Labour lines up advisers for Thames Water administration August 12, 2025 Labour ministers have reached out to top insolvency practitioners in the scenario Thames Water falls into special administration, it has been reported. The UK’s largest water company is at a crisis point after private equity giant KKR pulled out of a multi-billion pound investment deal that could have offered it a lifeline given Thames Water [...]
ChatGPT-5 launch took the shine off OpenAI August 12, 2025 Overhype has taken the shine off OpenAI, whose much anticipated launch of ChatGPT-5 left superfans disappointed, writes Paul Armstrong.
S&U shares jump as bank predicts profit ‘resurgence’ August 12, 2025 Shares in specialist lender S&U rallied as markets opened on Tuesday after the bank said its “resurgence in profitability” had begun to materialise. The London-listed firm’s stock was up over three per cent in early trading to 1,940. The jump came after the lender provided an upbeat trading update, anticipating building momentum for the second [...]
How much financial wrongdoing is acceptable in the UK’s pursuit of growth? August 11, 2025 The government must be prepared to answer just how much wrongdoing is it prepared to accept in the pursuit of growth, writes Lucy McNulty.
KKR pushes for Assura to ditch PHP deal amid bidding war August 8, 2025 The bidding war between private equity giant KKR and retail investor Primary Health Properties (PHP) has heated up after KKR pushed for Assura to ditch an already recommended takeover offer from the latter. KKR’s investment vehicle Bidco – which is also by fellow US private equity Stonepeak – said on Friday it has held discussions [...]
One bad apple: The rise of partner vetting at law firms August 7, 2025 In a highly competitive market, law firms are ramping up their vetting process for new partners to avoid issues down the line
Motor finance: Lloyds shares jump after ruling August 4, 2025 Shares in Lloyds Banking Group and Close Brothers jumped in early deals this morning after the Supreme Court’s landmark motor finance ruling last week. Lloyds shares jumped 5.5 per cent in early deals to 80p – a five-year high. Shares in Close Brothers jumped 22 per cent. Analysts at Jefferies had said Lloyds shares would [...]
Klarna to revive New York IPO attempt as soon as September July 31, 2025 Swedish fintech Klarna is gearing up for a second swing at a public listing in New York after original plans were derailed by the market meltdown following President Donald Trump’s tariff onslaught. The buy now, pay later (BNPL) giant is aiming to launch on the US stock market in September or October if market conditions [...]
Big tech hits back as CMA flags ‘harmful” cloud dominance by Microsoft and AWS July 31, 2025 Big Tech companies have pushed back against a damning report from the UK’s competition watchdog, which warned that Microsoft and Amazon’s dominance in the £10.5bn cloud computing market is stifling competition and harming UK businesses. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) on Thursday published the final findings of its 21-month cloud investigation, concluding that Microsoft [...]
Drax hikes dividend despite profit dip amid power station update July 31, 2025 Drax has told investors it was close to agreeing a controversial contract with the government for its wood pellet power station after hiking its dividend despite revealing falling profit. The London-listed group said the energy transition was “creating significant value opportunities aligned with the UK’s energy needs” in an interim update in which it revealed [...]