Metro Bank shares dip after SME lending pivot sees profit balloon March 4, 2026 Metro Bank has swung back into profit as the firm’s pivot into small business lending led to a bump in revenue. The FTSE 250 lender returned to profitability with a pre-tax profit of just north of £98m – a 15-year high and major clawback from losses of £14m last year. The swing came as Metro [...]
Reeves’ Spring Statement gave us little to be cheery about March 4, 2026 Rachel Reeves put on a brave face when she stood up at the dispatch box yesterday afternoon to unveil her Spring Statement. And although we were subjected to the usual staccato delivery, the Chancellor’s performance was more confident than usual. But a cursory glance at the latest Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) projections show there [...]
Venue & Hospitality Giant Levy Buys Global Agency, The iLUKA Collective March 3, 2026 The iLUKA Collective: Strategic Acquisition: Levy acquires The iLUKA Collective to create a powerhouse of strategy, design, and live event execution. Brand Integration: The partnership enables the world’s greatest brands to live at the heart of the world’s greatest sporting events through end-to-end sponsorship and hospitality services. Unrivalled Portfolio: The acquisition unites Levy’s iconic venue [...]
Reeves to meet North Sea oil bosses amid inflation ‘uncertainty’ March 3, 2026 Chancellor Rachel Reeves has revealed she will meet North Sea oil and gas bosses on Wednesday in London, with a market price surge putting the UK economy’s path towards lower inflation in jeopardy. Reeves told MPs during her Spring Statement that she would meet energy bosses from companies operating off Scotland as the government looks [...]
Borrowing costs spike as Middle East conflict rages March 3, 2026 The cost of UK government borrowing spiked on Tuesday morning, while the pound plummeted as markets continued to digest the impacts of the intensifying conflict in the Middle East. The yield on the 10-year Gilt jumped 0.15 percentage points to 4.46 per cent while 2-year Gilt yields, which closely track interest rate expectations, spiked 0.16 [...]
AI-fuelled plumbing boom is luring in private equity March 3, 2026 AI has made trades like plumbing alluring not just to jobseekers, but private equity investors, writes Susannah Streeter.
Meet Reeves’ outsider tasked with steering the City to growth March 3, 2026 The City has rolled out the red carpet for the banking watchdog’s new chief after Katharine Braddick, a seasoned veteran of the financial trenches, was named on Friday as the successor to Sam Woods. For a cool £314,000 a year, she’s set to take on the brief of steering the UK’s banking sector. Chancellor Rachel [...]
Oil price surge pushes investors to bet against interest rate cut March 2, 2026 Investors have pared bets that the Bank of England will cut interest rates in March, as analysts worry that the surge in oil and gas prices could prop up inflationary pressures in the economy. European gas prices were up over 40 per cent on Monday while oil prices gained seven per cent to hover around [...]
Mortgage approvals fall to two-year low March 2, 2026 Mortgage approvals slumped to a two-year low in January as buyers remain cautious following months of damaging uncertainty around the November Budget. Net mortgage approvals for house purchases dropped to 60,000 in January, six per cent below the 64,100 six-month average, according to new Bank of England figures. The property market is still suffering from [...]
Winter Olympics success creates flurry of interest for Snowsport England March 2, 2026 Snowsport England has reported a flurry of interest in skiing and snowboarding following Team GB’s first ever medals in both at the recent Winter Olympics. Some ski centres have had to hire more instructors to cope with rising demand credited to the success of snowboarders Charlotte Bankes and Huw Nightingale, and skier Zoe Atkin at [...]