Retailers press Healey to cut high street taxes at crunch Downing St meeting October 13, 2026 Retailers urged John Healey to “reverse the damage” of rising high street taxes as the Chancellor met industry bosses on Tuesday. Top retailers including Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Marks & Spencer pressed Healey on business rates and youth unemployment but the Chancellor stopped short of confirming any Budget measures. Healey hosted high street bosses at Number [...]
As it happened: FTSE 100 loses early gains as oil prices stay high October 13, 2026 Welcome back to City AM‘s FTSE 100 live blog. The UK’s blue-chip index made strong gains on Monday morning, jumping more than 0.9 per cent soon after the market open. This follows Tuesday’s strong showing, when the index gained nearly one per cent. In a busy morning the corporate results, Premier Inn owner Whitbread hit [...]
Retail sales ‘sluggish’ as shoppers feel cautious ahead of Budget October 13, 2026 British retail sales showed “sluggish” growth last month as shoppers became increasingly cautious ahead of the Autumn Budget. Total sales at retailers increased by 1.3 per cent in the 12 months to September, compared to 2.3 per cent growth in September 2025, according to the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and Big Four giant KPMG. The [...]
Battersea Power Station nears completion with £280m new loan October 13, 2026 The developers behind Battersea Power Station have secured a new £280m refinancing as the £5bn regeneration project nears its final stage. The Battersea Power Station Development Company secured the new loan from the group of lenders which have backed the project since it began in 2012, including London-listed Standard Chartered, Malaysian bank CIMB, Singaporean financial [...]
Asos hackers claim responsibility for Air France-KLM data breach October 12, 2026 The group behind the hack of fast-fashion retailer Asos have claimed responsibility for a data breach of airline group Air France-KLM, City AM can reveal. The individuals who claimed responsibility for the Asos data breach, who call themselves Xuanye Group, last week circulated data which they claimed was obtained from the airline group. Air France-KLM [...]
London Stock Exchange faces ‘material depopulation’ October 12, 2026 The London Stock Exchange is facing “material depopulation” following a boom in the M&A landscape dominated by overseas buyers, a top investment bank has warned. Some 42 bids for London-listed firms are currently ongoing with a total market capitalisation of £74bn, according to a new note from Peel Hunt. The figure is more than double [...]
HMV shuts flagship Oxford Street store just three years after comeback October 12, 2026 HMV is set to close its flagship Oxford Street store just three years after its comeback to the location where it was founded more than a century ago. The music and entertainment retailer said the site will shut its doors in March next year, blaming a doubled rent bill and the cost of “substantial” renovations. [...]
King’s favourite interior designer hits back at investor pressure October 12, 2026 The under-fire chairwoman of King Charles’s favourite interior design firm has hit back at the “distracting” investor plot to remove her. Dame Dianne Thompson, chair of London-listed Sanderson Design Group, wrote to shareholders on Monday urging them to slap down a major investor’s “disruptive” attempts to oust her. LBV Asset Management, which owns 12 per [...]
Retail bosses ramp up pressure on Healey to cut ‘ridiculous’ tax burden October 11, 2026 The bosses of Marks & Spencer and John Lewis have piled further pressure on the government to slash the “ridiculous” tax burden facing high street firms. Stuart Machin, chief executive of M&S, called on Chancellor John Healey to “restore hope” within the retail industry by turning a corner from Labour’s last two budgets, which he [...]
Investor pressure mounts on boss of King’s favourite interior designer October 10, 2026 A former National Lottery boss is under growing pressure to quit as chair of King Charles’s preferred interior design outlet over opposition to the group’s “lavish” relocation and “poor performance”. Dame Dianne Thompson is facing calls to resign from her role at Sanderson Design Group as part of a campaign against the wallpaper company’s drift [...]