CITY WHISPERS: Simmer down! Dragons’ Den sparks a vegan food fight

There was a bunfight in Britain’s start-up scene last week with a ready meal firm claiming another business was trying to piggyback off its appearance on BBC 1’s Dragons’ Den.

Hilary Kennedy, founder of vegan meal kit maker Planthood, took to LinkedIn to accuse rival Simmer of using footage from her pitch in the Den last year.

Simmer, she said, had nicked it to advertise its own food on social media.

A bad taste: Hilary Kennedy, founder of vegan meal kit maker Planthood, took to LinkedIn to accuse rival Simmer of using footage from her pitch in the Den last year

‘It hurts to see another business steal and profit off that hard work and sacrifice,’ Kennedy wrote, adding that she was ‘shocked’ by the ads.

Simmer founder Simmy Dhillon issued a mea culpa on Friday, admitting ‘mistakes were made’, but said the ads were intended to be ‘harmless fun’ and were quickly removed once the issue came to light.

But in a pointed barb to his critics, Dhillon wrote: ‘If I have an issue with a fellow business-owner, I don’t drag their name through the mud.’

BBC out of touch ‘oop North’

When it moved to Salford a few years ago the idea was to put the BBC more in touch with things ‘oop North’. 

So there were red faces last week when one of Radio 4’s Today programme presenters quizzed Co-op boss Shirine Khoury-Haq about ‘job losses’ at the Manchester-based bank of the same name. 

‘It’s no longer part of the group,’ she gently reminded the hapless hack. 

Oops! 

Daniel Kretinsky’s coal empire turning green? 

He is best known for his holdings in Royal Mail and West Ham Utd, but Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky is also a coal baron. 

But last week there were signs the tycoon’s coal-blackened empire could be turning green.

On Wednesday, his EP Corporate Group said five of its coal-fired power plants in Germany and Slovakia had been shut, eliminating 15 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions a year.

Kretinsky, dubbed the Czech Sphinx for his inscrutable approach to investing, previously snapped up fossil fuel plants on the cheap to cash in on a rush to decarbonise. 

So what prompted the change of heart? The riddle remains to be solved.

Sutton Harbour in row with Plymouth council

Disputes over development are a national pastime in the UK, or so it seems for AIM-listed property group Sutton Harbour. 

Last week it updated the market on a lengthy row with Plymouth council over its ownership of the city’s derelict airport.

The council previously said Sutton breached leasing arrangements for the 113-acre site, threatening to take over the land. 

But on Wednesday Sutton, which plans to build houses there, demanded the council withdraw its notices.

It is probably hoping to resolve the dispute soon and revive its share price, which has slumped by over 30 per cent so far this year. 

One to watch.

                                                                                                                Contributor: Patrick Tooher 

This post first appeared on Dailymail.co.uk