‘Grinding it out’: Ibstock swings to loss and cuts dividend amid building slump August 5, 2026 One of the UK’s biggest brickmakers has bemoaned a ‘challenging’ housebuilding market as it slashed its dividend and swung to a loss. Leicestershire-based Ibstock, which is London’s second most shorted stock with a reported short interest of 12.9 per cent, posted a loss of £27m for the first six months of the year, down from [...]
Next hikes targets as heatwave boosts sales August 5, 2026 Next has upgraded its profit targets for the year after breezing past second quarter expectations, putting its shareholders in line for a bumper payday. The FTSE 100 retail giant hiked its pre-tax profit expectations for 2026 to £1.24bn, around £25m higher than previously estimates. If achieved the figure would mark 7.3 per cent growth on [...]
As it happened: Stocks rise as oil fluctuates after Red Sea attack; US-Iran deal ‘being circulated’ August 5, 2026 Welcome back to the City AM liveblog. Oil prices have snapped a losing streak following Yemen’s Houthis said they had attacked a Saudi vessel in the Red Sea. Brent crude drew back above the $80 per barrel mark on Wednesday morning on the news, but prices were still down for the week by around 10 [...]
Ask the expert: How do I avoid double tax on my pension? August 5, 2026 Got a question for our expert? Email asktheexpert@cityam.com Fidelity personal financial specialist Marianna Hunt is back on hand to answer your burning questions, and today a reader is looking to avoid the incoming double tax blow. Q: I’m hoping to retire soon and am just deciding where I will draw my income from. I had [...]
What Burnham could learn from BP’s pragmatism August 5, 2026 In 2020, BP unveiled a “major, necessary step in support of our purpose to reimagine energy for people and our planet.” The new strategy – “performing while transforming” – would see the firm “significantly scale-up our low carbon energy business” as part of a commitment “to become a net zero company by 2050 or sooner [...]
Where are Andy Burnham’s economic advisers? August 5, 2026 Andy Burnham’s allies boasted that highly-regarded economists had been lured as advisers. Mauricio Alencar and Ali Lyon report on the non-appointments of some of Britain’s best economists – and what the Prime Minister and Chancellor’s new teams look like. In the end, all it took was a few rumours. In the weeks leading up to [...]
Gary Lineker forks out £10k to save England World Cup dream August 5, 2026 Gary Lineker and a group of private backers have come to the rescue of the England men’s amputee team while the Football Association refuses to fund them. The governing body stopped its financial support in 2006 and, despite now backing seven para teams, still excludes the amputee side. The England team, Nations League winners in [...]
Heineken-owned pubs group faces probe over eviction threat August 5, 2026 One of the UK’s biggest pub chains is facing a potential probe by the UK’s pubs watchdog after it threatened to evict one of its London tenants. Star Pubs, which operates more than 2,000 sites across Britain and is owned by Dutch brewing titan Heineken, has been told it will be referred to the Pubs [...]
Big bank bosses on alert as tax noise gets louder under Burnham August 5, 2026 Banks have delivered booming profits for the first half of the year. In this week’s column Samuel Norman takes a look at how the calls for a tax rise on the sector will get louder under the new Prime Minister. “The saxophones are getting louder” is the internet’s new saying to depict growing anxiety. If you [...]
Tour de France Femmes: World famous cycling race plunged into bra row August 4, 2026 For penis injections at the Winter Olympics, read bra padding at the Tour de France Femmes, where officials are making extra checks on riders to ensure they are not cheating by inflating the size of their chests. The move comes after unnamed teams raised suspicions that some cyclists were using padding on their chests – [...]