Britain’s hospitality leaders face a crisis of confidence as tax rises bite February 25, 2025 Optimism in Britain’s hospitality sector has continued to slip, with only a third of leaders confident about the next year of trading as cost pressures mount. It’s the fifth month in a row that the confidence of Britain’s hospitality leaders has fallen, according to CGA by NIQ’s latest Business Confidence Survey. Morale is now at [...]
Payments regulator reportedly could be scrapped as No10 slashes red tape February 23, 2025 The UK’s payments regulator could be scrapped and folded into another regulator as part of efforts by No10 to slash red tape, according to Sky News. Ministers are mulling whether to abolish the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) and amalgamate it into the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the broadcaster has reported. A decision could come within [...]
Green shoots? UK retail sales beat expectations in January February 21, 2025 Brits returned to the shops in January as discount spending fueled the first monthly rise in retail sales volumes since last August. Retail sales volumes rose 1.7 per cent in January, following a fall of 0.6 per cent in December, according to the ONS. Analysts had expected growth of just 0.3 per cent. This was [...]
Glazer answers question of whether Manchester United is for sale February 20, 2025 Manchester United co-owner Avram Glazer has given a definitive answer as to whether he would sell his share in the Old Trafford club. The Premier League club published their results this week, showing a £14.5m cost for disposing of former manager Erik ten Hag, sporting director Dan Ashworth and others. The club therefore made a [...]
Libby’s Naked Wines diary: why wine drinkers always crave beer February 19, 2025 Libby’s Naked Wines diary this week: why I’m craving beer after wine, and why we travel I first met Ashwin Bhardwaj in my living room 17 years ago. I had come through in the morning to make my shreddies and found a nearly naked chap in a tiny pair of pants, doing lunges. He had [...]
‘Alarm bells’ for Bank of England as inflation accelerates to three per cent February 19, 2025 Inflation picked up faster than expected at the start of the year, official data shows, as concerns grow about the persistence of price pressures in the economy. The headline rate of inflation picked up to 3.0 per cent in January, according to new figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). This was up from [...]
Mercedes team reject fears of Ineos Formula 1 exit February 18, 2025 Formula 1 powerhouse Mercedes have been forced to deny that the team’s ownership could shift amid a wave of sporting cuts by co-owners Ineos. The chemicals giant, part-owned by British billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe, holds 33 per cent of shares in the Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team, with team principal Toto Wolff and the German [...]
Auto-deleting emails forces us to ask, what is the FCA trying to hide? February 17, 2025 The FCA's plan to auto-delete emails is an exercise of managing reputation, not standards, writes Eliot Wilson.
The Week in Business: Is Net Zero going out of fashion? February 14, 2025 Just a few short years ago BP proudly told us they were embarking on a journey – and I quote – “in support of our purpose to reimagine energy for people and our planet, and our ambition to become a Net Zero company by 2050 or sooner and help the world get to Net Zero.” [...]
Clashes, drama and heaps of debt: Inside the dramatic collapse of RBG Holdings February 14, 2025 Trading suspended, lawyers fleeing and pending insolvency. What happened at the listed legal business RBG Holding?