Millennials drive trend for picking Instagram-friendly holiday locations August 7, 2017 Social media influencers are now having an effect on our travel habits as well as our clothing and food choices. One in three Brits have booked to visit a destination after seeing it on Instagram, according to holiday booking website Super Break. Read more: Instagram-obsessed millennials are wasting food The proportion increased for millennials, 64 [...]
Conservatives and Lib Dems slam Corbyn as Labour leader fails to condemn Venezuelan President Maduro August 7, 2017 Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has condemned violence “on both sides” in Venezuela – but refused to criticise President Maduro for his part in the crisis. Speaking at a meeting of Labour members in Crawley today, the Islington North MP he was “very sad that lives have been lost… either those on the streets or security [...]
Subscription shaving service Cornerstone gets a smooth £3.5m investment led by Calculus Capital as former Graze chairman William Reeve joins as adviser August 7, 2017 British shaving products supplier Cornerstone has nabbed a £3.5m investment, in a new funding round led by private equity firm Calculus Capital. E-commerce veteran William Reeve, who has previously held positions on the boards of Graze, Lovefilm, Zoopla and Paddy Power, will join the Cornerstone team as an adviser. The new investment takes the total [...]
Harrods Bank sold to digital challenger Tandem | City A.M. August 7, 2017 The banking arm of luxury department store Harrods has been sold to digital challenger bank Tandem in what’s understood to be a multi-million pound deal, City A.M. can exclusively reveal. The Harrods Bank brand will disappear as Tandem takes over the loss-making bank’s business, including loans, savings and current accounts. The deal is a left [...]
UK house prices: House prices fall for fourth successive quarter, according to Halifax August 7, 2017 House prices fell by 0.2 per cent in the last three months, the fourth quarterly fall in a row. Prices rose 0.4 per cent between June and July, according to Halifax’s house price index, a partial turnaround from the 0.9 per cent fall in house prices recorded between May and June. The last time house [...]
Housebuilders have become hooked on the government’s help to buy scheme August 7, 2017 Have we witnessed the beginning of the end of help to buy? Shares in UK housebuilders plummeted at the end of last week after reports suggested the government has asked the London School of Economics (LSE) to review the scheme’s efficacy. It is arguable the scheme, whose first iteration was launched in April 2013, is [...]
Look to the communications sector for how an open-facing UK can thrive outside the EU August 7, 2017 In time honoured fashion, the night of the EU referendum saw the UK’s broadcast media descend on Basildon, a town well known for its forthright voters. It wasn’t surprising that its residents opted robustly for Brexit. And as the town’s mayor announced the result, the crowd at the count didn’t disappoint the TV crews. “Goodbye [...]
The government will rake in nearly £25bn in “sin taxes”on tobacco, alcohol and sugar in 2018 August 7, 2017 The UK government will make a total of £24.7bn from so-called “sin taxes” by 2018, more than offsetting the cost smokers, drinkers and the obese have on the taxpayer, a new report suggests. With high levels of taxation imposed on “sin” industries, policymakers are ignoring the UK’s ageing population, which is the real threat to [...]
Woodford’s stalwart fund, the Woodford Equity Income Fund, suffers after a nightmare fortnight August 6, 2017 Renowned investor Neil Woodford will be hoping this week holds fewer hidden surprises than the last fortnight, as some of the largest companies in his portfolio have seen their share prices plummet. The business which held the largest position in Woodford’s Equity Income Fund portfolio, drug company AstraZeneca, suffered as its shares plunged towards the [...]
City watchdog, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), readies to launch a crackdown on peer-to-peer lending and crowdfuding August 6, 2017 The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is readying to launch a review of peer-to-peer (P2P) lending, with the aim of standardising practice between platforms to protect investors. The FCA has been working on understanding issues in the P2P market after it put out a call for input last year, which found that it was difficult for [...]