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Jan 17, 2025 | 
thetimes.com | Ben Martin |Isabella Fish |Jessica Newman
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Jan 13, 2025 | 
thetimes.com | Jessica Newman
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Dec 9, 2024 | 
thetimes.com | Jessica Newman
A lack of new products and technology delays have weighed on the sales and profit performance of the UK’s new National Lottery owner. Allwyn International, which took over the decade-long lottery licence on February 1 this year, said ticket sales in the UK slipped 1 per cent on a constant currency basis in the three months to the end of September, amid a weaker performance in instant-win lottery games.
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Dec 1, 2024 | 
thetimes.com | Jessica Newman
Fears about the health of the UK economy caused business confidence to fall in November, but companies appear upbeat about their longer-term prospects, a closely watched survey suggests. The latest Lloyds Bank Business Barometer, a monthly survey of business sentiment, showed that confidence slipped three percentage points to 41 per cent last month.
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Nov 29, 2024 | 
thetimes.com | Jessica Newman
Opposition to a planned takeover of Loungers is gathering pace as more shareholders said they intended to reject the deal. Gresham House, which has an 3.9 per cent stake in the Aim-listed café-bar group, according to FactSet, said it would vote against Fortress Investment Group’s 310p-a-share offer for Loungers, which values the company at about £338 million, saying the bid “looks opportunistic and substantially undervalues the long-term prospects of the business”.
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Nov 28, 2024 | 
thetimes.com | Jessica Newman
Lord Bilimoria is to step down as chairman of Cobra having paid almost everything back to former creditors of the beer company. The crossbench peer founded Cobra in 1989 only for the business to collapse in 2009, leaving 340 creditors out of pocket to the tune of more than £70 million. Bilimoria then teamed up with Molson Coors, the American brewer behind Blue Moon, Carling and Doom Bar, to rescue Cobra via a controversial pre-pack administration.
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Nov 28, 2024 | 
thetimes.com | Jessica Newman
Heineken has set out plans to build the first major commercial brewery in Dubai to capitalise on demand in a city where glitzy bars and restaurants attract millions of tourists each year. Sirocco, a joint venture between the Dutch brewer and the Dubai state-linked Maritime and Mercantile International, has secured the necessary permits and licences for the project and will start construction before the end of next year.
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Nov 28, 2024 | 
thetimes.com | Jessica Newman
The owner of Punch Pubs and Majestic Wine has struck a deal to buy Loungers, valuing the café-bar group at about £338 million. Fortress Investment Group, the US private equity firm controlled by Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala, has made an offer of 310p a share, representing a 30 per cent premium to Loungers’ closing price on Wednesday. The group’s directors have recommended that shareholders vote in favour of the deal.
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Nov 27, 2024 | 
thetimes.com | Jessica Newman
The operator of the All Bar One, Harvester and Toby Carvery chains has joined the growing chorus of hospitality businesses to warn of price rises as it estimates costs will rise to £100 million next year in the aftermath of the budget. Mitchells & Butlers said that higher labour costs, as a result of the chancellor’s increases in employers’ national insurance contributions and the national minimum wage, are “by far the most significant increase” in its cost base.
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Nov 27, 2024 | 
thetimes.com | Jessica Newman
The chief executive of Merlin Entertainments is to step down after just two years at the world’s second biggest attractions group. Scott O’Neil, who replaced Nick Varney as the boss of the Legoland and Madame Tussauds operator in November 2022, is to stand down from his role at the end of the year after telling the board that he has “accepted another opportunity”.
