Former Amazon boss to keep CMA chair February 23, 2026 Doug Gurr has been confirmed as the government’s preferred candidate to continue in the role of chair of the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). Gurr, a former boss of Amazon UK, was parachuted into the role on an interim basis last January, but will now complete a full five-year term. Business Secretary Peter Kyle said [...]
Competition is key to turning British scale-ups into global firms September 10, 2025 As other countries reap the benefits of home-grown UK talent, the CMA is committed to cracking the UK's scale-up challenge, writes Sarah Cardell.
Aviva’s profit soars ahead of merger with Direct Line August 14, 2025 Aviva posted a profit jump for the first half of the year after strong growth across its wealth and insurance divisions. The company’s operating profit climbed 22 per cent to just north of £1bn – topping the £875m netted in the first half of 2024. This comes after Aviva completed its £3.7bn takeover of rival [...]
KKR pushes for Assura to ditch PHP deal amid bidding war August 8, 2025 The bidding war between private equity giant KKR and retail investor Primary Health Properties (PHP) has heated up after KKR pushed for Assura to ditch an already recommended takeover offer from the latter. KKR’s investment vehicle Bidco – which is also by fellow US private equity Stonepeak – said on Friday it has held discussions [...]
Breadmakers Hovis and Kingsmill butter up £75m merger July 26, 2025 Bread producers Hovis and Kingsmill are set for a historic merger with their owners expected to ink an agreement after months of discussion. Kingsmill, whose immediate parent Allied Bakeries is owned by London-listed Associated British Foods (ABF), and Hovis could benefit from up to £50m of annual cost savings from a merger. The proposed agreement, [...]
CVS halts acquisitions in the UK amid competition watchdog probe July 24, 2025 CVS has halted UK acquisitions and focused on Australian expansion due to a probe by the UK’s competition watchdog into the pet sector. The vet group has also delayed its full-year results until October to allow shareholders to “have more visibility” and details of the Provisional Decision of the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), which [...]
CMA targets Apple and Google’s market dominance to strengthen UK app market July 23, 2025 The UK’s competition watchdog has proposed a sweeping shake-up of the mobile app economy, with plans to designate Apple and Google as having “strategic market status” (SMS) – a move that could open the door to new rivals, lower development costs, and broadly loosen the tech giants’ tight grip on the mobile ecosystem. In a [...]
Microsoft offers ‘pay-as-you-go’ software concession to cloud rivals after bowing to pressure July 18, 2025 Microsoft will allow its cloud rivals to offer ‘pay-as-you-go’ software to their customers after bowing to pressure over its licensing practices. The US tech giant attracted criticism for the way it offered exclusive software deals to customers of its Azure cloud platform, which rivals said made it difficult for them to compete. But in a [...]
Growth mandate won’t harm consumers, says competition watchdog July 16, 2025 The boss of the UK’s competition watchdog has insisted there is no additional risk of consumer harm from the government’s bid to put regulators on a growth footing, despite her former chair being ousted for not buying into the push. Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) boss Sarah Cardell said she saw “no tension” between her [...]
Why did Santander buy TSB? July 3, 2025 Santander might have hoped its takeover of TSB would make waves across the banking industry, but analysts have dubbed it a more modest splash. The deal, which is set to be worth £2.9bn when closed in 2026, will add TSB’s five million customers, £34bn in mortgages and £35bn in deposits to Santander’s portfolio as well [...]
