Watches of Switzerland hails ‘tremendous’ growth as profits hit £126m July 7, 2022 Boss of luxury goods retailer Watches of Switzerland said it had been a “tremendous” year for the firm today as it reported a 98 per cent jump in pre-tax profits for the full year.
Supply chains and lack of labour are slowing building, says Persimmon boss July 7, 2022 The boss of Persimmon, one of the UK’s largest housebuilders, has cautioned that planning system delays, disruption in material supply chains and challenges in securing labour have weighed on completions. The housebuilder completed 6,652 homes in the six months to 30 June, down from 7,406 in the same period last year, according to its latest [...]
Currys commits to price freeze as full year profits jump July 7, 2022 Electrical retailer Currys committed to a price freeze on dozens of products today as it reported a jump in profits to £126m for the full year.
UK house prices hit average of £294,845 in largest growth spurt since 2004 July 7, 2022 House prices leaped in June in the largest increase of monthly growth since 2004, hitting an average of £294,845 after months of declining growth. Climbing ever-closer to the £300,000 mark, house prices jumped 1.8 per cent in June, after climbing one per cent in May, when the average cost of a home was £289,099, according [...]
More engineers needed to meet heat pump targets and net zero goals, reveals UK charity July 7, 2022 Not enough people are being trained as heat pump engineers to meet government targets for installations, warned charity Nesta.
We are better off with a new leader than a Boris bunkering in No10 July 7, 2022 Governments, like children, are best seen and not heard. This administration has been in an almost permanent state of tantrum since day one. It is hard to conclude Boris Johnson has the power to lead his party, this government or the country. The second to last thing an embattled Britain needs is another leadership contest distracting from what could, with mismanagement, turn into a full-blown economic crisis, if it has not already done so.
London shops hit by falling footfall as Brits tighten belts amid inflation July 7, 2022 Central London shops may see a spending slowdown in the weeks to come, with city centres still reeling from the impact of office workers remaining at home, industry experts have warned. While the gap between 2019 footfall levels did narrow slightly in June versus May due to the Platinum Jubilee, sales lagged towards the end [...]
Sink or swim: The peril of floating as an online media firm July 7, 2022 The excitement surrounding Buzzfeed’s IPO was palpable. It had a loyal following of millennials, millions of investment, and a private-market value of around $1.7bn (£1.4bn). Last summer, Buzzfeed founder and CEO Jonah Peretti said the float was about “taking the next step in BuzzFeed’s evolution, bringing capital and additional experience to our business”. He said [...]
The bloodletting of Boris Johnson was a question of quitting before or after midday July 7, 2022 Whoever created the term the “Great Resignation” had likely not planned to be a soothsayer for Boris Johnson’s government but, if there are still any staff left in No10 this morning, they should offer their services as a superforecaster. Yesterday, five cabinet ministers resigned in one go, on one piece of paper, and that was [...]
Sajid Javid’s speech is one for the history books for everything but its substance July 7, 2022 Sajid Javid’s resignation speech, delivered to a packed House of Commons yesterday, was, in truth, not very good. His language was leaden. Cliches abounded. Metaphors were mixed and invariably, to use George Orwell’s term, “dead”: so overused that they “have lost all evocative power.” The delivery too was poor. At the critical moment, the climax [...]
