A venture between LondonMetric Property Plc and the Schroder Real Estate Investment Trust has submitted a proposal to acquire rival UK landlord Picton Property Income Ltd . The venture is one of a “range of interested parties” that expressed an interest in buying the real estate investment trust, which has a market capitalization of £405.9 million ($544 million), according to a statement Tuesday i...
A venture between LondonMetric Property Plc and the Schroder Real Estate Investment Trust has submitted a proposal to acquire rival UK landlord Picton Property Income Ltd . The venture is one of a “range of interested parties” that expressed an interest in buying the real estate investment trust, which has a market capitalization of £405.9 million ($544 million), according to a statement Tuesday issued by Picton’s board. Picton said it’s now shortlisted several parties to proceed as part of its sale process and will update the market in due course. “The consortium has not made a firm offer for Picton and there can be no certainty that a firm offer will be made, nor to the terms of any offer, if made,” it added. Picton gained as much as 5.7% in London trading following the statement. LondonMetric was little changed while Schroder REIT gained about 0.8%. The UK’s publicly traded real estate market is undergoing a wave of consolidation as investors seek larger, lower cost companies in which to invest. LondonMetric has led a charge by larger landlords to snap up smaller rivals, swelling its portfolio and helping propel the company into the FTSE 100 index and exposing it to a broader range of investors.
Behavior during a stock market downturn is a big determinant of long-term investor success. With that in mind, here's a short video from Certified Financial Planner® Matt Frankel discussing five smart things investors can do now, and if the market gets worse from here. *Stock prices used were the morning prices of March 20, 2026. The video was published on March 21, 2026. Continue reading
Behavior during a stock market downturn is a big determinant of long-term investor success. With that in mind, here's a short video from Certified Financial Planner® Matt Frankel discussing five smart things investors can do now, and if the market gets worse from here. *Stock prices used were the morning prices of March 20, 2026. The video was published on March 21, 2026. Continue reading
The world economy ’s first signs of a synchronized shock emerged in business surveys revealing how the Iran war’s fallout is crippling growth momentum and stoking prices. Multiple purchasing manager indexes compiled by S&P Global for March showed marked declines. Among the releases on Tuesday, the euro zone ’s composite measure dropped more than economists predicted, Australia ’s equivalent gauge ...
The world economy ’s first signs of a synchronized shock emerged in business surveys revealing how the Iran war’s fallout is crippling growth momentum and stoking prices. Multiple purchasing manager indexes compiled by S&P Global for March showed marked declines. Among the releases on Tuesday, the euro zone ’s composite measure dropped more than economists predicted, Australia ’s equivalent gauge slumped to indicate a sudden contraction, and Indian factory activity slowed to the weakest since 2021. Several price readings surged meanwhile, with input cost inflation in Germany, Europe’s biggest economy, quickening to the fastest pace in more than three years. A similar gauge for UK manufacturing jumped the most since 1992. The provisional results were gathered in the second half of March, capturing the mounting gloom among global businesses at the persistence of the Iran war and its mushrooming fallout. Collectively, the indexes offer an initial illustration of the reverberations on prosperity of a conflict that has taken an immediate and crushing toll on energy supplies crucial to the functioning of some of the world’s biggest economies. Alarm at the consequences has already gripped policymakers, with European Central Bank chief Christine Lagarde declaring last week that the hostilities sparked by US President Donald Trump ’s attack on Iran have stoked “upside risks for inflation and downside risks for economic growth.” Monetary officials both in Frankfurt and London have pivoted toward hawkish vigilance, with a euro-zone hike in interest rates possible as soon as next month. Peers in Japan are priming another move as soon April and those in Australia already delivered a second consecutive increase. “Before the Iran war erupted, our global growth tracker suggested the world economy was gathering momentum,” said Jamie Rush , director of global economics at Bloomberg Economics. “The PMI figures emerging from advanced economies suggest that nascent recovery is in danger...
A property development in Guangzhou. Photo: VCG The southern Chinese metropolis of Guangzhou is considering allowing government-issued housing vouchers to be used for secondhand homes, a move that could ease resettlement pressures but faces challenges in the fragmented resale market. Housing vouchers are typically issued by authorities to compensate residents whose homes are demolished, helping th...
A property development in Guangzhou. Photo: VCG The southern Chinese metropolis of Guangzhou is considering allowing government-issued housing vouchers to be used for secondhand homes, a move that could ease resettlement pressures but faces challenges in the fragmented resale market. Housing vouchers are typically issued by authorities to compensate residents whose homes are demolished, helping them relocate — often to designated newly built housing. The plan to include the secondary market comes as new developments in the city’s central districts increasingly focus on large, high-end residences. These properties are often too expensive for displaced residents to afford with their vouchers, prompting many who wish to stay in their old neighborhoods to prefer secondhand homes, an urban renewal professional told Caixin.
MoMo Productions/DigitalVision via Getty Images Investment overview I wrote about KE Holdings Inc. ( BEKE ) previously, giving it a hold rating as the operating backdrop (the property market) was still in a downturn. The key operating metric, transaction volumes, continues to decline as well. Looking at the recent results, I still do not see enough evidence that BEKE can get back to a more normal ...
MoMo Productions/DigitalVision via Getty Images Investment overview I wrote about KE Holdings Inc. ( BEKE ) previously, giving it a hold rating as the operating backdrop (the property market) was still in a downturn. The key operating metric, transaction volumes, continues to decline as well. Looking at the recent results, I still do not see enough evidence that BEKE can get back to a more normal growth path anytime soon, and management’s own neutral 2026 market view only reinforces my point. I stay hold rated. 4Q25 earnings BEKE reported a horrible set of Q4 numbers . Net revenues came in at RMB22.2 billion, down 28.7% y/y from RMB31.1 billion, dragged down by a total GTV decline of 36.7% y/y. Of which, existing home transaction services revenue fell 39% y/y, and within that, commission revenue fell 42.9% to RMB4.2 billion, while platform service, franchise service, and other value-added services revenue fell 19.9%. New home transaction services revenue also fell 44.5% y/y. Even revenue from home renovation and furnishing fell 12% y/y. The only part of the business that did really well was home rental services, which saw revenue grow by 18.1% y/y. As you can expect, margins and profits were down as well. Gross profit fell 33.7% y/y, with gross margin down to 21.4% (down 160 bps y/y), and combined with a step-up in operating cost, BEKE reported an operating loss of RMB147 million. Note that Q4 2024 did EBIT of ~RMB1 billion. In just a year, the entire profit pool of ~RMB1 billion got wiped out. In terms of margin, EBIT margin came in at -0.7%, versus 3.2% last year. The core business is still going the wrong way I continue to stay on the sidelines for BEKE because the two businesses (existing home and new home) that still matter most to BEKE’s earnings power had a bad quarter, and I saw no real signs that the pressure is ending. To be fair, Q4 2024 was a high comp base, so the like-for-like decline may be less than the reported headline numbers. But still, it does n...
Xiaomi reported a slump in quarterly net profit, caught between soaring memory-chip prices and subdued consumption in one of the world’s largest consumer markets.
Xiaomi reported a slump in quarterly net profit, caught between soaring memory-chip prices and subdued consumption in one of the world’s largest consumer markets.