Today's business and finance round up 29th June 2022
Lottery sales take a hit as Brits cut back spending
29th June 2022
Bite-sized business news from the UK and beyond
Good morning Britain is getting greyer. New census figures for England and Wales show that more people than ever are aged over 65 with the number growing by 6.3% in the past decade. The Queen’s longevity is no fluke, either - there are more than half a million people aged over 90. You can check out how much your area has aged since 2011 here.
Today's stories
Unlucky: Lottery sales take a hit as Brits cut back spending
Called off: Boots owner scraps sale plan
CONSUMERLottery sales take a hit as Brits cut back spending
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RETAILBoots owner scraps sale plan
What happened?Yesterday Boots owner Walgreens announced that it has ditching its plans to sell the pharmacy chain after bidders struggled to raise funds amid turbulent financial markets.How did we get here: Boots was put up for sale by its American health group owners Walgreens in January and was originally expected to fetch for as much as £6bn. The 173-year-old high street retailer had drawn interest from some of the biggest investors in the world including private equity houses who rely on debt to fund transactions.This year central banks worldwide have raised interest rates to combat soaring inflation, this has increased the cost of borrowing making debt-funded deals harder to get across the line. Also the growing prospect of a slowdown in the global economy and the war in Ukraine has made lenders more nervous of doing a deal amid so much uncertainty.Financing wasn’t the only issue with buying BootsBoots has one of the largest pension funds in the UK. The £8bn private retirement scheme requires intensive funding which a new owner would have been on the hook for.What next: Walgreens insisted that the pulled sale didn’t reflect badly on the performance of Boots, saying it was growing and performing well. It said it would invest in the business and was “extremely excited for the future”.
Stat of the day
The population of England and Wales has grown by more than 3.5 million (6.3%) in 10 years to 59.6 million
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