From holiday flights to luxury watches and Armani jeans, HMRC unveils the UK’s most outrageous expenses claims January 25, 2017 International flights, Friday night drinks and betting slips were among the dodgiest expense claims rejected by the taxman last year. HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has released a list of the most outlandish items taxpayers submitted as expenses on their annual returns for 2014-15. Taxpayers are allowed to claim deductions for genuine costs, such as work-related [...]
Property transactions were resilient throughout 2016 January 24, 2017 The number of property transactions fell 8.5 per cent year-on-year in December 2016 – but over the year as a whole, the market was resilient. Data from HM Revenue and Customs shows that there were 1,231,120 residential transactions last year, ahead of the number of transactions in both 2014 (1,225,120) and 2015 (1,225,970). However, the [...]
Dixons Carphone reports fifth consecutive Christmas of growth January 24, 2017 Dixons Carphone today reported its "fifth consecutive year of Christmas growth" and said it's on track to meet expectations with its full year profits. The figures Like-for-like revenue in the UK & Ireland was up six per cent in the 10 weeks to 7 January, while southern Europe saw a five per cent increase. The Nordics recorded [...]
Analysts react to Dixons Carphone’s Christmas trading update January 24, 2017 Electronics retailer Dixons Carphone has reported its fifth year of Christmas sales growth, but market reaction was muted, with the company's share price falling more than three per cent in morning trading. Alistair Davies, analyst at Investec, said it was likely that Dixons Carphone had increased market share and improved its margins. There were availability issues around [...]
Jet2 launches New York trips from Birmingham and Belfast among its winter schedule January 24, 2017 Jet2 is taking another bite of the Big Apple, after it announced plans to launch New York flights from Birmingham and Belfast International. The low-cost airline will now offer 30 direct trips to New York, up from 24, from seven airports. It is lining the trips up to coincide with Black Friday, the sales bonanza day, as [...]
Shares in Fever-Tree are sparkling as City analysts say the company has more room to grow January 24, 2017 Shares in posh tonic maker Fever-Tree shot up more than seven per cent in morning trading as the company's chief executive Tim Warrillow told City A.M. the brand is still “very early on” in its growth. The figures In a trading update the brand said its full-year like-for-like sales were expected to rise 75 per cent from the previous year, [...]
Why I renovated a Victorian castle for my staff January 24, 2017 Star Wars cinema, tick. Gym, tick. Ice cave, tick. Library with secret door, tick. OK, they may not be essentials for an office space but when your office is a castle, why on earth not? For a company based outside of London, attracting and maintaining the best talent is paramount to our success, so I re-invested [...]
Why the UK is falling out of love with fashion: M&S, Debenhams and Ted Baker offer solutions to the high street clothing crisis January 24, 2017 In 2016, Britons were focused less on fashion, and more on enjoying themselves. We ate out and drank more, but spent less on clothes. In other words, we “shifted towards the experience economy”, according to Richard Lim, chief executive of Retail Economics. “Since Brexit, the components within the economy holding up well have been consumer expenditure [...]
The year of the stock picker: Which value shares look underpriced in 2017? January 24, 2017 We've heard it before. When there is greater volatility and more dispersion in the market, canny investors should be able to beat the index. The great rotation in equities which markets are anticipating due to looser fiscal policy and higher interest rates under Donald Trump is filling active managers with optimism that they can use [...]
The Supreme Court’s Article 50 verdict is unlikely to derail Theresa May’s Brexit timeline January 23, 2017 A landmark Supreme Court ruling tomorrow is unlikely to derail plans for Prime Minister Theresa May to begin Brexit talks before April – whatever the outcome. The 11 Supreme Court judges will deliver their verdict on whether May needs approval from parliament to trigger the UK's separation from the European Union. The government has been appealing a decision [...]