Unaffordable Christmas meals loom as food inflation skyrockets to record 12.4 per cent November 30, 2022 It has emerged that food inflation has surged to 12.4 per cent to hit a new record amid predictions of dampened Christmas cheer and an “increasingly bleak” winter. Overall shop prices are now 7.4 per cent higher than last November, up from 6.6 per cent in October, to set another record since the British Retail [...]
Housebuilder Barratt shares slide despite pandemic recovery and £5.2bn revenue September 7, 2022 Housebuilder Barratt Developments’ shares slid this morning despite its construction output recovering to pre-pandemic levels and a rosy revenue of £5.26bn. The FTSE-listed housebuilder’s annual results coincided with a caution from Halifax today, warning of a housing market slowdown amid the cost of living crisis, soaring energy bills and rising mortgage interest rates. Completions climbed [...]
Tui: Shares down as travel giant eyes return to profit with strong summer getaway bookings May 10, 2023 TUI reported its revenues overtook pre-pandemic levels in its half year results this morning, as it cashed in on increased bookings and a boom in summer travel demand. The travel company reported revenues of £2.78bn (€3.2bn), a £870m (€1.bn) improvement on the previous year, with bookings hitting 12.9m across the winter and summer seasons. Losses [...]
The Gym Group: Brits ditch the pennies and the £s as more fitness fanatics seek cheaper gym membership January 12, 2023 The Gym Group today said it has continued to win over customers in the face of the UK’s cost-of-living crisis as Brits flocked to the low-cost gym in seeking out better “value for money”. The low-cost gym owner said it had increased its membership numbers by 14.3 per cent over the past year, to 821,000, [...]
Poundland owner: UK shoppers particularly wounded by higher bills due to stagnant wage growth June 9, 2022 Poundland owner Pepco has said consumers in the UK have been particularly wounded by higher costs of living, impacting spending. Pepco, which also owns discount retailer Dealz, said higher wages in Central and Eastern European markets were significantly offsetting inflationary pressures. However, in the Western European markets, stagnant wage growth had led to shoppers paring [...]
Business groups question Bank of England Mann’s ‘greedflation’ claim March 8, 2023 Business groups yesterday said many firms had no choice but to raise prices to offset high costs in response to a Bank of England rate setter claiming companies are pursuing so-called ‘greedflation’ by pumping up prices to exploit strong consumer spending. Catherine Mann, an external member of the Bank’s rate setting monetary policy committee (MPC), [...]
CMA hits out at Asda and Sainsbury’s for restricting competition June 13, 2023 Asda and Sainsbury’s broke anti-competition rules a combined total of 32 times between 2011 and 2019, the competition watchdog said this morning. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said the ‘Big Four’ supermarkets broke the Groceries Market Investigation (Controlled Land) Order 2010, which was brought in to stop supermarkets imposing new restrictions that stop rivals [...]
Off-peak Fridays sound fun, but Londoners will end up footing the bill February 1, 2024 The mayor's reckless promise of lower fare Fridays is a sign of more disingenuous election politicking to come, writes John Oxley
Today at COP28: And breathe December 7, 2023 It’s the one and only day of rest at COP28 in Dubai today. A lot of the ‘big business’ aspects of the climate change transition have had their day on the schedule, with energy and industry, finance and trade being covered on the first three days of the summit. Ahead, there will be round-tables, conferences [...]
Burberry’s fall out of the FTSE 100 is about much more than a challenging market August 30, 2024 Burberry is set to drop out of the FTSE 100 in its quarterly reshuffle, which will be based on market caps as of 2 September. It’s an unfortunate if not surprising turn of events for the UK’s only luxury fashion brand, which has seen its share price drop nearly 75 per cent in the last [...]