Starmer refuses to rule out tax rises – and criticises forecasters August 6, 2025 The Prime Minister has refused to comment on whether he will break Labour’s manifesto pledges on taxes at this year’s Autumn Budget as he slapped down independent forecasters’ claims the government faced a £50bn black hole. The National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) claimed Rachel Reeves would miss her borrowing target by £41.2bn [...]
London hit with a slowdown in mid-market deal activity August 6, 2025 Mid-market private equity investment in London suffered a fall in the first half of this year, as economic uncertainty and wider geopolitical issues affected investment activity. According to fresh analysis from professional services giant KPMG, the volume of mid-market private equity investment fell 14 per cent in the capital, with just 168 deals completed. KPMG’s [...]
AI-for-Excel firm Tracelight raises $3.6m to streamline finance work August 6, 2025 UK founded AI company, Tracelight, has raised over $3m in seed funding as it bids to hand laborious finance work over to AI tech. The London based company raised $3.6m (£2.7m) in seed funding from a series of venture capital firms, led by Chalfen Ventures with participation from Acequia Capital, Inovo and EF City PM [...]
Trump hikes India tariffs to 50 per cent for fuelling Russian ‘war machine’ August 6, 2025 President Donald Trump has imposed an additional 25 per cent tariff on India after the country’s government imported Russian Federation Oil. In an executive order signed on Wednesday, the White House said it would slap Indian imports with the fresh levy taking their overall rate to 50 per cent. The President warned on Tuesday he [...]
Entrepreneur slams No 10 wealth grab – despite getting taxpayer-backed loan August 6, 2025 The founder of a hot tub and plunge pool business has said he understood why “the masses” were leaving Britain and was accelerating plans to do so himself, despite his firm recently receiving a taxpayer-funded loan to fuel its international expansion. Rob Carlin, who runs Derbyshire-based spa company Superior Wellness, blamed a succession of punitive [...]
BNY Investments team get game face on for City PM Triathlon Team Challenge August 6, 2025 The Square Mile has long upheld the “work hard, play hard” mantra and the BNY Investments trio taking on the City PM Triathlon Team Challenge this weekend are doing their bit to honour that tradition. Data analyst Matt Stearn, control and resiliency director Anthony Guinot and software engineer Ben Pudsey will be representing the global [...]
Canary Wharf Group tops 250,000 sq ft of office space leased this year August 6, 2025 Canary Wharf has announced two new major leasing deals, taking the total amount of space leased this year to 250,000sq ft. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA) will extend their office footprint to 60,000 sq ft and extend its lease at One Canada Water until 2035. SmartestEnergy, which helps companies navigate the energy transition, will lease 20,000sq [...]
Adanola valued at £400m as Kendall Jenner favourite sells stake August 6, 2025 Adanola, the athleisure brand worn by the likes of Kendall Jenner, Molly-Mae Hague and Maya Jama, has been valued at around $530m (£398m) after securing a new backer. Story3 Capital Partners has acquired a minority stake in the Manchester-based label which was founded by Hyrum Cook in 2015. Other well-known personalities who are fans of [...]
Is Claire’s about to disappear from the UK High Street? August 6, 2025 Claire’s accessories has filed for bankruptcy in the US and entered administration in France, stoking fears about its presence on UK high streets. The US-based fashion accessories and jewellery business filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in a court in Delaware, according to new documents. Chris Cramer, CEO of Claire’s, said the decision was “difficult” but [...]
Shares in Cola-Cola’s European bottling arms slump despite strong results August 6, 2025 Coca-Cola’s European arm, Coca-Cola Europacific Partners, and its bottling partner, Coca-Cola HBC, both slumped on the stock exchange this morning after the former downgraded its revenue guidance. The European business fell more than 11 per cent in early trades on the London Stock Exchange, while the bottling business dropped more than seven per cent. Coca-Cola [...]
