Bruntwood SciTech says landmark former Littlewoods HQ is at 97% occupancy

Finance giant KPMG and food group Billington have signed up to landmark Liverpool office tower The Plaza as owner Bruntwood SciTech says the building is at 97% occupancy.

The Plaza was built in the 1960s for the Littlewoods empire and has been owned by Bruntwood for more than 20 years. It underwent a £3.7m refurbishment in 2022, and the building’s ground floor includes Michelin Guide restaurant Nord and a branch of Bold Street coffee.

Bruntwood Sci Tech says The Billington Group has now taken 5,687 sq ft of space in the building, with professional services firm KPMG and wealth manager Hoxton Wealth each taking 2,583 sq ft. That takes the 352,000 sq ft building to 97% occupancy.

Meanwhile Bruntwood Sci Tech – a joint venture between Bruntwood, L&G and the Greater Manchester Pension Fund – is adding a gym to the building’s ground floor.

Sam Birtwistle, associate commercial director at Bruntwood SciTech, said: “These latest lettings demonstrate the breadth of demand we’re seeing at The Plaza, from global professional services firms to established regional businesses, all choosing the building for the quality, location and environment it offers their teams.

“As we continue to invest in the building, including the introduction of new amenities like the ground floor gym, we’re focused on ensuring The Plaza is a place where businesses and their people can thrive. We want to create an environment where people want to work and one that supports wellbeing, encourages collaboration and helps teams to be more productive and balanced day to day.”

The Billington Group traces its history back to 1858, when Edward Billington began importing tea, coffee and sugar into the UK. It sold its sugar business in the 2000s. Today its businesses include Billington Foods, which supplies the food service sector, agricultural supplier Carr’s Billington, agricultural commodity trading business Criddle and Co, and sauce maker the English Provender Company.

The Yorkshire firm has highlighted that a significant land deal will not now complete in its current financial year

Housebuilder MJ Gleeson has highlighted a slowdown in land buying after saying that a major deal will not complete in its current financial year.

The Yorkshire firm’s Gleeson Land is aiming to finalise a deal which would account for around half its total forecast plots this year. But it said that the transaction is now unlikely to complete in the current financial year, while two smaller deals will also be delayed.

The delay to those deals means adjusted group profit before tax is now likely to be £7.5m lower than current market expectations.

Gleeson said that “national housebuilders [are] reviewing their land buying strategies given the current market environment”. It added that “notwithstanding the timing differences on completions of the above sites, the group is encouraged that demand remains solid for high quality sites”.

CEO Graham Prothero said: “The Gleeson Land team have cleared almost all of the technical hurdles to facilitate the disposal of the major site and it is frustrating that completion will now fall into the next financial year. The progress to date should not be underestimated and represents a strong performance by the team.

“There is no doubt that housebuilders, in the south of England, are reviewing and reappraising their land buying strategies and we anticipate these conditions will continue through the next financial year.

“The good news is that there is continuing demand for the highest quality developments, which is where Gleeson Land is now focused with a portfolio of prime sites. Transactions will take longer but we are confident that sales of prime sites will continue.”

Gleeson said that it would issue a full-year trading update on July 10.

The company’s update came as one of the country’s largest housebuilders, Bellway, warned of an uncertain future for the housing market as global issues hit confidence among potential buyers. It highlighted a slowing of customer demand in recent weeks which has been matched by its own caution in land buying.

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This article was written by

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Analyst’s Disclosure: I/we have no stock, option or similar derivative position in any of the companies mentioned, and no plans to initiate any such positions within the next 72 hours. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.

Seeking Alpha’s Disclosure: Past performance is no guarantee of future results. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. Any views or opinions expressed above may not reflect those of Seeking Alpha as a whole. Seeking Alpha is not a licensed securities dealer, broker or US investment adviser or investment bank. Our analysts are third party authors that include both professional investors and individual investors who may not be licensed or certified by any institute or regulatory body.

U.S. employers ramped up layoffs in May as the artificial intelligence (AI) rollout was the leading factor cited by companies cutting their workforces, new data shows.

Companies announced 97,006 job cuts in May – an increase of 16% from the 83,387 cuts in April and an increase of 3% from the 93,816 cuts announced last May, according to a recent report by global outplacement and executive coaching firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

AI was the leading reason cited for job cuts for the third consecutive month, with 38,579 cuts attributed to AI. It’s the highest monthly total for the reason since Challenger began tracking it in 2023 and accounted for 40% of all the job cuts announced in May.

“The labor market is being reshaped by technology in real time. AI is now the leading reason companies give for cutting jobs and the primary industry citing it is technology,” said Andy Challenger, labor and workplace expert and chief revenue officer of Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

US ECONOMY ADDED 172,000 JOBS IN MAY, BEATING EXPECTATIONS

Layoffs jumped in May compared with April and are up modestly from last year, the report found. (Allison Joyce/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

The tech sector announced 38,242 job cuts in May – the highest for the sector since August 2024. In 2026 so far, tech firms have announced 123,653 cuts, which is an increase of 66% from the same period in 2025, and it leads other sectors in job cuts this year by a wide margin.

“AI isn’t yet the jobpocalypse some predicted. Like spreadsheets and email before it, the technology will ultimately make workers more productive, but our data shows companies are already acting on it, citing AI for more cuts than any other reason,” Challenger explained.

“The open question isn’t whether AI changes the workforce, but how fast,” he added.

WORKERS FACE GROWING ‘AUTOMATION ANXIETY’ AS TECH LAYOFFS SURGE, AI ADOPTION ACCELERATES

Companies are reevaluating their workforces amid the surge of investment in AI and its implementation in corporate workflows. (Pete Kiehart/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

The transportation sector announced the second-most job cuts in May with 6,909 cuts, bringing the 2026 total to 40,388 and an increase of 449% from the same period a year ago.

Services firms cut 6,268 jobs in May to bring the sector’s 2026 total to 17,065 – a decrease of 61% from the same period last year.

Healthcare and products manufacturers have also announced 30,414 job cuts so far this year, which represents a 17% increase from the same period a year ago.

INFLATION IS SQUEEZING AMERICAN CONSUMERS AND THE FED’S LATEST REPORT SHOWS IT’S GETTING WORSE

AI has been the leading reason cited for layoffs for three straight months, the report found. (iStock)

Bankruptcy-related layoffs were the second-leading reason cited for job cuts, accounting for 5,637 in May. That’s the most bankruptcy-linked layoffs since February 2025 when 35,172 were announced.

Market and economic conditions have been cited for 69,645 cuts in 2026 so far, while closings accounted for 66,733 and mergers and acquisitions were attributed to another 11,989 in that period. The number of job cuts linked to mergers and acquisitions is up more than six-fold from the 1,889 attributed to that reason in the same period last year.

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“On top of the headline AI story, we’re seeing a sharp rise in cuts tied to mergers and acquisitions and a jump in bankruptcy-related losses, which tells me companies are restructuring aggressively as they reposition for an AI-driven economy,” Challenger said.