Supermarkets round on Aldi and Lidl over ‘rigged’ system May 6, 2026 A host of leading British supermarkets have rounded on German discounters Aldi and Lidl over fears competition is being “distorted” by a “rigged” system. Sainsbury’s, Morrisons and Iceland are ramping up pressure on the competition watchdog to crack down on Aldi and Lidl’s ability to block rivals from opening new stores on nearby land. The [...]
Blackstone, Saudi wealth fund collect £4m dividends from four Morrisons stores May 4, 2026 Private equity firm Blackstone and the Saudi sovereign wealth fund have handed themselves £4m in dividends from their ownership of four Morrisons supermarket buildings. The pair acquired the sites – in Maldon, Stockport, Harrogate and Newcastle – for £110m in 2023 as part of a sale and leaseback arrangement which saw the supermarket chain sell [...]
Trump turmoil sends oil prices back toward multi-year peak May 4, 2026 Iran hits back at president’s ‘Operation Freedom’ pledge for safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz; Brent up over 5 per cent to $114 a barrel The main international oil price surged back toward multi-year highs on Monday, as US President Donald Trump’s pledge to get tanker traffic moving through the Strait of Hormuz was [...]
Neutonic Raises $6m at $60m Valuation to Accelerate Global Expansion Across Retail and New Markets April 28, 2026 Investment backed by Alan Barrett, founder of Grenade, alongside a group of strategic investors, supporting the next phase of international growth
Italy and UK risk driving Formula 1 away with misguided tax raids April 26, 2026 Italy’s latest attempt to claw back tax from Formula 1 drivers and teams is being framed as a crackdown on evasion. In reality, it looks far more like a system struggling to keep up with the modern sport it is trying to regulate. Authorities are reportedly looking to audit teams and drivers retrospectively between 2020 [...]
JD Sports boss quit after failed coup attempt April 24, 2026 The chair of JD Sports quit earlier this week because he failed to convince its board to eject its chief executive, it has been revealed. Andy Higginson quit as chair of the FTSE 100 sportswear retailer on Wednesday, with his tenure set to complete after the firm’s annual meeting in July. He said he was [...]
BRC chief: Red tape ‘weighs heavily’ on retailers April 23, 2026 Helen Dickinson, the boss of leading trade body the British Retail Consortium, believes red tape “weighs heavily” on retailers. She speaks to Felix Armstrong about food inflation, workers’ rights and her meeting with the Chancellor. Helen Dickinson was six weeks into her job as chief executive of the BRC when the horsemeat scandal landed on [...]
Gold and silver surge as Hochschild helps London’s mining stocks shine April 22, 2026 Hochschild Mining revealed a near 40 per cent rise in the average price of the gold it produces this morning, burnishing the appeal of a sector with a long history in the City. The news propelled shares in the £3bn, 100-year-old firm onto the leaderboard of the FTSE 250. Hochschild’s stock strode over 2% higher [...]
Lab-grown diamonds are an inflection point for luxury April 7, 2026 Lab-grown diamonds are chemically, physically, and optically identical to mined stones and they’re going to disrupt an entire industry, says Nathalie Morrison I spent much of my career in rooms where value was measured in basis points, not brilliance. As the youngest senior client partner at Coutts at 26, I advised clients on wealth management, [...]
Supermarket bosses meet Rachel Reeves amid dire food inflation warning April 1, 2026 The bosses of some of the UK’s biggest supermarkets met Chancellor Rachel Reeves in emergency cost of living talks on Wednesday, amid warnings that food inflation could rise to double digits this year. Leading supermarkets including Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons attended Downing Street after efforts to gather industry bosses last week were abandoned amid concerns [...]