Sadiq Khan is to instruct London planners to start making preparations for a no-deal Brexit. The London mayor will asses the capital’s access to medicines, energy, food and emergency services and whether the city would cope with a shortage of food and medicine. “If the government had taken a different approach to the negotiations this would never have been an option, but we are now left with no choice but to plan for a no-deal scenario,” said Khan. The London mayor plans to launch a consultation for London businesses to prepare them for Brexit eventualities. However, for Khan, the biggest threat is the rights of European employees. “The government’s current offer of settled status relies on a successful outcome of the Brexit negotiations,” he said. “If talks were to break down, the three million EU citizens living in the UK, around 1 million of whom are Londoners, would have no guarantee that their rights to stay and work would be protected.” “Businesses regularly report the difficulty they face in getting the talented workers they need, and to now threaten the Europeans they currently employ is completely and utterly reckless.” Theresa May has previously pledged to guaratee the rights of EU workers in the UK, saying: “EU citizens living lawfully in the UK today will be able to stay.” The foreign secretary, Jeremy Hunt, also highlighted the dangers of a no-deal Brexit scenario. Speaking from The Hague, he said that the implications of no deal would be “profound”. “We have to be prepared for that; we don’t want that to happen, though. And it would be a mistake that we would regret for generations if we had a fissure – a messy, ugly divorce.” Hunt later tweeted: “Important not to misrepresent my words. Britain would survive and prosper without a deal… but it would be a big mistake for Europe because of inevitable impact on long-term partnership with UK.”  

Elon Musk has opened up about his personal life, calling the past year ” excruciating”. In an interview with the New York Times, the Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) boss revealed the heavy pressures of his job. “This past year has been the most difficult and painful year of my career,” he said. Musk said in the interview that he has been working up to 120 hours a week, spending up to four days without leaving the Tesla factory leaving his health to deteriorate. For the first quarter of this year, Tesla posted a record $709.6 million net loss. “It’s high time we became profitable,” said Musk, at the time of results. “The truth is you’re not a real company until you are, frankly. That’s our focus right now.” The electric carmaker’s founder also attempted to explain his tweet earlier this month where he told investors he was considering taking Tesla private.

Musk said he was “not on weed” at the time.

“It seemed like better karma at $420 than at $419. But I was not on weed, to be clear. Weed is not helpful for productivity. There’s a reason for the word ‘stoned’. You just sit there like a stone on weed,” Musk said. Shortly after the tweet, Musk was sued by investors, who claimed his tweets were designed to “completely decimate” short-sellers, people who bet that Tesla’s shares will lose value. Musk has long been a controversial figure, last month calling the British diver involved in the rescue of 12 Thai boys who were trapped in a cave a “pedo” on Twitter. Tesla’s directors said: “There have been many false and irresponsible rumours in the press about the discussions of the Tesla board. We would like to make clear that Elon’s commitment and dedication to Tesla is obvious.” “Over the past 15 years, Elon’s leadership of the Tesla team has caused Tesla to grow from a small start-up to having hundreds of thousands of cars on the road that customers love, employing tens of thousands of people around the world, and creating significant shareholder value in the process.”  

House of Fraser has cancelled all online orders and will refund customers after a dispute with its warehouse operator. The department store took its website down on Wednesday due to the warehouse operator “paused” processing orders following a dispute over payment. “Due to delays with delivering online orders, we have taken the decision to cancel and refund all orders that have not already been sent to customers. All customers affected will receive an email in the next couple of days. Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience caused,” House of Fraser tweeted. XPO is just one of 1,000 suppliers to the department store that will not be paid anything it was owed before August 10, when Mike Ashley bought House of Fraser in a £90 million deal. A source close to Sports Direct said it was dealing with suppliers on a case by case basis. “XPO is unwilling or unable to get involved with us and that’s hampering our progress and impacting customers’ deliveries … and potentially putting at risk the rescue operation,” said the source. According to reports, fashion brands including Jigsaw, Mint Velvet and Karen Millen have removed stock from the department stores. Ownership of these brands was not included in Sports Direct’s (LON: SPD) purchase. Sports Direct is not legally obliged to pay anything House of Fraser owed before August 10, however Businessman Philip Day, who also wanted to buy House of Fraser, has said Ashley should pay suppliers the £70 million they are owed “in full”. Ashley has vowed to keep open most of the 59 department stores. He has plans to turn them into the “Harrods of the high street”.    

Debenhams is planning to axe at least 90 jobs, with up to a total of 200 jobs at risk. The struggling retailer is entering talks with employees in its fashion and home departments about potential cuts that will likely affect up to 90 employees. “Our work to create a simplified and consistent structure across these units, reducing complexity and driving efficiency in order to deliver our Debenhams Redesigned strategy, is continuing,” said a spokesperson for the group. In June, the Debenhams issued its third profit warning in 2018 and is attempting to cut costs fast to avoid falling into administration. Following the purchase of House of Fraser by Sport Direct’s (LON: SPD) Mike Ashley, there has been growing speculation of a merger between House of Fraser and Debenhams. Ashley vowed to transform House of Fraser into the Harrod’s of the High Street after the £90 million buyout last week. George Wallace, chief executive of MHE Retail, was not convinced this would be too easy. “The level investment that’s required in those stores to get to a standard where the likes of Gucci and Prada would be prepared to be present is really a massive amount, bearing in mind the size of the stores. Selfridges and Harrods have poured in hundreds of millions of pounds to create an environment supportive of a luxury product,” he said. “The concept of big department stores in mid-size towns is under serious threat and past its use-by date. Having a luxury department store in a provincial city is not commercially viable.” Shares in the department store (LON: DEB) are currently trading down 9.26 percent at 12.44 (1609GMT).

B&Q owner Kingfisher (LON: KGF) has posted a 1.6 percent growth in like-for-like sales during the second quarter. The company said the growth in sales was helped by the warmer weather. Sales in the first quarter fell by four percent during the wet and snowy weather across Europe. “In the second quarter, I’m pleased that we grew our sales after the exceptionally harsh weather conditions in the first quarter,” said Veronique Laury, the group’s chief executive. “In B&Q, Screwfix and Brico Depot France we delivered good sales growth. However, the performance of Castorama France has been more difficult and as a result, we have put additional actions in place to support our full-year performance in France, with the benefits expected to come through in [the second half of the financial year,” she added. Group sales increased by 3.4 percent to £3.26 billion, increasing from £3.15 billion a year earlier. Sales in France, however, were down by one percent during the same quarter. Neil Wilson, the chief analyst at Markets.com, said: “Unusually warm summer lifted sales at Kingfisher in the second quarter, but we still see continued weakness in France that is dragging on the group performance.” “After the Beast from the East took a nasty chunk out of [first-quarter] sales, this is a welcome return to like-for-like growth. Sometimes retailers can blame it on the weather and in the first half, Kingfisher has had both the good and the bad.”  

Uber published new results on Wednesday for the second quarter showing narrower losses but still a long way from a profit. For the three months to June 30, the firm made a loss of $891 million, compared to the $1.1 billion loss a year ago. Uber made $12 billion in quarterly gross bookings for the second quarter of 2018, including rides and the food-delivery service. This is an increase of 40 percent from the year before. The group is facing heavy pressure to turn a profit as they prepare for a planned IPO in 2019. Uber is planning to heavily invest in the Middle East and India, whilst retreating from China, Southeast Asia and Russia where they failed to compete with local competitors. Despite plans to make a profit, the regulatory pressure in New York and London are hindering growth. Last week New York voted to impose a temporary cap on new licences for ride-hailing vehicles in order to lower congestion in the city. “The city’s 12-month pause on new vehicle licenses will threaten one of the few reliable transportation options while doing nothing to fix the subways or ease congestion,” said Uber in a statement. The New York Taxi Workers Alliance described the vote as a historic victory for its 18,000-member union. In London, Sadiq Khan said on Wednesday that he hopes that similar restrictions will occur in the UK’s capital. In a letter to the transport secretary, Chris Grayling, the London Mayor said he was “determined to create a vibrant taxi and private hire market in the capital, with space for all providers to flourish”. But “the huge increase in private hire drivers on London’s roads in recent years is causing increased congestion, polluting our air and leaving many drivers struggling to make enough money to support themselves and their families,” he added.  

Retail sales grew rapidly in July, thanks to the heatwave and the World Cup. New figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed that UK retail sales increased 0.7 percent in July. “Many consumers stayed away from some High Street stores in July, but online sales were very strong, supported by several retailers launching promotions,” said ONS statistician Rhian Murphy. “Food sales remained robust as people continued to enjoy the World Cup and the sunshine.” The strong retail sales are compared to the 0.5 percent decline in June. Total spending online reached a new record and hit 18.2 percent in July. Clothing sales also recorded their strongest year-on-year growth since December, according to the ONS. “Of course, retail sales only account for about a third of total household spending, so the strength of spending on the High Street could be offset by households reducing their outlay elsewhere,” said Andrew Wishart, UK economist at Capital Economics. “Admittedly, still-weak real wage growth will weigh on consumer spending,” he added. “Nonetheless, the retail sales data provides reason to think that consumer spending growth could post a slightly improved performance in the third quarter,” he added. Following the news, the pound was up 0.24 percent against the dollar at $1.2727. “The reaction from the pound… has been muted, suggesting that the wider view of the UK economy is still bleak,” said Hamish Muress, the currency analyst at OFX. “With the chances of a no-deal Brexit scenario high, wage growth shrinking and inflation rising, the Bank of England may find it difficult to follow through on any previous notions of further interest rate hikes in the future.” “As long as this outlook remains, the pound will continue to be under sustained pressure.”  

For the first time, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has published details of banks compare with rivals. The competition watchdog ordered lenders in August 2016 to collate the figures twice a year to measure how customers rate their services. “For the first time, people will now be able to easily compare banks on the quality of the service they provide, and so judge if they’re getting the most for their money or could do better elsewhere,” said Adam Land, senior director at the CMA. “This is one of the many measures – including Open Banking and overdraft text alerts – that we put in place to make banks work harder for their customers and help people shop around to find the best deals for them.” With the results published on Wednesday, it was found that Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC (LON:RBS), Lloyds Banking Group PLC (LON:LLOY) and HSBC Holdings PLC (LON:HSBA) were among the worst performers of the survey. In first place was First Direct, with 85 percent. First Direct was followed by the Metro Bank (LON: MTRO), where 83 percent of the lender’s customers recommended the bank. Nationwide (LON: NBS) was third with 73 percent recommending the bank. RBS (LON:RBS) was ranked joint last in the table. “We are aware we have more work to do in order to improve our service standards and deliver a better experience for our customers,” said a spokesperson. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has also set out new requirements for information that banks must provide to customers. Information includes details of available services. “Getting a good deal isn’t just about pricing. It’s also important for customers – including individuals and small businesses – to be able to judge the quality of service around their current account and to see whether other providers could offer something that suits them better. This information should encourage providers to offer the services that people value,” said Christopher Woolard, the executive director at the FCA.