Warnings of a profit crisis for retailers as margins shrink in the past decade June 14, 2022 Retail profit margins will plunge to 5.1 per cent in 2022, the lowest level in a decade. Excluding the initial impact of the Covid 19 pandemic and related shop closures, profit margins will drop to the lowest level in a decade, down from 8.3 per cent in 2021. Some 57 per cent of UK consumers [...]
AO World swings to £37m loss as costs skyrocket August 18, 2022 Online electrical retailer AO World revealed it had swung to a £37m loss in the year to March as costs skyrocketed and pandemic-induced boom in sales dropped off.
Nightcap boss: ‘No place for mediocrity’ in economic tumult as cocktail brand’s sales surge November 13, 2022 Cocktail bar operator Nightcap is slowing down its expansion programme while its CEO told CityA.M. the sector faces “uncharted territory” this winter. While the London-listed business would not halt openings entirely, it would “be more cautious” with new sites, CEO Sarah Willingham said. In its annual report last week, the owner of The Adventure Bar [...]
London’s streets aren’t paved with gold but we do help direct investment across the UK January 16, 2023 London is often seen as a sponge, taking up crucial state funding, but the capital has some of the highest levels of deprivation in the country, even if it does drive investment, writes Nicholas Lyons
Rail strikes continue TODAY: Here’s all you need to know December 6, 2023 Train drivers from the ASLEF union are set to continue this weeks' string of walkouts on Tuesday, halting services at a host of operators.
Oil bosses dubbed ‘the new oligarchs’ as political focus on windfall tax for energy giants grows May 12, 2022 Conservative MP Robert Halfon this morning labelled oil company bosses “the new oligarchs” as he called on the Government to hit them with a windfall tax. Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme, he said the Government had done “a fair bit” to tackle the cost-of-living crisis but that families were still struggling with food [...]
Use windfall tax to improve energy efficiency of British homes, argues climate charity Ashden June 16, 2022 The government should funnel revenues from the windfall tax into making the UK's housing stock more energy efficient, says Ashden.
Letters: Housing, interrupted April 5, 2022 [Re: House price growth hits highest level since 2004 with record average of £265.3k, March 31] New figures released by the Nationwide house price index defy premature predictions of slowing prices in early 2022. An increase in average house prices of 20 per cent in the last two years is a shocking figure which coincides [...]
Severing business ties with China risks weighing on UK economy, says CBI boss July 30, 2022 Severing ties with Chinese business risks weighing on the UK’s cost of living crisis, the boss of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) has cautioned today. Worsening relations between Beijing and the West has piled scrutiny onto Chinese businesses and investments, including the move in 2020 to remove Shenzhen-based Huawei from UK 5G infrastructure, and [...]
City braces for BoE rate hike and mini-budget September 19, 2022 The City is bracing for a bumper week of economic data and policy announcements in a trading week shortened by the UK bank holiday for The Queen’s funeral. London’s premier FTSE 100 index posted mixed performance last week, initially jumping higher before closing 1.56 per cent lower at 7,236.68 points. Its mid-cap domestically-focused counterpart, the [...]