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.
John Lewis is facing fierce opposition over its plans for 430 BTR homes on the site of its Waitrose store in Ealing. Local campaign group Stop the Towers says the planned buildings are too tall, don’t contain enough affordable housing and locals were not adequately consulted.
More than half of Wilko’s 400 stores are unlikely to find a buyer, as its administrators weigh final bids from rival retailers.
Persimmon is likely to drop out of the FTSE 100 next week for the first time in a decade. Abrdn is likely to be relegated in the quarterly reshuffle too, its second demotion in 12 months. Warehouse REIT and Liontrust are expected to leave the FTSE 250.
Meanwhile, the government has been told it is “living in cuckoo land” if it thinks that clamping down on empty property relief for business rates is a sensible idea.
And construction companies are collapsing at their highest rate in a decade, with 4,280 becoming insolvent in the 12 months to June.
In other news, investment manager AshbyCapital has refinanced two retail parks with a £50m, three-year loan from Deutsche Hypo.
Plans have been drawn up for a £10m redevelopment of the Peblig Industrial Estate in North Wales.
And finally, almost two-thirds of Scottish B&B owners are considering closing their doors in response to “catastrophic” restrictions on short-term lets. They’ll have had their tea.
