Hitachi scraps £16bn nuclear power station in Wales. Japanese giant unable to agree deal with UK as fears grow for Anglesey atomic plant. Hitachi has scrapped plans to build a nuclear power station in Wales, becoming the second firm in two months to abandon a major nuclear project and triggering “a full-blown crisis” for the UK energy’s strategy. The £16bn Wylfa plant on Anglesey was meant to be the next in a line of new nuclear plants behind Hinkley Point C but the Japanese conglomerate failed to reach a deal with the UK government. A Hitachi board meeting pulled the plug on mounting costs on Thursday, and the company said it would take a 300bn yen (£2.14bn) hit from axing Wylfa. The move was a “significant blow” to the UK’s future energy supply plans, the Confederation of British Industry said.
Premier Inn owner says bookings are falling outside London. Whitbread says tourists are bringing business to capital, but sales are weak elsewhere. Whitbread (WTB), the owner of the UK’s biggest hotel brand, Premier Inn, has said bookings outside London are falling as travellers tighten their purse strings. Alison Brittain, the chief executive, said central London was still benefiting from international tourists but outside the capital the picture was grim, with both businesses and leisure travellers reining in spending. Whitbread is left with its budget hotel business and 692 restaurants, located next to Premier Inns, following the £3.9bn sale of its Costa Coffee chain to Coca-Cola, which has just been completed. It bought Costa from its founders for £20m in 1995. Sales at Premier Inn rose 3.1% in central London, excluding new hotel openings, but fell 1% across the rest of the UK, including outer London, in the third quarter to 29 November. This resulted in a 0.2% dip for the UK as a whole. Overall like-for-like sales, including Beefeater, Brewers Fayre and other restaurants, dropped 0.6%
Patisserie Valerie says its accounts were ‘significantly manipulated’. Cafe chain says it has uncovered thousands of false entries in its ledgers. Patisserie Holdings (CAKE), the cafe chain which came within hours of financial collapse in October after discovering a multimillion-pound gap in its accounts, has uncovered “thousands of false entries into the company’s ledgers”. In a statement to the Stock Exchange, the company, which operates 200 cafes and employs 3,000 staff, said work carried out by forensic accountants had revealed that “the misstatement of its accounts was extensive, involving very significant manipulation of the balance sheet and profit and loss accounts”. The company said it was now clear that the cash flow and profitability of the business had been overstated in the past and was “materially below” the numbers the company provided when the accounting black hole first emerged in October