Not-so-drastic Dave: Diageo boss defies expectations of slash-and-burn reign February 25, 2026 ‘Drastic Dave’ Lewis, who gained a reputation for cost-cutting and ruthless rationalisation during his time at Unilever and Tesco, was more ‘demure Dave’ when announcing Diageo’s first results of his tenure as chief executive. The spirits giant has been struggling in recent years, with its share price down 22 per cent year-on-year – and Lewis’ [...]
Aston Martin to axe hundreds of jobs as profit plummets February 25, 2026 Aston Martin is poised to cull its workforce by around a fifth after the firm’s bottom line took a beating from President Donald Trump’s erratic tariff agenda. The British manufacturer said on Wednesday it had recognised a provision of £18.7m in relation to expected restructuring costs as it consults on chopping 20 per cent of [...]
Diageo slashes dividend as ‘Drastic Dave’ takes charge February 25, 2026 Guinness maker Diageo has slashed its dividend as the cost-cutting regime of new chief executive ‘drastic’ Dave Lewis begins to take hold, prompting a share price spook. The board announced the “difficult” decision to cut its dividend to 20 cents to “accelerate the strengthening” of its balance sheet in its interim results, the first financial [...]
FTSE 100 Live: Index hits record as HSBC, St James’s stock rally February 25, 2026 Good morning and welcome back to the City AM liveblog. There’s a number of factors weighing on global markets at the moment, and yet the FTSE 100 was able to close Tuesday’s session unscathed. It came despite President Donald Trump’s new 10 per cent tariffs coming into effect, sending some jitters across global indexes. But [...]
FTSE 100 Live: Stocks take a dip amid tariff turmoil; Oil price soars February 24, 2026 Good morning and welcome back to the City AM liveblog. The good old safety net of London’s blue-chip index strikes again. The week kicked off with more tariff drama after Saturday’s announcement from President Donald Trump of a sweeping 15 per cent levy across the US’ trading partners. As cool heads prevailed in government – [...]
‘I can do terrible things’: Trump launches fresh tariffs tirade February 23, 2026 The government has said that no response to Donald Trump’s revived trade onslaught is off the table, after the President warned he could still do “terrible things” to the US’s trading partners despite his ‘liberation day’ tariffs being deemed illegal by the Supreme Court. A spokesman for the Prime Minister told reporters that while “no [...]
Trump’s tariffs are unconstitutional and his figures are pure fantasy February 23, 2026 Donald Trump claims to have secured $18 trillion in ‘investment’ thanks to tariffs, but much of this is just purchasing, R&D or hiring, says Rainer Zitelmann Tariffs are the central pillar of Donald Trump’s economic policy. Yet it was precisely in this area that he violated the US Constitution. This was not determined by leftwing [...]
Trump’s tariff decisions send shockwaves through the markets February 23, 2026 Global assets and markets have once more found themselves reeling from the aftershocks of Trump’s tariffs decision, after his weekend announcement sent investors scrambling. The US president announced a 15 per cent blanket tariff on Saturday in rebuttal to the Supreme Court striking down his signature economic policy. Bitcoin suffered a sharp selloff on Monday [...]
FTSE 100 Live: Stocks jittery after Trump tariffs; Job vacancies fall February 23, 2026 Good morning and welcome back to the City AM liveblog. Tariffs are once more redefining market sentiment. Last Friday, a number of FTSE 100 stocks popped on the news President Donald Trump’s ‘Liberation Day’ levies had been struck down by the US Supreme Court. It marked a major boost to global markets after the top [...]
‘Drastic’ Dave to serve up new vision for Guinness maker Diageo February 22, 2026 It’s been a rocky 12 months for drinks titan Diageo and Sir Dave Lewis will be looking to cure the firm’s long-running hangover when he serves up his future vision next week. Diageo’s stock has tumbled over 15 per cent in the last 12 months with a notable drop in November after operating profit growth [...]