Here are the stories making the business headlines across Scotland and the UK this morning.
Shein considering an offer for Topshop
One of the world’s fastest-growing fast-fashion groups has taken a shine to the Topshop brand.
Shein has formally registered its interest in making an offer with Asos, the struggling online retailer that bought Topshop for £330 million in 2021 from Sir Philip Green’s Arcadia retail empire.
It would represent Shein’s second acquisition of a British fashion brand after it bought Missguided and intellectual property rights from Frasers Group last week for an undisclosed sum.
Shein also has reached an agreement with Sparc Group, a joint venture between Authentic Brands, the Ted Baker owner, and Simon Property Group, an American operator of shopping malls.
Train operators to be forced to run 40% of normal timetable on strike days
Train operators will be forced to guarantee that 40% of a normal timetable will run on strike days under a law to be introduced to parliament on Tuesday.
The minimum service level regulations would make sure that “certain priority routes can remain open”, the government said, although it was unclear which journeys would be covered.
Similar rules will be introduced for Border Force, which will have to ensure staffing levels will be at a level that means they are no less effective than normal.
The government said minimum service levels would ensure that public services continue in the face of strikes, calling the measures “effective and proportionate”.
Shuffle board, axe-throwing and bingo: activity bar boom defies UK hospitality downturn
Much of the hospitality sector has been beset by difficulties in recent years, having to navigate Covid lockdowns followed by a cost of living crisis driving up bills and driving away customers – but activity bars appear to be bucking this trend.
Customers are flocking to enjoy reinvented pastimes ranging from ping pong, darts and bingo to adventure golf, clay-pigeon shooting and axe-throwing.
“We’re seeing an uptick in the number of venues themselves and the footfall they are attracting. Post-Covid, we’ve really seen a boom in the outlet numbers and investment in the sector of competitive socialising,” Kate Nicholls, the chief executive of the trade body UK Hospitality, says.
She points to the pandemic shake-up of working patterns as a driving factor. “There’s more people working from home, not in the office as part of a team and socialising. Activity is being used at a corporate levels and among groups of workers and friends as a value-added get-together.”
Bumble founder Whitney Wolfe Herd steps down as boss of dating app
The founder and chief executive of one of the biggest dating apps in the world is stepping down after nearly 10 years in charge.
Whitney Wolfe Herd, who created the company in 2014, will become Bumble Inc's executive chair.
She will be replaced by Slack boss Lidiane Jones, who will take up the role in January.
Ms Wolfe Herd said she was passing the "the baton to a leader and a woman I deeply respect".