Property
Barnstaple Retail Park sold for £8.15m, 20% above its 2015 price
AEW UK REIT bought the 51,000 sq ft B&Q-anchored park for £6.79m in October 2015. It is selling now because the next lease event is not until 2029.
Report on Jobs shows permanent hiring fell in October for the first time in four months
The KPMG and REC survey of around 400 recruitment agencies found temp billings also fell, for the first time since March, while demand for staff dropped at the slowest pace in more than two years.
Northern Ireland Office awards £1m Community Partnership Fund grant to three charities
Co-operation Ireland, Rural Action and NICVA will run On the Radar, a three-year programme of mentoring and funding training aimed at small grassroots groups, particularly in rural areas.
More from the newsroom
Markets & Money
UK GDP first estimate for July to September due on Thursday
The ONS publishes third-quarter GDP, September's monthly figure, trade and business investment on 12 November, a week after the Bank of England raised Bank Rate to 4%.
Property
Severn Stoke flood scheme is finished ahead of winter
The Environment Agency and Worcestershire County Council scheme, built to protect a village where 18 properties, the church, the pub and the A38 have flooded, finished ahead of its Christmas target.
Wellbeing
MHRA aims for digital medicine information by 2030 under new patient involvement plan
The medicines regulator's plan to 2030 sets out how patients will feed into benefit-risk assessments, safety reviews and patient leaflets, and how it will align what it asks for in patient evidence with NICE.
Tech
UK military satellite Titania reaches orbit as MOD trials sensors to watch over British satellites
The satellite, which weighs around 100kg and was built in Hampshire under a £9.5 million contract, is the second in the ISTARI constellation. A separate trial will test three ground sensors in the UK, Australia and Cyprus.
Markets & Money
FTSE 100 closes 1% lower as the AI share sell-off reaches London
Thursday's 5.5% fall in the Nasdaq after the US midterm elections carried into Asia and Europe on Friday, before Wall Street steadied.
Briefing
HMRC late payment interest goes up to 8% from 24 November after the Bank Rate rise
Interest on unpaid Income Tax, VAT, Capital Gains Tax and other main taxes moves to 8.00%, while the rate HMRC pays on overpaid tax rises to 3.00%. Corporation Tax quarterly instalment rates change from 16 November.
Explained
Longer reads on how a system works, and where it is heading next.
Westminster
Culture Secretary orders public interest reports on Sky's planned purchase of ITV's media arm
The CMA will look at competition and Ofcom at media plurality, and the government will bring forward legislation so that the review can also cover on-demand programmes.
Sky's proposed takeover of ITV Media & Entertainment Holdings will now go through a formal public interest review. Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy issued a public interest intervention notice on Wednesday 4 November, having told both companies on 15 October that she was minded to do so.
Markets & Money
Why the Retail Prices Index will change in 2030 and who it affects
From February 2030 the UK's oldest inflation measure will be calculated using the methods behind CPIH. The change is technical, but it will alter payments on pensions, gilts and student loans for years.
The Retail Prices Index has measured the cost of living in the UK since 1947. It is no longer the government's preferred measure of inflation, yet it is still written into contracts, pension rules and government bonds worth hundreds of billions of pounds. In 2030 the…
Briefing
NESO cancels Monday morning electricity margin notice as low wind tightens supply
The system operator asked the market for extra generation on Sunday evening, when its forecast showed a 1,388MW shortfall in spare capacity for Monday morning. By 9.11am the notice had been withdrawn.
- HMRC late payment interest goes up to 8% from 24 November after the Bank Rate rise
- Electric cars take 32.0% of new registrations in October as the market grows 5.4%
Tech
Kainos half-year revenue rises 37% to £268.8m as government digital contracts grow
The UK-headquartered IT group's Digital Services arm grew revenue by 57%, led by public sector and healthcare work, and its Workday software business is about to pass £100m of annual recurring revenue.
- UK military satellite Titania reaches orbit as MOD trials sensors to watch over British satellites
- UKRI puts more than £52m into five hubs building early-diagnosis health technology
Companies
Custodian Property Income REIT buys £11.0m portfolio from eight property syndicates
Investors in eight syndicates run by Lincoln Property Syndicates are swapping their stakes in eight mainly East Midlands shops and industrial units for 10.6m new shares in the listed trust, plus £0.4m in cash.
- Chesnara agrees to buy MetLife's closed UK life book of about 18,000 policies
- Next raises full price sales forecast to £6.03bn as overseas online sales jump 32.2%
Markets & Money
Report on Jobs shows permanent hiring fell in October for the first time in four months
The KPMG and REC survey of around 400 recruitment agencies found temp billings also fell, for the first time since March, while demand for staff dropped at the slowest pace in more than two years.
- UK GDP first estimate for July to September due on Thursday
- FTSE 100 closes 1% lower as the AI share sell-off reaches London
Property
Barnstaple Retail Park sold for £8.15m, 20% above its 2015 price
AEW UK REIT bought the 51,000 sq ft B&Q-anchored park for £6.79m in October 2015. It is selling now because the next lease event is not until 2029.
- Severn Stoke flood scheme is finished ahead of winter
- National Housing Bank deal could bring up to £500m into Greater Manchester housing
Westminster
Northern Ireland Office awards £1m Community Partnership Fund grant to three charities
Co-operation Ireland, Rural Action and NICVA will run On the Radar, a three-year programme of mentoring and funding training aimed at small grassroots groups, particularly in rural areas.
- Public service productivity grew 0.3% in the year to June 2026, ONS estimates
- Culture Secretary orders public interest reports on Sky's planned purchase of ITV's media arm
Living
Experian Boost update lets tenants add rent payments to their credit report
The free open banking tool now sorts current account activity into rent, household bills, buy now pay later and short-term borrowing, and shows how a lender might read it. It reaches all users by the end of November.
- Ministers plan to scrap gas standing charges through Energy Independence Bill
- Government energy help worth about £160 per household in England this year, Treasury estimates
Wellbeing
MHRA awards Innovation Passports to Huntington's, Alzheimer's and lung cancer treatments
Three experimental medicines from Alnylam, BeOne Medicines and Biogen have entered the UK's Innovative Licensing and Access Pathway, which brings the regulator, NICE and the NHS into development early. The next application round runs to 11 February 2027.
- MHRA aims for digital medicine information by 2030 under new patient involvement plan
- RSV and flu hospital admission rates rise in England as Covid admissions fall
Know about a change before it lands?
Businesses, councils, charities and readers tell us about new prices, plans and launches. If it will change what people pay or how they work, we want to hear it.