BUSINESS LIVE: nationwide to buy virgin money; ITV’s profits plummet; Aviva plans a £300 million share buyback

Why fix a load trap when you can throw it away?

The Chancellor offered himself a golden opportunity within the budget to solve the illogical mess our tax system has ended up in.

Plans for a nuclear power station in North Wales appear to be revived almost four years after the project was shelved.

Jeremy Hunt said the government has bought the Wylfa site in Anglesey and a second in Oldbury-on-Severn in south Gloucestershire from Hitachi for £160 million.

Nigel Farage warned yesterday that his debanking row with NatWest is ‘far from over’ as the Chancellor confirmed plans to sell shares in the lender to the public this summer.

Jeremy Hunt said he will press ahead with a multi-billion pound retail offer to offload some of the almost 32 percent stake in NatWest still held by the government.

Nationwide Building Society has agreed to buy Virgin Money UK in an all-cash deal worth around £2.9 billion, creating one of Britain’s largest banks.

The deal will see Nationwide remain a construction company, the lender said, but with a broader range of products and services, and greater scale and financial strength.

White Van Man was among those given a much-needed boost after the Chancellor raised the level at which businesses must pay VAT.

The threshold was increased from £85,000 in turnover to £90,000, helping everyone from painters and decorators to florists and tea shop owners across the UK.

A significant increase in business rates is set to happen after pleas for help from the hospitality industry and the High Street fell on deaf ears.

The levy – levied on business premises such as shops, cafes, offices and warehouses – will increase by 6.7 percent as of April 1.

Marks and Spencer’s first female boss is stepping down.

Katie Bickerstaffe was appointed co-chief executive two years ago and has helped oversee a major turnaround in the High Street giant’s fortunes.

Astrazeneca will inject £650 million into Britain’s leading pharmaceutical industry, delivering a major boost to the economy.

The FTSE 100 group will invest £450 million in researching, developing and manufacturing new vaccines at its factory in Speke, Liverpool.

The British space sector has received extra money for small businesses. The Chancellor plans to invest £10 million in the SaxaVord Spaceport in the Shetland Islands, which hopes to send satellites into space by the end of this year.

Nationwide Building Society has agreed to buy Virgin Money UK in an all-cash deal worth around £2.9 billion, creating one of Britain’s largest banks.

The deal will see Nationwide remain a construction company, the lender said, but with a broader range of products and services, and greater scale and financial strength.

The 220p per share offer, which consists of a cash consideration of 118p and a dividend of 2p per share, comes at a premium of more than 38 per cent to Virgin Money’s undisturbed share price on March 6.

The combined group will control total assets of over £366 billion, and total lending and advances of almost £284 billion, representing the UK’s second largest provider of mortgages and savings.

Chairman of Nationwide Building Society Kevin Parry said: ‘A combination with Virgin Money would accelerate Nationwide’s strategy and create a stronger and more diverse modern mutual society.

‘The combination would increase Nationwide’s size and financial strength, put us in a stronger position to continue to provide Fairer Share Payments to eligible Nationwide members, and offer mortgage and savings rates that are better than the market average. ‘

Nationwide, Britain’s largest building society, highlighted the scale opportunities offered by Virgin Money’s position as the country’s sixth largest retail bank.

It also noted its credit card business, which commands an 8.6 percent market share, and £9 billion of existing business credit balances.

Nationwide said it does not intend to make any “material changes” to Virgin Money’s 7,300-strong full-time workforce in the short term and that it would “safeguard the existing contractual and legal rights of Virgin Money employees, including pension schemes and dismissal policy. ‘.

Debbie Crosbie, Nationwide CEO, added: ‘We believe the combination will create a stronger and more diverse company that will be better positioned to deliver value to our members and customers, both now and in the future.”

Virgin Money said the deal would see the group benefit from Nationwide’s “scale and pace of investment”, as well as the construction company’s ability to leverage its “capabilities and strengths”.