Co-op profit jumps six-fold ahead of supermarket ‘trolley wars’ April 3, 2025 The Co-op has reported a huge jump in profit for 2024 ahead of potential ‘trolley wars’ in the grocery sector. Group revenue was broadly stable year on year, ticking up by 0.2 per cent to £11.3bn, while underlying profit rose by 35 per cent to £131m. Operating profit more than doubled, from £66m to £151m, [...]
FTSE 100 plunges as S&P 500 set to slump April 3, 2025 The FTSE 100 opened 1.4 per cent lower this morning as the UK was spared the worst of the economic impact from US president Donald Trump’s sweeping tariff regime. UK markets have been hit after the country was hit by a sweeping 10 per cent tariff on exports to the US from next week, along [...]
US tariffs: Keir Starmer vows to ‘keep cool head’ in face of ‘economic impact’ April 3, 2025 Sir Keir Starmer has vowed to “keep a cool head” in the face of the “economic impact” of Donald Trump’s 10 per cent tariffs on UK exports to the US, amid fears of a wider trade war. The Prime Minister spoke to business chiefs in Downing Street this morning in the wake of sweeping global [...]
Chapel Down expands into America with distribution deal April 3, 2025 Chapel Down has announced a new agreement with Jackson Family Wines for the distribution of its sparkling wine in the USA. It is unclear how the deal will be affected by Trump’s 10 per cent tariff on all goods going into America. The distribution agreement for wine in the USA – Chapel Down’s “largest potential export [...]
UK grocery sales slow in March but there are ‘reasons to be optimistic’ April 3, 2025 Total sales at UK supermarket tills slowed in March, but analysts pinned this to a later-than-usual rather than a structural slowdown. Sales growth at tills slowed to 2.7 per cent in the four weeks to April 2, down from a four per cent rise in February, according to NIQ. In-store visits grew 6.8 per cent [...]
GP landlord Primary Health Properties makes new offer for peer Assura April 3, 2025 GP landlord Primary Health Properties (PHP) has made a new offer for FTSE 250 healthcare real estate investment trust peer Assura, offering a £1.5bn merger to the REIT. PHP has offered £1.5bn for the trust, which would see Assura’s shareholders owning about 48 per cent of the combined group’s shares, which would become the eighth [...]
US tariffs: UK in ‘better position’ than some but still ‘a challenge’ – Reynolds April 3, 2025 The UK is in a “better position than a lot of other countries” after Donald Trump imposed a 10 per cent rate of tariffs on exports to the US, Jonathan Reynolds has said. The US President imposed a rate of 20 per cent on the European Union (EU), 24 per cent on Japan and 34 [...]
Currys upgrades outlook as sales outperform April 3, 2025 High sales growth at Currys has led the electrical retailer to increase its expected profit for the full year. Its share price rose more than 10 per cent in early trades. The company told markets this morning that adjusted profit before tax is now expected to be around £160m, versus previous guidance of £145m to [...]
Will a Marxist government put Sri Lanka’s economic recovery at risk? April 3, 2025 Sri Lanka has made a truly remarkable turnaround since an uprising in 2022, but if the island nation is to achieve sustained and equitable growth, its new government has no room for mistakes, says Chris Dorrell Amid rampant inflation, fuel shortages and the country’s first debt default since independence, demonstrators forced Sri Lanka’s President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to [...]
Trump confirms 10 per cent tariffs to hit UK exports in huge economic blow April 2, 2025 Donald Trump has confirmed the UK will be hit by 10 per cent tariffs on exports to the US, in a major blow to Britain’s economic growth. The US President confirmed the measure in a provocative and bombastic statement in the White House Rose Garden on Wednesday at just after 9pm UK time. The European [...]
