ITV expected to blame Brexit for dip in advertising sales February 26, 2017 ITV is expected to cite the Brexit vote as the cause for its first decline in advertising sales since the financial crisis. The broadcaster will unveil a drop of around 7 percent in advertising sales when it publishes full-year results on Wednesday, The Sunday Times reported yesterday. The first advertising decline since 2009 will be [...]
Primark import costs expected to hit sales margins February 26, 2017 Primark's tightening margins could cause concern for its owner, Associated British Foods (ABF) and shareholders next week when the company releases its next trading update. Import costs have risen for the clothing retailer since the pound weakened, with 3 in every 4 of Primark's purchase invoices being billed in US dollars. Yet the budget brand [...]
Philip Hammond enlists Mark Carney and Simon Kirby for first UK FinTech conference February 26, 2017 The government will host its first ever International FinTech conference as part of FinTech Week 2017, chancellor Philip Hammond announced today. City minister Simon Kirby and Bank of England governor Mark Carney will join the chancellor at the conference, which will feature panels and workshops as well as opportunities for UK FinTech firms to pitch [...]
Lowest earning families have just £95 in savings pot as inequality grows February 20, 2017 Low income families have just £95 in their savings and investments compared to £62,885 among high income families, according to research by Aviva. The news highlights growing inequality in the UK as the savings gap grows by 25 per cent annually, up from £50,072 last year to £62,790 in winter 2016/17. Around one in four [...]
Fewer than 1 in 10 UK employees would discuss mental health with a manager February 20, 2017 Less than 10 per cent of employees who have experienced mental health issues feel able to talk to their manager or supervisor about it, according to research released today by Legal and General. The survey of 2,000 full-time employees and 200 managing directors or HR managers found that 40 per cent of employees had experienced [...]
Search engines team up with film, TV and music industries to combat piracy February 20, 2017 Google and Bing are teaming up with the UK’s £87bn creative industries to combat piracy. The search engines will adhere to a voluntary code of practice, so that websites infringing on copyrighted content appear lower in search results. Improvements will also be made to autocomplete suggestions so that they are less likely to lead users [...]
TV advertising guru TVSquared secures £5.2m in latest fundraising round February 20, 2017 TV advertising analysis company TVSquared has raised an additional $6.5m (£5.2m) in its latest round of fundraising. Scotland’s first ever home-grown billionaire, Sir Tom Hunter, led the round along with the Scottish Investment Bank and existing investors. Hunter’s private equity firm, West Coast Capital (WCC) now becomes the major stakeholder in the Edinburgh-based tech firm. [...]
Entrepreneurs remain optimistic after strong growth February 20, 2017 The UK’s entrepreneurs remain optimistic about business prospects, following a period of strong growth. In a poll conducted by Ernst and Young (EY), 69 per cent of entrepreneurs reported an increase in profits in the last 12 months, with 38 per cent experiencing double-digit growth. That positive trend looks set to continue, despite any recent [...]
Consumer spending growth at four month low after Christmas boom February 13, 2017 Consumer spending growth slowed to 0.4 per cent on the year in January, putting it at a five month low according to Visa’s UK Consumer Spending Index. Following the Christmas shopping jump of 2.5 per cent in December, January proved sluggish and saw the fastest decline of face-to-face spending in four years (-3.1 per cent). [...]
Small business commissioner will tackle late payment issues February 12, 2017 The hunt is on for the UK’s first small business commissioner. As part of its strategy to tackle late payment issues, the government will hire an advocate for small businesses. This move comes in response to the discovery that nearly half of the UK’s small businesses experience late payment. Payment processor Bacs estimated that a [...]
