Housebuilder shares rally on Iran war peace hopes and help-to-buy revival August 3, 2026 Shares in leading London’s listed housebuilders jumped on Monday as investors bet a potential Iran war peace deal and a mooted new help-to-buy scheme would provide a boon to Britain’s flagging property market. FTSE-100-listed Persimmon jumped more than four per cent to 1,152 while mid-cap Vistry gained six per cent to 310p on Monday. Analysts [...]
3 ways AI is rewriting the rules of private equity August 3, 2026 For private equity firms looking to exit investments, the rules of M&A have changed. Successful exits now depend on three things: proving AI resilience,running smarter sale processes and taking a more pragmatic approach to valuation. Earlier this year, the sharp sell-off in software stocks, dubbed the “SaaSpocalypse”, exposed how quickly AI can reshape company valuations. [...]
AI firms targeting London’s rare book shops in ‘dystopian’ hunt for training data July 29, 2026 London’s rare book shops appear to have been targeted by AI companies searching for books to train their models, after court documents revealed Anthropic bought, scanned and destroyed millions of physical books as part of a controversial project to feed an insatiable demand for training data. One London-based seller of rare books told City AM [...]
Next and Frasers go head to head for control of Harvey Nichols July 28, 2026 Retail giants Next and Frasers are set to go head to head for control of ailing department store Harvey Nichols when the Hong Kong-owned firm takes bids from British suitors later on Tuesday. The Knightsbridge-headquartered department store chain was put up for sale last month by its owner, Hong Kong billionaire Sir Dickson Poon, and [...]
Who’s buying your business? Don’t wait until you’ve built it to decide – here’s why July 28, 2026 Investors and founders agree: the moves that make a business genuinely sellable happen years before anyone puts an offer on the table. At SCALE London 2026, the summit for entrepreneurs, investors and growth partners, the panel The Long Game: Funding routes and paths to exit had founders glued to the stage. Founders too often treat [...]
Has Range Rover just abandoned the SUV? July 28, 2026 The Range Rover GT brings electric grand touring to JLR’s EMA platform with bold styling and impressive refinement. The Range Rover GT is the latest addition to JLR’s luxury line-up, and the fifth model in the Range Rover family, blending the style of a grand tourer with the practicality of an SUV. Revealed ahead of [...]
Renault 5 E-Tech 2025 long-term review – second report July 28, 2026 Lined up on the starting grid at Goodwood, the two cars resemble the ‘before and after’ photos from a bodybuilding magazine. Each one is ostensibly a Renault 5, but the similarities almost end there. On the left is my long-term test Renault 5 E-Tech. Compact and straight-sided, its classic hatchback proportions draw directly from the [...]
Jaecoo 8: A Premium SUV with Substance and Surprising Polish July 24, 2026 The arrival of the Jaecoo 8 SHS-P in the UK says something about where the car market is heading here, writes motoring journalist Tim Barnes-Clay. Chinese brands are no longer content with building budget alternatives. They want a place at the top table, and after spending time with Jaecoo’s new plug-in hybrid flagship, I came [...]
Housebuilder hits a wall: How did Vistry become the UK’s most shorted stock? July 24, 2026 Vistry, the “nation’s favourite housebuilder,” has become the UK’s most shorted stock. From a shift to a bold new model to hopes that it can fuel Burnham’s housing vision, Felix Armstrong unpicks the firm’s recent history Back in 2024, Vistry boss Greg Fitzgerald was brimming with optimism. The housebuilder’s ambitious switch from a private market [...]
The physical capital paradox: why the best performing asset class is the least owned July 23, 2026 Investors are ignoring the superior performance of commodities despite their critical role in the AI buildout, says Jeff Currie The best performing asset class of this decade is also the most under owned. Since October 2020, when we first called for a decades-long super-cycle in commodities, the broad commodity indices like the S&P GSCI are [...]