Good morning.
As businesses in London reluctantly enter Tier Three restrictions…
And parts of Scotland look set to enter Level 4(£)…
The panto season is truly upon us, as the UK’s top medics(£) say Christmas should be cancelled after all. Oh no(£) it shouldn’t, says Boris(£).
Robert Jenrick will today abandon the planning algorithm(£) that would have dramatically increased housebuilding in the south of England. Instead targets will focus on 20 major cities.
Don’t hold you breath, but there may be some good news about tax on the horizon! The Treasury is planning sweeping reforms to potentially lower taxes for asset holding companies(£).
SEGRO has taken control of the wonderfully named French warehouse company Sofibus Patrimoine. The deal will also hand SEGRO 17 hectares(£) of development land in Paris.
Purplebricks(£), meanwhile, is back in the black(£) after retreating from its overseas operations.
Shares in West End landlord Shaftesbury dropped to a two-week low yesterday after its full-year results laid bare the problems caused by the Covid-19 pandemic…
… Its boss Brian Bickell has accused the government of being “obsessed with the north”(£)…
… But The FT (£) says Shaftesbury has paid the price of benevolence to tenants, and that won’t be able to prevent an exodus.
Retail job losses(£) could rise to 250,000 with scores of stores closing as the Covid pandemic accelerates the move online.
Meanwhile, JD Sports(£) has struck a $681m deal for California’s Shoe Palace(£), just two weeks after abandoning rescue talks with Debenhams.
And the reintroduction of Covid-19 restrictions across Europe has halted the sales recovery(£) of two of the world’s largest fashion retailers(£)…
… As restrictions in Scotland(£) pushed retail sales down by 10.2% in November.
LV=(£) has agreed to sell itself to Bain Capital(£) in a £530m deal.
HS2’s £32bn spur to Leeds should be delayed(£) in favour of links between the north and the Midlands, according to the National Infrastructure Commission.
And an old military airfield near Stranraer could become a post-Brexit lorry park.
EG’s latest podcast looks at what cities will look like and how they will operate after this most unexpected of years.
Historic England has listed an additional 423 properties, and upgraded Selfridges to grade II*.
Ghislaine Maxwell(£) transferred millions of dollars from property deals to her husband, in an arrangement that could protect her wealth from legal action.
In the biggest scoop of the year, EG hears about workshop logistics from Nicholas at the North Pole, in this week’s Lockdown Diaries.
And finally, the next time you are renovating a property, be careful about what you throw away. In September, the El Cortez Hotel & Casino(£) in Las Vegas stripped out the migraine-inducing Axminster carpet which covered most of its 3,900 sqm casino floor. Rather than being delighted, punters were appalled, and have now taken to buying the 100 remaining scraps -totalling less than 1sqm – for $19 a pop.
