BUSINESS LIVE: Abu Dhabi group buys London developer; Dominos Pizza firm faces takeover; House prices rise for third month in a row

Jeremy Hunt's autumn statement proved the Chancellor understands the needs of Britain's wealth creators, business leaders say.

Last week he unveiled 110 initiatives to boost business investment by £20 billion within ten years.

PwC has been fined £5.5 million after US regulators found more than a thousand employees in China and Hong Kong had cheated in exams.

Staff at two of the Big Four firm's subsidiaries were accused of “extensively” sharing answers to internal training tests designed to bring them up to US standards.

Dr. Martens has posted its fourth profit warning this year as its US operations struggle.

The bootmaker said profits fell 55 per cent to £25.8m in the six months to the end of September, with performance across the Atlantic a particular sore point.

London-listed shares opened brightly this morning, with shares in industrial metal miners lifting the FTSE 100 on higher metal prices and positive Chinese data.

A private survey shows that Chinese factory activity unexpectedly increased in November, pushing mining companies exposed to China up 2.4 percent.

Looking ahead, a reading of the November 9:30 a.m. S&P Global/CIPS manufacturing (PMI) will be on investors' watchlists.

Remarks from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, due later in the day, will also be on the radar.

AstraZeneca will halt two late-stage studies looking at the potential benefits of its drug Lokelma in the treatment of hyperkalemia across the cardiorenal spectrum. The drug manufacturer's shares rose 1.5 percent.

The government has been urged to investigate Saudi Arabia's attack on Heathrow as campaigners attack the move as “whitewashing” the country's questionable human rights record.

Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund, which includes Newcastle United FC, this week agreed to pay Spanish infrastructure giant Ferrovial £1 billion for a 10 percent stake in west London airport.

House prices rose slightly in November due to an improving mortgage market, Nationwide reported today, but the increase was due to a statistical quirk.

Although Britain's largest housing association recorded a 0.2 percent increase in the average house price on its index, this was due to seasonal adjustments.

The unadjusted average house price even fell slightly from £259,423 to £258,557, Nationwide's house price index showed.

Nevertheless, the third monthly increase in a row signals signs of stabilization in the index, with house prices now falling just 2 percent per year.

Robert Gardner, Nationwide's chief xconomist, said: 'Britain house prices rose 0.2% in November after taking into account seasonal effects.

'This was the third consecutive monthly increase and resulted in an improvement in the annual growth rate of house prices from -3.3 percent in October to -2.0 percent.

'While this remains weak, it is the strongest result in nine months.'

The future of

The billionaire's diatribe came as major companies continued to boycott the social media site formerly known as Twitter after a report last month found tweets from companies like Apple were juxtaposed with racist content.

Companies like Disney, Apple and Comcast have cut ties with X over the claims, as well as controversial tweets from Musk himself. But late Wednesday, Musk pushed back against the mass exodus of advertisers.

AstraZeneca will halt two late-stage studies looking at the potential benefits of its drug Lokelma in the treatment of hyperkalemia across the cardiorenal spectrum.

Hyperkalemia (HK) is a chronic condition characterized by high potassium levels in the blood.

The therapy, which provides rapid potassium reduction and durable potassium control, is approved for the treatment of a broader HK patient population in 56 countries worldwide.

The British-Swedish drugmaker scrapped the two trials due to significantly longer enrollment timelines and low event rates, respectively.

“The decision to stop the studies is not due to safety concerns and the positive benefit-risk balance of Lokelma does not change in the approved indication,” AstraZeneca said in a statement.

The board of London-listed franchisee Domino's Pizza for Turkey, Georgia and Azerbaijan has condemned an “unsolicited and opportunistic” takeover attempt by India's Jubilant Foodworks.

DP Eurasia, which filed for bankruptcy in Russia in August, saw Jubilant Foodworks build up a 53.52 percent stake in the company.

Jubilant Foodworks has indicated that it intends to make an offer at an offer price of 85p per DP Eurasia ordinary share.

The DP Eurasia board said on Friday: 'DP Eurasia has worked operationally openly and constructively with Jubilant Foodworks and recognizes the value it brings.

'However, the Board of Directors is extremely disappointed that Jubilant Foodworks has decided to proceed in this unsolicited and opportunistic manner and without first agreeing to terms that the Board of Directors could endorse as being in the best interests of all stakeholders.

'The Board is committed to protecting the interests of the Company's minority shareholders and other stakeholders and continues to advise shareholders against taking any action and will set out its position in a further update early next week.'

BP's search for a CEO is expected to continue into next year.

The oil company has been in turmoil since Bernard Looney resigned in September shares have fallen by 9 percent, while competitor Shell has gained 2 percent.

Murray Auchincloss, previously Chief Financial Officer, is filling the role of acting Chief Executive and there is speculation he will get the official job, but reports suggest a decision won't be made until 2024.

Abu Dhabi-based Aldar Properties has bought London-based developer London Square for an enterprise value of around £230 million, with the group's first acquisition outside the Middle East aimed at developing 'larger and prime locations in central London' to achieve.

The companies said the transaction should also have a positive impact on revenue, given the opportunities to cross-sell within their respective customer bases.

Founded in 2010, London Square is widely known for its Nine Elms development, located near Battersea Power Station.

The development includes more than 750 luxury homes, affordable housing and 21,500 square meters of commercial and retail space.

Aldar is 25% owned by Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund Mubadala Investment Company and 26% by the International Holding Company, part of a business empire overseen by Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed al-Nahyan, the UAE's national security adviser and brother of the president.