Selfridges plays down £1.7bn debt concerns saying it is ‘very confident’ about year ahead March 1, 2023 The owners of Selfridges have said they are “very confident” about the outlook for this year as it sought to play down reported concerns that its debt pile, worth over £1.7bn, could cause problems for the luxury department store. The Telegraph reported that the Thai and Austrian owners of Selfridges have laden the firm with [...]
FTSE 100 close: Anglo American and Antofagasta receive China boost but Barratt drops after house price slide March 1, 2023 London’s FTSE 100 sprung higher today, propelled by investors piling into commodity giants after a batch of better than expected data indicated the Chinese economy is on the mend. The capital’s premier index flung 0.49 per cent higher to back above the 7,900 point mark, while the domestically-focused mid-cap FTSE 250 index, which is more [...]
Labour to reform apprenticeship levy, Angela Rayner tells business leaders March 1, 2023 Labour will reform the unpopular apprenticeship levy, Angela Rayner pledged at a key business summit today. The scheme, which firms have described as a “£3.5bn mistake”, means companies with a payroll of £3m or above have to put aside 0.5 per cent to spend on apprenticeships. But firms say the rules around training types mean [...]
Housing market: Shares in FTSE 100 house builders tumble as outlook weakens March 1, 2023 Investors are shying away from pumping their funds into the residential market after figures from the Bank of England show that mortgage approvals for house purchases plummeted to the lowest level since the 2008 financial crash.
Food shortage: Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda, Lidl and Morrisons warn salad will not be on the menu for ‘a few weeks’ March 1, 2023 Brits are being advised to avoid salads for the next “few weeks” as supermarkets have kept restrictions in place on tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and lettuce. Reports of adverse weather conditions in the Mediterranean has forced Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda, Morrisons and Lidl into restricting the sale of produce. This comes after social media users took to [...]
This London Tycoon Harbours A Surprisingly Generous Streak March 1, 2023 Some may know Tej Kohli for his passion for luxury cars or his vast array of exceptional properties dotted across the world. However, what he should be best known for is his unwavering mission to give away swathes of his wealth to improve the lives of others. As Britain’s wealthiest became wealthier in recent years, [...]
British factories on the mend as recession u-turn gathers pace March 1, 2023 British factories are performing better than expected in another sign the economy is on course to perform a screeching u-turn and avoid a recession, a closely watched survey has shown. S&P Global and the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply’s (CIPS) final purchasing managers’ index (PMI) for the UK manufacturing sector nudged higher from an [...]
Explainer: England’s homelessness crisis is at the worst it’s been in years March 1, 2023 The number of people sleeping rough over the last year has increased in every single region in England – with the biggest increase in London. In 2022, the number of people sleeping rough was up 26 per cent compared to the previous year. In London, the numbers are up 34 per cent. This is the [...]
Savings accounts: Banks under fire as MPs demand to know why interest rate rises have not been passed on to savers March 1, 2023 MPs have asked further questions of banks’ savings rate as pressure increases on the UK’s major high street lenders to pass on higher interest rates to consumers. In a letter to the heads of four of the UK’s largest banks, chair of the Treasury Committee Harriet Baldwin asked banks why their savings rates remain lower [...]
Sam Bankman-Fried’s director of engineering at FTX pleads guilty to six criminal charges March 1, 2023 THE former Director of Engineering at collapsed crypto exchange FTX – Nishad Singh – has entered a guilty plea to a slew of criminal charges in the US.