Unilever warns for ‘elevated’ cost inflation despite growth boost in US, China and India October 21, 2021 Consumer goods giant Unilever has reported a rise in sales for the past quarter as the firm warned it expects “strongly elevated” cost inflation to continue into next year. The Marmite and Ben & Jerry’s manufacturer reported a 2.5 per cent increase in underlying sales for the third quarter of 2021. It said it was [...]
FirstGroup pockets £125m as it sells Greyhound Lines to rail group FlixMobility October 21, 2021 Transport firm FirstGroup has agreed the sale of its US long-distance coaches business Greyhound Lines to European coach and rail group FlixMobility for £125m. The deal comes as part of FirstGroup’s move to focus on its UK transport business. The firm said it will retain Greyhound properties, worth around £128m and lease them back to [...]
Venture capital firms circle London tech scale-ups as financial injections hit record £20bn October 21, 2021 A record high of over £6.5bn was invested by venture capital firms in UK scaleups over the summer, taking the total amount to £20bn so far this year, according to new research shared with City A.M. this morning. After two extraordinarily high quarters in 2021, UK scaleups continued to attract funding from across the globe [...]
Close to 4m low-income households across UK are in arrears with household bills October 21, 2021 Nearly 4m British households on low incomes are estimated to be in arrears with household bills, according to new figures published this morning. Around 950,000 are thought to be in rent arrears, 1.4m are behind on council tax bills and 1.4m are behind on electricity and gas bills, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation said. It looked [...]
Calls to protect farmers from Kiwi meat and dairy products after post-Brexit trade deal with New Zealand October 21, 2021 The impact of the post-Brexit trade deal the government has struck with New Zealand will be felt by farmers in such a way that they require protection, the Scottish Government has said. Responding to the deal struck between Boris Johnson and Jacinda Ardern, the Scottish Government said it would not offset the effects of Brexit. [...]
Markets today: Public finances in focus ahead of next week’s budget October 21, 2021 Yesterday’s European market session was a fairly subdued affair, even if it was a positive one, with the FTSE100 trading in one of its narrowest ranges this year. By and large many companies have been reporting decent numbers and have been able to pass on the increase in costs, to their customers, without a significant [...]
New AY4.2 Coronavirus variant emerges in UK: govt warns for fresh Covid strains October 21, 2021 While Downing Street said it is monitoring a new Covid variant called AY4.2 variant – a descendant of the coronavirus Delta variant that is being seen in a growing number of cases – the potential threat of future coronavirus variants should not be underestimated, Health Secretary Sajid Javid has warned. Javid said that Covid-19 mutates, [...]
Flooding as Storm Aurore hits Southern England October 21, 2021 Emergency services have received a high number of calls from people reporting flooding after southern England was hit overnight by heavy rain and strong winds from a storm moving in from France. The Met Office issued a yellow rain warning covering most of southern England for Wednesday night and into Thursday, meaning people living there [...]
Buy Now Pay Later regulation imminent: ‘FCA very keen to be on front foot’ October 20, 2021 Government proposals to regulate the interest free Buy Now, Pay Later market are expected by the end of October, according to industry insiders. Buy now, Pay Later products have boomed in popularity in the UK over the past five years, The Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) industry was recently estimated to have financed £3billion in [...]
Temporary Brexit? Half of young British business owners expect UK will apply to rejoin EU October 20, 2021 A third of SME business owners are convinced that the UK will apply to rejoin the EU in the future, according to new research shared exclusively with City A.M. this afternoon. Younger business owners are significantly more likely to believe that the UK will re-apply in the future. Nearly half (47 per cent) of 18-34-year-olds [...]
