Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group has tabled a £1.7bn cash offer of €38 a share for the 74% of German fashion house Hugo Boss it does not already own.
Category: News
The latest news affecting small and medium sized (SME) businesses in the UK
Reeves signals further tax rises as defence spending plan slips again
Rachel Reeves has hinted taxes may rise again to fund a £15bn defence uplift, as Keir Starmer delays the Defence Investment Plan until just before the NATO summit.
Strike days fall by almost two thirds during Labour’s first year in power
Working days lost to strikes fell from 1.4 million to 559,000 in Labour’s first year in power, GMB analysis of ONS data shows, a drop of more than 60 per cent.
Car finance payouts pushed back to 2027 as legal challenges stall £9bn redress scheme
FCA warns £9bn car finance mis-selling payouts, averaging £829 across 12.1 million agreements, are unlikely before 2027 as carmakers mount legal challenges.
Amazon pours £1bn into Northamptonshire as 4,000 jobs head to the East Midlands
Amazon opens a £500m robotic fulfilment centre in Northampton and confirms the UK’s largest cross-dock facility for Kettering, taking its Northamptonshire investment past £1bn and creating 4,000 jobs.
WH Smith turns to investors for £100m lifeline as US slowdown and Middle East conflict trigger profit warning
WH Smith is raising £100m through a share placing after cutting profit guidance, blaming a US sales slump and fallout from the US-Iran conflict.
£28bn of taxpayers’ money ended up funding Britain’s enemies dossier reveals
A suppressed Cabinet Office dossier found £28bn of UK aid and Covid relief reached Islamic State, Russia, China-linked firms and crime gangs between 2015 and 2021. Here’s what it means for taxpayers.
May heatwave lifts spending, but inflation threat leaves the consumer wilting
Record May heat sent UK retail sales up 3.7%, with fans, sandals and barbecues flying off the shelves. But with inflation set to top 4%, the rebound may be short-lived.
Reading start-up NewOrbit raises £13.8m to fly satellites where Elon Musk won’t
Reading-based NewOrbit has raised £13.8m to launch the world’s first commercial satellite built for very low Earth orbit, a potential British rival to Elon Musk’s Starlink.
Middle-class families claiming disability benefits double in four years as PIP bill marches towards £41bn
Almost 200,000 households earning more than £104,000 a year now claim Personal Independence Payment, as Britain’s disability benefits bill heads towards £41bn. Inside the numbers driving the welfare debate.
Tata Steel warns £1.25bn Port Talbot furnace could slip eight months over grid hold-up
Tata Steel warns its £1.25bn Port Talbot electric arc furnace could slip by up to eight months after National Grid flagged delays connecting the plant to power.
M&S opens 1,000 traineeship doors as youth jobs crisis deepens
Marks & Spencer is creating 1,000 management traineeships for 18 to 24-year-olds, no degree required, as more than a million young Britons sit outside work or education.
State to take ‘aggressive’ stakes in Britain’s fastest-growing firms, says Kyle
Business secretary Peter Kyle says the state will ‘aggressively’ take bigger stakes in fast-growing British firms, putting billions of taxpayer pounds behind home-grown innovation to jump-start growth.
Touker Suleyman bows out of Dragons’ Den after a decade in the lair
Retail tycoon Touker Suleyman is leaving Dragons’ Den after a decade, telling followers at 72 it is time to reprioritise. Here is what his exit means.
Kanya King, the single mother who remortgaged her home to build the MOBO Awards, dies aged 57
Kanya King CBE, the entrepreneur who remortgaged her home to launch the MOBO Awards and went on to reshape the British music industry, has died aged 57.
