Good morning.
The PM has vowed that bills announced in today’s Queen’s Speech(£) will be ‘rocket fuel’(£) for the levelling up agenda.
But many of his own MPs are still not sold on the planning reforms.
Indeed, it turns out that the official data(£) underpinning plans to build tens of thousands of homes on green belt land was ‘flawed’.
Meanwhile, house prices are increasing(£) at their fastest rate in five years thanks to a ‘perfect storm’(£).
Landlords says they fear a fresh wave of CVAs after a judge rejected attempts(£) to overturn New Look’s controversial restructuring(£) plans.
Shares in Safestore jumped to a new all-time high yesterday, as the self-storage company posted a double-digit revenue rise.
Verve, the owner of the former Debenhams in Bournemouth, has revealed plans to resurrect the former Bobby’s & Co department store, with an added microbrewery and a dog café(£).
And Magdalen College has no cause to look glum as it sets sights on the £100m sale(£) of 40% of its stake in the Oxford Science Park. The college bought back a 50% stake in 2016 for just £18.1m(£).
Greggs has plans to open two new stores a week as profits at the pie shop(£) return to pre-pandemic levels.
Meanwhile, Pret A Manger(£) will open five new shops inside Tesco superstores.
Things are slowly picking up for retailers, as consumer spending(£) rose above pre-pandemic levels in April, for the first time this year.
It’s all change at the top for The Collective as the firm shifts its focus to developing its consented pipeline.
And Travelodge has appointed Craig Bonnar as its new chief executive.
As Rydon promotes from within and Delancey poaches LGIM’s Kate Drew for its capital markets team.
In Australia a bidding war for Crown Resorts(£) has begun after Star Entertainment Group put forward a A$12bn alternative to Blackstone’s bid.
And finally, the PM is no stranger to colourful language. But surely claims to “put rocket fuel under the Queen’s Speech” is taking things too far. The last time anyone proposed such a combustible substance at the opening of parliament was November 1605. Meanwhile. Pret hopes it’s Tesco tie will help “bring Pret to the People”, as it attempts to shed its image of “following the skyscrapers”. Does this leave an opening for Greggs? Perhaps a pie shop in every City tower is just the ticket to tempt back the home-workers.
