Business

A pioneering London-based electric taxi firm has secured a £1.6 million asset refinance deal, strengthening its position in the capital’s rapidly evolving green transport sector and setting the stage for major growth. Sherbet Electric Taxi Company, which has fully decarbonised its fleet of London black cabs, will use the funding to pursue strategic mergers and acquisitions, boosting its fleet and overall market presence. The asset finance facility, delivered by Reward Funding and brokered by Ethos...

Having a successful legal career is more about embracing learning as a life-long practice and less about mastering one set of skills and calling it a day. While rewarding (both intellectually and financially), this career also demands constant sacrifices, mostly in the form of your time, which is not refundable – you simply must put in the hours to remain knowledgeable, sharp, and persuasive. But in addition to traditional learning as a life-long practice, what...

TikTok has made a final appeal to the US supreme court in a last-ditch effort to prevent the enforcement of a new American law that could force the platform’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to sell the popular video app or face a nationwide ban. ByteDance and TikTok filed an emergency injunction request to the justices on Monday, seeking to delay a divestment order due to take effect on 19 January. Without this relief, the companies...

Rachel Reeves could be forced into announcing emergency tax rises as early as this spring if the UK’s economic outlook continues to deteriorate, leading economists have warned. The Chancellor’s recently introduced tax and spending rules, known as the “stability rule,” leave her little room to manoeuvre if public finances falter, potentially compelling her to raise taxes or cut spending by March. Under the stability rule, Ms Reeves can only borrow to invest, rather than fund...

The owners of tens of thousands of family-run businesses and farms have urged Chancellor Rachel Reeves to revisit the inheritance tax changes announced in her recent Budget, warning they could trigger forced sales, job losses, and a marked reduction in investment. In an open letter sent over the weekend, Family Business UK—representing 32 trade associations and about 160,000 family enterprises—called on Reeves to consult more widely and consider the longer-term fallout of the new measures....

Guy Hands’ property company Annington has agreed to sell a portfolio of 36,347 military homes to the Ministry of Defence (MoD) for almost £6bn, concluding a protracted dispute between the billionaire investor and the UK government. The deal sees Annington, which was acquired by Hands’ private equity group Terra Firma in 2012, hand back its 999-year lease on the so-called Married Quarters Estate in exchange for £5.99bn. The amount is nearly double the £3.2bn Terra...

UK private sector hiring has fallen at its fastest rate since the global financial crisis (excluding pandemic disruptions), compounding fears that the economy may be edging closer to recession. Fresh data indicates that rising employment costs, triggered in part by Chancellor Rachel Reeves’s decision to hike business taxes, are prompting companies to shed staff and scale back investment as consumer demand softens. According to December’s flash composite purchasing managers’ index (PMI) from S&P Global, business...

Eight years ago, a small group of private investors placed what seemed like a high-risk wager on an unknown fintech start-up called Revolut. Now those early backers are on the brink of reaping near-millionaire returns, thanks to a decision by the company to let some of them sell a portion of their shares. Investors who used the Crowdcube platform in 2016 originally paid $2.14 per Revolut share. Today, they have the option to sell part...

The Business Secretary is facing accusations of failing to fully engage with Vauxhall’s parent company Stellantis ahead of its decision to close the van-making plant in Luton—a move that puts up to 1,100 jobs at risk. Critics claim the Government neglected to maintain meaningful dialogue for months despite an early warning of potential closure. Stellantis, which owns the Vauxhall brand, announced last month that it would consolidate its British operations at Ellesmere Port in Cheshire,...

The UK’s labour market is coming under intense strain as the number of applications per advertised job surges dramatically, reflecting deep-rooted economic uncertainties and a tight hiring climate. According to data from talent acquisition platform Tribepad, the average number of applications per vacancy hit 48.7 in November—an astonishing 286% increase on the same month last year. In raw terms, candidates are sending out far more CVs: total applications between September and November soared to more...