Exclusive: End of furlough could be the ‘final ingredient in a catalyst for disaster’ September 30, 2021 The end of furlough payments could be the final ingredient in a catalyst for disaster for businesses, according to restructuring and insolvency lawyers City A.M. spoke to this morning. With the winding up of the job retention scheme today, they warned that the 1,348 registered company insolvencies in August could rocket in the months ahead. [...]
H&M reinstates divided payments as profits triple on back of global recovery September 30, 2021 Swedish retail giant H&M nearly tripled its profit during the past quarter on the back of a “strong recovery” in sales as restrictions eased across the globe. H&M told shareholders this morning that it had reinstated its dividend for the first time in 18 months as a result. It reported a pre-tax profit of £520m [...]
Newspaper tycoon Lord Rothermere has until 28 October to make £800m Daily Mail offer September 30, 2021 Since negotiations are taking longer than expected, newspaper tycoon Lord Rothermere has been granted a one-month extension to make an offer for the group behind the Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday and Metro newspapers. A previous deadline was set for today but negotiations with the pension trustees at the Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT) [...]
Exclusive: Many finance leaders in the City have zero faith in Net Zero targets September 30, 2021 With COP26 just around the corner, there’s a pessimistic outlook among many UK financial services business leaders about hitting targets, with more than one in four believing the sector won’t hit Net Zero by 2050. Over a third of this group say there is simply insufficient global support to make the UK financial service sector [...]
UK’s outdated drug laws are outright racist, says former govt adviser September 30, 2021 A former government adviser said this morning that the UK’s drug laws are racist and disproportionately harm black communities. Lord Simon Woolley said drugs legislation introduced 50 years ago has failed to reduce the use, supply and harms associated with illegal drugs and continues to be used “as a tool of systemic racism”. Lord Woolley, [...]
Better-than-expected recovery for Guinness maker Diageo despite supply chain woes September 30, 2021 Guinness maker Diageo reported this morning strong recent trading with a better-than-expected recovery in Europe despite mounting supply chain woes. Shares in the FTSE 100 listed group are up by nearly 3 per cent. The group, which also makes Gordon’s gin and Smirnoff vodka, said it was seeing a solid start to its new financial [...]
As stamp duty threshold reverts to £125,000 from tomorrow, estate agents call for review September 30, 2021 From tomorrow, the stamp duty threshold will revert to its normal level of £1250,000, prompting real estate agents to call for a review of the “outdated” levels at which home buyers start paying stamp duty as a tax break ends. Propertymark said the stamp duty holiday has been a success and its normal thresholds should [...]
Analysis: What the fuel crisis is all about and what may happen next September 30, 2021 Despite the government urging people to stop “panic-buying” petrol and return to their normal pattern of purchasing, pumps have run dry in some forecourts. Here City A.M. helps you to understand what is happening and who is involved. So who are the biggest players? The UK’s biggest operator is the Motor Fuel Group. Other companies [...]
iPhone users urged to remove Visa from Apple Pay due to dangerous contactless payments flaw September 30, 2021 Visa as a transport card via Apple Pay should be removed urgently by iPhone users after researchers said they uncovered a flaw that lets fraudsters bypass security and make unlimited contactless payments. The issue could be exploited to make transactions from an iPhone inside someone’s bag, without their knowledge, experts from the University of Birmingham [...]
UK house prices growth eases back to 10 per cent with London slowing the most September 30, 2021 Annual house price growth eased back to 10 per cent in September, from 11 per cent in August, according to Nationwide Building Society this morning. Prices increased by just 0.1 per cent month-on-month, taking the average UK house price to £248,742. Wales and Northern Ireland were the strongest performing parts of the UK in the [...]
