(Bloomberg) -- Here’s the key business news from London-listed companies this morning.

J Sainsbury Plc: Britain’s second-largest supermarket chain said sales are dropping as consumers try to navigate the highest inflation in 40 years and warned that the pressure on household budgets will “intensify over the remainder of the year.”

  • The company will face a challenge from a group of more than 100 shareholders later this week that want the grocer to accredit itself with the Living Wage Foundation, a lobby group, by the middle of next year

AstraZeneca Plc: The pharma giant will buy US company TeneoTwo Inc. to boost its pipeline of blood cancer treatments. 

  • Astra will pay $100 million upfront and make contingent R&D- and commercial-related milestone payments of up to $805 million and $360 million respectively 

Biffa Plc: The waste-management company said discussions about a possible takeover offer from Energy Capital Partners are ongoing and has extended a deadline for the US investment firm to make a bid to Aug. 2. 

Outside The City

The University of Oxford, one of the first to cross the finish line with a Covid-19 vaccine, is shifting its focus to health threats that could trigger the next pandemic.

Meanwhile, automakers had their worst June sales in decades in the UK as ongoing components shortages kept them from meeting demand.

In Case You Missed It 

London’s property market is in flux with house prices continuing to rise and apartments declining in value. Apartments are down more than 11% from their peak in August 2020, with the median sale now less than 400,000 pounds, according to a Bloomberg analysis.

And Bloomberg’s Pret Index shows that transactions in New York’s financial center have hovered around the 50% mark for weeks, lagging well behind London’s City and Canary Wharf where sales are nearly back to normal — with Friday the only notable exception.

Looking Ahead

S&P’s construction purchasing manager index for the UK is expected to show a drop in activity tomorrow. That’s after last week’s reading of the manufacturing sector saw new orders falling at the fastest rate in two years. 

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