A post-Brexit City: MPs ask the right questions January 25, 2019 City in the morning, Westminster in the afternoon – there was a time when this was the daily routine for a number of MPs. These days, alas, one is hard-pressed to find a parliamentarian who truly understands the Square Mile, but former corporate lawyer Nicky Morgan can claim to be one of them. As head [...]
There’s a lesson from Dyson’s Singapore move, but it has nothing to do with Brexit January 25, 2019 There’s no question that Dyson’s move from Wiltshire to Singapore will be a loss to Britain. The company boasts profits in excess of £1bn, employs 4,000 in its Malmesbury offices alone, and is one of the UK’s major business success stories. But that doesn’t justify the political backlash we’ve seen. In true polarising fashion, owner Sir [...]
DEBATE: Should London impose rent restrictions, as suggested in Sadiq Khan’s campaign plans? January 25, 2019 Should London impose rent restrictions, as suggested in Sadiq Khan’s campaign plans? Dan Wilson Craw, director of Generation Rent, says YES. Londoners are paying some of the highest rents in the world. Building more homes will plug the shortage at the root of this, but that will take a decade or more. We need urgent action [...]
AG Barr expects rise in revenue as sales fizz January 25, 2019 Irn-Bru maker AG Barr has predicted a rise in full-year revenue this morning, despite echoing the fears of many in its industry over the current political and economic uncertainty. The firm said that revenue is expected to be roughly £277m for the year to 26 January, marking a five per cent rise on the previous [...]
EU tensions over taxation, migration and Italy’s budget highlighted at the World Economic Forum in Davos January 24, 2019 Tensions between European Union members were highlighted today at the World Economic Forum in Davos, where leaders clashed over migration and taxation. Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte said the bloc was divided from north to south and east to west over action on refugees and the commission’s handling of Italy’s 2019 budget, creating a “total [...]
Apprenticeship levels up on last year but still hampered by 2017 levy January 24, 2019 More people started apprenticeships in the first quarter of the 2018-19 academic year than in the year before, but are still below equivalent figures reported in 2016-17 and 2015-16. There were 132,000 starts between August and October last year, up 15.4 per cent year-on-year from 114,300, according to Department for Education (DfE) figures published this [...]
Super-prime time: London surge in high end house sales January 24, 2019 Wealthy buyers have been on a spending spree for multi-million pound trophy houses during the last year, with demand for London’s ‘super prime’ residences bucking a wider slowdown in the capital’s property market. Despite political uncertainty ahead of Britain’s imminent departure from the EU and plans for a new stamp duty on international buyers, activity [...]
Big tech firms like Google, Amazon and Facebook spent a record amount on political lobbying last year January 24, 2019 Google, Amazon and Facebook's bill for lobbying the US government hit record highs last year, as life under the Trump administration put big tech firms in the spotlight. Google parent firm Alphabet said it spent $21.2m (£16.3m) on political lobbying costs in the US last year, topping its previous all-time high of $18.2m achieved in 2012. It [...]
From truffle trees to sunken treasure, beware of unregulated investments in your pension January 23, 2019 Self-invested personal pensions, or Sipps, give us the freedom to invest in what we want. But while this DIY approach to pensions appeals to many investors, there are mounting concerns that some Sipp providers are doing customers a disservice by allowing inexperienced investors to allocate their savings to unsuitable schemes. Liberty Sipp is the latest [...]
Heed the celebrity gurus and teach Britain how to manage January 23, 2019 Most businesses will fail, eventually. If current trends continue, 374,880 of the 660,000 new businesses registered in 2018 will have ceased trading by 2023. If your idea isn’t good enough, it’s better for your business to fold quickly to limit losses. Yet sometimes entrepreneurs stumble upon a great idea, but lack the managerial know-how to [...]