LONDON MARKET PRE-OPEN: Hammerson confirms talks to sell retail parks

(Alliance News) - Stock prices in London are seen opening slightly lower on Monday, tracking falls by Asian equity markets, even as Covid-19 restrictions ease further in England.

In early company news, shopping centre owner Hammerson confirmed disposal talks with Canada's Brookfield. LondonMetric Property said it sold five assets for a combined price of GBP38.5 million. Tobacco firm Imperial Brands announced an earlier start date for its new chief financial officer.

IG futures indicate the FTSE 100 index is to open down 6.75 points at 6,909.00. The blue-chip index closed down 26.47 points, or 0.4%, at 6,915.75 on Friday.

Hammerson confirmed a report in the Sunday Times that it is in discussions on terms of a possible disposal of its retail parks portfolio to Brookfield Asset Management.

The newspaper reported that Hammerson has agreed to sell its retail parks in the UK to Toronto-based property and private equity firm for GBP350 million, in order to pay down debt. The seven retail parks in England, Scotland and Wales are in Falkirk, Didcot, Middlesbrough, St Helens, Telford, Merthyr Tydfil and Rugby, the newspaper said.

Hammerson on Monday said there can be no certainty that a transaction will take place or what the terms may be.

Last month, London-based Hammerson revealed its pretax loss more than doubled to GBP1.73 billion in 2020 from GBP779.3 million in 2019. Net debt totalled GBP2.23 billion on December 31.

LondonMetric Property said that it has sold five assets for a total of GBP38.5 million.

LondonMetric said two retail assets in North Shields and Llanelli were sold in separate transactions for a total of GBP21.1 million. Further, in three additional transactions, two offices and a retail unit in Birmingham were sold for a total of GBP17.4 million.

Chief Executive Officer Andrew Jones commented: "As part of our portfolio refinement, we continue to dispose of non-core and mature assets at attractive prices, allowing us to re-invest into opportunities with greater certainty of income and income growth."

Imperial Brands said Lukas Paravicini, its new chief financial officer, will join the board with effect from May 1. Paravicini will be appointed CFO on May 19 a day after the company's interim results.

Imperial Brands had said in February that Paravicini's start date would be on August 5.

AstraZeneca announced high-level results of the primary analysis from the Dare-19 Phase III trial assessing the potential of Farxiga to treat patients hospitalised with Covid-19, who are at risk of developing serious complications.

The Anglo-Swedish drugmaker said the trial "did not achieve statistical significance" for the primary endpoint of prevention - measuring organ dysfunction and all-cause mortality - nor the primary endpoint of recovery - measuring a change in clinical status, from early recovery to death, at 30 days.

Mene Pangalos, executive vice president of BioPharmaceuticals R&D, said: "Prior to the Dare-19 Phase III trial, there was little data on the use of [sodium-glucose co-transporter-2] inhibitors in hospitalised patients with Covid-19, and we have now helped to fill this knowledge gap. We look forward to the efficacy and safety data being presented in the coming weeks."

The full Dare-19 trial results will be presented at the American College of Cardiology Scientific Sessions in May.

In Asia on Monday, the Japanese Nikkei 225 index closed down 0.7%. In China, the Shanghai Composite was down 1.0%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong was down 1.1%. The S&P-ASX 200 in Sydney closed down 0.4%.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson urged the nation to "behave responsibly" as the latest stage of lockdown easing comes into effect.

From Monday, non-essential retail stores, hairdressers, pub gardens and restaurants with outdoor dining are among the businesses that can now reopen in England.

Covid-19 infections, hospitalisations and deaths have all fallen thanks to the lockdown and a mass vaccination rollout that has given at least one dose to more than 60% of the UK adult population.

However, the contrast in the UK's fortunes comes as other countries grapple with mounting cases and vaccine rollouts hampered by health, efficacy and as the global death toll tops 2.9 million.

Japan on Monday imposed new virus measures on Tokyo to bring down surging cases less than 100 days before the 2020 Olympic Games begin.

In addition, the number of Covid-19 infections in Germany crossed the three million mark, according to figures published Monday by the Robert Koch Institute disease control centre. Germany remains gripped by rising infection rates, despite cultural venues, restaurants and leisure facilities having been closed for months.

CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson commented: "In a week that saw the FTSE 100 close at its best levels in over a year, optimism over this week's economic reopening of outdoor pubs, shops, gyms and hairdressers, appears to be being tempered by concerns over next month's local and regional elections, and in particular how well the [Scottish National Party] might do in the context of whether they get a mandate from Scottish voters to hold another independence referendum.

"These concerns seem somewhat premature and overstated at this point in time, however these undercurrents could well act as a bit of a handbrake on any upside for UK stocks, as well as the pound over the next few weeks. For now, European stocks look set to open lower despite the strong finish in the US, as markets in Asia came under pressure ahead of a key week for Chinese data."

The pound was quoted at USD1.3702 early Monday, down from USD1.3723 at the London equities close on Friday.

The euro was priced at USD1.1887, flat from USD1.1886. Against the yen, the dollar was trading at JPY109.55, lower from JPY109.69.

Brent oil was quoted at USD62.64 a barrel Monday morning, down from USD63.13 late Friday. Gold was trading at USD1,740.37 an ounce, lower against USD1,743.30.

The international economics events calendar on Monday has eurozone retail sales at 1000 BST.

By Arvind Bhunjun; arvindbhunjun@alliancenews.com

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