Rob Davies

1 week ago | theguardian.com | Rob Davies

UK offshore havens have missed a deadline to publish their plans to improve corporate transparency, as MPs criticised the British Virgin Islands (BVI) in particular for launching a financial crime-fighting cartoon mascot before new legislation. Jurisdictions including the BVI and Bermuda pledged last year to approve laws allowing access to company ownership data to those with a “legitimate interest” by April 2025, with implementation to follow in June.

1 week ago | theguardian.com | Rob Davies

It is almost 2am in Peterborough and a handful of punters are wordlessly feeding their money into the machines at Merkur Slots. A fragment of a song, the lyric “nothing to lose”, drifts through the shop as their funds rapidly evaporate. Closing time is fast approaching, but that does not mean the end of the gambling. Five minutes’ walk down Lincoln Road, a near-deserted street lit by the neon signs of shuttered vape shops and fast food outlets, sit two more Merkurs, this time with 24-hour licences.

2 weeks ago | edp24.co.uk | Rob Davies

John Innes Centre research assistant (Image: JIC) Norwich was recently highlighted by a leading online publication as one of Europe’s top five highly influential 'alternative' tech clusters and cities - specifically highlighting the work undertaken at Norwich Research Park.

2 weeks ago | theguardian.com | Rob Davies |Anna Isaac

The billionaire Coates family behind Bet365 are weighing up a sale of their online gambling empire that could value the business at £9bn, the Guardian has learned. The company, headed by Denise Coates, has held talks with Wall Street banks and US advisers in recent weeks about a full or partial sale, sources familiar with the matter said. Informal discussions explored options for a potential sale, including a medium-term plan to float the business on a US stock exchange.

2 weeks ago | theguardian.com | Rob Davies

Global beer corporations are using their financial muscle to elbow smaller competitors off the bar, according to research that found independent breweries have been shut out of most of their local pubs. The number of breweries in the UK that are not owned by a larger business or multinational is already in decline, falling by 100 last year to 1,715, according to figures released earlier this year by the Society of Independent Brewers and Associates (Siba).