Premier Inn investors eye Oasis boost in earnings report October 11, 2025 Investors in Premier Inn’s owner will be hoping the UK’s largest hotel chain has been given a summer boost on the back of rising hotel prices and fans flocking to UK concerts. Whitbread, which also owns the Beefeater and Brewers Fayre chains, will publish its half-year financial results on Thursday. A group of analysts for [...]
Footfall drops in sign of pre-Budget nerves October 10, 2025 Footfall at UK retailers dropped in September, in a sign consumers are tightening their belts in the face of sticky shop inflation and a looming Budget where taxes are set to be raised by billions of pounds. Total UK footfall fell by 1.8 per cent year-on-year, according to British Retail Consortium data, extending a run [...]
Claridge’s: Five-star London hotel falls into the red October 6, 2025 Claridge’s, the iconic five-star London hotel, has slipped into the red despite its revenue rising during its latest financial year, it has been revealed, amid major redevelopment work. For 2024, the hotel has posted a pre-tax loss of £5.4m, down from the £7.2m pre-tax profit it achieved in 2023. However, new accounts filed with Companies [...]
OBR hands Rachel Reeves first damning pre-Budget report on UK economy October 3, 2025 The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) has handed Chancellor Rachel Reeves its first evaluation of the state of the UK economy and crippled public finances, setting policy discussions about likely £30bn tax rises and possible savings in motion. The OBR’s Budget Responsibility Committee, which consists of the economists Richard Hughes, David Miles and Tom Josephs, [...]
Tesco boss warns Reeves that ‘enough’s enough’ ahead of Budget October 2, 2025 Tesco boss Ken Murphy has warned Rachel Reeves that business will struggle to absorb more costs as fears rise of another tax raid in this Budget. UK retailers were hit by higher labour costs after an increase in the minimum wage and employer’s national insurance costs this April, after changes made at last October’s budget [...]
Wagamama owner sheds 2,000 jobs as losses widen October 2, 2025 The owner of Wagamama shed more than 2,000 jobs as its losses widened during its latest financial year, it has been revealed. The Restaurant Group, whose other major brand is Brunning & Price, has posted a pre-tax loss of £32.2m for 2024, new accounts filed with Companies House show. The total comes after the business [...]
Bank of England’s Mann calls for sustained interest rate hold October 1, 2025 The Bank of England’s Catherine Mann has called for interest rates to be held where they are for longer before making a larger cut to revive the sluggish growth outlook, citing a recent spike in consumer inflation expectations as evidence price rises were embedding into the economy. The external Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) member known [...]
‘Packaging tax’ to force further price rises October 1, 2025 UK businesses will be forced to pass the vast majority of costs incurred by a new packaging tax onto consumers, in a move that will stoke already rampant food inflation and compound financial pressures on hard-pressed households. According to fresh figures from the British Retail Consortium (BRC), retailers plan to pass over 80 per cent [...]
Bank of England’s Breeden says inflation ‘hump’ is transitory September 30, 2025 The Bank of England’s deputy governor has warned keeping interest rates too high could drag inflation below the Bank’s two per cent target in comments that further exposed the divergence that exists among central bank officials over the long-term path of inflation. In a dovish speech delivered at Cardiff Business School, financial stability deputy chief [...]
Farmfoods: Iceland rival battles rising costs September 30, 2025 Budget supermarket chain Farmfoods has said rising costs weighed on its profit as it battled to keep prices down for its customers. The business, which is headquartered in North Lanarkshire in Scotland, has posted a pre-tax profit of £33.1m for 2024, up from the £25.5m it achieved in 2023. However, Farmfoods said “increased cost pressures” resulted [...]