Good morning. Wrap up warm now, it is still windy out there.
In a Zelda reference guaranteed to appeal to at least one reader, Intu is hoping that Link will come to its rescue(£). Without a cornerstone investor the mall owner faces a “fundamental threat”.
Lambert Smith Hampton’s saviour is looking less heroic, though, after “logistical difficulties” with the cash have held up its £38m sale.
The Treasury is being urged by the IoD to cut business rates for companies that expand(£), refurbish or relocate their premises. Meanwhile London’s boroughs have teamed up with the UK 11 Core Cities(£) to demand more control over rates.
Wouldn’t it be better to just scrap them and start again? Even John Lewis is looking at closing stores under the burden of its £57m a year rate bill…
Rival department store Beales is also closing half of its stores, as it slims down to seduce a buyer.
And the Weston family is looking for a buyer for Heal’s(£), after the upmarket furniture chain attracted some unsolicited attention.
WH Smith, meanwhile, is hoping landlords will blink first(£), as it uses 300 lease renewals to demand lower, later rent bills.
No doubt it is planning a few more train station stores, after rumours that the PM will approve HS2 tomorrow(£). Or at least, bits of it. A shake-up is also promised(£), but some want the focus to be on the Transpennine route.
The government wants the first new freeport to be built next year, as it launches an eight-week consultation.
And the UK film industry’s contribution to the national economy, which has more than trebled in the past six years(£), is set to soar of the back of new studios.
Meininger Hotels is also wanting to triple in size as it plans a £300m-plus float on Aim(£).
The FT (£) has an unsettling Big Read about private equity’s role in the care homes crisis…
While The Times (£) has a charming interview with Segro’s David Sleath.
Owners of ex-council flats are being charged “eye-watering” sums for compulsory improvements…
While the super-rich seem to have lost their taste for enormous underground extensions(£).
And finally, five hundred years after they were hunted to extinction, beavers are making a comeback(£). The number of landowners wanting to bring beavers back has risen from 13 since 2007, to 15 in this year alone. Perhaps this could become the must-have addition for every super-prime property?
