Record number of UK businesses face financial woes ahead of Budget October 30, 2025 The number of UK businesses in ‘critical’ financial distress has surged as the economy cries out for certainty in Rachel Reeves’ November Budget. The number of businesses in ‘critical’ financial distress surged 78 per cent year-on-year, to 55,530 in the third quarter of 2025, up from 31,201 in the same quarter last year. The latest [...]
Rachel Reeves considers income tax hike and national insurance cut October 30, 2025 Chancellor Rachel Reeves is eyeing up a simultaneous 2p hike to income tax and 2p cut to national insurance, it has been reported, in an effort to raise some £6bn. Reeves is considering the controversial tax hike, according to The Telegraph, which would breach the Labour Party manifesto and risk infuriating voters. It would also [...]
OpenAI eyes $1 trillion IPO as soon as 2026 October 30, 2025 OpenAI has begun preparations for a blockbuster float that could see the tech juggernaut valued at as much as $1 trillion (£750bn). The ChatGPT maker is understood to be considering filing IPO paperwork as soon as the second half of 2026, with the listing taking place later that year or early the following year. OpenAI [...]
Virgin Media O2 and Starlink race to fix London’s connectivity crisis October 30, 2025 Virgin Media O2 has switched on its first ‘giga site’ in central London, a move aimed at improving mobile connectivity across the UK. The site, which combines low-mid and high-band spectrum with Nokia’s technology, can deliver speeds of more than 10Gbps, enough to support 2,000 simultaneous HD video streams. The move is part of the [...]
Trump’s DEI crackdown sparks ethics exodus across UK businesses October 30, 2025 US President Donald Trump’s crackdown on initiatives such as diversity, equality and inclusion (DEI) and environmental sustainability has drifted across the Atlantic. According to research by law firm Freeths, over half of UK businesses (54 per cent) have changed the way they approach ethical policies and practices. While over a quarter (28 per cent) have [...]
Standard Chartered shares hit 12-year high after income upgrade October 30, 2025 Banking giant Standard Chartered has upgraded its income target for the full-year after its booming wealth business powered profit higher. The FTSE 100 lender posted a pre-tax profit of $1.8bn (£1.36bn) in the three months to September, ahead of the $1.5bn pencilled in by analysts. Shares in the bank jumped to a 12-year high after [...]
Punk Padel and Tough Mudder: It pays for sports to buy into fun innovation October 30, 2025 I am happy to go down any rabbit hole, or country lane, in search of innovation in sport. Driving back from a trail race the other day, I passed a small sign tucked on a grassy verge in deepest Sussex. “Punk Padel”, it seemed to whisper rather than shout, as if conscious it was out [...]
FTSE 100 Live: OpenAI plots IPO, Shell kicks off $3.5bn buyback October 30, 2025 Good morning from the City AM liveblog team. The war of words between banks and private credit ratcheted up on Wednesday, after a trio of bosses from private lenders rounded on claims their industry played a pivotal role in a string of recent debt-related collapses, branding it “misinformation”. During a fiery evidence session in the [...]
Could this be the clearest sign yet that the rich are leaving Britain? October 30, 2025 It’s hard to know quite how many of the super-rich are leaving London. Some say departure numbers are well into four figures so far this year – others that the estimates are overstated. We can’t get a precise number, but one thing is for sure: it’s happening. The anecdotal evidence of high net worth folk [...]
Should Robert Peston really be making adverts for Google? October 30, 2025 “I was struck by some analysis that Google has done that shows that the adoption of artificial intelligence can increase productivity by around 20 per cent,” ITV political editor Robert Peston says. If you weren’t paying close enough attention, you’d be forgiven for missing that Peston’s remarks form part of a new advertising campaign he [...]