Automatic promotion and relegation from Prem Rugby scrapped February 27, 2026 Automatic promotion and relegation from Prem Rugby has been scrapped after a crunch RFU Council vote on Friday. Yo-yoing between English rugby’s top flight Prem Rugby and the second tier Champ Rugby will be halted, with expansion teams admitted into the highest form of domestic rugby in England on a case-by-case basis. In what many [...]
Hornby offloads toy car brand Scalextric for £20m February 27, 2026 Hornby, the model railway firm advised by Mike Ashley, has agreed to sell toy car racing brand Scalextric for £20m. Castelnau, Hornby’s parent company, announced on Friday it will sell the toy brand to Purbeck Capital Partners. Hornby, which also sells toy planes and cars under the Airfix and Corgi brands, has owned Scalextric since [...]
Labour accused of ignoring rental housing February 27, 2026 Chancellor Rachel Reeves has been warned she must “take sharp notice” of the collapse of John Lewis’ housing venture by investing immediately in the build-to-rent sector. The Association for Rental Living (ARL), the body which represents the build-to-rent sector, has sent an open letter to senior Labour figures calling on the government to develop a [...]
Flutter shares tumble as Paddy Power owner misses forecasts February 27, 2026 Shares in Flutter Entertainment fell sharply after the Paddy Power parent missed expectations across key measures and issued softer-than-expected guidance, adding to concerns about the outlook for the US sports betting market. The New York-listed group saw its stock drop almost seven per cent in extended trading after reporting fourth-quarter revenue of $4.74bn (£3.52bn), below [...]
Taylor Swift and Champions League take Liverpool revenue past £700m February 27, 2026 Winning the Premier League, returning to European football’s top table and hosting concerts by Taylor Swift helped Liverpool FC earn revenue of more than £700m for the first time last season. Liverpool made a profit after tax of £8m on revenue of £703m in 2024-25 as their men’s team became English champions for the 20th [...]
Rightmove boss talks down ChatGPT threat and defends AI investment February 27, 2026 Property giant Rightmove sought to walk a tightrope when it launched its financial results on Friday, as its execs stood by the firm’s divisive AI plans while distancing themselves from silicon valley giant OpenAI. Friday’s results offered an opportunity to calm the shareholders who wiped £1bn off the firm’s value when it announced its AI [...]
Pearson boss shrugs off investor AI fears after share jitters February 27, 2026 The boss of Pearson has shrugged off shareholder concerns that the company’s services could be usurped by the rising use of AI chatbots. Earlier in the year the education giant was one of a number of London-listed data and software-led stocks, including the likes of Sage and Relx, that suffered steep selloffs amid investor anxieties [...]
Legal battle over Labour’s inheritance tax reliefs set for March hearing February 27, 2026 The legal challenge to proposed changes to agricultural property relief (APR) and business property relief (BPR) has been listed for an urgent two-day hearing next month. The proposed changes to APR and the BPR represent one of the biggest shifts in UK IHT policy in decades, following the government’s initial increase of the threshold to [...]
‘Quiet revolution’ – Rathbones shares rise along with CEO’s ambition February 27, 2026 FTSE 250 company Rathbones saw its share price soar in early morning trading as it announced it was aspiring to become the “best wealth manager in the UK by far”. Shares rose 9.05 per cent to 2,410 pence, gaining 24.6 per cent this year to date. Profit before tax jumped 53.5 per cent to £152.9m, [...]
Rugby communities ‘staring down the barrel’, says MP February 27, 2026 Rugby communities are “staring down the barrel of losing their professional side”, according to one MP slamming the Welsh Rugby Union. The governing body of Welsh rugby is under immense pressure to relieve its chief executive – Abi Tierney – and chairman – Richard Collier-Keywood – from their positions and to commit to the future [...]