As it happened: Stocks jump on peace hopes; Reeves hit by falling retail sales and surge in borrowing Markets Good morning and welcome back to the City AM liveblog. Oil prices remain volatile and heightened as peace talks in the Middle East continue to run into stumbling blocks. Brent crude futures were up to $104 this morning following reports that Iran’s Supreme Leader was ordering for the nation’s enriched uranium reserves to remain in [...]
Mr Kipling’s ‘biggest ever year’ bakes in sweet-looking profit at Premier Foods Business The owner of some of the UK’s best loved and most famous food brands hailed standout performer Mr Kipling, on Thursday which helped Premier Foods eat City profit forecasts for lunch. Mr Kipling – the brand behind the “exceedingly good cakes” tagline, in use continually since 1967, when the range made its debut – had its [...]
Games Workshop shares slip despite Warhammer sales surge Tech Games Workshop has dished the cash back to its shareholders after a record-breaking half-year performance driven by a surge in global demand for its Warhammer miniatures. The £6bn gaming giant – which entered the FTSE 100 in December 2024 – reported a 10.9 per cent increase in revenue, breaking £332m for the half-year ending 30 [...]
‘Bumper’ Boxing Day provides boost to struggling high streets December 27, 2025 Boxing Day was a “bumper day” for all UK retail destinations as data shows shopper footfall was up 4.4 per cent on last year, making it the strongest increase in more than a decade, industry analysts said. The retail sector may end the year on a “positive note” as December 26 saw shoppers flock to [...]
Alibaba.com: How AI is reshaping B2B sales and entrepreneurship November 25, 2025 For Alibaba.com, the true transformative power of AI won’t be for customers; it will be for business-to-business sales. Multimodal search, such as AI search using multiple data points, is driving a “paradigm shift” in global e-commerce, says Alibaba.com president Kuo Zhang at CoCreate Europe. “We’re completely redesigning what search is… for this year alone, our multimodal [...]
Retail sales drop in pre-Budget disappointment November 21, 2025 Retail sales fell 1.1 per cent in October, following a 0.7 per cent rise last month, in a “disappointing” start to the all-important festive season ahead of the budget next week. Sales in clothing were particularly affected as shoppers took a more cautious approach, with spending “constrained by consumer nervousness amid mixed messaging from a [...]
Economic uncertainty pushes potential house buyers to hold off September 30, 2025 An unpredictable economic and policy landscape has caused a slowdown in housebuying activity in the UK, according to new data. There were 93,630 UK residential transactions in August, two per cent higher than August 2024 but two per cent lower than July 2025, according to HMRC. There’s been a “noticeable shift” in sentiment amongst Brits [...]
Next share price slumps on gloomy prediction for UK economy September 18, 2025 Next shares sunk on Thursday morning after the retailer issued a stark warning that the UK faces ‘anaemic’ growth due to a combination of technological and regulatory changes. Despite reporting a 10 per cent rise in half-year sales, the FTSE100 company flagged “strong evidence” of a material squeeze on wider UK employment levels due to [...]
Health-conscious Brits lead Dash Water to record-breaking summer September 18, 2025 Health-conscious Brits are expected to have helped sales surge by almost half at soft drink brand Dash Water thanks to a record summer. The business, which is based in London, has revealed its revenue is forecast to jump by 45 per cent in 2025 to £42m. The business, which is based in London and was [...]
Diageo: Profit at FTSE 100 giant tumbles despite Guinness growth August 5, 2025 Profit at FTSE 100 giant Diageo has fallen far short of expectations as high costs hammer the drinks giant. Net sales fell 0.1 per cent to $20.24bn (£15.24bn), Diageo told markets this morning, below analysts’ expectations of 1.4 per cent. It expects next year’s organic sales growth to be flat, and for organic operating profit [...]