Business rates burden to disproportionately hit London offices October 28, 2025 The upcoming change in how business rates are calculated will affect far more office-based firms in London than elsewhere and may cause a rise in closures, according to a new report. The business tax reforms, scheduled for next April, will introduce a higher rate of payment for properties worth over £500,000. The new multiplier for [...]
TikTok US ban threat finally comes to an end October 27, 2025 After nearly five years of court battles and geopolitical wrangling, Beijing and the White House might finally be on the verge of ending a major tech standoff. The US treasury secretary Scott Bessent announced on Sunday that China and the US have “finalised the details” of a deal that would relocate TikTok’s American operations to [...]
Labour to use tech to ‘shock’ UK economy into growth October 27, 2025 The UK’s Labour government is positioning deregulation and AI adoption as two key levers used to address its inherited ‘growth emergency’. Peter Kyle, business secretary and former tech secretary, recently doubled down on this strategy, articulating the dire need for the UK to aggressively “innovate its way out” of a low-growth cycle. “I’ve never known [...]
Why are we even considering China’s ‘super-embassy’? October 27, 2025 One day the story of China’s “super-embassy”, whether it is built or not, will be the subject of book-length investigative reporting that wins prizes, writes Eliot Wilson.
Supermarkets call on Chancellor to ‘bring inflation to heel’ October 27, 2025 Britain’s largest supermarkets have called on Rachel Reeves to exclude all shops from upcoming changes to to business rates, warning that any hikes to their input costs would further stoke food inflation that is already at over double the Bank of England’s target. In an open letter to the Chancellor, bosses from the UK’s nine [...]
These are the City’s four key recommendations for the Budget October 27, 2025 Financial services should remain VAT-free. The bank levy and surcharge should be phased out over time. And stamp duty on UK shares should be abolished, says Chris Hayward A month from now, the Chancellor faces a selection of stark choices. The easiest among them should be whether to supercharge the UK’s financial services sector – [...]
The compromising iPad photos that dragged a London quant trader to court October 25, 2025 It’s never easy moving jobs in the Square Mile – especially for the higher ups. Once you reach a certain seniority, your employer frets over the threat posed if you jump ship – what strategic information you could take with you. That was true for a London-based quant firm called G-Research, after one of its [...]
Private equity in NFL incredibly successful, commissioner Goodell says October 24, 2025 Private equity sales in the NFL have been “incredibly successful”, according to the American football league’s commissioner Roger Goodell. It comes after the league voted to allow NFL franchise stakes to be sold to the sector for the first time in 2024. Those stakes are capped at 10 per cent of a franchise but are [...]
Petroineos: Sir Jim Ratcliffe-backed energy giant loses $250m October 24, 2025 Petroineos, the energy trading company backed by Sir Jim Ratcliffe, lost $250m (£187.5m) in 2024 as it slumped into the red for the first time since 2020, it has been revealed. The Jersey-based business has reported the pre-tax loss after posting a profit of $30m in 2023. The results for the previous financial year were [...]
Natwest shares jump after cost-cutting boosts profit October 24, 2025 Natwest stock surged in early trading this morning after the lender posted a major bump in third-quarter profit following its cost-cutting regime. The FTSE 100 giant’s operating profit before tax surged over 30 per cent in the third quarter to £2.2bn, up from £1.7bn last year. Shares were up over five per cent as markets [...]