What’s in a year? Hopefully one without a new prime minister or an election January 3, 2023 Without making myself a hostage to fortune, I predict 2023 will be a year without as much political turmoil even as inflation causes havoc.
Punch Pubs owners mull sale after suitors come calling November 29, 2021 The owners of Punch Pubs and Co, one of the UK’s largest pub operators, are mulling a sale of the firm after receiving a flurry of approaches despite ongoing Covid-19 headwinds. Fortress Investment Group, the US investor owned by Japan’s SoftBank, is in talks to buy Punch for a price reportedly in the region of [...]
Inflation and supply chain woes take their toll on UK’s chemical sector October 17, 2022 The chemical sector has reported its first quarterly fall in sales since the height of the pandemic, according to the latest sector data.
Living with Covid: Legal duty to isolate and routine contact tracing both end on Thursday February 21, 2022 People who test positive for coronavirus will no longer be legally required to isolate from Thursday, and free universal testing will end in April under Boris Johnson’s plan for “living with Covid”. The Prime Minister detailed the strategy for England to the Commons late on Monday afternoon after a Cabinet disagreement thought to centre on [...]
Number of Brits on payrolls accelerates as close to 30m are in employment February 15, 2022 The UK job market continued its recovery as the number of payrolled workers jumped last month but wages have continued to lag behind soaring inflation, according to official figures. The Office for National Statistics said this morning that the number of UK workers on payrolls rose by 108,000 between December and January to 29.5m. The [...]
Wizz Air issues new €500m bond at minimal premium to repay Bank of England financing January 13, 2022 Wizz Air Holdings (Wizz Air) has issued a €500m bond at minimal premium to pay off Bank of England financing.
Royal Mail strikes will crush retail and small businesses when we need them to grow November 24, 2022 The UK boasts one of the world’s most sophisticated ecommerce economies, with small businesses thriving by scaling up their retail operations online. But more than four decades on from the Winter of Discontent, industrial action risks destabilising this flourishing online economy. We understand the challenges that workers are facing during these unprecedented times, with higher [...]
Shortages saga: A third of UK mid-size firms forced to slim down offerings October 4, 2021 With the UK’s supply chains riddled with labour shortages and continued Covid-19-related hang-ups, a third of mid-size firms have been forced to reduce their offering. More than 34 per cent of businesses already trimmed their product lines and services by mid-September – before the fuel crisis had gripped the nation, according to accountancy firm BDO. [...]
UK travel bankruptcies on the rise as Omicron and staycations scupper sector’s recovery February 14, 2022 The UK’s travel sector is still suffering from the impacts of Covid, according to new figures from accountancy company Mazars, which show that travel sector insolvencies are on the rise. In January, 15 travel companies went into insolvency, up from nine in December, Mazars’ figures show. The recent rise in the number of insolvencies comes [...]
Could the NHS lose its halo as waitlists push people towards private practice? April 19, 2022 Since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, NHS waiting times have increased sharply. In early 2020, there were about 4.4 million people on some kind of NHS waiting list. In early 2022, that figure had soared to 6.1 million. In early 2020, fewer than one in five patients waited for longer than 18 weeks. Now, [...]