Europe’s banks are right – the EU must act to avoid a Brexit cliff edge disaster October 16, 2018 Retail king Lord Wolfson raised eyebrows at the weekend when he insisted that a no deal outcome to Brexit talks “would not be a disaster”. The Next boss was referring to the overall effect on trade and, politically, he articulated his point well – you have to be prepared for no deal in order to [...]
Don’t let #MeToo kill the office romance or rob your job of human warmth October 12, 2018 If you believe the daily reports, you’d be forgiven for thinking that rape and harassment are widespread across our offices, shops, universities, and factories. Parliament’s Women & Equalities Committee (WEC) certainly thinks so. It wants the government to reach into workplaces, with an action plan to tackle sexual harassment. At first glance, the numbers don’t [...]
Ebay hit with £7m extra UK tax bill after a review by HMRC October 11, 2018 E-commerce auction site Ebay’s UK office paid out an additional £7m in owed corporate taxes last year, after the closure of a review by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC). In accounts published yesterday, Ebay UK paid a total of £13.5m in tax in 2017, £6m of which was for last year alone, on profits of [...]
IMF data shows there’s even less cash to splash October 11, 2018 Positive news around the public finances has been forthcoming in 2018, following years of disappointingly slow deficit reduction. Borrowing fell to a 16-year low in the fiscal year that ended in April, while in July the Treasury recorded its biggest surplus since 2000. Thus it was a shame to be brought crashing back down to [...]
EU pushes for new technology tax on internet giants Facebook, Amazon and Google October 10, 2018 The EU is pushing for a new tax on technology giants such as Facebook, Amazon and Google that it claims could raise £4.4bn a year across Europe. Seven months ago, the European Commission published proposals for a three per cent tax on the revenues of multi-national internet companies with global revenues above £660m a year. [...]
Ryanair boss ‘hopeful and optimistic’ about ending strike action by pilots and cabin crew October 9, 2018 Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary has said he is "hopeful and optimistic" that the airline will not be damaged further by strikes with its pilots and cabin crew this year. O'Leary, who has previously said the airline will put up with strikes to defend its low-cost business model, said: "I am hopeful and optimistic that we [...]
Competition watchdog launches review of audit sector October 9, 2018 The competition watchdog today confirmed it has launched a probe into the UK's audit sector, ending weeks of speculation. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said it will review whether the sector is competitive and resilient enough to maintain high standards. Calls to review the sector and possibly break up the "Big Four" of PwC, KPMG, Deloitte and EY [...]
Retailers hit as spending drops to its lowest level in a year, and Christmas may not be the saviour October 9, 2018 UK retail sales grew by their lowest rate for almost a year in September, new figures show. An analysis from KPMG and the British Retail Consortium found like-for-like retail sales were down 0.2 per cent, while total sales increased 0.7 per cent. This is far below the 1.3 per cent average over the past 12 [...]
Jaguar Land Rover to shut Solihull factory for two weeks amid trade tensions and weak China demand October 8, 2018 Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) is set to shut down its Solihull plant for two weeks, blaming economic uncertainty and dampened demand for its cars in China. Staff will be sent home on full pay for a fortnight from 22 October as the British car manufacturer stops producing any vehicles, as it tries to match supply to [...]
F1 video game-maker Codemasters accelerates towards full-year targets October 8, 2018 Recently listed gaming firm Codemasters today told investors it was on track to meet its full-year targets as it made £39.7m in revenue in the six months to 30 September 2018. The maker of the official F1 video games said digital sales as a proportion of its revenue rose to 53 per cent, amounting to [...]