BUSINESS CLOSE: Nationwide bags £2.3bn from Virgin Money takeover; Just Eat quits London Stock Exchange; EasyJet eyes ‘bright’ future

Labour has been accused of not doing enough to support car makers and encourage the uptake of electric cars since coming to power – putting jobs and investment at risk as Britain’s car market is flooded with cheap Chinese imports.

Experts including former Top Gear presenter Quentin Willson say the government needs to put more money into car chargers and even free parking in town centres if it is going to insist on car makers hitting tough sales targets on electric vehicles or else face fines.

Labour will need to loosen immigration rules to find an extra half-a-million construction workers required to meet its housebuilding target, economists have warned.

Ministers are pledging to build 1.5million new homes over the next five years – equivalent to 300,000 per year – and have proposed an overhaul of planning rules in order to meet their ambition.

Britain’s largest pet supplies company said the pet retail industry’s slowing growth rates will likely ‘persist through the remainder of this year’ due to cautious consumer behaviour.

Carlsberg has been accused of ‘wiping out’ British brewing heritage after it axed 11 classic beers including Bombardier and Banks’s Mild.

Drinkers will see a further reduction in choice as the Danish brewing giant withdraws eight cask ales and three kegged beers from pubs by the end of the year.

(PA) – Standard Chartered is considering selling a number of its banking businesses across Africa as part of a wider shake-up at the finance giant.

The London-listed firm said on Wednesday that it is exploring the sale of its wealth and retail banking units in Botswana, Uganda and Zambia.

The money Standard Chartered makes from selling the businesses would be spent on its wealth management business, which the bank said it is looking to grow.

Chief executive Bill Winters last month vowed to double investment in Stan Chart’s wealth arm to around $1.5billion (£1.2billion) over five years, ramping up spending on relationship managers and investment advisers.

The company is also pressing ahead with a restructure, reining in its mass retail business and simplifying the group.

It said in October it would look to sell off some smaller businesses “where the strategic rationale is not sufficiently compelling” over the next 18 months to two years to help it refocus on growth areas.

Luton is reeling from the news that Vauxhall is set to sever its long-held link with the town – after parent company Stellantis announced plans to shut the car maker’s factory after 120 years.

Stellantis, which also controls the Fiat, Peugeot and Citroen brands, has blamed government EV sales targets for the decision to shutter the factory, which first opened in 1905 and has been making vans for almost a century.

British supermarket prices offered through loyalty schemes do provide genuine savings, the competition regulator has said.

Supermarket loyalty pricing has been reviewed by the Competition and Markets Authority over fears these schemes may have been ripping off shoppers.

An Australian investment bank has been fined £13million by the financial watchdog after one of its London workers logged hundreds of fake trades to hide his losses.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said Macquarie failed to spot more than 400 fictitious trades made by Travis Klein, who worked on the metals and bulk trading desk at its branch in the capital, between June 2020 and February 2022 due to ‘significant weaknesses’ in its systems and controls.

A cabinet minister has called for business rates to be reformed ‘as soon as possible’.

Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds’s comments came as a growing Budget backlash from corporate Britain piles pressure on the Government to act.

The contrast between the CVs of US President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Chancellor Rachel Reeves could not be more stark.

Bessent is a seasoned Wall Street figure with expertise on making the right calls on the world economy.

Just Eat Takeaway.com will delist from the London Stock Exchange as the Dutch food delivery app looks to cut costs and complexity.

The value of the group’s London-listed shares have plunged almost 85 per cent since the February 2020 debut at £77.40 each, as waning post-Covid demand and aggressive expansion efforts have eaten away at its bottom line.

Just Eat told investors this morning it would quit London at the end of this year ‘in order to reduce the administrative burden, complexity and costs associated with the disclosure and regulatory requirements of maintaining’ the listing.

Nationwide Building Society is set to net gains of £2.3billion from the looming takeover of Virgin Money UK, well ahead of previous guidance of up to £1.5billion.

But the mutual posted a 43 per cent drop in profits for the first half of the yea to £568million, as falling interest rates ate into margins while it increased payouts to its members.

‘The standout feature of the update was the enormous £2.3bn gain on the acquisition of Virgin Money UK reported by Nationwide this morning,’ said John Cronin, a financials industry analyst at SeaPoint Insights.

‘This is much higher than had been expected when the deal was first announced and reflects positive fair value adjustments at acquisition as well as some tangible equity build at Virgin Money UK.’