British finance minister Rishi Sunak called for progress on a global deal to agree a minimum corporate tax rate and how to split revenue from large multinationals, as finance ministers from 20 of the world's biggest economies prepare to meet, Reuters reported. Sunak chaired a meeting of finance ministers from the Group of Seven in London last month which reached a provisional agreement, and 130 countries backed similar wide-ranging changes after talks in Paris last week. After years of stalemate, global tax talks gained fresh impetus in recent months under the new administration of U.S.
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The United Kingdom is liable to pay 47.5 billion euros ($56.23 billion) to the European Union as part of its post-Brexit financial settlement, RTÉ News reported late on Thursday, according to Reuters. The figures are contained in the EU's consolidated budget report for 2020, according to RTÉ News, with the report adding that the money is owed under a series of articles which both sides agreed to as part of the Brexit withdrawal agreement. The total amount, if confirmed, is significantly higher than expected.
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Packing sweaty, heavy-breathing strangers into enclosed spaces may seem like a disastrous business model for the post-pandemic era. But you wouldn’t know it from the love investors are showing shares and bonds of gyms in the U.K., Bloomberg News reported. Gym Group Plc’s stock has jumped about 28% this year, recouping almost all its losses from Covid-19 closures. In the bond market, investors have piled into high-yield debt offerings from the budget chain Pure Gym PLC and the more upmarket David Lloyd.
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History suggests Britain's house price surge could threaten hopes of post-Brexit export-powered growth, if finance minister Rishi Sunak uses the housing market to fuel the economy like his predecessors did, Reuters reported. Stoked by his tax break on property purchases and a pandemic-driven rush for larger houses as more people work from home, house prices are rising at the fastest annual rate - at 13.4% in June - since 2004, lender Nationwide says. The housing market holds totemic importance in Britain as a driver of wealth.
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As payback time approaches for more than 75 billion pounds ($104 billion) of emergency state-backed loans, Britain's banks must tread a delicate path with businesses propped up during the pandemic, Reuters reported. Faced with trying to limit losses for themselves and taxpayers but also avoid a repeat of the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, when banks were vilified and forced to pay millions of pounds in redress for heavy handed debt repayment tactics, lenders are pledging that this time will be different.
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The U.K. faces three potentially catastrophic risks to its public finances, the government’s budget watchdog said, underlining the challenge confronting Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak to restore fiscal restraint, Bloomberg News reported. Unfunded pressures on government departments total some 30 billion pounds ($42 billion) over the next three years as a result of the pandemic, the Office for Budget Responsibility said on Tuesday in its biennial Fiscal Risks Report. The OBR also flagged U.K.
Apollo Global Management Inc. said Monday that it is considering making a bid for U.K. grocery chain Wm Morrison Supermarkets PLC, setting up a potential three-way bidding war with SoftBank Group Corp.’s Fortress Investment Group LLC and U.S. private-equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, the Wall Street Journal reported. New York-based Apollo said that it hasn’t yet approached the board of the British grocer and there can be no certainty that any offer will be made.
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U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said England was on track to lift almost all Covid-19 restrictions as planned on July 19, even as the highly transmissible Delta variant of coronavirus drives a new surge in infections, the Wall Street Journal reported. The move puts the U.K. in the vanguard of countries betting that vaccines will provide a durable route back to normalcy, despite the circulation of dangerous new variants. Mr.
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Britain is set to secure an exemption for financial services from a new global tax system which was agreed by the Group of Seven economies to squeeze more money out of multinationals like Google, the Financial Times said, Reuters reported. Earlier this month, British finance minister Rishi Sunak was pushing for financial service firms to be exempt to help protect the City of London’s largest banks from paying more tax.
Gap will close all its 81 stores in Britain and Ireland by the end of September as it increases its focus on online shopping, The New York Times reported. The retailer also plans to shed its 32 locations in France and Italy. “The e-commerce business continues to grow and we want to meet our customers where they are shopping,” Gap said in a statement. The company is in negotiations with Hermione People and Brands, the retail branch of FIB Group, to take over Gap stores in France, while a buyer for the Italy locations is still not certain.