Everyone panic: Prosecco’s popularity could be its downfall as shortages loom April 18, 2016 There's no easy way to say this, but the UK's love of Prosecco could be its very downfall. Britons consumed eight times as much of the bubbly Italian wine last year as they did in 2012, quaffing back a total 40m litres, according to figures released by The Grocer. The UK Prosecco market was valued to [...]
UK house prices: Asking prices reach record highs due to first-time seller surge, according to Rightmove April 2016 house price index April 18, 2016 If you had been hoping the property market would become easier to enter this month, you might still have to wait a while… UK house prices continued to rise throughout March, according to Rightmove, and the average asking price has reached a new record high of £307,033. This was a rise of 1.3 per cent, or £3,843, compared [...]
Reckitt Benckiser avoids a headache after posting “good” first quarter results April 18, 2016 British consumer giant RB has posted "good" first quarter results despite warning of a "tough" macroeconomic environment in early 2016. The figures The FTSE 100 company, formerly known as Reckitt Benckiser, reported slightly better-than-expected quarterly sales growth. Like-for-like sales grew five per cent, marginally beating analyst expectations of 4.9 per cent, while sales grew four per cent on an actual basis to [...]
Stock Spirits boss Chris Heath steps down over shareholder and strategy row April 18, 2016 The chief executive of Stock Spirits group has taken "early retirement" and stepped down with immediate effect from the London-listed Polish vodka producer. Chris Heath, who had been at the helm of the European drinks major for seven years, had been facing calls to resign since early April. A large investor in the firm, Western Gate [...]
Institute of Directors: Schools must avoid becoming “exam factories” to compete with robots, automation and technological change April 18, 2016 Up to 15m jobs are at risk from the rise of automation, the Institute of Directors (IoD) has warned, and a huge shift is needed in the way we think about education in order for the UK to adapt to the unstoppable force of technological change. The focus of our school system must be altered if it is to [...]
Lack of language learning in schools is holding back the UK’s trade and business opportunities according to the Language Trends Survey 2016 April 18, 2016 A lack of language skills among British workers could be costing the UK tens of billions of pounds in missed trade and business opportunities each year. Teachers have expressed "deep concern" about the current state of language learning in English schools, in a report released today by the British Council and the Education Development Trust. [...]
UN gears up for special session on the world drug problem to be held in New York from 19 to 21 April April 17, 2016 The United Nations General Assembly is gearing up for a major summit on the world drug problem, which will be held from Tuesday to Thursday this week at the UN’s headquarters in New York. The UK, the US, France and a slew of Latin American countries are among the countries that will speak at the [...]
Greybull Capital: Investment firm plans to make former Tata Scunthorpe plant one of the world’s leading steelmaking centres April 17, 2016 One of the three bosses at Greybull Capital, Marc Meyohas, has pledged to put the ailing Scunthorpe steel plant "back on the map as one of the world's leading steelmaking centres". The London-based investment firm bought the Scunthorpe works from Tata Steel last Monday as part of a wider purchase of Tata's European Long Products business. Greybull first entered [...]
Megabrew latest: Gains in AB InBev share price have piqued investor interest, but could force the company to restructure after SABMiller takeover April 17, 2016 An upswing in the share price of the world's largest brewer, Anheuser-Busch InBev, could force a change in the terms of its "megabrew" takeover of British drinks giant SABMiller. Since the megabrew deal was agreed last October for £71bn, shares in AB InBev have risen more than 12 per cent and reduced the appeal of [...]
Steel crisis: Business secretary Sajid Javid flies to Brussels for OECD and Belgian government-convened oversupply summit tomorrow April 17, 2016 Business secretary Sajid Javid will travel to Brussels today ahead of the latest summit to address oversupply in the global steel industry. The full-day meeting, convened by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the Belgian government, will discuss how governments can facilitate "market-driven industry restructuring" and aim to agree on steps to [...]
