Investors flee equity funds as valuation concerns grow September 4, 2025 Equity funds experienced their worst month of outflows since August 2022 in August, as investors shifted their cash into bonds. UK investors withdrew a staggering £1.3bn from equity funds, following a withdrawal of £1.13bn in July, according to data from funds group Calastone. Edward Glyn, head of global markets at Calastone said, “This summer, stock [...]
Currys kicks off year with strong sales despite high street pressures September 4, 2025 Currys has reported a robust start to its new financial year, with sales growth across the UK, Ireland and Nordics, and a £50m share buyback programme as the electricals retailer looks to reward shareholders. In a trading update for the 17 weeks to 30 August, the FTSE 250 firm said UK & Ireland like-for-like revenue [...]
Higher interest rates boost Lloyd’s of London September 4, 2025 Lloyd’s of London, the world’s leading insurance and reinsurance market, has reported a profit before tax of £4.2bn for the first half of 2025. Gross written premiums climbed to £32.5bn, up from £30.6bn reported for the same period last year. Its underwriting result fell to £1.5bn, down from £3.1bn the previous year, as the market’s [...]
Chelsea’s transfer window and what net spend says about your club September 4, 2025 “Feel more confident about our transfer business than I have done since the fall of the Roman Empire,” wrote a Chelsea supporter friend of this column. Chelsea are of course a transfer outlier, churning a huge roster of players, deploying ultra-long contracts (and hence amortisation periods) and happy to break even in the market. How [...]
Rachel Reeves told UK economy is ‘stuck in first gear’ September 4, 2025 Chancellor Rachel Reeves has been warned by top industry bosses that the UK economy remains “stuck in first gear” as the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) said growth would be slightly higher than expected this year. The BCC has revised its GDP growth estimate for 2025 up to 1.3 per cent from 1.1 per cent [...]
Pothole partners: JCB to be official exhibitor at Reform conference September 4, 2025 JCB will be one of the ‘official exhibitors’ at this week’s Reform Party conference, where it will showcase a pothole machine in the latest sign of tightening ties between the poll-topping party and blue-chip UK firms. The yellow-liveried manufacturer, which is owned by longstanding Tory donor Lord Bamford, will be one of the most prominent [...]
Has the legal market pulled the brakes on the NQ pay war? September 4, 2025 ‘City lawyers are the new bankers‘. This became a common refrain in the legal market as pay wars ramped up. However, the sentiment within the market suggests that the tide may be changing. Over the past several years, the pay war over newly qualified (NQ) lawyers has been a major talking point in the market, [...]
Businesses are Reform-curious on eve of Birmingham conference September 4, 2025 Nigel Farage’s poll-topping party has attracted more businesses than ever to its annual conference this week. But, writes Ali Lyon, some corporations and industry bodies are still steering clear of the party, citing its unpredictability and the conference’s unorthodox format. With his party boasting a consistent poll lead, and a general election just weeks away, [...]
If Rayner survives she’ll be much diminished September 4, 2025 Politically, this is fish in a barrel stuff. If you’re on the record saying that “every pound of tax that’s not delivered to the Chancellor of the Exchequer means that it damages our public services” [sic] and you’ve taken aim at your political opponents by claiming that “it’s one rule for them and one rule [...]
Parents forced to delay retirement to bankroll staggering university costs September 4, 2025 Over a third of UK parents are postponing retirement to fund their children’s university education. According to a new study from wealth manager Rathbones, parents expect to work an average of five years longer than initially planned to afford increasingly higher education costs. However, more than a quarter estimate they will need to extend their [...]