Shawbrook gearing up for £2bn IPO in boost to London market October 2, 2025 Specialist lender Shawbrook is preparing to announce intention of its London Stock Exchange debut – a move which could take place as soon as Thursday next week. Shawbrook’s private equity owner – Pollen Street Capital – is eying a £2bn valuation for the firm from the transaction. It comes amid a dire outlook for the [...]
Sky back in profit ahead of cutting 900 UK jobs October 2, 2025 Media and telecoms giant Sky recovered from losing almost £800m to return to the black in 2024 before preparing to cut hundreds of jobs. Sky, which was bought by the US media company Comcast for £30bn in 2018, has posted a pre-tax profit of £253m for its latest financial year. The total comes after Sky fell [...]
New Balance: UK sales pass £1bn for the first time October 2, 2025 Sales at the UK arm of New Balance have surged to more than £1bn for the first time, it has been revealed. The Cheshire-headquartered division has posted a turnover of £1.02bn for 2024, new accounts filed with Companies House show. The total is up from the £882.1m it achieved in 2023, the £679.7m it posted [...]
Wagamama owner sheds 2,000 jobs as losses widen October 2, 2025 The owner of Wagamama shed more than 2,000 jobs as its losses widened during its latest financial year, it has been revealed. The Restaurant Group, whose other major brand is Brunning & Price, has posted a pre-tax loss of £32.2m for 2024, new accounts filed with Companies House show. The total comes after the business [...]
South Western Railway performance nosedives after nationalisation October 2, 2025 Performance at South Western Railway has plummeted in the months since it became the first network to be brought under state ownership, piling fresh scrutiny on the government’s nationalisation drive just days after it announced the lines that will be taken public next. Delays and cancellations both rose sharply over the three months after it [...]
‘Grotesquely unfair’: 700,000 Brits caught in 60 per cent tax trap October 2, 2025 There are growing calls for the government to overhaul tax rules for top earners after fresh data obtained by Morning Wire revealed just under 700,000 Brits are now caught in the so-called 60 per cent tax trap. Another 74,000 taxpayers were added to the punitive £100,000-£125,000 income bracket during the 2024/25 tax year, according to [...]
Investment platform Freetrade looks to shake up the mutual funds market October 2, 2025 Investment platform Freetrade has expanded its fund range, marking the first serious push by a UK neobroker into the mutual funds market, Morning Wire can reveal. The platform is adding over 300 funds initially to its platform, offering choices across strategies and asset classes for UK retail investors, with more set to follow shortly. It [...]
London AI startup Lupa raises $20m to modernise vet clinics October 2, 2025 Lupa, a London-based startup building modern software for veterinary clinics, has raised $20m (£16.5m) in a Series A round led by European VC Singular, just five months after securing $4m in seed funding. The software firm, founded in 2023, says it is tackling one of the most overlooked corners of healthcare: the $350bn global veterinary [...]
Rachel Reeves plots stamp duty exemption for newly listed shares October 2, 2025 There are growing hopes for a revival for London’s moribund IPO market after reports chancellor Rachel Reeves is preparing to unveil a stamp duty exemption on shares of newly-listed companies. The move, which is set to be announced at the forthcoming Budget in November, would remove the 0.5 per cent tax charge on the buying [...]
Exclusive: Arsenal close in on Visit Rwanda partnership extension October 2, 2025 Arsenal are in advanced talks to extend their controversial £10m-a-year commercial partnership with Visit Rwanda, the tourism arm of the East African country. The current agreement, which sees Visit Rwanda appear on the shirt sleeves of the men’s and women’s teams, was due to expire at the end of the season. It has also been [...]