British car manufacturing falls for tenth straight month April 30, 2019 British car manufacturing fell 14.4 per cent in March, its tenth straight month of decline. There were 126,195 vehicles built in March according to figures released today by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT). Read more: Government laments 'devastating' Honda decision to close Swindon plant Output for export fell 13.4 per cent as [...]
Consumer confidence remains steady amid Brexit carry-on, survey shows April 30, 2019 Britons were more positive about the future economic situation in April than they were in March, but are putting off major purchases amid financial and political uncertainty, a new study has today shown. Read more: CBI: UK retailers enjoy rising sales for the first time in five months Meanwhile, fewer people in the UK were positive [...]
Private equity firm Inflexion raises £1bn in two buyout funds April 29, 2019 Private equity firm Inflexion, which owns retailer Mountain Warehouse and previously backed clothing brand Jack Wills, has raised £1bn from US investors attracted to the UK by the Brexit related slide in sterling. The two funds, which are expected to be officially announced this week, will target small and mid-sized deals and co-investment opportunities with [...]
Dark clouds gather as one-sixth of British businesses struggle financially April 29, 2019 Nearly a sixth of British businesses are in financial trouble, amid concerns the UK could suffer a wide-ranging economic slowdown in the coming months, according to research. Read more: Natwest increases small business loan programme amid Brexit uncertainty A report by a leading insolvency firm has revealed there are 484,000 UK firms in “significant financial [...]
Climate change protesters to target Bank of England on Thursday with ‘green QE’ demands April 29, 2019 Climate change protesters have announced that they will target the City’s Bank of England on Thursday, with demands that future stimulus bond buying is done with green goals in mind. Read more: Businesses must tackle climate change or 'fail to exist', Carney warns The protests, organised by campaign groups Positive Money and Fossil Free London, will [...]
Barclays shares: Optimists see an opportunity April 29, 2019 | City Talk By Graeme Evans from interactive investor. These results do not impress, but there’s lots going on at Barclays and plenty to interest investors. Without the attention generated by activist investor Edward Bramson, it’s likely that last week’s lacklustre investment banking performance at Barclays (LSE:BARC) may have been passed off as just another quarter blighted by [...]
A pro-business mayor? Khan is less so than Livingstone April 29, 2019 Before he was elected, Sadiq Khan promised – in this newspaper and elsewhere – to be the “most pro-business mayor yet”. In a literal sense, that pledge was already a bit limited, because Khan has only had two predecessors: Ken Livingstone and Boris Johnson. The first one was an apologist for assorted Communist regimes. In [...]
Brits snub EU countries for summer holidays amid prolonged Brexit uncertainty, Thomas Cook reveals April 29, 2019 Fewer Brits are travelling to EU countries for their summer holidays as the UK’s prolonged Brexit process has encouraged holidaymakers to expand their horizons, according to Thomas Cook. Read more: Tory party chairman hints at another Brexit vote Both Turkey and Tunisia have benefited from dwindling interest in the EU, the travel agent said today [...]
UK economy’s strong start to year likely a ‘false dawn’, forecaster says April 29, 2019 UK economic growth will slow in the second half of the year after a strong start, according to economists at EY Item Club, as prolonged Brexit uncertainty and a global economic slowdown continue to bite. Read more: Prolonged Brexit process hurting UK economy, Goldman Sachs warns The economy is now predicted to grow at just [...]
French rail firm SNCF threatens legal action against government over failed HS2 bid April 28, 2019 France’s state-owned rail company SNCF is threatening legal action against the UK government after it was barred from bidding from a contract to run HS2 in an ongoing dispute over pension liabilities. SNCF is the latest firm to get caught up in a row over pensions, which prompted the Department for Transport (DfT) to bar Stagecoach [...]