JD Sports boss warns of price rises as shoe makers resist Trump’s tariffs April 9, 2025 The chairman of FTSE 100 giant JD Sports has said prices will rise if President Donald Trump’s tariffs stay at their current levels. Speaking on the Today programme, chairman Andrew Higginson, who also chairs the British Retail Consortium (BRC), added that it’s unlikely shoe production will shift to the US and lambasted the uncertainty caused [...]
Assura rejects £1.5bn offer as ‘not sufficient’ amid new ‘fair’ KKR bid April 9, 2025 Real estate investment trust Assura has rejected a £1.5bn offer from fellow GP landlord Primary Health Properties (PHP) as too low, and received a fresh bid from KKR. After the development was confirmed, Assura’s share price rose nearly six per cent in early trades. The rejection of the PHP offer follow the refusal last month of [...]
Saga: Cruise demand drives double-digit profit increase April 9, 2025 Saga, the financial services and travel provider for over-50s, has reported profit ahead of market expectations, driven by demand for cruises. The company told markets this morning that underlying profit before tax for the year ended January 31 was £47.8m, up 25 per cent year on year. Revenue for the year was £588.3m, up four [...]
Will Trump tariffs end up helping Next, M&S and Dunelm? April 8, 2025 UK heavyweights who aren’t exposed to the US market, like Next and M&S, may end up seeing some silver linings from Trump’s tariffs, according to analysts. Only a few UK retailers – namely JD Sports, Doc Martens and Burberry – sell to the states and produce in eastern Asia. Berenberg analysts said that positives from [...]
Buy Segro amid real estate sector strength, says UBS April 8, 2025 UBS analysts have backed real estate stocks like Segro and British Land after the sector has managed to hold out during the global stock exchange crash caused by the US trade war. Since the start of 2025, global stock markets have tanked, spurred on by the introduction of sweeping tariffs by US president Donald Trump. [...]
British Steel: ‘All options on table’ over nationalising Scunthorpe, Starmer says April 8, 2025 The UK is keeping “all options on the table” over the potential nationalisation of the Chinese-owned British Steel plant in Scunthorpe, Sir Keir Starmer has said. The Prime Minister insisted he understood the importance of the plant, which is Britain’s last remaining steelmaker, in a Q&A with the House of Commons Liaison Committee, after its [...]
First-time buyers ‘becoming less reliant on parents’ April 8, 2025 First-time buyers are completing on their homes with less help from their parents – albeit slightly later in life – according to new data. First-time buyers who received money from a friend or family member went from 34 per cent of buyers in the first quarter of 2024 to just under 30 in the first [...]
Trump tariffs: No10 resists calls for ‘buy British’ campaign April 8, 2025 No10 has resisted calls for a “buy British” campaign in light of US tariffs, after the Chancellor slapped down the idea and suggested it could be a barrier to trade. Rachel Reeves warned against the UK becoming “inward looking” as she faced calls in the Commons to encourage the public to buy more British goods [...]
UK markets ‘functioning’ and banking system ‘resilient’, Reeves tells MPs April 8, 2025 Chancellor Rachel Reeves has spoken in the House of Commons on the “current economic situation” in the wake of US President Donald Trump’s sweeping new global trade tariffs. Addressing MPs ahead of Treasury questions, Reeves said the “implications have been reflected in the reaction that we have seen in global markets in recent days, which [...]
UK equity funds suffer worst quarter ever as investors pull billions April 8, 2025 UK-focused funds suffered their worst ever quarter on record over the last three months, despite a strong performance from the FTSE 100 and other UK equity markets. Over the first three months of 2025, investors pulled £3.5bn from UK funds, with £1.2bn being withdrawn in March alone, according to data from Calastone. “Instead of putting [...]
