Digital services tax could fund business rate freeze amid pub and dining ‘crisis’. A coalition of Britain’s biggest restaurant and pub owners has urged the Chancellor to tackle the “crisis in hospitality and the high street” with “root-and-branch reform” of the tax system, including a freeze on business rates and a levy on tech giants. In a letter to Philip Hammond seen by The Daily Telegraph, hospitality companies including Slug and Lettuce owner Stonegate, Pizza Express and Wagamama call for a tax on internet giants to be included in his Budget.
Apple in talks with BT over pay-TV partnership. Apple is in talks with BT Group (BT.A) over a partnership designed to boost the push of both companies into pay-TV, The Daily Telegraph can reveal. It is understood that the two sides are in early discussions over a deal that would make BT’s mobile brand EE a major distributor of Apple TV set-top boxes. The telecoms operator would offer the technology to EE broadband customers pre-loaded with apps to deliver BT Sport and channels from other broadcasters.
City analyst house Edison Research is exploring a sale amid claims the gold rush it anticipated from new EU trading rules has failed to materialise. Sources told The Daily Telegraph that the company has been sounding out interest among buyers after failing to see “the uplift that they expected” from so-called Mifid II trading rules, which came into force earlier this year.
Lloyds wealth management close to tie-up with Schroders. Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) is close to a deal to fold its £13bn wealth management unit into a new venture with investment giant Schroders (SDR). The proposed tie-up would see two of the City’s biggest players join forces, with Lloyds benefiting from its new partner’s technology and investment management experience and Schroders gaining access to the vast customer network of the country’s biggest high-street bank. A deal would come in the form of a joint venture 50.1% owned by Lloyds, according to Sky News, which first reported the deal. It would be the first part of a three-pronged alliance between the two financial blue chips that would also include Schroders taking on a £109bn investment management contract from Lloyds’s insurance and pensions company Scottish Widows, which is currently held by Standard Life Aberdeen (SLA).
Questor: Standard Chartered (STAN) looks safe as houses – but safety doesn’t mean growth. Avoid
