How Arla Foods boss went from selling cigarettes to Lurpak and Cravendale November 15, 2024 A globe-trotting career that began selling cigarettes at British American Tobacco and has led to heading up the UK arm of dairy giant Arla Foods is maybe not what Bas Padberg could have predicted when he started out in the early 1990s. The managing director of the group behind Lurpak, Cravendale, Skyr and B.O.B milk [...]
Firms blame Budget uncertainty as economy slows sharply in third quarter November 15, 2024 The UK grew at a slower pace than expected in the third quarter, according to new figures, with business groups pointing to the impact of uncertainty ahead of last month’s Budget. New figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed that the economy grew 0.1 per cent in the third quarter, after contracting 0.1 [...]
Why Rachel Reeves’s pension reforms might not be as ‘radical’ as she thinks November 14, 2024 While her changes may constitute the biggest overhaul of the pensions sector in decades, some in the City say the truly radical option remains firmly in the back pocket.
Whisky Business: Scotch Whisky exports take a hit November 14, 2024 City AM’s monthly look at trends in the world of Scotch Whisky. Scotch Whisky is one of the UK’s most successful sectors, but it’s facing increasing headwinds from challenges both at home and overseas. According to the Scotch Whisky Association (SWA), the value of Scotch exports topped £5.6bn in 2023, supporting 66,000 jobs across the [...]
How Rachel Reeves plans to use pension pots to fund an investment boom November 14, 2024 The Chancellor Rachel Reeves is set to lay out one of the most significant shake-ups of the pension system in decades today after years of calls from the City to lean on the sector to fund an investment boom. Currently, 86 different local government pension schemes manage assets between £300m and £30bn, with local government [...]
Reeves eyes £80bn investment with pension ‘megafunds’ November 14, 2024 The Chancellor Rachel Reeves will unveil plans to consolidate the UK’s sprawling £400bn local authority pension schemes today in a bid to unlock a wave of investment into the UK. In her first Mansion House speech in the City, Reeves is expected to announce a new Pension Schemes Bill to be introduced next year, aiming [...]
Exclusive: Reeves to reveal new mutual council with Nationwide and Co-op November 14, 2024 Chancellor Rachel Reeves will set out plans for a new mutual council today made up of some of Britain’s biggest customer and member-owned firms, including Nationwide, Royal London and the Co-op Group, City AM understands. In her maiden Mansion House speech, Reeves is expected to set out a growth plan for mutually owned business as [...]
Badenoch claims Reeves’s Budget was designed to ‘milk private sector’ November 13, 2024 The Labour government’s “ideological” Budget was “designed to milk the private sector”, Tory leader Kemi Badenoch has claimed. Quizzing Sir Keir Starmer during Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs) today, the Conservative leader accused the Labour leader of “having nothing to offer but platitudes”. She said: “Their ideological Budget was designed to milk the private sector and [...]
Inside the ‘arms race’ for a private stock exchange – and why it’s dividing the City November 13, 2024 At a private workshop at the London Stock Exchange in September, a room full of investors and City bosses were split into separate groups and told to talk among themselves. Spread among them were officials from the Treasury, the Financial Conduct Authority and the London Stock Exchange, scribbling down the thoughts of those in attendance [...]
Office for Value for Money: Can more bureaucracy really improve productivity? November 13, 2024 Public sector productivity has remained the same for 25 years. Can more bureaucracy help it, Paul Ormerod asks.