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The chancellor will need to spend an extra £20bn by the end of the parliament to maintain public investment at its present levels.

Rachel Reeves has promised to unveil a “budget for investment” next week, while reversing the “years of underinvestment” overseen by the previous Conservative government.

However, this would involve taking on billions of pounds of fresh debt if, as is widely expected, the government chooses to borrow more to invest.

Under plans inherited by the previous government, public investment as a share of national income (excluding student loans) was due to hit 2.1% of GDP at the end of this financial year before falling sharply during the rest of the parliament.

In its manifesto, Labour outlined an extra £5bn of investment plans.

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However, this is not sufficient to reverse the downward trend and would see public investment as a share of GDP settle at 1.6% by the end of the parliament.

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Earlier this month, the government also pledged an additional £22bn for carbon capture but said it would be delivered over a 25-year timeline, so it has not been included in the analysis.

In order to maintain public investment as a share of national income at its 25-year average of 1.7% of GDP, the government would have to borrow an extra £10bn.

It would involve an additional £20bn to maintain it at its present levels (2.1% of GDP), according to economists at the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS).

What counts as investment?

Government investment can be wide-ranging.

It includes building new schools, buying new NHS equipment and spending on building new roads and railways. Britain has a shaky track record when it comes to delivering these types of projects.

Low comparative investment

Analysis by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) thinktank shows that public investment in the UK remains below average within the G7 club of advanced economies public investment.

Dr George Dibb, associate director at IPPR, said: “The UK has had chronically low levels of public investment since the 1970s, this has left us with crumbling infrastructure, out-of-date technology in our public services and undermined the foundations of our economy.

“Compared to other G7 economies we’ve never even been average.”

“Rachel Reeves has the chance to turn this around, however she needs to grapple with severe cuts to public investment locked in by the previous government,” he added.

The picture is even worse when business investment is included in the analysis – Britain languishes at the bottom of the table.

The chancellor said she is prepared to borrow more to fund this type of investment spending, something she believes is a critical part of her mission to deliver more economic growth.

In her conference speech in September, she said: “We find ourselves at the very bottom of the G7 league table for economy-wide investment as a share of our GDP. And we must change that.”

Reeves tweaked her self-imposed fiscal rules – which required debt to be falling as a share of GDP by the fifth year of the parliament – in order to manage this extra borrowing.

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How to invest more

Economists have long argued that the current system prevents governments from making long-term investments that could grow the economy.

Ms Reeves is expected to use a new measure of debt, “public sector net financial liabilities”.

This is a wider measure of the state balance sheet which takes into account the government’s assets – such as hospitals, schools and its student loan book – as well as its liabilities and effectively creates more room for borrowing by reclassifying some debt as assets.

This gives a broader view of the government’s fiscal position and could unlock more than £50bn in additional headroom, giving the chancellor sufficient space to overturn the downward trend in public investment.

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However, this change would not impact the government’s ability to service its debt and economists have warned the chancellor against using up all of that extra headroom in case it triggers a perverse reaction in the bond markets.

With public sector net debt at its highest level relative to GDP since the early 1960s, the IFS said that such a move could trigger a buyer’s strike in the bond markets.

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Music video streamer ROXi lands backing from US broadcasters

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Music video streamer ROXi lands backing from US broadcasters

A music video-streaming service whose shareholders include the U2 bassist Adam Clayton will this week announce that it has sealed a management buyout after months of talks.

Sky News understands that the assets of MagicWorks, which trades as ROXi, have been sold to a new company called FastStream Interactive (FSI), with backing from two major US-based broadcasters.

Sources said that Nasdaq-listed Sinclair and New York Stock Exchange-listed Gray Media were among the new shareholders in FSI, with the launch of new interactive TV Channels in the US expected to take place shortly.

The deal, which has involved raising millions of pounds of new equity from new and existing investors, has resulted in previous creditors of the business being repaid in full, according to the sources.

Its search for funding from the US was seen as vital because of the programme to roll out its FastScreen technology.

Founded in 2014, ROXi described itself as the world’s first ‘made-for-television’ service, allowing viewers to stream millions of songs and download hundreds of thousands of karaoke tracks.

Its broadcast channels allow viewers to skip through content in which they have no interest.

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Simon Cowell, Kylie Minogue and Robbie Williams were among the prominent music industry figures who had previously been named as ROXi investors.

Financiers including Guy Hands and Jim Mellon are said to be part of the new ownership structure.

In response to an enquiry from Sky News, Rob Lewis, FSI chief executive, said: “The new technology, FastStream, will revolutionise broadcast TV.

“For the first time in history, consumers tuning into a normal TV channel will find they automatically start at the beginning of the programme, and that they are able to skip, pause or search, even though they are watching normal broadcast TV”.

Begbies Traynor Group, the professional services firm, and Rockefeller Capital Management advised on the process.

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Concierge firm founded by Queen’s nephew hunts buyer

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Concierge firm founded by Queen's nephew hunts buyer

Quintessentially, the luxury concierge service founded by the Queen’s nephew, is in talks to find a buyer months after it warned of “material uncertainty” over its future.

Sky News has learned that the company, which was set up by Sir Ben Elliot and his business partners in 1999, is working with advisers on a process aimed at finding a new owner or investors.

City sources said this weekend that Quintessentially was already in discussions with prospective buyers and was anticipating receipt of a number of firm offers.

Sir Ben, the former Conservative Party co-chairman under Boris Johnson, owns a significant minority stake in the company.

The Quintessentially group operates a number of businesses, although its core activity remains the provision of lifestyle support to high net worth individuals including celebrities, royalty, and leading businesspeople.

It also counts major companies among its clients and offers services such as organising private jet flights and performances by top musicians.

The sale process is being overseen by a firm called Beyond, although further details, including the price that the business might fetch, were unclear on Saturday.

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One insider said parties who had been contacted by Beyond were being offered the option to buy a controlling interest in Quintessentially.

This could be implemented through a combination of the repayment of outstanding loans, an injection of new funding into the business, and the purchase of existing shareholders’ interests, they added.

Quintessentially’s founders, including Sir Ben, are thought to be keen to retain an equity interest in the company after any deal.

In January 2022, newspaper reports suggested that Quintessentially had been put up for sale with a valuation of £140m.

Deloitte, the accountancy firm, was charged with finding a buyer at the time but a transaction failed to materialise.

Sir Ben, who was knighted in Mr Johnson’s resignation honours list, turned to one of Quintessentially’s shareholders for financial support during the pandemic.

World Fuel Services, an energy and aviation services company, is owed £15.5m as well as £3.5m in accrued interest, according to one person close to the process.

The loan is said to include a warrant to convert it into equity upon repayment.

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Quintessentially does not disclose the number or identities of many of its clients, although it said in annual accounts filed at Companies House in January that it had increased turnover to £29.6m in the year to 30 April 2024.

The accounts suggested the company was seeing growth in demand from clients internationally.

“During the last year, we have not only renewed important corporate contracts like Mastercard, but have also expanded by adding new corporate clients like Swiss4 in the UK, R360 in India, and Visa in the Middle East and South America,” they said.

In its experiences and events division, it won a contract to work with the Red Sea Film Festival and to provide corporate concierge services to the Saudi Premier League.

It added that Allianz, the German insurer, BMW, and South African lender Standard Bank were among other clients with which it had signed contracts.

The accounts included the warning of a “risk that the pace and level at which business returns could be materially less than forecast, requiring the group and company to obtain external funding which may not be forthcoming and therefore this creates material uncertainty that may cast ultimately cast doubt about the … ability to continue as a going concern”.

This weekend, a Quintessentially spokesman declined to comment on the sale process.

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Superstar Adele joins backers of music royalties platform Audoo

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Superstar Adele joins backers of music royalties platform Audoo

Adele, the Grammy award-winning artist, has joined the list of music superstars investing in Audoo, a music technology company which helps artists to receive fairer royalty payments.

Sky News has learnt that the British musician and Adam Clayton, the U2 bassist, have injected money into Audoo as part of a £7m funding round.

The pair join Sir Elton John, Sir Paul McCartney and ABBA’s Bjorn Ulvaeus as shareholders in the company.

Changes to Audoo’s share register were filed at Companies House in recent days.

Audoo, which was established by former musician Ryan Edwards, is trying to address the perennial issue of public performance royalties, in order to ensure musicians are rewarded when their work is played in public venues.

Mr Edwards is reported to have been motivated to set up the company after hearing his own music played at football stadia and in bars, without any payment for it.

Estimates suggest that artists lose out on billions of dollars of unaccounted royalties each year.

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London-based Audoo uses a monitoring device – which it calls an Audio Meter – to recognise songs played in public venues, and which is said to have a 99% success rate.

It has struck what it describes as industry-first partnerships with organisations including the music licensing company PPL/PRS to track and report songs played in public performance locations such as cafes, hair salons, shops and gyms.

“At Audoo, we’re incredibly proud of the continued support we’re receiving as we work to make music royalties fairer and more transparent for artists and rights-holders around the world through our pioneering technology,” Mr Edwards told Sky News in a statement on Friday.

“We have successfully reached £7m in our latest funding round.

“This funding marks a pivotal moment for Audoo as we focus on our growth in North America and across Europe, bringing us closer to our mission of revolutionising the global royalty landscape.”

Sources said the new capital would be used partly to finance Audoo’s growth in the US.

The latest funding round takes the total amount of money raised by the company since its launch to more than $30m.

Mr Edwards has spoken of his desire to establish a major presence in Europe and the US because of their status as the world’s biggest recorded music markets.

Adele’s management company did not respond to an enquiry from Sky News.

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