Retail sales fall on Budget uncertainty before run-up to Christmas November 22, 2024 Retail sales fell by almost one per cent last month as cash-strapped Brits held back big ticket purchases amid a cloud of Budget uncertainty. The Office for National Statistics said this morning they dropped by 0.7 per cent in October, following a 0.1 per cent rise the previous month, which had been revised down from [...]
HMV suspends plans for new shops as Budget hikes costs November 21, 2024 HMV has suspended plans to open more new stores next year, blaming the decision on the government’s tax-raising Budget. The company planned to open multiple shops in the UK in 2025, but HMV’s owner Doug Putman told The Telegraph yesterday that this proposal was now on hold following the Budget. Confirming the decision, Putman told [...]
Inheritance tax receipts rise as Brits warned to ‘make plans to pass on wealth’ November 21, 2024 Inheritance tax receipts have risen again as experts are warning Brits to better plan for the passing on of wealth, after the Autumn Budget changes. Fresh figures released this morning show inheritance tax receipts for between April and October of this year are £5bn, which is £500m higher than the same period last year. This [...]
Hospitality firms are bracing for the return of inflation November 21, 2024 October’s inflation figure has worried hospitality firms. While it is not too far above target – 2.3 per cent versus the sweet spot of two per cent – and one month does not constitute a trend, it has exacerbated concerns companies already had about the future of their industry. There are two reasons hospitality is [...]
Retail bosses warn of £7bn cost burden after Budget November 19, 2024 UK retail bosses have written to the Chancellor to warn of the wide-ranging damage from the Autumn Budget on their sector, including “inevitable” job losses and price rises. In a letter coordinated by the British Retail Consortium (BRC), 79 signatories, including bluechip retailers Tesco, Next, and Greggs, said they had “significant concerns” about the impact [...]
Insolvencies set to rise as Budget hikes business costs, Begbies Traynor warns November 18, 2024 A combination of elevated interest rates and higher business costs resulting from the Budget is set to lead to a spike in insolvencies, Begbies Traynor has warned. In last month’s Budget, Chancellor Rachel Reeves increased the amount employers have to pay in NICs by 1.2 per cent, and lowered the wage threshold at which employers [...]
Budget could destroy seventh-generation pub giant, warns boss November 18, 2024 The changes announced in the Budget represent an ‘existential threat’ to the future of a seventh-generation pub and brewing giant, its owner has warned. William Lees-Jones, who owns and runs Manchester-based JW Lees, which has produced real ale since 1828, has warned he is now “facing the very real prospect that we will never be able to [...]
Non-doms: South Africa’s richest woman is fighting to stay in the UK November 18, 2024 When it comes to leaving countries in a hurry, Magda Wierzycka has plenty of experience. At just 12 years old, the South African entrepreneur and her parents fled their native Poland under the the cover of night, becoming refugees after its communist government declared martial law. Ending up in South Africa – via an Austrian [...]
How Arla Foods boss went from selling cigarettes to Lurpak and Cravendale November 15, 2024 A globe-trotting career that began selling cigarettes at British American Tobacco and has led to heading up the UK arm of dairy giant Arla Foods is maybe not what Bas Padberg could have predicted when he started out in the early 1990s. The managing director of the group behind Lurpak, Cravendale, Skyr and B.O.B milk [...]
UK M&A set for ‘sustained increase’ after Budget and Trump victory November 14, 2024 British M&A activity is expected to ramp up going into 2025, City advisers have said, as dealmakers feel more certainty following the Budget and US presidential election.