(Sharecast News) – Thousands of home buyers could be hit with an unexpected tax bill of up to £15,000 each if the stamp duty holiday ends as planned on 31 March, Rightmove has warned. The property website said that with the stamp duty deadline approaching, some sellers who had put their property on the market during the last few weeks were hoping to tempt buyers with a competitive price in an attempt to squeeze in a sale before the holiday ends. – Guardian
Eurostar has said it is facing an existential threat, as business leaders pleaded with the government to step in and save the “vital link” with Europe. A 95% drop in passenger numbers has brought the cross-Channel train service to its knees, and the company reiterated on Sunday that while government loans had been extended to aviation, international high-speed rail had also been severely affected by the pandemic. – Guardian
Italy is set to pay the UK £140m to avoid being kicked off Britain’s railways – despite running the nation’s most punctual train service. State-owned Trenitalia, which operates the c2c network linking Essex and the City, is understood to have struck a deal in principle with the UK Government. It will pay the penalties to “stay in the game” as a curtain falls on 25 years of rail franchising. – Telegraph
A new bank that hopes to sell mortgages impervious to base rate changes aims to sign up its first borrowers by October after it secured $10 million of start-up finance. Perenna, which is seeking a banking licence from the Prudential Regulation Authority, said that it aimed to issue its first 30-year fixed-rate mortgages in the third quarter and had a target of lending £100 million a month. – The Times
One of the country’s best-performing technology companies says that it may need to tap the stock market in the United States for more capital. Jason Kingdon, chief executive of Blue Prism, which develops automation software, said that it may need extra funds to grasp the “enormous” opportunity ahead of it. The company, which is listed in London, is looking across the Atlantic because American investors value subscription software companies more highly, Mr Kingdon said. – The Times
