Business
Bioethanol plant begins shut-down process
Business reporter, BBC News
Reporter, BBC Radio 5 Live
BBCVivergo, one of two UK bioethanol plants, has ceased production and will start laying off its 160 employees on Tuesday.
After weeks of talks, the government said on Friday it would not be providing financial support for the bioethanol sector, which is facing increased competition from imported US ethanol.
Vivergo, owned by Associated British Foods, said that would have meant continuing as a “heavily loss-making” business. As a result it is closing, with all staff due to be gone and the site ready for demolition by end of the year.
The government said it had decided a rescue would not provide value for taxpayers or solve the industry’s long-term problems.
Alex Snowden, Vivergo’s operations director, said the closure was “heartbreaking”.
“I’m from the local area, I live 10 minutes away from site,” he said. “It’s a huge part of my life.”
“What we’re doing effectively now is emptying the last of our brewery as we’re winding down the plant,” he told the BBC.
The plant, based near the Humber estuary, takes locally grown wheat, uses it to distil alcohol for bioethanol and then makes the residue into high protein feed pellets, primarily for dairy cattle.
The operation has been through ups and downs and required “a lot of hard work”, Mr Snowden said, but is now in very good shape, which he added makes the closure even more frustrating.
Bioethanol, can be made from waste oil or grains and is used as an additive to fuels, to reduce climate-damaging emissions. For example it is added to E5 and E10 petrol and sustainable aviation fuel.
In May the UK signed a trade deal which removed 19% tariffs on US-imported ethanol up to a quota of 1.4bn litres, roughly eqivalent to the size of the UK market.
It was one of the concessions made by the UK as part of a broader trade pact, that eased the tariffs that President Donald Trump had said he would impose on UK car and steel being imported across the Atlantic to the US.
‘Unfair competition’
Even before that trade agreement, the UK sector had complained that US imports had an unfair financial advantage as their ethanol is certified as a waste byproduct in the UK, whereas domestically-produced bioethanol is not.
UK producers have argued this leads to US rivals being able to undercut them, and would be at an even greater advantage once tariffs were removed.
Vivergo is one of two bioethanol sites in the UK which has said without support it will be forced to close.
The BBC understands that the other plant in Redcar, Teesside, which is owned by German firm Ensus, is waiting to hear whether the government will provide support to protect its CO2 production, a product widely used in industry, food production and healthcare.
Vivergo had also been planning to start capturing CO2 produced as part of the bioethanol making process, but had not yet started.
Ripple effect
Ben Hackett, Vivergo’s managing director described the government’s decision not to provide a rescue package as a “massive blow to Hull and the Humber”.
He said the government had decided the bioethanol sector was something that could be “traded away” and that it amounted to a “flagrant act of economic self-harm”.
As well as the loss of its own staff, Vivergo warned there would be a knock-on effect on suppliers and customers.
Paul Temple, a farmer situated less than 30 miles from Vivergo, has not only sold his wheat to the plant, but also purchased feed for his livestock.
“As a result of trade negotiations – making a plant effectively uneconomic… this is really frustrating,” he said.
Louise Holder, director of a local haulage firm, added the closure would have a “massive” impact on the local economy.
“People [will be] out of work,” she said. “Obviously there’s an impact then on the hospitality industry, because people aren’t going out, because they can’t afford to. It just has a rippling effect on everybody, every business.”
Andrew Symes, the chief executive of OXCCU, which makes sustainable aviation fuel, told the BBC’s Today programme that the closure would make the UK reliant on imports for CO2 and for ethanol, which he described as “risky”.
“I think that was probably what wasn’t realised when the trade deal was done,” he said.
The government said it had taken the decision “in the national interest” and that the tariff deal with the US had protected “hundreds of thousands of jobs in sectors like auto and aerospace”.
A government spokesperson said it would work to support the companies through the closure process and that it was continuing to work on proposals that would “ensure the resilience of our CO2 supply in the long-term”.
Charlotte Brumpton-Childs, GMB National Officer, said the government’s commitment to green policies should mean a commitment to green jobs.
“A clean energy industrial strategy means nothing if we cannot protects plants long enough to deliver clean energy jobs here in the UK,” she said.
Business
Private sector data: Over 2 lakh private companies closed in 5 years; govt flags monitoring for suspicious cases – The Times of India
NEW DELHI: The government on Monday said that over the past five years, more than two lakh private companies have been closed in India.According to data provided by Minister of State for Corporate Affairs Harsh Malhotra in a written reply to the Lok Sabha, a total of 2,04,268 private companies were shut down between 2020-21 and 2024-25 due to amalgamation, conversion, dissolution or being struck off from official records under the Companies Act, 2013.Regarding the rehabilitation of employees from these closed companies, the minister said there is currently no proposal before the government, as reported by PTI. In the same period, 1,85,350 companies were officially removed from government records, including 8,648 entities struck off till July 16 this fiscal year. Companies can be removed from records if they are inactive for long periods or voluntarily after fulfilling regulatory requirements.On queries about shell companies and their potential use in money laundering, Malhotra highlighted that the term “shell company” is not defined under the Companies Act, 2013. However, he added that whenever suspicious instances are reported, they are shared with other government agencies such as the Enforcement Directorate and the Income Tax Department for monitoring.A major push to remove inactive companies took place in 2022-23, when 82,125 companies were struck off during a strike-off drive by the corporate affairs ministry.The minister also highlighted the government’s broader policy to simplify and rationalize the tax system. “It is the stated policy of the government to gradually phase out exemptions and deductions while rationalising tax rates to create a simple, transparent, and equitable tax regime,” he said. He added that several reforms have been undertaken to promote investment and ease of doing business, including substantial reductions in corporate tax rates for existing and new domestic companies.
Pakistan’s textile exports surged to $6.4 billion during the first four months of the 2025-26 fiscal year, marking the highest trade volume for the sector in this period.
According to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), value-added textile sectors were key contributors to the growth.
Knitwear exports reached $1.9 billion, while ready-made garments contributed $1.4 billion.
Significant increases were observed across several commodities: cotton yarn exports rose 7.74% to $238.9 million, and raw cotton exports jumped 100%, reaching $2.6 million from zero exports the previous year.
Other notable gains included tents, canvas, and tarpaulins, up 32.34% to $53.48 million, while ready-made garments increased 5.11% to $1.43 billion.
Exports of made-up textile articles, excluding towels and bedwear, rose 4.17%, totaling $274.75 million.
The report also mentioned that the growth in textile exports is a result of improved global demand and stability in the value of the Pakistani rupee.
UK investment bank Peel Hunt has given some support to under-pressure Chancellor Rachel Reeves over last week’s Budget as it said efforts to boost the London market and invest in UK companies were “positive steps”.
Peel Hunt welcomed moves announced in the Budget, such as the stamp duty exemption for shares bought in newly listed firms on the London market and changes to Isa investing.
It comes as Ms Reeves has been forced to defend herself against claims she misled voters by talking up the scale of the fiscal challenge in the run-up to last week’s Budget, in which she announced £26 billion worth of tax rises.
Peel Hunt said: “Following a prolonged period of pre-Budget speculation, businesses and investors now have greater clarity from which they can start to plan.
“The key measures were generally well received by markets, particularly the creation of additional headroom against the Chancellor’s fiscal rules.
“Initiatives such as a stamp duty holiday on initial public offerings (IPOs) and adjustments to the Isa framework are intended to support UK capital markets and encourage investment in British companies.
“These developments, alongside the Entrepreneurship in the UK paper published simultaneously, represent positive steps toward enhancing the UK’s attractiveness for growth businesses and long-term investors.”
Ms Reeves last week announced a three-year stamp duty holiday on shares bought in new UK flotations as part of a raft of measures to boost investment in UK shares.
She also unveiled a change to the individual savings account (Isa) limit that lowers the cash element to £12,000 with the remaining £8,000 now redirected into stocks and shares.
But the Chancellor also revealed an unexpected increase in dividend tax, rising by 2% for basic and higher rate taxpayers next year, which experts have warned “undermines the drive to increase investing in Britain”.
Peel Hunt said the London IPO market had begun to revive in the autumn, although listings activity remained low during its first half to the end of September.
Firms that have listed in London over recent months include The Beauty Tech Group, small business lender Shawbrook and tinned tuna firm Princes.
Peel Hunt added that deal activity had “continued at pace” throughout its first half, with 60 transactions announced across the market during that time and 10 active bids for FTSE 350 companies, as at the end of September.
Half-year results for Peel Hunt showed pre-tax profits jumped to £11.5 million in the six months to September 30, up from £1.2 million a year earlier, as revenues lifted 38.3%.
Peel Hunt said its workforce has been cut by nearly 10% since the end of March under an ongoing savings drive, with full-year underlying fixed costs down by around £5 million.
Steven Fine, chief executive of Peel Hunt, said: “The second half has started strongly, with the group continuing to play leading roles across both mergers and acquisitions and equity capital markets mandates.”
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