Major banks’ shares fall as investors prepare for Bank of England stress tests November 28, 2016 Banks' shares were among the biggest fallers in the FTSE 100 this morning as investors brace themselves for the Bank of England's stress test results later this week. At time of writing: Shares in Royal Bank of Scotland are down 2.1 per cent at 197.3p, Barclays is down 1 per cent at 213.3p, Lloyds Banking Group is [...]
Over half of consumers expect to still be paying off Christmas shopping this time next year December 28, 2016 Nearly nine out of 10 people in the UK will wake up with a post-festive spending hangover in 2017, according to price comparison service uSwitch. Britons are heading into the new year with an average credit card debt of £636 after consumers put £11bn on plastic to fund Christmas. In a survey of 1,261 adults, uSwitch estimate [...]
As the CES tech show closes in Las Vegas, what will be the most exciting consumer development in 2017? January 9, 2017 Alex Wood, founder and editor of The Memo, says Amazon's Alexa. Amazon’s Alexa is about to take over the world, in a good way. The home of the future is filled with internet-connected devices but, until now, no one has figured out how we’ll manage all these bleeping and blooping smart machines. In Las Vegas [...]
EXCLUSIVE: Punch Taverns at centre of takeover battle as entrepreneur bids 185p per share December 14, 2016 Punch Taverns is set to become the focus of a bid battle between Heineken and Alan McIntosh, a wealthy entrepreneur who was one of the company's founders. McIntosh has bid 185p a share for the pub company, City A.M. revealed today. Heineken has made an approach of 174p a share for the company. Punch Taverns issued a statement saying: The [...]
The costs of running a business in London are starting to outweigh the benefits February 28, 2017 The late, great Robin Williams once said: “Spring is nature’s way of saying, ‘Let’s party’.” When the chancellor stands up to deliver the last ever Spring Budget next week, however, small businesses in London are likely to be putting party plans on hold unless Philip Hammond can pull the miraculous business rates “rabbit out of the [...]
The chancellor’s shambolic national insurance hike is based on a faulty reading of aggregate statistics March 14, 2017 "Britain is damning itself to be a low wage, low productivity economy”. How many headlines like that have we read over the past few years? Certainly, the UK has performed poorly when it comes to overall real wage growth since the financial crisis, reflective of weak aggregate productivity growth. But often these average statistics are [...]
Retail cold snap: New Year footfall plummets at Britain’s shopping centres January 2, 2017 The UK high street experienced a sales cold snap at the weekend as new figures showed footfall fell nearly 13 per cent nationwide while in shopping centres it slumped by a massive 50 per cent. Poor weather, an early December spending spree and bank holiday trading hours deterred shoppers from venturing outdoors on New Year’s Day, [...]
How will the rail fare shake-up affect you? February 1, 2017 By now you’ve probably heard the Rail Delivery Group, which represents train operators, is switching up the fare system for passengers in a trial. RDG has acknowledged the current setup is “baffling” for passengers and has said it wants to make sure people are offered the cheapest possible fares. So you’re probably wondering how it’ll [...]
Housebuilder shares climb on positive house price data August 31, 2016 It's been a rough ride for FTSE 100-listed housebuilders since the EU referendum – but today's house price data from Nationwide is helping the builders' share prices climb back to levels seen before the Brexit vote. Nationwide said this morning house prices were up 0.6 per cent month-on-month in August, and 5.6 per cent year-on-year. Berkeley Group was on [...]
Punch Taverns takeover: Heineken and pub entrepreneur Alan McIntosh in bidding war December 15, 2016 Punch Taverns is in the midst of a takeover tussle between Heineken and Alan McIntosh, an entrepreneur who was one of the pub company’s founders. Shares in Punch soared as news of the two approaches emerged, ending the day nearly 38 per cent up at 177p. Yesterday morning, City A.M. revealed that McIntosh has tabled [...]