Good morning. Here is your AM bulletin, with the latest news and views from EG – as well as a few of the best bits from the morning papers.
Wilko will close all of its 400-plus stores after administrators failed to strike a deal with potential suitor Doug Putnam.
More English councils will fail owing billions of pounds. The warning from rating agency Moody’s follows the issuing of a section 114 notice by Birmingham City Council. But while Birmingham was brought low by the council not paying female staff fairly, the falling values of poor property investments could prove fatal for the others.
Meanwhile, valuations have hit Harworth’s half-year profit, which was down from nearly £100m to £4.5m.
Big Table has paid a nominal £1 to take over The Restaurant Group’s 75 Chiquito and Frankie & Benny’s restaurants. And TRG paid Big Table £7.5m for the privilege.
The boss of John Lewis, Dame Sharon White, has called for a royal commission review into the UK’s ailing high streets. “Planning, taxation, crime, environmental policy, housing and transport all play their role, but must be considered as a whole,” she insists.
But don’t hold your breath for a cut to business rates. The chancellor has said there won’t be any spare money for tax cuts in the Autumn Statement. Turns out inflation has been too “sticky”.
Former UK Green Building Council chief executive Julie Hirigoyen has joined CBRE as special adviser to its UK sustainability and ESG consultancy team.
And the French government has announced a plan to improve the country’s 1,500 zones commerciales – derided as “commercial wastelands” by president Emmanuel Macron. The business and shopping areas cover a land mass more than five times the size of Paris, but as the total fund is worth just €24m, we assume the plan is for a fresh coat of paint. For half of them.
