Labour's gambling tax crackdown pushes William Hill owner toward £225m sale
Among the biggest letdowns of this Labour government is the failure to fulfil its growth mission.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves talks a fine game on this core objective and has gleefully seized on upbeat output data, published ahead of the Iran war, as evidence her policies are working.
How much better life would be for businesses and households if the consequences of policies were properly thought through.
Reeves wants to see the primacy of the London Stock Exchange as Europe's market of choice restored. But Britain's tax regime is a huge barrier.
Labour clearly abhors gambling and seized upon betting taxes as an easy source of revenue. Britain's gambling industry is much changed, yet it has been a pioneer in online sports betting.
Evoke, owner of high-street bookie William Hill and online wagering outfit 888, has been so punished by the Government's onslaught on betting that it is heading for ownership by Athens-listed Bally's Intralot.
It would be a humiliating fate for William Hill, which in the 1960s was Britain's biggest bookmaker and is now in danger of being sold for just £225million.
That is around half the valuation at the time Reeves launched her assault on gaming and roughly a tenth of the value put on the 888 deal for Hill.
Evoke has only itself to blame for being slow off the mark in going global in the manner of Paddy Power owner Flutter and Entain, which owns the late Queen's bookie, Ladbrokes.
Labour's tax assault has been described by Evoke chief executive Per Widerstrom as 'highly damaging' to jobs in a nation that loves a bet.
The same careless attitude towards UK-listed enterprises also exists when it comes to highly indebted buyouts.
A recent Commons hearing witnessed the hash which 'Czech Sphinx' Daniel Kretinsky made of the Royal Mail.
Yet the private equity barons keep on coming for good, innovative companies. Latest under siege is the innovative surgical group Advanced Medical Solutions.
It is just the kind of growth company that should thrive as a listed business, along with leading-edge pharma groups such as GSK and wound specialist Smith & Nephew.
Don't expect the Government to care.
The shameful role of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the normally fair-minded Takeover Panel in the great siege of the investment trusts has leaders of the industry furious.
Hedge fund Saba's boss Boaz Weinstein previously refused to reach a deal with Impax Environmental Markets (IEM).
This led IEM chairman Glen Suarez to pull the emergency cord and launch a tender offer at net asset value.
But instead of remaining as the dominant investor in the rump, the Saba chief decided to take his cash and run.
The outcome is bad for the future of investment trusts, bad for retail investors in UK closed funds, bad for climate change and a blot on the reputation of City regulators.
Yes, retail shareholders on helpful platforms have been allowed an exit and will get their money back less advice and transaction costs running at around 2 per cent of the fund.
Believers in green investment have been turfed out and some 20 per cent of investors left in no-man's land.
They are in a trust too small to make sense, because investment platforms failed to give them the chance to vote.
As for the FCA, it is busy consulting. By the time it has made up its mind Britain's vibrant closed funds will have been eviscerated by plundering financial players.
New language has entered the Treasury lexicon. Blazing fires have long been the backdrop for Oval Office encounters when the President meets overseas or distinguished visitors.
I don't ever recall seeing one at Number 11 or in the Chancellor's office at the Treasury.
That hasn't prevented the Treasury under Rachel Reeves from inaugurating them as a means of dousing hostile questions.
Last week Reeves appeared for a 'fireside chat' on ever upbeat markets channel CNBC.
This week there will be several more starting with Chief Secretary to the Treasury James Murray's chat with the Institute of Government. Anyone hoping for new insights on defence spending or welfare cuts will be burned.
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