Crypto News: The London Rush: Handbags at dawn

Hi, I'm Louise from Bloomberg UK's breaking news team, catching you up on this morning's business stories.

Billionaire Mike Ashley isn't known to shy away from a fight. His retail empire Frasers has a reputation for its willingness to enter into boardroom battles — the backdrop to a trophy cabinet including Sports Direct, Jack Wills, Matches Fashion, Evans Cycles and more.

Get your popcorn: another heated takeover battle may be about to start.

Mulberry has rejected an £83 million takeover approach from Frasers, saying it is confident new CEO Andrea Baldo can turn the ship around. The handbag maker also intends to push on with a proposed £10 million share issue — even though it angered Frasers, which owns 37% of the company, due to a lack of advanced warning.

Shares dipped, adding to an almost 40% fall over the past year, partly on a global slump in luxury spending.

Will the offer rejection be enough to keep Frasers away?

In its own words on Monday, Frasers said it "will not accept another Debenhams situation where a perfectly viable business is run into administration".

What's your take? Ping me on X, LinkedIn or drop me an email at lmoon13@bloomberg.net. Oh, and do subscribe to Bloomberg.com for unlimited access to trusted business journalism on the UK, and beyond.

Pfizer has raised £2.4 billion as it trims its stake in Haleon, the company that was formed by merging the US drug giant and GSK's consumer health units. GSK has already fully exited, reaping almost £4 billion.

While noting ongoing economic uncertainty, Greggs seems alright. Sales rose and it's on track to open up to 160 net new shops this year. At this rate, there will soon be 3,000 Greggs in the UK (imagine...)

Berry Bros. & Rudd, the UK's oldest wine and spirits merchant, is expanding into the wine auction business after 325 years. The first online sale will be later this month with 500 lots. Cheers to that.

But when it comes to the City, looming tax hikes and regulations mean business chiefs are the most pessimistic they've been about the economy since late 2022, just after Liz Truss's short (yet memorable) stint as prime minister.

Israel starts 'targeted ground raids' in Lebanon, despite calls for restraint.
Major strikes shut ports with capacity to handle half of US trade volumes.
Michael Dell unloads $1.2 billion in second big Dell stock sale, after AI boost.

Here's your daily snap analysis from Bloomberg UK's Markets Today blog:

The latest shop-price index from the British Retail Consortium shows overall prices are falling, but dig into the numbers and there's reason for a little caution.

Overall deflation in prices was driven entirely by clothing and furniture. As the data was collected at the start of September, that's likely to be end-of-season discounts. The question for retailers, on the high street or those selling bigger ticket items for the home, is how much discounting had to happen to clear inventory after a summer when the weather didn't play ball.

And food prices were shown to be rising in the report. Though there is very fierce competition between grocers in the UK, some of the price increases are out of their control, notably those driven by agricultural commodities suffering from a changing climate — think cooking oils, cocoa and coffee.

Still, in spite of some dips in confidence in recent surveys, consumers have remained very resilient to cost-of-living pressures. Bake-Off and Strictly are both on, so winter is officially coming. Now we'll see if the resilience holds up as a greater burden from energy prices butts up against still-solid wage growth and a potential rate cut in November. And, of course, the minor matter of the budget.

— Sam Unsted

Check Bloomberg UK's Markets Today blog for updates all day.

JD Sports reports interim numbers. It last month reiterated full year guidance on a return to growth in the second quarter, so Bloomberg Intelligence says the focus now will be on whether athleisure demand is rebounding in the autumn-winter season.

The final blast furnace at Port Talbot closed yesterday, bringing more than 100 years of traditional steelmaking in south Wales to an end. It leaves two blast furnaces in the UK, which are also set to close in the transition to greener steelmaking. Where are those remaining two?

Port Talbot steel works. Photographer: Hollie Adams/Bloomberg

[Yesterday's answer: Harry Potter's Professor McGonagall, played by the late Dame Maggie Smith, taught transfiguration at Hogwarts.]

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