UK’s small brewers call for chancellor to think again on business rates

Brewers have joined calls for the chancellor to reconsider changes to business rates that it says could be “the difference between closure and survival” for pubs.In an open letter to Rachel Reeves, the Society of Independent Brewers and Associates, which represents about 700 beer makers, said it wanted to “express our deep concern at the impact of last week’s business rates decisions on the hospitality sector”.Many hospitality businesses are already battling lacklustre trade as consumers rein in spending on non-essentials amid higher household bills, food price rises and tax increases.In her budget last week, Reeves announced she was introducing “permanently lower tax rates for over 750,000 retail, hospitality and leisure properties”, paid for with higher rates on the UK’s biggest businesses, including tech companies such as Amazon.The package included £3

Fossil-fuel billionaires bought up millions of shares after meeting with top Trump officials

Two fossil-fuel billionaires with close ties to Donald Trump bought millions of shares in the company they co-founded just days after a meeting with senior White House officials, who then issued a key regulatory permit that helped expand the company’s fortunes in Europe.Robert Pender, an energy lawyer, and Michael Sabel, a former investment banker, are the founders and co-chairs of Venture Global, a Virginia-based company that develops and operates liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminals.Sabel was among about 20 people who attended an event in April 2024 at Trump’s private club, Mar-a-Lago, when he reportedly requested $1bn in campaign donations from the fossil fuel industry in return for favorable legislation. Venture Global was among the “top donors” to Trump’s inauguration, donating $1m, according to the Wall Street Journal.On his first day back in the White House, Trump issued an executive order rolling back regulations to favor fossil fuel production, including LNG export licences, while revoking existing climate and clean energy policies

‘Tough market conditions’ hit UK half-year retail sales at Frasers Group

The owner of Sports Direct and Flannels has said sales have fallen at its UK retail businesses amid heavy discounting by rivals and “very subdued” consumer confidence.Frasers, which is controlled by the former Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley, said sales at its UK sports division were down 5.8% in the six months to 26 October to £1.3bn despite growth at the main Sports Direct chain because of “planned decline” at its Game outlets and the Studio Retail online arm.Michael Murray, the chief executive of Frasers Group, which also owns House of Fraser department stores, Jack Wills and dozens of other brands and a number of shopping centres, said “market conditions are tough” and “consumer confidence is very subdued”

Refinancing is delayed at Thames Water. If Ofwat is playing hard, it should keep going | Nils Pratley

A good 20 months have passed since the shareholders of Thames Water declared they wouldn’t be putting another penny into the “uninvestable” company and would rather take a thumping write-off of their investment.So surely, you’d think, we must be nearing the endgame in the attempt by the creditors – the people who lent money to Thames – to rescue the company via a debt write-down and a recapitalisation with new equity. After all, the 100-odd class A bondholders have been negotiating with Ofwat, the regulator, since June. Indeed, they started work on their proposal six months before that, in case the original preferred bidder, the US private equity group KKR, took fright at the political heat on Thames, which is what happened.But no, the water torture goes on

Advertising giant WPP relegated from FTSE 100 after nearly 30 years

WPP has been relegated from the FTSE 100 after nearly 30 years, as the advertising multinational struggles to stem an exodus of clients and match the artificial intelligence and data capabilities of rivals.The market valuation of WPP, once the world’s largest advertising group, has plummeted from about £24bn in 2017 to £3.1bn.The company’s share price has plunged by two-thirds this year and it has been relegated from the blue chip index after a quarterly reshuffle, confirmed when stock markets closed on Wednesday afternoon.British Land, which was the most valuable company in the FTSE 250, was promoted to the FTSE 100 to take the spot vacated by WPP

Post Office avoids fine over leak of wrongfully convicted operators’ names

The Post Office has avoided a fine over a data breach that resulted in the mistaken online publication of the names and addresses of more than 500 post office operators it had been pursuing during the Horizon IT scandal.The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has reprimanded the Post Office over the breach, in which the company’s press office accidentally published an unredacted version of a legal settlement document with the operators on its website.The ICO said the data breach in June last year involving the release of names, home addresses and operator status of 502 out of the 555 people involved in the successful litigation action against the Post Office led by Sir Alan Bates had been “entirely preventable”.“The people affected by this breach had already endured significant hardship and distress as a result of the IT scandal,” said Sally Anne Poole, the head of investigations at the ICO.“They deserved much better than this