British retailers cheer Christmas sales, but City analysts warn of coming storm January 15, 2023 Britain’s largest retailers kicked off 2023 strongly last week, posting better than expected Christmas sales, signalling the consumer is holding up a bit better than feared. Tesco’s like for like sales were 7.9 per cent higher, while Marks and Spencer pocketed a 7.2 per cent rise. Sainsbury’s also posted record Christmas sales. Those bumper numbers, [...]
Santander shares soar five per cent as lender bets on Europe to boost pay-outs and ‘ambitious’ profit targets February 28, 2023 Santander plans to return half its profits to shareholders after announcing “ambitious” profitability targets for the next three years. The Spanish banking giant said it was betting on customer growth and higher interest rates in Europe to boost its revenue. Santander has previously relied on its Latin American presence to offset the tough conditions experienced [...]
As the Queen moves out of Buckingham Palace, any new occupant would pay £250m deposit with monthly mortgage of £1m March 9, 2022 With the Queen moving out of Buckingham Palace to ‘work from home’ at one of her castles, research has found it would cost almost £250m just for a deposit to purchase the London landmark – with up to £3m a month in loan payments. In her Majesty’s Platinum Jubilee year, the nonagenarian has left the [...]
Cost of living crisis has forced families to take on £1.1bn debt and dig into savings, says Bank of England March 1, 2023 Families are saving far less than they did over the course of the Covid-19 pandemic and maxing on credit cards to maintain spending amid the cost of living crisis, official figures have revealed. Brits set aside £3.5bn in January in savings accounts, a slight increase from December, but below the pre-pandemic monthly average increase of [...]
PMQs sketch: A local election drinking game, by Keir Starmer and Rishi Sunak May 3, 2023 In celebration of the impending Coronation, no, not of the King, but of 8,000 local councillors across the country, Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer came up with a novel idea: a PMQs drinking game.
Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust: buying opportunity? May 27, 2022 Scottish Mortgage (LON: SMT) shares are still up 77% over the past five years, despite recent falls. And as central banks make increasingly hawkish noises, its share price is now trading at a 12.7% discount to net asset value. However, this could represent a FTSE 100 buying opportunity. Scottish Mortgage Manager Tom Slater recently told investors that ‘in retrospect, it [...]
Homes close to new pylons to be offered £1,000 off bills a year November 19, 2023 Households closest to new pylons and electricity substations could receive up to £1,000 a year off their bills under plans being announced by Jeremy Hunt.
Property market is hot but cooling amid cocktail of low stock, high inflation and uncertainty June 21, 2022 The UK’s property market is still going strong, despite fears that rising inflation and the cost of living crisis will choke growth. The number of properties changing hands fell again last month in comparison with its pandemic heights last year. However, with some 100,870 homes sold in May, the latest government data has found a [...]
Persimmon signals housing slowdown as sales slump amid recession fears November 8, 2022 Soaring interest rates and economic uncertainty are eating into sales and reducing consumer appetite for housing, revealed Persimmon.
Glimmers UK will avoid recession this year emerge as experts cheer return to growth in PMI February 21, 2023 Warnings that the UK is headed for a recession may have been misplaced after figures out today revealed private businesses returned to growth for the first time in half a year. S&P Global and the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply’s (CIPS) composite flash purchasing managers’ index (PMI) for February hit 53 points, up from [...]