Barratt Redrow plc

European stocks advanced on Thursday, with the FTSE 100 closing up 0.7% at 10,529.89, as the Dow Jones Industrial Average reached a new all-time high. The FTSE 250 added 0.3% to 23,161.41, while the AIM All-Share fell 0.7% to 771.92. In New York, the Dow rose 0.9% to a record, the S&P 500 gained 0.2%, but the Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.4%. Micron Technology soared 11% after its third-quarter results and guidance beat expectations, driven by AI demand for memory bandwidth. Bayer surged 19% after the US Supreme Court overturned a lower court ruling that had exposed the company to thousands of claims over its Roundup weedkiller, a decision JPMorgan analyst Richard Vosser said covers about 80% of filed glyphosate cases. In London, 3i Group jumped 11% on strong sales figures from its key investment Action, while Barratt Redrow climbed 4.6% after major shareholder Phoenix Asset Management Partners called for increased share buybacks. EasyJet rose 6.6% as it agreed to provide limited commercial information to potential suitor Castlelake, which had made a fourth bid proposal worth 650 pence per share. Oil prices remained subdued, with Brent crude trading at 74.42 dollars a barrel, well below recent highs, easing inflation concerns.

Phoenix Asset Management Partners, a major shareholder in Barratt Redrow, is calling on the homebuilder to materially increase its share buybacks. Phoenix presented its analysis at the London Value Investor Conference, arguing that Barratt Redrow is materially undervalued and that aggressive buybacks would create significant value for long-term shareholders. The firm, which first invested in 1998, supports the company's business strategy but believes a new capital allocation approach is needed to exploit the depressed valuation. Phoenix says Barratt Redrow has substantial financial headroom to maintain its growth strategy while pursuing an aggressive buyback programme, and it has published its analysis at www.buybarrattback.com.

The FTSE 100 closed higher on Wednesday, lifted by a surge in property stocks after Segro rejected a £12.6 billion takeover proposal from US logistics giant Prologis. Segro shares jumped 17%, sparking gains across the sector, with Tritax Big Box REIT up 6.4% and British Land and Land Securities both up 4.1%. Housebuilders also advanced, with Barratt Redrow and Persimmon rising 6.6% and 5.8% respectively, supported by a further fall in UK bond yields and Berkeley Group's full-year profit slightly ahead of guidance. The gains offset a slump in mining and energy stocks as gold fell to $4,014.40 an ounce and Brent crude slipped below $75 a barrel for the first time since the start of the Middle East war, dragging BP down 3.7% and Shell down 1.9%. The FTSE 100 closed up 32.78 points, or 0.3%, at 10,461.63, while the FTSE 250 added 0.8% and the AIM All-Share fell 0.7%.