Brighton Pier owner to delist from London stock market and go private
The leisure group that owns the 126-year-old Brighton Palace Pier is planning to delist from the London stock market and return to life as a private company, in the latest blow to the capital’s junior market.Brighton Pier Group, which also owns several bars and mini-golf sites around the country, told investors it intended to cancel its listing on the capital’s Alternative Investment Market (Aim) after more than 11 years, blaming bad weather, falling consumer spending, rising wage costs and higher interest rates.The news led to shares in the company tumbling by as much as 60% during morning trade on Wednesday.The group, which is chaired by the business veteran and former Pizza Express and Patisserie Valerie boss Luke Johnson, said it had faced “persistent challenging trading conditions” since the coronavirus pandemic, forcing it to cut costs and sell off underperforming assets.In a statement to the market, the group said it had carried out “a careful review of the benefits and drawbacks” to the company and its investors of remaining listed on Aim, adding that it believed it was in the “best interests” of the business to return to private hands
‘Business Vikings’ in line for payday as deal agreed to create £4bn UK food giant
Two Icelandic brothers, described as “business Vikings”, are in line to make millions after their ready meals company, Bakkavor, agreed a takeover deal with the competitor Greencore, in a move set to create a £4bn food-to-go giant.Greencore, the UK’s largest sandwich maker, said it had agreed to buy its rival Bakkavor in a deal valuing the company at £1.2bn.Two of its earlier bids for the company had been rejected because Bakkavor considered they undervalued the business.Greencore, which specialises in prepared food, employs about 13,300 staff and has 14 factories across the UK that make products including sushi and chilled ready meals for all the big UK supermarkets
Thousands of Ford Kuga hybrid drivers ‘left in limbo’ after fire risk warnings
Thousands of drivers have reportedly been left in limbo after warnings that their car could catch fire due to a battery defect.Ford issued an urgent recall of its Kuga plug-in hybrid car in early March, warning drivers not to charge the battery because of a risk it might short-circuit while on the road. The problem could cause a loss of power or a fire, according to the recall notice. Four weeks later, the manufacturer has yet to announce a timescale for repairs and owners report that it is failing to respond to their requests for an update.David Ellis is one of an estimated 26,000 owners to have received the red-hatched letter from Ford warning of potential injury if the battery is plugged in
Australian exporters brace for immediate US tariffs on Trump’s ‘liberation day’
Australian exporters will be hit with US tariffs immediately on Donald Trump’s self-proclaimed “liberation day”, but the White House has left the door open to “good negotiation” to have them rolled back or amended.The US president was expected to announce new global reciprocal tariffs at 4pm on Wednesday Washington DC time (7am Thursday AEDT), but the details remained largely unknown.Australian pharmaceuticals, meat exports and other agricultural products were potential targets of the new tariff regime, though the minister for employment and workplace relations, Murray Watt, said on Wednesday morning the government had no information on which products would be subjected to the new tariffs, or at what rate.The prime minister said on Tuesday that Australia’s Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS), and its biosecurity regime – declared irritants of the US administration – were not up for negotiation.On Wednesday, Anthony Albanese said his government was in daily discussion with the US administration over the new tariff regime and was prepared for “whatever outcome is determined”
UK regulator fines 10 carmakers and two trade bodies over green ad collusion
Ten leading car manufacturers – plus two automotive trade bodies – have been fined more than £77m by a UK regulator after admitting breaking competition law in relation to advertising their green credentials.The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) launched an investigation after a tipoff from Mercedes-Benz, which allowed the German marque to avoid financial penalties despite also being involved in the cartel.Its rivals – BMW, Ford, Jaguar Land Rover, Peugeot Citroën, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Renault, Toyota, Vauxhall and Volkswagen – “illegally agreed” not to compete when advertising what percentage of their cars can be recycled at the end of the car’s life, the CMA found.The regulator added that the carmakers, with the exception of Renault, also agreed not to share information with their customers about the percentage of recycled material used in their vehicles.Two trade associations, the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA) and the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), were also involved in facilitating the agreements
Rebel Energy goes bust leaving 90,000 customers without supplier
A UK energy supplier with about 90,000 customers has gone bust, blaming a “perfect storm” of soaring wholesale prices and squeezed customers, on the day households face another increase in gas and electricity bills.Rebel Energy, which serves about 80,000 households and 10,000 business customers, will cease trading immediately and leave the industry regulator to find a new supplier for its customers.Its failure comes about three years after soaring gas prices triggered a spate of energy company failures, with more than 30 going bust.Rebel was founded in 2019 by Dan Bates, a former energy trader with the oil company BP, to “make things fairer for customers and the planet”.In a social media post Bates said: “Rebel Energy has been facing a perfect storm of rising wholesale costs during January and February together with the pressure of the cost of living crisis on our customers
AI firms are ‘scraping the value’ from UK’s £125bn creative industries, says Channel 4 boss
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Donkey Kong champion wins defamation case against Australian YouTuber Karl Jobst
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You never know what you’re gonna get: Australians will have to wait until after the election to see if there’s an interest rate cut | Greg Jericho
“Life is like a box of chocolates,” said Forrest Gump, who had clearly never looked at the label descriptions on the box. “You never know what you’re gonna get.” And so it was for the RBA on Tuesday when they announced that it was keeping the cash rate steady at 4.1%.Not the actual decision – we all knew they were not going to cut rates
‘Liberation day’: what are tariffs and why do they matter?
Donald Trump has said “tariffs” is the most beautiful word in the dictionary.The US president is expected to announce his latest round of these border taxes on Wednesday at 4pm ET (9pm BST). In what he is calling “liberation day”, Trump has argued the step is needed to raise money and to encourage domestic manufacturing. But it is also rattling the global economy.Tariffs are border taxes charged on the import of goods from foreign countries
UK needs to relax AI laws or risk transatlantic ties, thinktank warns
Tony Blair’s thinktank has urged the UK to relax copyright laws in order to let artificial intelligence firms build new products, as it warned a tougher approach could strain the transatlantic relationship.The Tony Blair Institute said enforcing firm copyright measures would strain ties with the US, which is poised to announce tariffs on UK goods on Wednesday.Warning that geopolitical considerations require “urgent and adequate attention” while AI policy is being drafted, TBI said: “Without similar provisions in the United States, it would be hard for the UK government to enforce strict copyright laws without straining the transatlantic relationship it has so far sought to nurture.”The thinktank has said that if the UK went down the route of demanding licensing of all UK content used in AI models, it would simply push that development work to other territories where there are less strict copyright laws. To enforce a strict licensing model, the UK would also need to restrict access to models that have been trained on such content, which could include US-owned AI systems
OpenAI raises $40bn in deal with SoftBank that values it at $300bn
OpenAI has raised $40bn (£31bn) through fundraising led by the Japanese group SoftBank, in a deal that values the ChatGPT developer at $300bn.OpenAI said the funding round would allow the company to “push the frontiers of AI research even further”. It added that SoftBank’s support would “pave the way” towards AGI, or artificial general intelligence, the term for AI systems that can match or exceed humans at nearly all cognitive tasks.“Hundreds of millions people use ChatGPT each week,” said the OpenAI chief executive, Sam Altman. “This investment helps us push the frontier and make AI more useful in everyday life
Minister seeks inquiry into British Basketball’s ‘potentially criminal’ deal
The sports minister, Stephanie Peacock, has asked the government body responsible for elite funding, UK Sport, to investigate allegations of unlawful tender made against the British Basketball Federation. On Wednesday, the BBF signed a 15-year agreement with an American consortium to operate a new men’s professional league from 2026.The existing nine Super League Basketball (SLB) clubs are deeply unhappy with the BBF’s plans for the sport. The Sheffield Sharks owner, Vaughn Millette, wrote to the government on their behalf in February after the BBF had entered exclusive negotiations with Marshall Glickman’s GBB League Ltd (GBBL), to outline their concerns.In a reply seen by the Guardian, Peacock describes the issues raised in the letter as varying between “serious” and “potentially criminal” and that Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) officials will ask UK Sport to investigate
After devastating BMX injury, Kai Sakakibara makes winning return as para cyclist | Kieran Pender
Five years after a crash that left him with a life-changing brain injury the former Olympic hopeful has a national title to his name – and his sights set on the ParalympicsFive years ago, Kai Sakakibara’s life nearly came to an end doing what he loved – bike racing. At a BMX world cup event in Bathurst, the Olympic hopeful was heading downhill into a turn when his front wheel seemed to buckle. The momentum saw Sakakibara slam headfirst into the dirt, causing carnage as a rider behind him tried to avoid the inevitable collision. In a split second, Sakakibara suffered a devastating brain injury.It was unclear whether Sakakibara, who was 23 at the time, would survive
Disabled MPs speak of difficulties they face working in UK parliament
Kemi Badenoch gives credence to race-swap conspiracy theory about Adolescence but admits she hasn’t watched it – as it happened
A sketch writers’ benefit? An April fool? Either way, big thanks to Mel and Kemi | John Crace
Keir Starmer rolls up his sleeves to legitimise the Two Minutes Hate | John Crace
Tories claim No 10 admission UK won’t avoid new US tariffs shows Starmer has failed to protect British business – as it happened
No 10 says it expects UK to be hit by new Trump tariffs as trade deal talks drag on