Breadmakers Hovis and Kingsmill in merger talks May 3, 2025 The owners of two of Britain’s biggest bread producers – Hovis and Kingsmill – are reportedly in discussions regarding a merger between the two firms as challenges deepen for the market. Associated British Foods (ABF), the owner of Kingsmill’s parent company Allied Bakeries, and investment firm Endless, which owns Hovis, are in talks about a [...]
IoD: Business leaders remain frustrated with Reeves May 1, 2025 UK business leaders are less optimistic about wage growth and cost expectations remain high, a new survey has suggested, in signs that Chancellor Reeves will continue to face a “strong sense of frustration” from company bosses. The Labour government could yet offer businesses olive branches as it rolls out its industrial strategy and spending review [...]
10 Things You Need to Know Before Investing in Your First Whisky Cask April 30, 2025 The whisky cask market has experienced significant growth over the past decade, quietlyoutperforming other luxury assets, such as fine wine and vintage cars. With Scotch whisky exports reaching £5.4bn in 2024, showing a steady increase of around 36.7per cent over the last decade, the long-term outlook for cask whisky remains strong, providedinvestors know what to [...]
Can AI replace the boardroom? April 30, 2025 AI is quietly taking over strategic decisions and that’s a mistake. If strategy is going to stay human, then it has to stay messy, says Paul Armstrong Automation used to mean invoices, scheduling and sorting PDFs. Now it means suggesting layoffs, flagging underperforming units, reshaping go-to-market strategy, and proposing M&A targets. AI isn’t just in [...]
Everton owners in talks to buy data firm to help manager Moyes April 30, 2025 In this week’s Ahead of the Game: Everton’s Friedkin Group looks to data, Hundred and World Cup latest, bookmakers and the EFL. Everton’s owners, The Friedkin Group, are in talks over buying a data company to assist David Moyes with player recruitment. Following an internal review conducted at Goodison Park since the multi-club owners bought [...]
Rate setter calls for market digitalisation and touts Bank of England’s flexibility April 29, 2025 Bank of England rate setter Dave Ramsden has called for bold action on digitalisation in a rebuke of concerns that the Bank’s prescriptive rules were stifling innovation. Speaking at the Innovate Finance Global Summit on Tuesday, the central bank Deputy Governor said widespread innovation in wholesale financial markets from authorities and industry would boost the [...]
Larry Fink: Britain is ‘undervalued’ and Yimbyism is essential April 25, 2025 BlackRock boss Larry Fink has described British assets as “undervalued” as he indicated that more investment would be pumped into the UK economy. The chairman of the world’s biggest investment company praised the urgency across Europe to deliver higher growth as he said that the UK had been “so smothered” by unnecessary regulation. “[We] have [...]
Meta platforms at the heart of Oasis ticket scams, Lloyds reveals April 24, 2025 Meta-owned platforms, particularly Facebook, have become the primary breeding ground for last year’s surge in Oasis ticket scams, according to recent data from Lloyds Banking Group. The bank’s research highlighted that over 90 per cent of reported scams targeting Oasis fans originated on social media, with a staggering 56 per cent of all reported concert [...]
HSBC, Barclays, Lloyds: Lenders bank on interest rate cut as mortgage ‘price war’ heats up April 17, 2025 Top UK lenders are offering more mortgages to prospective house buyers, the Bank of England has revealed, as falling interest rates stir up a “price war” on the high street. The Bank’s credit conditions survey revealed that the burgeoning supply of mortgages would come against a levelling off in demand in the three months to [...]
Mark Kleinman: Is it Rathi vs Woods in governor race? April 17, 2025 Mark Kleinman is Sky News’ City Editor and the man who gets the Square Mile talking in his weekly City AM column Is it Rathi vs Woods in race to be next governor? And so it came to pass. A month after I wrote in this column that Nikhil Rathi was likely to stay on as chief executive [...]