West End has 109 per cent sales boost but retail leaders call for ‘urgent’ business reform October 10, 2022 West End retailers are calling for fresh support and radical reform to help continue their pandemic recovery. The organisation representing 600 outlets and hospitality firms in Bond St, Oxford St, Regent St and Mayfair announced the district is returning to pre-coronavirus levels, but that it still needs help to stop it faltering. The New West [...]
Brits hunker down for cost of living pinch as experts project spending pullback March 8, 2022 Brits are battering down the hatches in preparation for rampant inflation hitting their finances, reveals fresh research published today. Around nine in 10 households are concerned about the impact rising food prices and overall inflation will have on their ability to maintain spending levels, according to Barclaycard. The research was carried out before the Russia-Ukraine [...]
Restaurateurs grapple with food costs as dairy prices spike July 20, 2022 Restaurateurs are being forced to fork out more and more to create Brits’ favourite dishes, with the sharpest price hikes among dairy, grains and meat. Dairy costs have surged the most, with increases of up to 40 per cent, according to data from around one thousand pubs and restaurants collected by Fourth. Grains, including pasta [...]
Week ahead: City eyes cladding bill impact on house builders’ bottom lines April 24, 2022 Signs of the negative impact of the government turning to home builders to fix the cladding crisis is likely to draw City traders’ gaze in a week of jam packed corporate and economic announcements. London’s capital FTSE 100 index dipped 0.78 per cent to 7,521.68 over the last week, while the mid-cap domestically-focused FTSE 250 [...]
UK housebuilding tumbles into ‘stagnation’ amid reversing economy June 8, 2022 Higher raw material costs and ongoing supply chain disruption clamped down on the UK construction sector last month, according to a closely watched survey released today. Construction businesses cut back on activity amid rapid cost inflation persisting in May making projects unviable. Just over seven in 10 firms said input prices climbed in May, driven [...]
Rowe has earned his money with the turnaround of Marks and Spencer June 7, 2022 Steve Rowe’s pay packet as he departs Marks and Spencer is, unsurprisingly, the subject of plenty of commentary. He’s walking into the sunset with £2.6m for his last year of work, a sum that set against an ongoing cost-of-living crisis in the rest of the economy will always raise eyebrows. Yet Rowe has earned every [...]
Cazoo cuts 750 jobs to save more than £200m by end of next year June 7, 2022 Online car retailer Cazoo has announced it will cut 15 per cent of jobs to save more than £200m until the end of next year. Under its business realignment plan, the company will axe 750 UK and EU positions, cutting vehicle preparation as well as customer support sites. Cazoo’s focus will instead be driving its [...]
Terrible Thursday for Barratt as energy prices and inflation take their toll on Britain’s biggest housebuilder July 14, 2022 Barratt Developments revealed this a.m. the company is facing a rise in build costs of up to 10 per cent as soaring energy prices and inflation take their toll. Britain’s biggest housebuilder said build cost increases have escalated to between 9 per cent and 10 per cent, up from around 6 per cent over the [...]
Return of loan loss reserves crimp JP Morgan profits July 14, 2022 Swelling reserves set aside to deal with a historic inflation surge raising the risk of US consumers defaulting on their debts has eroded investment banking giant JP Morgan’s profits, the firm announced today. Net income dropped 28 per cent in the second quarter compared to the same period last year, driven by a $428m (£360m) [...]
Budget: Jeremy Hunt doesn’t want rabbits in hats, he wants all of us back to work March 15, 2023 Jeremy Hunt will spend more than £2.5m per new worker in the workforce through pension and childcare policies in five years time.