London house prices reach ‘unaffordable’ levels – even for top earners December 9, 2024 Even the richest people in London are being priced out of the property market as house prices reach record levels, the Office for National Statistics has found. “In London, the average home was not affordable for any household income decile,” the statistics watchdog said in its latest Housing Purchase Affordability index, using 2023 data. The [...]
Major bank sponsor follows Carlos Sainz from Ferrari to Williams December 9, 2024 Spanish banking group Santander has switched its Formula 1 team sponsorship from Ferrari to Williams after driver Carlos Sainz Jr made the same move. Williams said the partnership was a “multi-year” agreement, believed to be in line with Sainz’s contract at the Oxfordshire-based team, which runs until 2026 with the option of an extension. Santander’s [...]
British rail firms have the most expensive tickets in Europe December 9, 2024 British train companies are the priciest in Europe, new analysis has revealed. A study from campaign group Transport & Environment (T&E) listed Great Western Railway (GWR) Eurostar and Avanti West Coast as the top three most expensive European train firms by ticket price. GWR fares are around two and a half times greater than the [...]
Pubs pin hopes on Christmas trading period amid post-Budget woes December 9, 2024 The UK’s hospitality industry is gearing up for a bumper festive season, the first in four years not to be affected by pandemic restrictions or transport strikes. The preparations come ahead of what is seen as one of the busiest times of year for pub operators across the country, a number of whom hope to [...]
How St James’s Place is changing its opulent image December 9, 2024 St James’s Place is working to overhaul the ‘cruise and cufflink’ image that it has long been saddled with, including dropping its annual conference for advisers at the 20,000-capacity O2 Arena. The wealth manager giant, which will be re-promoted to the FTSE 100 later this month, has dropped the opulent gathering with its 4,852 advisers [...]
Reeves promises ‘deeper, more mature’ economic relationship with EU December 9, 2024 Rachel Reeves has pledged to build a “deeper, more mature relationship” with European trading partners in the first speech by a UK chancellor to eurozone finance ministers since 2020. Speaking to the Eurogroup in Brussels on Monday, Reeves also brushed off the suggestion that Britain must choose between closer ties with the US and EU [...]
Omnicom scoops up media giant IPG in $13bn deal December 9, 2024 US advertising giant Omnicom Group has bought rival media holding company Interpublic Group in a $13.25bn (£10.4bn) deal that has uprooted the media industry and will make Omnicom the world’s largest advertising agency. The tie-up between the third and fourth largest media holding giants, both of which employ tens of thousands of staff in the [...]
Billionaire Renishaw co-founder Sir David McMurtry dies December 9, 2024 The billionaire co-founder of engineering giant Renishaw has died at the age of 84, it has been announced. Sir David McMurtry founded the Wotton-under-Edge-based company with his former colleague John Deer in 1973 and took it public ten years later. Sir David was awarded a CBE in 1994 and was knighted in 2001. He stepped [...]
US likely to fall into recession under Trump, top economist warns December 9, 2024 The US is likely to fall into recession during Donald Trump’s second term if he makes good on his campaign promises, a leading economist has predicted. Paul Mortimer-Lee, a research fellow at the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR), said growth in the world’s largest economy could slump if the president-elect follows through [...]
FTSE 100 rises as Assad’s overthrow in Syria drives oil prices higher December 9, 2024 The FTSE 100 ticked up on Monday morning as oil prices jumped after rebels overthrew the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad over the week. Britain’s blue-chip index gained 0.28 per cent to 8,331.88, while the mid-cap FTSE 250, which is more closely aligned with the health of the UK economy, traded mostly flat at 21,047.56. Brent [...]