果冻传媒

Halma (HLMA) has bought a London-based maker of fire detection systems, E2S, for 拢230mn.

E2S designs, develops and manufactures fire detection devices used in hazardous environments such as heavy industry and complex manufacturing to quickly alert workers to dangers. 

Halma is paying more than five times E2S鈥檚 forecast sales of 拢44mn this year to buy the company.  Broker Panmure Liberum said an EV/Ebitda multiple of 13 times for E2S was 鈥済ood value given E2S鈥檚 characteristics鈥�.

Halma chief executive Marc Ronchetti said Halma would now support the company鈥檚 global growth push.

Custodian Property Income Reit (CREI) reported a 4.9 per cent uptick in rental income to 拢22mn in the six months to 30 September, pushing adjusted earnings per share 3 per cent higher to 3.1p.

The portfolio鈥檚 valuation leapt 5.2 per cent during the period to 拢625mn. About 2 percentage points of this increase was due to like-for-like valuation increases, with the remainder due to acquisitions.

鈥淸Custodian] is delivering on all fronts to provide shareholders with strong income returns by capturing portfolio reversion and driving sustainable earnings growth,鈥� said Richard Shepherd-Cross, managing director of the Reit鈥檚 investment manager.

The interim dividend per share was kept flat at 3p per share. The shares fell 2 per cent in early trading.

UK house prices were flat in November, according to mortgage lender Halifax鈥檚 index. The average home cost a record high of 拢299,892, essentially unchanged month on month. Prices were up just 0.7 per cent year on year, the slowest pace of annual growth in more than 18 months.

鈥淸This] has been one of the most stable years for the housing market over the past decade,鈥� said Amanda Bryden, head of mortgages at Halifax. 鈥淲ith market activity steady and expectations of further interest rate reductions to come, we anticipate property prices will continue to grow gradually into 2026,鈥� she added.

Private equity giant Blackstone (US:BX) and Big Yellow Group (BYG) have ended talks around a potential takeover of the self-storage operator. The confirmation follows a Sky News report on Monday that Blackstone was considering walking away from the deal.

Big Yellow said Blackstone had provided 鈥渁n update on the status of their evaluation of a possible offer and the valuation level at which it could make a proposal鈥�. Following this update, it added 鈥渢here is no basis for continuing discussions鈥�. In other words, they couldn鈥檛 agree on terms for a deal. 

Shares in Big Yellow fell more than 5 per cent in early trading.