PRESS DIGEST-British Business – Oct 26

Oct 26 (Reuters) – The following are the top stories on the business pages of British newspapers. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not voucher for their accuracy.

The Times

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is considering a delay to next week’s planned statement setting out how the government will close a 40 billion pound ($45.79 billion) black hole in the country’s finances.

Made.com has been unable to find a buyer, raising questions about the troubled furniture retailer’s future, including the prospect of its shares being suspended.

The Guardian

Rishi Sunak pledged to bring “integrity and accountability” as prime minister on his first day in Downing Street but gambled by restoring Suella Braverman to the Home Office less than a week after she was forced to resign for a security breach.

Whistleblower Mark MacGann, who revealed how Uber Technologies Inc flouted the law and secretly lobbied governments around the world, has called on European lawmakers to take on the “disproportionate” and “undemocratic” power held by tech companies.

The Telegraph

The government’s borrowing costs have fallen back to levels last reached before Liz Truss’s disastrous mini-Budget, handling Rishi Sunak a potential boost as he prepares to set out plans to confront the economic crisis gripping Britain.

Marks and Spencer Group Plc has vowed to abandon its flagship Marble Arch store if plans to knock down the building are blocked.

Sky News

Energy supplier So Energy has appointed advisers from Interpath to raise more than 50 million pounds to fund

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German business confidence stuck at lowest since May 2020

BERLIN (AP) — German business confidence is stuck at its lowest level in more than two years as energy worries fuel expectations of a difficult winter, a closely watched survey showed Tuesday.

The Ifo institute said its monthly confidence index, a prominent health indicator for Europe’s biggest economy, edged down to 84.3 points in October from 84.4 last month. That’s the lowest level since May 2020, but it was still a better showing than economists’ forecast of a bigger slip to 83.5.

Managers’ assessment of their current situation was a bit worse than in September, though their expectations for the next six months brightened slightly.

“They are still worried about the coming months. The German economy is facing a difficult winter,” Ifo said in a statement, in which it added that “sentiment in the German economy continues to be grim.”

In the manufacturing sector, Ifo said, “order books are still full, although fewer and fewer new orders are coming in.” And it said that expectations in the retail sector “remain markedly bleak.”

Germany’s year-on-year inflation rate hit 10% last month and the government recently said it expects gross domestic product to shrink for three consecutive quarters.

Lawmakers last week cleared the way for the government to provide up to 200 billion euros ($195 billion) in subsidies to households and businesses through 2024 to ease the strain of high energy prices. However, the government has yet to finalize the details of that plan.

Officials say Germany is well-placed to get through

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