Author: SKYNEWS

The owners of Gail’s, the chain of bakeries and coffee shops, are preparing to hire advisers for a sale that would value it at well over the £200m price tag at which it changed hands nearly three years ago.Sky News understands that Bain Capital Credit and EBITDA Investments, a fund backed by serial restaurant investor Henry McGovern, are drawing up plans to appoint bankers, potentially before the end of this year. Gail’s, which is also part-owned by Luke Johnson, the former Channel 4 chairman and prominent entrepreneur, has grown rapidly in recent years.Part of Bread Holdings, its sister company, The…

Cameron Diaz has announced the birth of her first son, Cardinal Madden, at the age of 51. The Hollywood actress, who married Good Charlotte guitarist Benji Madden, 45, in 2015, revealed the news of their second child in a joint Instagram post. “We are blessed and excited to announce the birth of our son, Cardinal Madden,” they wrote.”He is awesome and we are all so happy he is here! For the kid’s safety and privacy we won’t be posting any pictures – but he’s really cute.”We are feeling so blessed and grateful. Sending much love from our fam to yours.…

Nadhim Zahawi, the former chancellor, is in talks about chairing the biggest remaining part of the Barclay family’s business empire, fuelling speculation that he will join a mass exodus of Conservative MPs at the general election.Sky News has learnt that Mr Zahawi, the MP for Stratford-on-Avon since 2010, is among the candidates to become the next chairman of Very Group, the Liverpool-based online retail and financial services company. City sources said this weekend that discussions were ongoing, but cautioned that there was no certainty that Mr Zahawi would take the job.If he does accept it, the former Tory leadership candidate…

The latest on the Post Office as the chairman of the Land Registry, Neil Sachdev, is reportedly being considered as a potential replacement for Henry Staunton.Ian is also joined by the boss of pub chain JD Wetherspoon Tim Martin after the company announced an increase in pre-tax profits and like-for-like sales.And hear from James Ryan, from Grove Gallery, which is hoping to attract art buyers and investors at this year’s Ideal Home Show in London.Listen and subscribe to The Ian King Business Podcast here. Source link

Donald Trump’s social media company, Truth Social, is set to go public – potentially netting the former US president $3bn.It means Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG), whose flagship product is the social networking platform, will soon begin trading on the Nasdaq stock market. In a vote held on Friday, Digital World Acquisition Corp, a publicly traded shell company, approved a deal to merge with Mr Trump’s media business.The deal values his majority stake in the company at about $3.6bn (£2.8bn).The windfall could prove vital as Mr Trump grapples with the financial fallout of a string of legal cases against…

Paul Rudd, Carrie Coon, McKenna Grace and Finn Wolfhard reprise their roles as a family and team of ghost catchers in Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire – this time in the location of the original films, New York City.The latest addition to the movie franchise sees the original and new generation team up to protect their home from a second Ice Age. Image: Souped up Cadillac – Ecto-1. Pic. Columbia Pictures Here are the key things you need to know about the fourth outing of everyone’s favourite 80s ghost hunters.Ecto-1 or Millennium Falcon?There wouldn’t be a Ghostbusters film without the iconic Ecto-1.…

The owners of The Daily Telegraph have been dealt a fresh blow after the collapse of the parent company behind Arrow XL, a UK-wide delivery business.Sky News has learnt that Logistics Group Limited, which until recently also owned Yodel, fell into administration earlier on Friday. The decision is understood to have been orchestrated by HSBC, the company’s main lender.Money latest: Lender to increase some mortgage deals in ‘baffling’ moveIt was unclear on Friday how many jobs could be put at risk by the insolvency. The move is the latest setback to befall the Barclay family, which was once among the…

JD Wetherspoon hopes to soon open its 1,000th pub in the UK after reporting another leap in profits.The chain currently has more than 800 branches but says its “best estimate” is the potential for around 200 more in the coming years. It comes as the pub giant revealed that its pre-tax profits soared to £36m in the six months to the end of January – up eightfold from the £4.6m it made during the same period the year before.Bar sales increased by 11.6%, while food sales grew by 7.6%.The total number of Wetherspoon pubs peaked at 955 back in December…

The former chief executive of South African multinational retailer Steinhoff was told he would be arrested shortly before he was found fatally injured, police have said.South Africa’s Financial Sector Conduct Authority fined Markus Jooste almost £20m on Wednesday for false accounting – the same day a warrant was issued for his arrest.He was expected to hand himself in, along with former colleague Stephanus Grobler, who was also subject to a warrant, and appear in court on Friday.”The allegations include, among others, fraud, a pattern of racketeering activities and contravention of Financial Markets Act against Steinhoff International Holdings,” police said. Image:…

Plans by Vodafone and Three to merge could lead to higher prices for millions of mobile phone users, the competition watchdog has warned.The proposed £15bn deal, announced last year, would bring 27 million customers together under a single provider. But the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said it could lead to “higher prices and reduced quality” because it risks reducing rivalry between operators.Money blog: Where house prices and rents are going up, and where they’re fallingIt comes after the regulator carried out an initial review into the deal, which would create the UK’s largest mobile network. The CMA has now…