British Steel’s Chinese owner rejects £500m government aid offer

Published

3 days ago

March 26, 2025

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The Chinese owner of British Steel has rejected a £500m state rescue package in a move which raises fresh doubts about thousands of steel industry jobs.

Sky News has learnt that the offer was made by Jonathan Reynolds, the business secretary, in a letter sent to Jingye Group on Monday.

The proposal – aimed at facilitating the Scunthorpe-based group’s transition to green steel production – follows years of talks aimed at salvaging the future of the UK’s second-biggest producer.

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Sarah Jones, the industry minister, told a committee of MPs on Wednesday afternoon that an offer had been made by the government earlier this week, and it had been rejected by Jingye.

“We are still in talks with them at the moment,” she told the business and trade select committee.

The minister did not disclose the size of the offer, but Whitehall sources confirmed that it was £500m – equivalent to the sum awarded to the larger Tata Steel as part of a £1.25bn package finalised last year.

Government sources said the offer had been calibrated after protracted discussions between ministers, officials and their advisers lasting many months.

However, the £500m package falls well short of the sum that Jingye has been seeking from the government during several rounds of talks since Labour won last summer’s general election.

The Chinese-owned group is thought to have requested £1bn or more from ministers – double the amount handed to Tata Steel, owner of the Port Talbot steelworks in South Wales, last autumn.

The gap between the government’s offer and Jingye’s demands means that thousands of steel jobs could yet be at risk.

British Steel, which was taken over by Jingye in 2020 after a spell in public ownership, employs about 3,500 people at its sites in Scunthorpe, Teesside and elsewhere.

It has been pushing for taxpayer funding to support a transition to green steelmaking by replacing Scunthorpe’s two blast furnaces with cleaner electric arc furnaces.

The rejection of the £500m offer leaves Scunthorpe’s future on a knife edge.

It is unclear whether the government is prepared to increase the amount of money it hands to Jingye, despite Ms Jones’s insistence that discussions are ongoing.

Asked whether British Steel’s blast furnaces would continue operating during negotiations, she said: “Our preference would be for them to keep going; until at the least they have secured the volume of steel imports to keep the mills going.

“Our preference would be that this steel is secured before they close these furnaces.”

Without the injection of funding from government that it had sought, Jingye may argue that its loss-making operations are no longer viable and opt to close the blast furnaces without the financing in place to replace their output.

Reports late last year suggested that nationalisation was an option being explored by ministers.

The government’s proposal comes at a deeply sensitive time for Britain’s steel industry, with fears of swingeing US tariffs exacerbating concerns that the sector’s viability will be put at risk.

Earlier this month, Sharon Graham, general secretary of the Unite union, called on ministers to designate steel as critical national infrastructure: “Our government must act decisively to protect the steel industry and its workers following the announcement of US tariffs.

“This is a matter of national security.

“Given the importance of steel to our economy and our everyday lives it is vital it is designated as critical national infrastructure and rules are introduced to ensure that the public sector always buys UK produced steel.”

Last month, Mr Reynolds published the government’s Plan for Steel consultation, which will include up to £2.5bn in funding for the industry, in line with a commitment in last year’s Labour election manifesto.

“The UK steel industry has a long-term future under this government,” he said.

“Britain is open for business, and this government has committed up to £2.5bn to the future of steel to protect our industrial heartlands, maintain jobs, and drive growth as part of our Plan for Change.”

During the same month, Mr Reynolds held further talks with Jingye Group’s boss, Li Huiming, in the latest chapter of a negotiation which has been dragging on for more than two years.

British Steel was bought by Jingye the year after it was placed into compulsory liquidation.

The company had been owned by private investment firm Greybull Capital.

British Steel declined to comment, while the Department for Business and Trade has been approached for comment on the details of its offer to Jingye.

Business

Coulthard and Humphrey-backed TV producer Whisper screens bidders

Published

11 hours ago

March 29, 2025

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The television production company founded by broadcaster Jake Humphrey and former racing driver David Coulthard is in talks with potential buyers about a sale.

Sky News has learnt that Whisper Group, which was established in 2010 and won a BAFTA for its coverage of the Women’s Euros in 2022, is working with advisers on a deal.

The company is said to be open to a range of options, including the sale of a majority or minority stake to either financial investors or a strategic buyer.

Corporate financiers at KPMG are orchestrating talks with potential bidders.

Whisper is already 30%-owned by Sony Pictures Television, which acquired the stake in 2020.

It replaced Channel 4’s Indie Growth Fund as an investor in the business.

A majority of the shares in Whisper are owned by its founders and management team.

The company is best-known for its sports productions, and is responsible for Channel 4’s Formula One coverage as well as international cricket, boxing and the Paralympics.

Whisper employs about 300 people, and has operations in London, Cardiff, Manchester and Riyadh.

Its chief executive, Sunil Patel, co-founded the producer alongside Mr Coulthard and Mr Humphrey.

It is said to be plotting further expansion in sport in the form of bigger events and rightsholders, as well as in events, where its clients include Red Bull.

Whisper is also focused on growing its presence in the US, where it currently works with Tom Brady’s Religion of Sport, and the Middle East, where it is partnered with Neom and Saudi Pro League teams.

Outside of sports rights, it has produced documentaries about Ben Stokes, the England Test cricket captain, and Sven-Goran Eriksson, the late England football manager.

It has also diversified into entertainment programming, producing the Wheel of Fortune gameshow hosted by Graham Norton.

Its most recent accounts disclosed a £4.3m pre-tax profit for the year to March 31, 2024.

“Whisper has successful diversified into factual, entertainment and events to complement the wider blend of work across its sports broadcast contracts,” it said in a statement accompanying the accounts.

“It has been another successful year for contract wins, with a series of renewals with key clients and a new range of significant projects which will help ensure visibility over the next few years.”

The sale process comes as ITV holds talks about a merger of its Studios arm with RedBird IMI-owned All3Media, one of Britain’s biggest production companies.

A combination of the two businesses could be announced during the spring, according to banking sources.

This weekend, a spokesman for Whisper declined to comment.

Business

WH Smith high street arm sold to Hobbycraft owner in £76m deal

Published

2 days ago

March 28, 2025

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WH Smith high street arm sold to Hobbycraft owner in £76m deal

WH Smith has sold its 233-year old high street business to the owner of Hobbycraft in a £76m deal.

Sky News revealed in January how a sales process was under way for the arm, which employs roughly 5,000 people and has 480 stores.

Modella Capital won the final stage of the auction process in a run off against Alteri investors – both specialists in turning around troubled retailers.

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The deal will see the WH Smith name erased from town centres to become TGJones.

The sale allows the WH Smith business to focus fully on its lucrative travel retail arm.

That has around 1,200 stores, based mainly at airports and railway stations, in 32 countries globally and accounts for 85% of group profits.

Chief executive Carl Cowling said: “Given our rapid international growth, now is the right time for a new owner to take the High Street business forward and for the WH Smith leadership team to focus exclusively on our Travel business”.

There was no word on what the new owners may do to bolster profitability, with a question mark firmly hanging over employment and the store estate – often the subject of criticism over a perceived lack of investment.

WH Smith’s statement said: “All stores, colleagues, assets and liabilities of the High Street business will move under Modella Capital’s ownership as part of the Transaction.

“Under this new ownership, the business will be led by Sean Toal, currently CEO of the High Street business. The High Street business will operate for a short transitional period under the WHSmith brand whilst the business rebrands as TGJones.”

The sale to Modella represents an enterprise value of £76m on a cash and debt-free basis but will see WH Smith secure an estimated £25m on a net basis after several costs associated with the sale are accounted for.

Shares fell by more than 1% at the open.

Business

Port giant DP World ‘discredited’ by former minister despite £1bn investment in London Gateway

Published

2 days ago

March 28, 2025

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Port giant DP World 'discredited' by former minister despite £1bn investment in London Gateway

The chairman of P&O Ferries’ parent company DP World has told Sky News he went ahead with a £1bn investment in the UK despite feeling “discredited” by criticism from a cabinet minister.

P&O was widely criticised in 2022 when more than 700 seafarers were summarily fired and replaced by largely overseas workers without consultation.

Last October, the issue threatened DP World’s planned expansion of London Gateway, its deepwater port on the Thames Estuary, when the then transport secretary, Louise Haigh, described P&O as a “rogue operator”.

Her comments came as DP World was in the final stages of negotiating a £1bn investment in the port, due to be announced at the government’s investment summit.

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In response, DP World pulled the announcement and only relented following a personal intervention by the prime minister to keep his showpiece event on course.

Speaking exclusively to Sky News, Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem said the criticism was unexpected given the scale of his planned investment in the UK.

‘Water under the bridge’

“There was a misunderstanding. Someone, unfortunately, said something that was not what we expected.

“We were going to invest in infrastructure, a huge investment, and then we get the person in charge to basically discredit us. But it’s water under the bridge.”

Bin Sulayem confirmed that he had spoken with the prime minister and received “reassurances” that Ms Haigh was expressing a personal view. She subsequently resigned after admitting a fraud offence.

The chairman also defended P&O’s conduct, saying that having received no state support during the pandemic, the cuts were necessary to save the company.

“We had a choice. We either close down the company and 3,000 people or more lose their jobs, or we try to survive by letting 700 or so go. And we felt that was right,” he said.

“Maybe we didn’t follow the procedures, but most importantly, we compensated every employee with more than what the law said.”

Rebuilding relations

Bin Sulayem was speaking on a flying visit to the UK intended to rebuild relations with the government, meeting investment minister Poppy Gustaffsen at London Gateway to discuss an expansion that will make the port Britain’s largest by volume and offering encouraging words about the UK’s attractiveness to investors.

“We believe in the UK economy, in its strength, and we believe the economic fundamentals are strong. That’s why we invested,” he said.

“The UK has the best stock market in the world. You have English law, and you have the best universities in Oxford and Cambridge. If we look to the future, it will be the economy of the brain, not the economy of the hand.

“The world economy doesn’t want labourers, it wants brains. People want engineers. They want free thinkers. They want innovators. That is what’s here, and that’s why we invested in London Gateway.”

Tariff trade trouble

With ports and logistics operations in more than 70 countries handling around 10% of global trade, DP World’s chairman has a unique insight into global trade and the likely impact of the tariff war sparked by Donald Trump.

While confident that trade will find a way to navigate the disruption, he warned America’s trading partners to take the president seriously.

“I think psychologically it will [have an impact], but in reality it will not, because trade is resilient. I think of it like water coming from the mountain in the rain, nobody can stop it. If you can’t sell a product in one place, you can sell it somewhere else.

“Trump is a deal maker. He is making threats because that’s the way he negotiates. He comes with impossible demands because he wants people to come to the table.

“But he’s serious. He will do what he’s threatening if nobody makes a deal.”