CD&R £7bn Morrisons takeover put on ice amid market volatility December 2, 2021 Clayton, Dubilier & Rice’s takeover of British supermarket Morrisons has been postponed to next year, as lenders push back on the massive debt package that the US private equity firm is using to finance the buyout to wait out market volatility. In what represents the UK’s biggest buyout in more than a decade at a [...]
Red hot property market makes Brits the richest they have ever been December 2, 2021 A booming property market triggered by a tax holiday and Brits demanding larger homes has made the UK the richest it has ever been. Household wealth in Britain swelled 8.4 per cent over the last year to £11.2 trillion, the highest it has ever been since the Office for National Statistics (ONS) started tracking the [...]
Ministers postpone rail fare increase following HS2 cuts backlash December 2, 2021 A UK Government announcement regarding a 3.8 per cent increase in rail fares from March was postponed last week following the backlash caused by the slashing of rail investments in the north. Rail fares in England and Wales will see the biggest increase in nine years, the Guardian reported exclusively after seeing leaked documents. A [...]
Apple cautions suppliers of sliding demand – but heads for sales of $117bn December 2, 2021 Apple has reportedly warned suppliers of sliding demand for its latest iPhone 13 – though the technology giant is still headed for a record Christmas quarter. Reports of the alleged caution prompted investors to duck out of the stock, leaving its share price down more than three per cent to $159.59 a share. Shares had [...]
Partner pay of £760m puts BDO ahead of Big Four rivals EY and KPMG as challenger firm sees revenue surge December 2, 2021 Partners at BDO saw their profits increase to over three quarters of a million pounds, putting them ahead of their peers at rival firms EY and KPMG. Profit per equity partner before tax increased to £760,000 at BDO following a 14 per cent drop last year, while EY partners were paid an average of £749,000 [...]
Number 10 tells US not to ‘conflate’ Trump-era steel tariffs with Brexit December 2, 2021 Downing Street has warned the US that tetchy UK-EU negotiations over the post-Brexit Northern Ireland Protocol should not affect any decisions made about Donald Trump-era tariffs on British steel. A Number 10 spokesperson said “we do not think those issues should be conflated”, after reports today that the US was not removing tariffs on British [...]
Bank of England to look through Omicron and hike rates this month December 2, 2021 The Bank of England will plough ahead and hike interest rates for the first time three years this month despite concerns the Omicron variant could whack the UK economy, according to City analysts. Strong booster jab take up and high levels of existing immunity stemming from the successful vaccination programme has put the British economy [...]
City’s nitrogen dioxide dropped 42 per cent in five years December 2, 2021 The levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) in Square Mile have dropped 42 per cent since 2016. Figures from the City of London Corporation – which were later confirmed by air quality monitors such as Beech Street and the Aldgate School – revealed a year-on-year improvement over the last five years, as a result of air [...]
HSBC boss warns costs will soar if Brexit fragments European financial market December 2, 2021 The boss of the world’s largest bank has warned banks and their clients will have to swallow higher costs if Brexit fragments the European financial market. Speaking at the Financial Times’s Global Banking Summit, Noel Quinn, chief executive of HSBC, said there is a real “risk of fragmentation increasing costs” in the banking sector. Several [...]
Truss doubles down Ukraine support in meeting with Russian counterpart December 2, 2021 Foreign secretary Liz Truss has met with her Russian counterpart today to double down on support for Ukraine. Russia, which annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, has been accused of trying to destabilise its eastern European neighbour state. “The Foreign Secretary expressed concern about rising tensions across Europe and re-stated the UK’s support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, [...]