Naked Wines has sold its fine wine arm Lay & Wheeler for £11.3 million, disposing of the last part of its former Majestic Wines divisions.

The group transitioned into Naked Wines in August after it sold the Majestic retail business to Fortress for £95 million to focus on the online business, which had originally been purchased by Majestic in 2015.

Naked sold the fine wine arm, which dates back to 1854, to international private company Coterie.

Naked Wines said the move will free up capital to help it pursue significant growth.

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Rowan Gormley, chief executive officer of Naked, said: "We look forward to our future as a much simplified and growth orientated company continuing to focus on the huge opportunity ahead of us."

Shares in Naked dipped 1.8% to 249.5p.

Lender Metro Bank has announced that founder and chairman Vernon Hill will step down by the end of the year.

The group said in July that Mr Hill would step down as chairman of the business but stay on as president and a non-executive director.

Mr Hill has now revealed he will be leaving the business on December 31, as it moves forward with its plans to appoint an independent chairman.

Hours after the company confirmed Mr Hill's departure, it announced that it has launched a £300 million fundraiser, which was postponed last week.

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Shares jumped by more than a quarter after the challenger bank said demand for the bond is worth around £475 million but said it would provide further information once the bond issue is completed.

Last week, shares crashed to a record low after the bank was forced to abandon the fundraiser, initially planned to secure £250 million.

Metro Bank shares have shed more than 80% of their value since the start of 2019 after it revealed a £900 million accounting blunder in January.

Sir Michael Snyder, senior independent director at Metro Bank, said: "Vernon is the inspiration behind Metro Bank, the first high street bank to open in the UK in over 100 years.

"The board shares Vernon's view that Metro Bank has now reached a point where an independent chairperson is appropriate to oversee the next stage of our journey."

Shares in the company were up 27.8% to 230p on Wednesday.

Shares in Topps Tiles slumped after the retailer revealed that full-year sales declined after it was hurt by challenging conditions in the final quarter.

The tile retailer said the worsening economic backdrop meant "uncertainty impacted consumer sentiment", resulting in a 1.9% decline in like-for-like sales for the past three months.

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The company said that, despite "tough market conditions", the year to September saw significant strategic progress across the group.

Topps said it expects adjusted pre-tax profits for the year to be in line with its forecasts, which were estimated at between £15.5 million and £16 million.

Matthew Williams, chief executive, said: "Our sales growth across the group for the year as a whole compares favourably with the overall tile market."

Shares were down 6.9% to 64.2p.