Good morning. Today we're talking about Burberry’s demotion, Rightmove takeover talk and PwC’s office recall.

Big Stories

Burberry out of fashion

British luxury fashion brand Burberry is set to exit the FTSE 100, marking a significant decline for the company. Over the past year, Burberry's stock price has dropped by 70% making it the worst-performing company in the top tier index. The demotion to the FTSE 250 follows a series of strategic missteps and a weakening global luxury market. Burberry has had four CEOs and three designers in the last decade, leading to a lack of strategic direction. The company's reliance on the Chinese market has been impacted by economic slowdown and COVID-related disruptions. The broader luxury sector has also faced declining consumer demand due to rising inflation and economic uncertainty.

Rightmove takeover talk

REA Group, an Australian real estate listings company majority-owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp, has expressed interest in acquiring Rightmove, the UK's leading online property portal. This potential takeover has sent Rightmove's shares soaring, as investors anticipate the benefits of a combined global real estate company. A deal would boost growth for REA, the largest player in Australia's online property space which has already developed a foothold in Asian countries including India. Rightmove, on the other hand, has benefited from the strength of its lettings business amid a prolonged weakness in the home sales market. While no formal offer has been made, REA Group has indicated its intention to explore a potential takeover and under City rules, the company has until 30 September to make a formal bid.

PwC’s office recall

PwC UK announced that from next year it will begin tracking the working location of its 26,000 staff to ensure that they spend “a minimum of three days a week” in the office or at client sites. This stricter requirement marks a significant shift from the Big Four accounting firm’s previous more flexible approach to remote work. The new policy aims to foster in-person collaboration, strengthen client relationships and promote a more connected work environment. Earlier this year, rival firm EY began reviewing the swipe-card entry data collected by its turnstiles to track how often employees were coming into the office. Londoners now work just 2.7 days a week in the office on average and have been slower to return to the office than those in other global cities such as Paris, Singapore and New York, research by the Centre for Cities thinktank revealed.

Elsewhere...

Saved from closure: More than 100 Body Shop stores have been saved from closure after a deal was struck to rescue one of Britain's best known high street chains.

Pricing pressure: Royal Mail has announced it will hike the price of first-class stamps by 30p to £1.65 due to "very real and urgent" financial challenges.

High street revival: Topshop could return to the high street after Asos handed control of the fashion brand to the billionaire behind Vero Moda and Jack & Jones in a £135m deal.

Paying dividends: The owner of OnlyFans has paid himself $631m over a period of almost two years as traffic on the adult online platform continued to increase.

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£1 trillion

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