Brits flocked back to hotels in post Covid rebound as Holiday Inn owner’s revenue up 34 per cent February 21, 2023 Holiday Inn owner Intercontinental Hotels Group experienced a strong post-pandemic rebound, with revenues up 34 per cent in 2022 as consumer demand for hotels soared. The group, which has over 50 hotels across London, posted total revenues of $3.bn (£3.22bn) in the year ending December 2022, up 34 per cent from $2.90bn (£2.41bn) in the [...]
The Notebook: John O’Connell on corporation tax, rail subsidies, and dangerous books February 21, 2023 The Notebook is where interesting people say interesting things. Today, it’s John O’Connell, the chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, who riffs on corporation tax, 4.99 per cent council tax hikes and the books that have a little more spice than they used to The economy is doing slightly better than expected. Which, to be [...]
Brewdog’s China deal shows the limits of ESG virtue-signalling February 21, 2023 O, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to make commercial hay from a human rights campaign, as Walter Scott very nearly wrote. Brewdog are the latest example of a brand which has made much of its holier than thou culture – only to ditch it in full when the reward is [...]
Let the payouts commence: As HSBC profits top £4.3bn, banking giant looks likely to appease Asian shareholders February 21, 2023 HSBC promised large payouts in 2023 to appease activist shareholder Ping An after comfortably beating market expectations in the final quarter of 2022. HSBC’s pretax profit for the final quarter nearly doubled to $5.2bn (4.3bn), beating market expectations of $5bn. This brought the bank’s total profit for 2022 to $17.5bn, seven per cent lower than [...]
Brexit: City’s top man says firms grew ‘complacent’ prior to split from EU February 21, 2023 The Lord Mayor has said British businesses got “complacent” prior to Brexit – and will now need to work harder to develop relationships across the world. In an interview with the Sydney Morning Herald ahead of a trip to Australia this week, Nicholas Lyons said there would need to be an “enormous step up from [...]
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine costs Brits an extra £1,000 in higher bills, data reveals February 21, 2023 Higher gas prices in the year has cost the average Brit £1,000 in the year following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, according to ECIU.
London leads the way: SME confidence rebounds to nine month high after 50,000 firms folded last year February 21, 2023 Confidence among small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) continues to grow across the UK, with London leading the way, new data out today showed. 60 per cent of respondents in the capital expect their revenue to grow this quarter while they intend to make 12 new hires this quarter, according to Barclays SME Barometer. London is [...]
Jeremy Hunt’s fiscal rules are holding back the UK economy – it’s time for change February 21, 2023 Bean counters are running the Treasury again. I’m imagining sheets of paper plastered with Jeremy Hunt’s current fiscal rules pinned up around Whitehall to remind departments of the belt-tightening needed to balance the books. Fiscal rules are targets Chancellors have aimed to meet since George Osborne pivoted away from Gordon Brown’s “Golden Rules” in 2010 [...]
Green hydrogen future? Geopura secures millions in funding from GM, Barclays and Siemens February 21, 2023 Green hydrogen specialist Geopura has raked in £36m from its latest funding round, with plans to vastly scale its business.
The liar’s dividend of deepfake tech means we don’t trust what we can see February 21, 2023 Deepfake videos featuring everyone from Barack Obama to Tom Cruise are everywhere on social media. They could be fun memes - or they could be dangerous disinformation, writes Elena Siniscalco
