Regulator considers redress scheme in motor finance review March 11, 2025 In a statement this morning, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has outlined its next steps in its motor finance review – including an industry-wide redress scheme if the Supreme Court upholds last year’s Court of Appeal ruling. The UK’s top court is expected to hear the appeal in early April as part of the growing [...]
Oil tanker collides with cargo ship in the North Sea March 10, 2025 An oil tanker has collided with a cargo ship in the North Sea, off the coast of East Yorkshire. An HM Coastguard response is ongoing after the container ship MV Solong struck the oil tanker MV Stena Immaculate – which was at anchor off the Humberside Estuary. According to BBC sources, the oil tanker is [...]
Government to hit regulators with performance targets to drive innovation March 10, 2025 Regulators will be slapped with new performance targets in an effort to stimulate technological innovation and drive investment in the UK. According to Lord Patrick Vallance, the science minister, the benchmarks will be designed to accelerate innovation. Lord Vallance has suggested that this drive for innovation could result in commercial delivery drones, self-driving vehicles, and [...]
Jake Greenberg firm Cobalt Holdings set for London listing March 10, 2025 The co-founder of uranium firm Yellow Cake’s new venture, Cobalt Holdings, is looking to float in London as early as May. The Times reports that Jake Greenberg’s firm is looking to raise £180m to buy up $200m (£155m) of Cobalt from Glencore in a six-year supply deal. Glencore is set to be a cornerstone investor, [...]
More than 300,000 businesses plan job cuts as Reeves’ Budget starts to bite March 10, 2025 More than 300,000 businesses are expected to lay off workers, as a flurry of data reveals a jobs market slowdown following the government’s Budget measures on employment. The £25bn rise in national insurance contributions (NICs) announced by the Chancellor in October is set to kick in next month, while businesses are also reportedly spooked by [...]
Boots to be taken over by US private equity firm in $10bn deal March 7, 2025 Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA), the owner of Boots, has agreed to a $10bn (£7.8bn) takeover by a US private equity firm. Sycamore Partners is expected to complete the takeover by the end of the year. The US-listed WBA said of the deal: “[Sycamore’s] experience in retail and consumer services would ensure WBA was better positioned [...]
Employment reforms “highly damaging” to investment, warns CBI chief March 7, 2025 The government’s proposed reforms to employment law would be “highly damaging” to business investment in the UK, according to CBI president Rupert Soames. Writing in The Times, Soames argued that this week’s U-turns on more controversial aspects of the legislation – from changes to statutory sick pay, to tweaks to protections for agency workers and [...]
Chancellor facing £10bn headache in Spring Statement March 6, 2025 Rachel Reeves faces a tax and spend nightmare at the Spring Statement, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) think tank. In a lengthy report, the IFS says Reeves is snookered between the realities of a bleak economic environment and her own self-imposed fiscal rules, resulting in what could amount to a £10bn tax [...]
US business still a pest for Rentokil March 6, 2025 Pest control firm Rentokil Initial has reported lower profits after a “challenging year”, following a squeeze on its North American business lines. Revenue climbed marginally to £5.43 bn, up 1.1 per cent from 2023. Operating profit dipped 7 per cent to £834m in 2024, while adjusted earnings before interest, taxes and amortisation (EBITA) rose by [...]
Pension death tax will punish millions of savers, says advisory firm March 5, 2025 Planned government changes to pension taxes must be dropped, according to City experts. Advisory firm Blick Rothenberg has slammed the move as a “poorly conceived policy change [that] penalises prudent savers and their loved ones through double taxation.” The pension reforms – announced in October’s Budget and set to kick in from April 2027 – [...]
