Halifax cuts mortgage rates, Boots in $10bn takeover – Daily Business
Britain’s biggest mortgage lender, Halifax, has cut selected remortgage fixed rates, offering a glimmer of hope to homeowners and borrowers worried by gloomy economic indicators.
Its decision came as the prospect of the Bank of England cutting interest rates heightened after the European Central Bank (ECB) cut its rates for the sixth time in nine months to bolster eurozone growth.
Felix Feather, economist at Aberdeen Group, said: “As expected, the European Central Bank (ECB) cut rates by 25bps to 2.5% this afternoon.
“Looking ahead, we expect the ECB to reduce rates to a neutral-looking 2% over this year.”
The latest cut came as a sell-off of German government bonds spread to other bond markets, including the UK after Germany’s move this week to increase military and infrastructure spending.
UK government borrowing costs have already risen due to concerns about persistent inflation and interest rates not coming down as quickly as previously thought.
However, Lindsay James, an investment strategist at Quilters, said the market was still expecting the Bank of England to make two further rate cuts in 2025, “with recent inflation data reasonably encouraging”.
The number of people visiting Scotland’s shops dropped 0.3% in February compared with the same month last year, according to the Scottish Retail Consortium (SRC).
This is also a reduction from the 1% growth year-on-year in January.
David Lonsdale, director of the SRC, said store visits were a little lower across all destinations.
“That said, growth in foot traffic to stores in retail parks, shopping centres and Edinburgh remained positive,” he said. “The overall figures were hampered by a marked dip during the half-term school break.”
The owner of Boots has agreed to be taken over by New York-based private equity firm Sycamore Partners, which is expected to complete a $10 billion deal by the end of the year.
Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA), the US-listed firm, operates more than 8,700 stores in the US and 2,000 Boots pharmacies in the UK.
Sycamore will pay $11.45 a share in cash, an 8%premium on WBA’s closing price in New York on Thursday. The shares rose $0.59, or 5.6 per cent, to $11.19 after hours before trading in the stock was halted.
The company’s market value has declined to just over $9 billion from almost $100 billion a decade ago.
The FTSE 100 closed 73 points lower at 8,682.84 as investors digested the effect of US President Donald Trump’s yo-yoing on tariffs.
Bill Sterling, global strategist at GW&K Investment Management, said: “The uncertainty created by rapidly shifting policy pronouncements can damage investment in particular and hurt the economy.”
