Costa Coffee hikes staff pay as cost of living crisis prompts chain to raise wages for third time in 12 months March 6, 2023 Costa Coffee became the latest coffee chain to give its staff a pay rise, as employers seek to retain employees who are battling a cost of living crisis. Beginning in April, some 16,000 baristas at the high street coffee chain will see wages increase from £10 per hour to £10.70 per hour. The rise is [...]
Car sales: Better deals and more availability have pushed numbers up with Vauxhall models most popular March 6, 2023 The number of newly registered vehicles rolled out on the UK’s roads continued to soar with car sales rising for the seventh consecutive month. According to figures published by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders(SMMT) car registrations rose by 26.2 per cent in February as an easing of supply chain shortages steered the market [...]
WANdisco in ‘early stages’ of US listing as another city firm rejects London for a New York flotation March 6, 2023 Data giant WANdisco has confirmed that it is in the “early stages” of preparing to list its shares in the US, however has reaffirmed its commitment to London’s investment market. The £1bn software group was responding to rumours that the group was preparing to list its shares in the US amid an ongoing debate about [...]
Why housebuilders’ share prices are sinking – despite healthy industry profits March 5, 2023 If you quickly skim over the financial results of any major residential home builder you would presume that business, for the most part, is doing quite well. Just last week a flurry of housebuilding companies revealed their earnings for 2022 with major players in the market such as Persimmon and Taylor Wimpey seeing profits of [...]
Lloyds Pharmacy puts all 1,300 sites under threat of closure in another blow for post-Covid UK high street March 3, 2023 Lloyds Pharmacy has put all of its 1,300 sites at risk of closure in another major blow for the highstreet. According to reports in The Sun, the private equity owner of the embattled chemist has launched a “strategic review of its entire UK store base”. It’s understood that process could lead to a sale of [...]
‘Google of the property market’ Rightmove shrugs off housing fears to post £241m profit March 3, 2023 Rightmove, the UK’s largest property portal, saw its operating profits rise seven per cent to £241m as the group revealed it was “not materially affected” by the difficult property market. The London-listed company, which lists homes for rent and sale, also saw revenues increase 9 per cent to £332.6m up from £304.9m the prior year. [...]
Flutter shares tumble after World Cup wins knock profit March 2, 2023 The gambling business behind Paddy Power and Betfair saw its shares tumble almost five per cent, after the company missed 2022 earning estimates due to customers winning bets during the Fifa World Cup. Flutter Entertainment, which also owns Sky Betting and Gaming, was predicted earlier this year by Bloomberg analysts to gain EBITDA of £1.7bn [...]
WH Smith hit by cyber attack as hackers gain access to private company data March 2, 2023 WH Smith has been hit by a cyber attack that has resulted in hackers gaining access to private company data. The stationary store and book seller, which has over 600 high street shops in the UK, said it has launched an investigation into the attack. The retailer said however, that customer data was not affected [...]
Flutter: US bet pays off as gambling firm revenues rack up to £7.6bn March 2, 2023 The gambling business behind Paddy Power and Betfair saw its sales soar this year as the group gained huge momentum in the US. Flutter Entertainment said it was continuing to go from “strength to strength” in the US market as it saw revenues reach £2.6bn in the year ending 2022. The London-listed group which operates [...]
Taylor Wimpey profits up nearly 22 per cent at £827m as builder notes signs of housing market ‘improvement’ March 2, 2023 Taylor Wimpey said it “acted quickly” to address rapidly changing market conditions, as the London-listed construction group reported 3.2 per cent year-on-year growth in revenue to £4.4bn during the year ending 2022. The group reported pre-tax profits of £827m, a rise of 21.8 per cent from £678m in the same period last year. As inflation [...]