the hospitality group, said in a fresh letter to the board that after years of 鈥渃hronic share price underperformance鈥�, a sale of the company is now the 鈥渙nly credible path to unlocking shareholder value鈥�.

The move follows a previous statement from Corvex in December that called into question the FTSE 100 group鈥檚 capital allocation priorities and overall strategic direction.

Whitbread released its new five-year plan last month, and doubled down on its controversial aim to fund the addition of 14,000 new hotel rooms through a sale-and-leaseback financing model, which risks piling on debt.

Corvez is opposed to this, and criticised the decision as monetising the company鈥檚 most valuable freehold assets to bankroll 鈥渉ighly uncertain growth investments鈥�.

The fund demanded that Whitbread suspend all sale-and-leaseback actions, and said it would put forward its own directors as board nominees should the group fail to publicly commit to a sale process.

Whitbread鈥檚 share price is down 16 per cent over the past 12 months.