Investors Chronicle

It may be dry January for some, but this week we are settling down with the pub companies amid a raft of news for the sector in recent days. Mark Robinson is here to discuss the bumper Christmas periods that many in the sector enjoyed, the imminent U-turn on business rate hikes likely to be announced by the government in the days ahead, the US activist putting the pressure on Marston’s (MARS) and more.After that we turn our attention to one government reform that’s not being reversed – the Renters’ Rights Act is due to come into force this year, and that puts pressure on landlords to comply. Holly McKechnie will explain what that means for the rental market, and also talk us through the other changes coming in that could have an even bigger impact on buy-to-let properties.Lastly, we look at gene sequencing device maker Oxford Nanopore Technologies (ONT), one of the 2021 UK IPOs that have done especially badly, but which has shown some signs of life in recent months. Julian Hofmann will examine