SMMT: New UK car sales rise 11 per cent post-lockdown August 5, 2020 New UK car sales rose for the first time this year in July as dealerships enjoyed their first full month of trading since reopening after lockdown. According to new figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), registrations rose 11.3 per cent last month as pent-up demand and special offers tempted consumers to [...]
‘Test to release’ travel scheme off to ‘chaotic’ start December 15, 2020 The government’s new “test to release” system to reduce quarantine got off to a “chaotic start” this morning after it transpired that only three of its approved test providers were open. Under the scheme, which was announced on 24 November, travellers who wish to leave quarantine early can do so by taking a coronavirus test [...]
Exclusive: Meet the former UBS and JPMorgan heavyweights shaking up private banking May 28, 2021 As the economy is slowly switching into recovery gear, activity in the City and beyond is starting to pick up again. That is also the case for Vestrata, a relatively new fintech player that is taking the wealth management and private banking space by storm by bring machine learning and automated risk metrics into the [...]
Before the Bell: Europe set for positive start as China data points to choppy recovery March 15, 2021 While US markets by and large have managed to retain their resilience, with new record highs for the Dow, S&P500 and Russell 2000 last week, the gains have been notably in sectors left behind by the huge tech rally that has help support most of the move higher in US equities over the last few [...]
Ban on new petrol and diesel car sales to be brought forward to 2030 November 14, 2020 Boris Johnson is set to announce that the ban on petrol and diesel vehicles will be brought forward to 2030. The announcement is expected as part of a landmark speech laying out the government’s 10 point plan for climate change. Back in February the ban on the sale of such vehicles was brought forward to [...]
‘A horror story’: Brexit and Covid halt international trade for UK SMEs November 11, 2020 Already suffering from the impact of a domestic lockdown, the UK’s SMEs have also been forced to halt international trade this year. The dual hit of Brexit and Covid uncertainty has seen 1.5m small businesses pause international imports and exports in 2020, according to research by fintech Currensea. For many SMEs international trade is the [...]
More than 100m meals eaten through Eat Out to Help Out scheme September 4, 2020 More than 100m meals were eaten in August as a part of the government’s Eat Out to Help Out scheme for a total cost to the Treasury of £522m. The latest figures show there was a large uptick in take up of the scheme in the final two weeks of August, after 35m meals were [...]
UK house prices rebound sharply after stamp duty cut July 31, 2020 UK house prices unexpectedly bounced back in July after tumbling in June, as pent-up lockdown demand was released and the stamp duty cut cheered buyers and sellers. Building society nationwide said British prices jumped 1.7 per cent in July compared to a month earlier, when they fell 1.6 per cent. Analysts had been expecting a [...]
UK lockdown: Online sales soar 109 per cent to record high May 8, 2020 Online sales soared to a record high in April after high street stores shut their doors during the UK’s coronavirus lockdown. Non-store sales surged 109.6 per cent last month, the strongest result since records began 10 years ago, after all non-essential physical stores closed. However, overall retail sales plunged 29.6 per cent during the month [...]
Ocado CEO Tim Steiner: M&S products are more popular than Waitrose March 18, 2021 Ocado’s M&S products are favoured over the former Waitrose partnership products with customers, as the company enjoys a doubling of new registrations, the company’s chief executive said this morning. “The M&S product is more popular with our customers than the Waitrose products were,” chief executive Tim Steiner said during an investor call earlier this morning. [...]