UK set to face ‘sluggish’ growth in the face of sticky inflation and Bank of England interest rate hikes
The Musk effect: Meta testing Facebook and Instagram subscription service for £10 a month February 20, 2023 Meta is testing a new subscription service that would let Facebook and Instagram users pay for a verified account – taking a page out of Elon Musk and Twitter’s book. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced Meta Verified on his social media accounts on Sunday. Testing will begin in New Zealand and Australia this week and will roll [...]
Cost of living: Brits switch to discount brands while 1.7m have cancelled subscriptions like Netflix, reveals Lloyds February 17, 2023 A fifth of people polled by Lloyds Bank have switched to discount brands in a bid to save cash to cope with the cost of living, while 1.7m have cancelled subscriptions like Netflix, it has been revealed. The shift to discount shopping has been significant during the cost of living crisis, with an 18 per [...]
Churchill’s grandson and Serco chief named new chair of Smith & Nephew February 17, 2023 The grandson of Sir Winston Churchill and chief executive of Serco has been unveiled as the new chair of 167-year-old medical tech firm Smith & Nephew. Rupert Soames will assume the position at the London-listed company following the retirement of Roberto Quarta, the firm announced. He will take the reins in late September, after joining [...]
UK retail sales’ sluggish new year start as cash-strapped Brits go online to nab deals February 17, 2023 UK retail sales remained muted in January following December’s fall, with fuel sales spiking and prices continuing to plummet. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) released the figures which showed retail sales volumes increased by just half a per cent last month. This comes after it dipped by 1.2 per cent in December, despite the [...]
Network Rail hits back at ‘regretful’ RMT claim linking modernisation proposals to tragedy February 16, 2023 Network Rail’s plans to modernise maintenance will improve safety for workers, as it hit out at the RMT union for its “regretful” linking of proposals to a tragedy almost 20 years ago. NR strongly denied claims by the Rail, Maritime and Transport union that it had a cost-cutting agenda, as its boss Mick Lynch invoked [...]
Subway mulls selling business in deal that could be worth over £8bn February 15, 2023 Family owners of sandwich giant Subway are considering a possible sale, in a deal that could be worth as much as £8bn. In a statement, the American fast-food firm said “its shareholders are exploring a possible sale of the company” after 60 years of family ownership, but added there “is no indication of timing or [...]
Are house prices really going up? London had lowest change across UK with average in capital now £543,000 February 15, 2023 The average UK house price ended last year £26,000 higher than when 2022 started, although the annual pace of growth in property values is slowing. Property values increased by 9.8 per cent in the 12 months to December 2022, which was weaker than the 10.6 per cent annual growth recorded the previous month. London’s average [...]
Rolls-Royce, Airbus pen deal with Air India for 250 planes in boost for UK manufacturing February 14, 2023 Rolls-Royce and Airbus have signed multi-billion pound deal to build 250 new planes for Air India, which is set to create hundreds of new jobs in the UK. The wings will be designed in Filton and assembled in Broughton, creating 450 manufacturing jobs and bringing in more than than £100m of investment to Wales. Meanwhile, [...]
BBC ‘fully co-operating’ as offices raided by India tax officials after documentary on PM Narendra Modi February 14, 2023 Officials from India’s Income Tax department began conducting searches on Tuesday at the BBC’s offices in the capital, New Delhi. It comes weeks after the British broadcaster released a controversial documentary that examined prime minister Narendra Modi’s role during 2002 anti-Muslim riots. Teams from the tax department surveyed the BBC’s Delhi and Mumbai offices, the [...]
Ford to cut 1,300 UK jobs in major overhaul of European operations to refocus on EVs February 14, 2023 Ford has announced it will be scrapping 3,800 jobs across Europe, including 1,300 in the UK, over the next three years amid plans to reinvent the brand and focus on a smaller range of electric vehicles. The global carmaker said 2,800 engineering roles will be axed by 2025, and around 1,000 jobs in its administrative, marketing, [...]