Venture heavyweights denounce government’s £1bn scale-up fund plans August 28, 2026 The government’s flagship £1bn scale-up fund will miss out on top deals and chalk up poor performance for its pensioner investors should ministers select a traditional firm to manage it over a specialist venture capital shop, a group of the UK’s top early-stage investors has warned. The industry heavyweights, who between them are early backers [...]
Asda in ‘foothills of recovery’ as grocer returns to growth August 28, 2026 Asda has posted sales growth for the first time in more than two years, marking a “major milestone” in the turnaround led by Allan Leighton on his comeback at the grocer. The discount supermarket saw like-for-like sales excluding fuel grow by 0.2 per cent in the seven weeks to mid-August. Like-for-like food sales jumped by [...]
October Budget could be a ‘tipping point,’ Asda boss warns Burnham August 28, 2026 Andy Burnham’s first Budget in October could be a “tipping point” for British businesses and the economy, the chair of supermarket giant Asda has warned. Allan Leighton, who is attempting to push through a turnaround of the grocer, said it is “too early to tell” whether the government is committed to halting the rise of [...]
Big-spending Chelsea sign up crypto firm Circle as shirt sponsor August 28, 2026 Chelsea have tapped the crypto industry in their search for a new main sponsor by agreeing a one-year front-of-shirt deal with Circle Internet Group. The New York-listed company is best known as the issuer of stablecoin USDC, which is pegged 1:1 to the US dollar and will also appear on the shirts of Chelsea’s men’s, [...]
Jamie Vardy bags Bundesliga rights as he steps up streaming war with Neville and Lineker August 28, 2026 Former England striker Jamie Vardy is stepping up his efforts to build a media empire to rival Gary Neville and Gary Lineker by acquiring the rights to show live Bundesliga games on his YouTube channel. Jamie Vardy’s Having A Party will stream seven Friday night games from the German top division, beginning tonight when Harry [...]
Google to pay £260m to settle ‘unfair’ pricing class action lawsuit August 28, 2026 Google’s parent company, Alphabet, has agreed to pay £260m to settle a class action lawsuit that alleged the US company imposed “unfair and excessive” charges on app developers selling apps on the Google Play Store. The case, brought to the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) by competition law professor Barry Rodger on behalf of UK app [...]
‘War on wealth creation’: capital gains tax raid would lose government money, Tories argue August 28, 2026 A fresh capital gains tax raid on Britain’s wealthiest would ultimately lose the government money, according to new Conservative analysis of Treasury data. Internal government modelling suggests that the top rate of capital gains tax (CGT) is already too high and hiking it further would lead to lower tax receipts. Figures presented to the Labour [...]
Business confidence climbs on consumer spending power August 28, 2026 Business confidence has risen to its highest level since March, as resilient consumers shrug off the impact of the Iran war and Budget-related speculation is kept to a minimum. According to the Lloyds Business Barometer, confidence among British firms rose four points in August to 53 per cent, the highest reading since the outbreak of [...]
As it happened: FTSE 100 jumps as oil falls back; Warsh says ‘work to do’ on inflation August 28, 2026 Welcome back to the City AM FTSE 100 liveblog. The UK’s blue-chip index extended gains on Friday after some pressures in the oil market eased off. Oil prices reared back up on Thursday night, reversing days of losses earlier in the week. The price of Brent crude – the international benchmark for oil – jumped [...]
Sorry Elon, universal basic income won’t solve the AI jobs apocalypse August 28, 2026 Traditionally left-wing economists, universal basic income has now found unlikely support in Silicon Valley as AI threatens to wipe out jobs.