BP appoints former CRH boss as chair July 21, 2025 BP has appointed a successor for chair Helge Lund, who announced plans to step down in April amid growing shareholder pressure. Albert Manifold, the former chief executive of building materials group CRH, will take over as chair of the oil major in October after a one-month stint as chair-elect. Manifold led CRH for ten years [...]
Roadchef: M25 and M1 delays force motorway services to a loss July 21, 2025 Significant disruption on the M25 and M1 forced motorway service station chain Roadchef into the red in 2024, it has been revealed. The Staffordshire-headquartered group, which operates a 30-strong network of motorway service stations, has posted a pre-tax loss of £5.9m for its latest financial year. The total comes after the business achieved a pre-tax [...]
Brit Awards in the red ahead of Manchester move July 21, 2025 The company behind the Brit Awards has fallen into the red ahead of moving the annual event out of London for the first time in its history. Brit Awards Limited has reported a pre-tax loss of £12,653 for 2024, new accounts filed with Companies House have confirmed. The loss comes after the business made a [...]
Ryanair profit more than doubles as fares jump July 21, 2025 Quarterly profit at Ryanair has more than doubled after the Irish airline benefitted from higher air fares and a later Easter. Profit after tax rose 128 per cent to €820m (£710m) over the three months ended June, alongside a 21 per cent increase in ticket prices. Revenue rose by a fifth to €4.34bn as the [...]
Labour revives Pensions Commission amid fears workers are saving too little July 21, 2025 Ministers are to resurrect the Pensions Commission amid fears that today’s workers face a greater risk of poverty in retirement than their parents. Experts have warned that people looking to retire in 2050 are on course to receive £800 per year less than current pensioners. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) said 45 per [...]
Wealth tax would be a ‘dangerous road to go down’, BNP investment chief warns July 21, 2025 The chief investment officer at BNP Paribas Wealth Management has become the latest senior banker to warn over plans to introduce a wealth tax in the UK, describing the move a “dangerous road to go down.” In an interview with City AM, Edmund Shing said the move was likely to discourage entrepreneurs from starting a [...]
HMRC cracks down on tax-avoiding restaurants and takeaways July 21, 2025 HMRC has put the restaurant sector firmly in its sights as it tries to hit ambitious targets set by the government. It has ‘named and shamed’ 98 restaurant businesses in a single day, according to accountants Hacker Young. The firms owe a collective £10.4m in unpaid tax and HMRC has issued them with a total of [...]
Planning permissions for home improvements falls to lowest level in a decade July 21, 2025 Planning permissions for home renovations has plummeted as the low consumer confidence permeates the construction industry. Consents for developments in England totalled 151,177 in the 12 months to March, 27 per cent below the 10-year average, according to data from Savills. This is despite a 24 per cent uplift in housing transactions as buyers rushed [...]
Meta: Zuckerberg’s open source gamble collides with EU regulation July 20, 2025 Meta has refused to sign the European Commission’s new AI Code of Practice, escalating tensions with Brussels just weeks before landmark regulation kicks in. The voluntary guidelines – designed to help tech giants prepare for the EU’s sweeping AI Act – were rejected outright by Meta’s global affairs chief Joel Kaplan, who warned they introduced [...]
UK bank profits in focus as lenders await critical motor finance court ruling July 20, 2025 Investors will be hoping UK banks will report solid earnings as lenders await the outcome of a critical court judgment that could unleash a major car finance compensation scheme. Lloyds Banking Group will kick off the sector’s half-year earnings with its results on Thursday, followed by NatWest Group on Friday. It comes at a significant [...]