Halfords: Sales jump but retailer warns tariffs could hit supply chain April 15, 2025 Motoring and cycling specialist Halfords has reported an uptick in sales but warned US President Donald Trump’s tariffs could push up costs across its supply chain. The retailer and services provider told markets this morning that sales grew 2.3 per cent in the year to March 28. Its share price rose more than 13 per [...]
Liontrust: Withdrawals accelerate as performance deteriorates April 15, 2025 Investor withdrawals from Liontrust ramped up in the last quarter, with customers pulling £1.3bn and the asset manager losing £700m on poor market movements. Liontrust’s assets under management and advice fell 8.1 per cent to just £22.6bn across the first three months of the year, the firm revealed in a trading update today. Since the [...]
Grid connection for clean energy firms to be fast-tracked, ministers say April 15, 2025 Grid connections for businesses delivering clean energy are to be prioritised, ministers have said. The government has said so-called ‘zombie projects’ which hold up the queue for National Grid connectivity are set to be axed from the waiting list. While industries including data centres and AI, wind energy and solar projects will be accelerated for [...]
Retail sales rise in March but tariff turmoil signals trouble ahead April 15, 2025 Retail sales rose in March despite low consumer confidence, according to new data, but tariff uncertainty is likely to dampen the recovery. Total retail sales increased by 1.1 per cent year on year in March, with 1.6 per cent growth in food sales and 0.6 per cent growth in non-food sales. While this was below [...]
British Steel: What is at stake? April 14, 2025 Government officials were in a race on Monday to secure the critical supply of materials needed to keep British Steel’s two blast furnaces in Scunthorpe running. The site’s closure would spell the end of the final hub in the UK capable of producing virgin steel, making it the only member of the G7 unable to [...]
Chinese TikTokers spark debate on source of luxury goods as they fight tariffs April 14, 2025 A debate over the source of luxury goods has taken TikTok by storm after Chinese manufacturers jumped on the app to ‘lift the veil’ on luxury production. According to multiple hugely popular videos on the social networking site – notably a user called @senbags2 – luxury goods are made in China, then shipped to Italy [...]
British Steel: No 10 won’t rule out future Chinese involvement in steel making April 14, 2025 No 10 has declined to rule out future Chinese involvement in steel making, amid a race to keep the British Steel furnaces alight in Scunthorpe. The UK government has now said it is “confident” it will beat a race against time to keep the site running after taking control of the plant from Chinese owners [...]
Polar Capital stock downgraded amid warning of dividend cut April 14, 2025 Polar Capital has been downgraded by two different City analysts after its assets fell significantly more than had been expected by forecasts. The tech-focused asset manager lost £2.4bn over the last quarter almost entirely due to £2.3bn of losses in investment returns, as US tech giants have struggled to match the stock price returns of [...]
Retail bosses warn of dumping from Chinese firms into Europe April 14, 2025 UK retail bosses have warned that Trump’s tariffs will cause low-quality goods to be dumped into Europe from China via distributor sites like Amazon. Unable to sell competitively in the US due to US President Donald Trump’s 104 per cent tariffs on goods from China, as well as his decision to end the de minimis [...]
Former Tory MP among 15 facing charges related to election gambling April 14, 2025 Former Tory MP Craig Williams is one of 15 people who have been charged after bets were placed on the timing of the 2024 general election, the Gambling Commission has revealed. Williams was among a number of people linked to the Conservative Party reported to have made bets on the election date, which was called [...]
