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☆ British homebuilder Taylor Wimpey flags market uncertainty
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

A builder working for Taylor Wimpey builds a roof on an estate in Aylesbury, Britain, February 7, 2017. REUTERS/Eddie Keogh/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsNov 9 (Reuters) - UK homebuilder Taylor Wimpey (TW.L) on Thursday flagged "significant market uncertainty" as high mortgage rates dent demand, but forecast annual operating profit at the top end of its previous outlook range. Taylor Wimpey's trading update echoed sector peer Persimmon's (PSN.L), which on Tuesday marginally lifted its annual home-build targets while pointing to "highly uncertain" market conditions in 2024. Taylor Wimpey said year-to-date cancellation rate improved to 18%, compared with 24% during the four weeks to July 30, while its total order book excluding joint ventures as at Nov. 5stood at about 1.9 billion pounds ($2.33 billion), down 27% from a year earlier. ($1 = 0.8143 pounds)Reporting by Aby Jose Koilparambil in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi AichOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Taylor Wimpey, Eddie Keogh, Taylor Wimpey's, Aby Jose Koilparambil, Rashmi Organizations: REUTERS, Bank of, FTSE, Thomson Locations: Aylesbury, Britain, Bank of England, Bengaluru

☆ From holidays to mortgage waivers, UK homebuilders dish out freebies to revive sales
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-01 | by ( Ajose Koilparambil | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

If they have a 5% deposit, then deposit boost works well where we give an additional 5% so that they can secure a 90% loan-to-value mortgage," said a sales director with Persimmon. Some homebuyers are opting for exchange options, where the builder purchases the buyer's existing property and the payment helps fund the new-home purchase. "Mortgage holidays", offered by Persimmon and other builders, are also popular among homebuyers with builders contributing towards home-loan payment during a specific period. Reuters GraphicsKNOCK ON MARGINSThe incentives, while aimed at boosting demand, come at a cost for homebuilders struggling to keep costs low. Persimmon said last month sales incentives and marketing costs shaved off 2.1% from its half-year gross margins.

Persons: Toby Melville, Barratt, Persimmon, Aynsley Lammin, Peel Hunt, Sam Cullen, Cullen, Taylor, Aby Jose Koilparambil, Sweta Singh, Saumyadeb Organizations: REUTERS, British, Reuters Graphics, Bank of England, Reuters, Peel, Thomson Locations: Bristol, Britain, British, Bengaluru

☆ Cooler inflation unleashes monster rally in UK markets, dents pound
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-19 | by ( Amanda Cooper | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

British annual consumer price inflation fell to a lower than expected 7.9% in June, below a forecast for a decline to 8.2%. June's rate was a long way off last October's 41-year high of 11.1%, but far above the BoE's 2% target rate. "Some good news on UK inflation at last, coming in below expectations for June and most importantly the core inflation rate fell more than thought," Neil Birrell, who is chief investment officer at Premier Miton Investors, said. British finance minister Jeremy Hunt said there was still a long way to go to reduce inflation towards target. Meanwhile, interest-rate derivatives showed traders no longer believe UK rates will have to rise above 6% to temper inflation.

Persons: Barratt, Taylor Wimpey, Neil Birrell, Sterling, Jeremy Hunt, Hunt, Jeremy Batstone, Carr, Raymond James, Danilo Masoni, Alun John, Dhara Ranasinghe, Andrew Organizations: Reuters, Premier Miton Investors, Bank of England, Thomson Locations: United States, European, Milan

☆ These European companies cut jobs this year
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

TECH* ERICSSON (ERICb.ST): the telecom equipment maker will lay off 8,500 employees globally as part of its plan to cut costs, a memo seen by Reuters said. * NOKIA (NOKIA.HE): the Finnish telecom equipment maker said on May 3 it plans to cut up to 208 jobs in Finland. * PHILIPS (PHG.AS): the Dutch medical equipment maker on Jan. 30 said it would cut 6,000 jobs to counter falling sales and after a massive recall of its respiratory machines. * SAP (SAPG.DE): the German software company said on Jan. 26 it planned to shed 3,000 jobs, 2.5% of its global workforce, to cut costs and focus on its cloud business. * EVONIK (EVKn.DE): the German specialty chemicals producer said on April 3 it would cut 200 jobs as part of restructuring of its pet food unit.

☆ UK housebuilder Taylor Wimpey sees improving buyer confidence
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

April 27 (Reuters) - British housebuilder Taylor Wimpey Plc (TW.L) said on Thursday buyer interest has risen over the past few months, helped by an improvement in sales and mortgage rates, even as the group remained cautious over broader economic woes. Daly, however, said the company remained cautious over continued macroeconomic uncertainty. Taylor Wimpey said its total order book value - a key measure that gauges near-term demand - stood at about 2.38 billion pounds ($2.97 billion) in the reported period, up from 2.15 billion pounds seen in the first two months of the year. Taylor Wimpey's bigger rival Persimmon (PSN.L) said on Wednesday trading over recent weeks had offered some signs of encouragement, with cancellation levels normalising and sales rates steadily improving since the start of the year. ($1 = 0.8019 pounds)Reporting by Aby Jose Koilparambil in Bengaluru; Editing by Janane VenkatramanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

The commodity-heavy FTSE 100 (.FTSE) edged 0.1% lower, while the mid-cap FTSE 250 (.FTMC) was flat as of 0814 GMT. "Gains in homebuilders is being counteracted by ex-dividend moves today," said Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at IG Group. Even as concerns over a potential U.S. recession have weighed on investor sentiment, defensive stocks such as pharmaceuticals as well as commodity-linked stocks have kept FTSE 100 afloat recently. Shares of Lloyds Group (LLOY.L), Unite Group (UTG.L) and Persimmon (PSN.L) among others were down between 1.7%-3% as the stocks traded ex-dividend. Reporting by Shristi Achar A in Bengaluru; Editing by Sohini Goswami and Janane VenkatramanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ UK house prices slide further but market pessimism eases: RICS
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-09 | by ( Suban Abdulla | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) house price balance, which measures the difference between the percentage of surveyors seeing rises and falls in house prices, fell to -48 in February from -46 the previous month - the lowest reading since April 2009. While Thursday's survey still showed the housing market firmly in decline, some measures indicated that a more stable picture was emerging in 2023, RICS said. Tarrant Parsons, senior economist at RICS, said he expected housing market activity to remain subdued over the coming months. "Given the ongoing weakness in demand, house prices remain on a downward trajectory, and are expected to see further falls through the first half of the year at least," Parsons said. In contrast, another lender, Nationwide, last week said house prices dropped by the most in more than 10 years in February.

☆ UK construction sector rebounds in February - PMI
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-06 | by ( Suban Abdulla | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The S&P Global/CIPS UK Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) for the construction sector jumped to 54.6 in February, up from 48.4 in January, its highest since May 2022 and well above economists' average expectation of 49.1 in a Reuters poll. The sharp rebound mirrors a similar increase in Friday's services PMI, which grew at its fastest pace in June, easing many analysts' concerns that Britain's economy was slipping into recession. However, Tim Moore, economics director at S&P Global, said cutbacks in new house building projects remained a weak spot for activity in the construction sector. The house-building industry was the worst-performing construction sector as residential building work fell for the third month in a row. The wider all-sector PMI, which includes previously released services and manufacturing data, rose to its highest since last July at 53.2 for February, up from January's 48.5.

Feb 28 (Reuters) - British housebuilders Persimmon (PSN.L) and Taylor Wimpey (TW.L) publish full-year earnings this week with analysts seeking to establish whether a protracted sector downturn is on the cards. Analysts, therefore, will be focusing on sales updates within Persimmon and Taylor Wimpey's annual results statements on Wednesday and Thursday respectively. The two companies are expected to report a slight improvement to full-year earnings, but trading statements last month said their order books were down year on year. The focus in this week's earnings statements will be sales trends and pricing, said Aynsley Lammin, equity research analyst at Investec Bank. Barratt (BDEV.L), meanwhile, has cut its mid-year dividend by 9% as housebuilders increasingly look to preserve cash.

☆ Factbox: European companies cut jobs as economy sputters
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

REUTERS/Stephane MaheJan 17 (Reuters) - Decades-high inflation and the impact of war in Ukraine have forced companies across Europe into lay-offs or hiring freezes. * HUSQVARNA (HUSQb.ST): the garden equipment and tools maker announced in late October it will cut 1,000 jobs, the vast majority of them related to the shift from petrol to battery-powered tools. * SIEMENS GAMESA (SGREN.MC): the Spanish wind turbine maker in late September said it plans to cut 2,900 jobs, mostly in Europe, as part of a plan to return to profitability. * CLAS OHLSON (CLASb.ST): the Swedish hardware store chain said in December it would cut about 85 full-time jobs amongst other measures to deliver cost savings and reduced depreciation. BANKS AND FINANCIALS* KLARNA: Dagens Industri reported in May the Swedish payments company would lay off about 10% of its 7,000 employees.

☆ UK's Taylor Wimpey to build fewer homes in 2023 as weak demand weighs
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Jan 13 (Reuters) - British housebuilder Taylor Wimpey Plc (TW.L) on Friday forecast that it will construct fewer homes in 2023 than in the previous year as affordability concerns and economic uncertainty kept homebuyers on tenterhooks. Taylor Wimpey expects its annual operating profit to come in line with company-compiled consensus of about 921 million pounds ($1.12 billion), almost similar to market estimates from November. The FTSE 100 company, which also has a minor presence in Spain, said it built 14,154 homes in the UK including joint ventures in 2022, in line with its production outlook "broadly similar" to 14,087 units a year ago. The High Wycombe-based company said year-end order book - a key measure in gauging sales performance in the short term - excluding joint ventures stood at 1.94 billion pounds, compared with 2.55 billion pounds a year earlier. ($1 = 0.8201 pounds)Reporting by Aby Jose Koilparambil in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry Jacob-PhillipsOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Analysis: UK housebuilders may cut dividends as surging rates deter buyers
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-09 | by ( Ajose Koilparambil | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

The big, listed UK housebuilders have paid dividends worth 2.2 billion pounds ($2.6 billion) for their respective last financial years. Potential cuts in dividends would weigh down on shares of housebuilders, after the sector index (.FTNMX402020) slumped more than 44% in 2022. Among the FTSE 100 builders, analysts are now forecasting dividend cuts from many firms, particularly those whose payouts are linked to earnings growth. High-end housebuilder Berkeley (BKGH.L) stuck to its cash-return plans, but cut its earnings estimates for the 2024 and 2025 fiscal years. Barratt, Persimmon and Berkeley have said they would be more cautious with land purchases, in a bid to reduce outgoings as falling property prices squeeze margins.

☆ UK house price rally to end next year but no big crash expected
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-25 | by ( Jonathan Cable | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

House prices fell for the first time in 28 months in October, according to a survey from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors which also showed a measure of expectations for house prices in 12 months' time slumped. During the financial crisis house prices fell around 19% from peak to trough but have since roughly doubled, according to Land Registry data. When asked about the chance of a price crash within a year nine of 16 respondents said it was high or very high. Rating the value of national house prices on a scale of 1 to 10 from extremely cheap to extremely expensive, the median response from analysts was 8, up from August's 7 estimate. In London, usually bolstered by foreign investment and a dearth of supply, the median forecast showed prices would fall 7.0% next year.

☆ Morning Bid: Bank man fried
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

"We are in the best of hands," FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried said on Twitter, after announcing a bailout that has not quite soothed market jitters. Bitcoin was falling in Asia on Wednesday, so was FTX's collapsing token and Binance's token had the wobbles. As Spectra Markets' Brent Donnelly and others have previously noted, naming rights are a reasonable signal of irrational exuberance. FTX's 19-year deal for naming rights at the Miami Heat basketball team's home arena looks to face a similar fate, as does its sponsorship of the Mercedes F1 team. China's factory gate prices dropped for the first time since December 2020, and consumer inflation moderated, underlining faltering domestic demand.

☆ Taylor Wimpey scales back home building plans due to cost-of-living crisis
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-09 | by ( Ajose Koilparambil | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

The company joined bigger rival Persimmon (PSN.L) in flagging increasing stress in the housing market. Taylor Wimpey said it now expects 2022 volumes to be broadly similar to the previous year. For the second half of the year to date, Taylor Wimpey said its sales rate had dropped to 0.51 homes per outlet per week and its cancellation rate had risen to 24%. That compares with a sales rate of 0.95 homes and a cancellation rate of 14% for the same period a year ago. ($1 = 0.8662 pounds)Reporting by Aby Jose Koilparambil in Bengaluru; Editing by Edwina GibbsOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Analysis: Heavily discounted UK Plc may have further to fall
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-09 | by ( Joice Alves | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Hani Redha, global multi-asset portfolio manager at U.S. investment firm PineBridge, said that UK valuations do not look cheap when looking at a multi-year timeframe and the "structural issues facing the UK economy". UK stocks (.FTAS) are already trading at a record discount to their global peers (.MIWD00000PUS), Refinitiv data shows, but investors expect new lows next year. UK discountThe domestic-orientated FTSE 250 mid-cap index (.FTMC) has broken three consecutive quarterly declines after new Prime Minister Rishi Sunak dumped most of his predecessor's market-crushing fiscal plan. Half of all borrowing by UK non-financial companies is in dollars, totalling about 350 billion pounds ($399.5 billion), according to S&P Global. "Bearing in mind in what state the UK economy is right now, I would stay clear of UK small-caps," he said.

☆ FTSE 100 extends losing run to seventh day as homebuilders drag
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-13 | by ( Sruthi Shankar | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

SummarySummary Companies FTSE 100 on longest losing streak since July 2019Taylor Wimpey down on ex-dividend tradingHousing stocks hover at near decade-lowsFTSE 100 down 0.5%, FTSE 250 off 0.1%Oct 13 (Reuters) - UK's FTSE 100 extended its losing run to a seventh straight session on Thursday, as homebuilders took a fresh hit after data showed slowing house prices, while investors were cautious ahead of U.S. inflation data later in the day. The blue-chip FTSE 100 index (.FTSE) fell 0.5%, setting it up for its longest losing streak since July 2019. The midcap FTSE 250 (.FTMC) slipped 0.1% to hold near May 2020 lows. "Add to that all the confidence issues about the direction of fiscal and monetary policies (and) it's a pretty poisonous combination." read moreRegister now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterReporting by Sruthi Shankar in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'SouzaOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Europe's STOXX 600 falls for seventh day; U.S. CPI data eyed
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-13 | by ( Devik Jain | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

SummarySummary Companies U.S. CPI data due at 1230 GMTAroundtown slumps after Citi downgradeOct 13 (Reuters) - Europe's STOXX 600 index fell for a seventh day on Thursday, dragged by technology and real estate stocks, with investors focussed solely on U.S. inflation data due later in the day to gauge the Federal Reserve's rate-hike trajectory. The region-wide (.STOXX) index was down 0.5% by 0810 GMT, and on pace for its longest losing streak since early February 2018, if losses hold. All eyes are on U.S. CPI data due at 1230 GMT. "The effects of inflation and expected economic contractions on shoppers caution are expected to continue to weigh on consumer discretionary stocks, particularly retail, travel and hospitality," Streeter said. Norwegian aluminium producer Norsk Hydro (NHY.OL) jumped 5.6% after reports that the United States was weighing restricting imports of Russian aluminium.

☆ UK housing index at 11-year low on rate-hike fears
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-26 | by ( Yadarisa Shabong | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterEstate agent signs are seen outside a residential housing in south London, Britain, August 6, 2021. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterThe housebuilders index fell 6% to hit its lowest level since March 2013. "The weak pound is driving expectations for further rate increases, which means lower house prices," Peel Hunt analyst Sam Cullen said. Shares of Taylor Wimpey hit their lowest since 2014, Persimmon since 2016, and Barratt and Berkeley stocks since March 2020. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterReporting by Yadarisa Shabong in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva and Shounak DasguptaOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

REUTERS/Andrew BoyersSept 21 (Reuters) - Shares in British homebuilders rose sharply on Wednesday morning after a media report said the government would cut stamp duty - a tax on property purchases - in a mini-budget on Friday. Peel Hunt analyst Sam Cullen said any stamp duty cut could help housebuilders better offset inflation in building costs, which has been largely cushioned by higher house prices. The Times said the plan to cut stamp duty would be part of new Prime Minister Liz Truss's drive to boost economic growth. A temporary stamp duty cut was used to support the market by previous finance minister Rishi Sunak during the COVID-19 pandemic. Currently, no stamp duty is paid on the first 125,000 pounds ($141,650) of any property purchase.

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