UK retail sales decline knocks sterling lower January 17, 2020 UK retail sales fell in the “golden quarter” of Christmas trading, the latest statistics showed today in a further sign of the challenges facing the British high street. In the three months to December 2019, the amount spent and the quantity bought in the retail industry fell 0.9 per cent and one per cent respectively, [...]
Revealed: This was the best performing UK stock of the last decade January 17, 2020 Ashtead Group, an industrial equipment rental firm, was the best performing UK stock on the UK’s FTSE 350 over the last decade, data firm Refinitiv said today, with a compound annual growth rate of over 40 per cent. A £1,000 investment 10 years ago in Ashtead, which was founded in Surrey and is now City-based, [...]
Downing Street pulls back from Big Ben bongs campaign January 16, 2020 Downing Street pulled further back from the “Big Ben bongs” campaign, as Brexiters plough cash into a crowdfunder to raise half a million pounds. The Prime Minister’s spokesman gave the clearest signal yet that the iconic bells would not chime on 31 January even if the £500,000 is raised. Although he stopped short of suggesting [...]
Hays issues profit warning as political uncertainty slows hiring January 16, 2020 Recruitment firm Hays issued a profit warning today, blaming political uncertainty for a slow three months to the end of December. The group anticipates first half operating profit to be around £100m, down from the £124.1m reported in the same period last year. London-listed shares fell by as much as nine per cent in early [...]
Hyundai and Kia inject €100m in London electric vehicle scaleup January 16, 2020 Car making giants Hyundai and Kia will today reveal a €100m (£85.6m) in London-headquartered electric vehicle firm Arrival. The move will mark the beginning of a strategic partnership between the trio which will see Hyundai and Kia use the scaleup’s technology to develop mobility solutions and electrify their vehicles. Arrival, which has more than 800 [...]
Ostrich shops need to stop blaming the high street and step up January 16, 2020 Stories of failing retailers seem to be as regularly in the news as Brexit or Harry and Meghan. And when we read about them, it’s usually accompanied by lamentation that the state of the high street is to blame. Just this week, City A.M. reported that department store Beales is facing collapse. Its chief executive [...]
London property market sentiment strengthens after Conservative election victory January 16, 2020 London’s property market has enjoyed a “Boris bounce” following the result of last month’s General Election, as the capital saw a sharp increase in buyer interest and sales prospects. In December, 31 per cent of chartered surveyors saw a rise rather than a fall in enquiries from new buyers, up from minus 12 in November, [...]
Businesses urged to support employees seek settled status, or risk ‘catastrophic’ consequences after Brexit January 15, 2020 Businesses are being urged to ensure their employees apply for settled status as soon as possible, or risk losing up to a fifth of their workforce, with more than a million Europeans still yet to do so. A third of UK-based EU nationals, of which the vast majority are in employment, have failed to secure [...]
Why a Bank of England interest rate cut looks increasingly likely January 15, 2020 Just a week ago, investors rated the chances that the Bank of England would cut interest rates at about five per cent. Today, they think there is a 60 per cent chance that the main rate will be lowered from 0.75 per cent, according to CME Group’s tool which analyses futures prices. So what has [...]
Labour leadership hopeful Lisa Nandy says party should have been ‘bold’ on free movement January 15, 2020 Labour should have been “bold enough to defend free movement” while the party formulated its Brexit position, leadership hopeful Lisa Nandy has said. The Wigan MP, who has been running an exhaustive series of events as part of her leadership campaign, said Labour had to “connect the local and the global”, acknowlegding that the system [...]