Crypto News: The London Rush: Thames gets Class A nod

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Morning, I'm Louise Moon from Bloomberg UK's breaking news team, bringing you up to speed on today's top business stories.

Thames Water is one step closer to buying itself more time to find a (semi-)permanent solution to its problems. Stay with me.

One set of the utility's creditors (the Class A bunch) have supported the heavily indebted utility's plans to raise £3 billion in emergency funding. The 75% that backed the proposal, including Elliott Investment Management and Silver Point Capital, also endorsed plans to access up to £400 million of cash reserves.

If approved, that £3 billion isn't a magic wand to solve all of its problems, but it would buy Thames Water more time to stave off insolvency, restructure, raise fresh equity and avoid temporary nationalisation.

The plan, however, needs court approval. Thames Water is aiming for an initial hearing on December 17.

Plus, some creditors aren't happy and could frustrate the process. A step in the right direction, but not quite out of the woods.

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.

Dogger Bank A — SSE's flagship wind farm and the world's largest offshore wind park — will now be completed later than expected, in the back half of next year, due to a slow installation of turbines. CEO Alistair Phillips Davies is retiring after 11 years.

Engineering firm Smiths Group is resuming a share buyback and increasing the total amount to £150 million. That's as it raised full-year forecasts on a record order book.

A "backdrop of geopolitical instability" is boosting demand for Babcock, as defence budgets grow.

Plus, vacancy on London's prime shopping streets (Oxford Street, Bond Street, Regent Street) is at the lowest since 2019 after a new type of deal that allows landlords to lower rent, boosting demand. It marks a post-pandemic brick-and-mortar recovery.

PSA, a correction: yesterday's newsletter should have clarified that the buyer of Kerry Dairy Ireland was a co-operative associated with the company, not the high street's Co-Op Group.

Trump picks Musk and Ramaswamy to lead government efficiency effort.
China ramps up contact with global banks for feedback on stimulus.
7-Eleven parent mulls taking itself private in deal worth $58 billion.

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

We've had warnings about the impact of the employers' national insurance contribution and minimum wage increase announced in the budget from across the retail spectrum. But nowhere appears to be angrier than pubs and restaurants.

JD Wetherspoon said that the changes in the budget will add £60 million to its costs. Fuller Smith & Turner was more emotive about it today, with Chairman Michael Turner saying the changes are a "direct attack on those labour-intensive industries that are the lifeblood of our economy."

However you slice it, earnings estimates from the hospitality sector are going to have to fall. And the question will become how they will cope with the extra burden. Job cuts? Delaying new openings or closing pubs? Pricier pints?

Peel Hunt analysts think the scale of the cost increases from the budget are "too great to be fully absorbed by either the companies or consumers." So prepare for a rocky period ahead for the pub industry.

— Sam Unsted

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

Burberry's first-half retail sales are expected to slump in line with a weak luxury sector, while margins will likely be pressured by higher design costs as the brand transitions under new CEO Josh Schulman.

Roger Ver is has been charged by US prosecutors with evading more than $48 million in taxes for selling $240 million in crypto tokens. But what is Ver known as to his online followers?

Ver, a US expatriate, awaits a Spanish judge's decision over whether he will be extradited to America to face tax fraud charges. Photographer: Anthony Kwan/Bloomberg

[Yesterday's answer: Jaguar Land Rover is stopping selling any new cars in the UK until 2026, when it'll come back with just high-end electric vehicles.]

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