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Halma (HLMA) has bought a London-based maker of fire detection systems, E2S, for ÂŁ230mn.

E2S designs, develops and manufactures fire detection devices used in hazardous environments such as heavy industry and complex manufacturing to quickly alert workers to dangers. 

Halma is paying more than five times E2S’s forecast sales of ÂŁ44mn this year to buy the company.  Broker Panmure Liberum said an EV/Ebitda multiple of 13 times for E2S was “good value given E2S’s characteristics”.

Halma chief executive Marc Ronchetti said Halma would now support the company’s global growth push.

Custodian Property Income Reit (CREI) reported a 4.9 per cent uptick in rental income to ÂŁ22mn in the six months to 30 September, pushing adjusted earnings per share 3 per cent higher to 3.1p.

The portfolio’s valuation leapt 5.2 per cent during the period to £625mn. About 2 percentage points of this increase was due to like-for-like valuation increases, with the remainder due to acquisitions.

“[Custodian] is delivering on all fronts to provide shareholders with strong income returns by capturing portfolio reversion and driving sustainable earnings growth,” said Richard Shepherd-Cross, managing director of the Reit’s investment manager.

The interim dividend per share was kept flat at 3p per share. The shares fell 2 per cent in early trading.

UK house prices were flat in November, according to mortgage lender Halifax’s index. The average home cost a record high of £299,892, essentially unchanged month on month. Prices were up just 0.7 per cent year on year, the slowest pace of annual growth in more than 18 months.

“[This] has been one of the most stable years for the housing market over the past decade,” said Amanda Bryden, head of mortgages at Halifax. “With market activity steady and expectations of further interest rate reductions to come, we anticipate property prices will continue to grow gradually into 2026,” she added.

Private equity giant Blackstone (US:BX) and Big Yellow Group (BYG) have ended talks around a potential takeover of the self-storage operator. The confirmation follows a Sky News report on Monday that Blackstone was considering walking away from the deal.

Big Yellow said Blackstone had provided “an update on the status of their evaluation of a possible offer and the valuation level at which it could make a proposal”. Following this update, it added “there is no basis for continuing discussions”. In other words, they couldn’t agree on terms for a deal. 

Shares in Big Yellow fell more than 5 per cent in early trading.