Minimum wage hike puts pressure on professional starting salaries November 3, 2025 With Rachel Reeves poised to raise the minimum wage in her Autumn Budget, mid-tier professional services firms are bracing for significant impacts across the sector. As reported last week, the Budget will likely see employers forced to raise workers’ wages from £12.21 to at least £12.70 an hour. However, for businesses, especially those in the [...]
Salesforce: UK profit surges as 300 jobs lost November 3, 2025 The UK division of Salesforce has made another huge round of job cuts as its profit jumped by 65 per cent during its latest financial year. The firm’s headcount fell from 2,964 to 2,673 in 2024, new accounts filed with Companies House have revealed. The reduction comes after Salesforce also cut more than 450 jobs [...]
London should be the engine that saves us from decline November 3, 2025 We should be proud of our great city, but also clear-eyed about its failings on housing, crime and the cost of living, says Lawrence Newport London is like nowhere else on earth. As Matt Clifford said last week at Looking For Growth’s event Make or Break, London is the city that birthed the electrical age, [...]
AI bubble fears dismissed as sector bets on lasting tech boom October 31, 2025 Federal reserve chair Jerome Powell recently poured cold water on mounting fears that the AI boom is heading for a spectacular bust, arguing that the current surge in investment bears little resemblance to the dot-com frenzy that ended in tears two decades ago. In a press conference following the Fed’s latest rate decision this week, [...]
Apple and Amazon defy Wall Street gloom on iPhone and cloud sales October 31, 2025 Tech behemoths Apple and Amazon have defied expectations with results that outshone Wall Street forecasts, rounding off a big week of earnings from the world’s most powerful firms. Both companies posted double-digit revenue growth and upbeat outlooks, calming investor nerves after a rocky few days for the wider tech sector. While Apple reported a surge [...]
Motor finance, Madoff fraud, tax fears – bank shares defy the noise October 31, 2025 A motor finance battle, hefty impairment charges and the shadow of 2008 all cast over banks third-quarter results but beneath the fog investors are rewarding the FTSE 100’s top lenders for another bumper quarter. The FTSE 350 banks index has risen nearly four per cent this month and is up 17 per cent for the [...]
Big Tech earnings: Investors reward AI returns, punish spending spree October 30, 2025 Wall Street was shaken up by Silicon Valley heavyweights overnight as a trio of Big Techs laid bare the cost of their AI strategies. Alphabet, Meta and Microsoft all reported earnings after the bell on Wednesday, offering investors a glimpse into the now trillion-dollar race to lead the AI boom. But, while Alphabet, Google’s parent [...]
Abu Dhabi sets sights New York, London and Singapore October 30, 2025 Over the last decade, Abu Dhabi has attracted more than 300 financial firms, with a combined $28.6 trillion in assets globally, as the city positions itself as a global “capital of capital.” ADGM, Abu Dhabi’s international financial centre, revealed it has experienced rapid growth from financial firms over the last three years, increasing from 131 [...]
Deliveroo and Darktrace top UK exits amid IPO draught October 30, 2025 Deliveroo and Darktrace have been named among the UK’s most successful tech exits in the latest ‘Founders Forum UK exit 50 report’, as the country faces ongoing challenges in retaining its high-growth firms. Founders Forum’s annual list, compiled with Tech Nation and HSBC Innovation Banking, ranks the 50 UK tech companies that have navigated scale-up [...]
Labour trails plans to fight cyberattacks October 30, 2025 The UK government is set to take further action to bolster national cyber resilience, City AM understands, as cybercrime continues to surge across the country. High-profile attacks on businesses, from smaller firms to major supply chains, have unveiled deep cracks and vulnerabilities in the economy. Tech secretary Liz Kendall told City AM: “We’re working really [...]