Transport secretary ‘minded to approve’ Gatwick expansion February 27, 2025 The transport secretary is “minded” to approve Gatwick Airport’s plans for a second runway but only if it accepts certain revised requirements, it has been announced. Heidi Alexander on Thursday gave the £2.2bn project a ministerial nod of approval should the airport agree to some additional demands. These include noise mitigation and the extent to [...]
Income tax will need to rise to fund defence push, Mervyn King says February 27, 2025 Speaking on Sophy Ridge's show on Sky News, Mervyn King acknowledged the government was in a "very difficult position," but criticised it for a lack of ambition.
The London office market has ‘definitively turned’ as prime rents set to double February 27, 2025 Analysts have said the London office market has turned a corner after two major commercial real estate investors released positive results. Dewent London reported rental growth doubling to 4.3 per cent, the highest since 2016, and it expects estimated rental value growth – an estimate of the rent that a property could earn if it [...]
Taylor Wimpey: ‘The scene is set for recovery’ February 27, 2025 Housebuilder Taylor Wimpey has said government planning reforms are set to deliver a “step change” in the industry. The company made the comments alongside its 2024 results. Taylor built 10,593 homes in the year ended December 31, down slightly from 10,848 homes in 2023. Revenue fell 3.2 per cent, to £3.4bn, while operating profit fell [...]
Ocado: Shares slump as double-digit growth fails to offset losses February 27, 2025 Tech and grocery platform Ocado has reported another year of losses despite a strong performance in its online delivery arm. Its share price fell by more than 13 per cent in early trades. Overall revenue rose by 14.1 per cent to reach £3.1bn in the year ended December 1. Lucy Rumbold, equity research analyst at [...]
Rolls-Royce shares take off as FTSE 100 giant brings back dividends February 27, 2025 Rolls-Royce has reinstated dividends and unveiled a £1bn share buyback programme as full-year profit comfortably beat expectations. The FTSE 100 engineering giant on Thursday proposed a 6p per share dividend for investors in what marks its first payout since before the pandemic. A £1bn share buyback programme will also commence immediately and be completed through [...]
ISA millionaires: 25 ISAs hold a combined £222m February 27, 2025 According to new data on ISA millionaires, nearly a quarter of a billion pounds is now held in a handful of ISA accounts. A series of Freedom of Information requests from Investengine has revealed that the top 25 highest-value ISAs in the UK now hold a combined total of £222m in assets. The findings mean [...]
Donald Trump announces 25 per cent tariffs on EU imports February 26, 2025 Donald Trump has announced he plans to slap 25 per cent tariffs on imports from the European Union (EU) into the US. The US President slammed the European trading bloc, claiming it was set up to “screw” America, and had “done a good job of it but now I am President”. His comments came as [...]
Tariffs unlikely to spark persistent inflation, Bank of England rate-setter says February 26, 2025 Swati Dhingra, a rate-setter at the Bank of England, said Donald Trump’s tariffs would likely push down on domestic inflation as global exporters slashed prices to maintain market share. Dhingra warned that the UK was “particularly sensitive” to changes in imported costs due to its openness, but suggested that the danger of tariff-induced inflation was [...]
Shadow Chancellor slams inheritance tax changes as an “absurdity” February 26, 2025 Shadow Chancellor Mel Stride has slammed proposed changes to business tax relief, saying that the policy will force many to “shut down or be forced to sell”. Stride’s comments echo those of prominent businesspeople and politicians who have been railing against the higher taxes announced in Labour’s budget for the last four months. “British institutions, [...]