Tekcapital’s portfolio company MicroSalt announced a partnership with ready meal provider Presty on Thursday and marked another another step in the roll-out of their low-sodium salt products.

The partnership will yield a significant product offering in the low-sodium ready meal market and see MicroSalt’s products reach more end customers.

Presty produces their healthy and diverse range of ready meals from a facility in France specifically for the US market’s taste.

The partnership is eyeing a global ready meals which was valued at US$138 billion in 2021, and is expected to reach $408 billion by 2031.

“We are proud to work with Presty! Foods in their efforts to offer low-sodium solutions to their customer base. We view Presty as a thought leader in offering lower sodium as an active option in its ingredient listing. Excess sodium consumption is a leading contributor to hypertension and cardiovascular disease, and partnerships like this are the best way to make a difference in our efforts to address the sodium crisis,” said Rick Guiney, CEO of MicroSalt®.

Founded in 2018, MicroSalt is 97% owned by Tekcapital. Having floated already their portfolio companies Belluscura and Lucyd, Tekcapital CEO Dr Clifford Gross alluded to a potential MicroSalt IPO in early 2023 in a recent Podcast with Kemeny Capital.

Tekcapital shares rose following the release on Thursday.

The FTSE 100 was dragged by selling in UK domestic facing stocks including housebuilders and banks after the Bank of England said support for the bond market would end on Friday and the Prime Minister said there would be no spending cuts alongside their radical tax changes.

The FTSE 100 closed down 0.86% at 6,826.

Although the Bank of England’s comments suggested Friday could mark severe volatility in markets, UK bonds and the pound were surprisingly calm on Wednesday. GBP/USD was 0.9% higher at 1.1070 at the time of writing.

The pound had quickly priced in the uncertainty after the BoE’s initial announcement on Tuesday falling sharply, and this weakness in the pound provided support for the FTSE 100 early in Tuesdays session. However this support had quickly evaporated by the end of trade on Wednesday.

The FTSE 100 was also hit by weaker than expected UK GDP data that showed the economy contracted 0.3% in August. With July’s GDP reading being revised down to 0.1% alongside the Augusts contraction, many economist are predicting we are already in a recession.

“A plethora of unhelpful external headwinds are blowing, holding back the UK’s ability to grow its economy. At the same time, the UK consumer base is utterly bone-tired with political uncertainty, concerns about higher-for-longer inflation and the government’s ability to get things under control, following a public berating of government policies by the IMF,” said Sophie Lund-Yates, Lead Equity Analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown.

The broader FTSE 100 index is a poor reflection of the UK economy, however a look at domestic facing constituents highlighted concerns about the immediate outlook.

UK banks, housebuilders and consumer facing companies were major casualties on Wednesday. The bottom end of the FTSE 100 was dominated by those companies reliant on UK consumers.

Barratt Developments provided a gloomy outlook and saw their shares fall 7% while Persimmon shed nearly 8% of their value. JD Sports was down 9% and the FTSE’s biggest faller after news their Chief Financial Officer would relinquish his position next year.

Lloyds dived 6% and Natwest dropped 4% as investors fretted about the market impact of the BoE’s bond purchases coming to an end on Friday. Increased volatility could see additional mortgage market disruption and put further pressure on their customers.

AstraZeneca, British American Tobacco and Diageo among the FTSE 100 top risers on Wednesday as their defensive attributes attracted buyers.

Barratt Developments has warned investors the outlook for the rest of the year is less than certain as homebuyers contend with mortgage disruption and an economic slowdown.

Barratt revealed the first signs of slowing housing activity as forward sales numbers dropped compared to last year, and completions for the  period 1st July 2022 to 9th October 2022 fell to 3608 from 3699 in the same period last year.

Despite experiencing a slow down in volumes, Barratt’s average selling a price rose for the 4th consecutive year to £377.2k.

However, the higher average prices were not enough to cement investors’ confidence on Wednesday with Barratt Developments shares falling after the market opened.

The culmination of an uncertain outlook, slowing reservations and today’s contraction in UK GDP saw Barratt Developments shares give up over 5 % in early trade.

Although the Barratts Chief Executive, David Thomas, highlighted conditions would be challenging for the rest of the year, he said adjusted profit would be in line with consensus. 

“Whilst the outlook for the year is less certain, we remain on track to deliver adjusted profit before tax for the year in line with current consensus, and we are focused on maintaining our commitment to lead the industry in the quality, energy-efficiency and sustainability of our homes and in our customer service, all of which are fundamental to our ongoing success amid a more challenging market backdrop,” David Thomas said.

Analysts affirmed the challenging outlook, underlining that while there is a favourable long term outlook for UK housing, the near term presented many problems for Barratts.

“Barratt Developments has warned that the outlook for the rest of the year is now less certain, owing to the availability and pricing of mortgages. A deterioration in the affordability of mortgages, especially for first time buyers, is just about the biggest spanner that could be thrown at the builders. While the UK still has a fundamental shortage of houses, the medium term for the likes of Barratt looks hazy at best, bleak at worst,” said Sophie Lund-Yates, Lead Equity Analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown.