Athletes on OnlyFans: It’s time for an adult conversation about funding June 5, 2025 Should athletes be allowed to boost their meagre Lottery funding by performing on OnlyFans, like British canoeist Kurts Adams Rozentals? It’s time for a grown-up discussion, says Ed Warner. How far would you go to fulfil your Olympic dream? Pre-dawn, pre-school training sessions; eschewing a student lifestyle to get a solid night’s sleep with no [...]
Welfare U-turns show Starmer puts party ahead of country June 5, 2025 The Conservatives are the only political party able to say they take the country’s £100bn debt bill and £65bn welfare bill seriously, says Jamila Robertson We have heard the government assert time and again, that they are taking the difficult decisions. Almost a year on, with inflation up from two per cent to 3.5 per [...]
Workers’ rights: £60bn industry warns against Labour overhaul June 4, 2025 The government’s flagship workers’ rights legislation is poised to have “serious unintended consequences” for firms’ capacity to take on new staff and offer them sufficient hours if ministers fail to consult more closely with employers, more than 120 facilities management bosses have warned. Writing in an open letter signed by the likes of FTSE 250 [...]
Costco: Lower petrol prices help drive profit surge June 4, 2025 The UK arm of Costco has said lower petrol prices have actually helped its profit jump to almost £200m after driving up memberships. The division of the US giant said a decrease in prices at the pumps during its latest financial year contributed to increasing the number of people signing up and renewing their membership [...]
B&M: FTSE 250 shares plunge as profit and job cuts revealed June 4, 2025 Shares in B&M have plunged by more than ten per cent after the retailer revealed a lower profit, rising debt and job cuts. The Liverpool-headquartered company, which is a member of the FTSE 250 index, reported a pre-tax profit of £431m for the 12 months to 29 March, 2025, down from the £498m it achieved [...]
Reeves won’t rule out extending income tax threshold freeze June 4, 2025 Rachel Reeves has vowed not to repeat the scale of tax rises in last year’s Autumn Budget as businesses brace for further hikes to meet the chancellor’s wafer-thin fiscal headroom. As much as £40bn in tax rises was unveiled in the budget, including huge hikes to employer National Insurance Contributions, which added millions of pounds [...]
UK trade deals to lift growth, KPMG says June 4, 2025 UK growth could be higher than expected due to trade deals agreed with the US and the European Union, a City consultancy has said. Most forecasters downgraded the UK’s economic outlook for the year in the wake of President Trump’s ‘Liberation Day’, with the IMF and other major forecasters warning the UK was set to [...]
Ninety One: Asset manager hopeful of ending years of outflows June 4, 2025 Ninety One was hopeful of ending years of fund outflows after the FTSE 250 firm recorded a positive second-half performance. The asset manager, which is based in London and Johannesburg, has recorded only a single year of net inflows since its 2020 flotation after clients pulled a combined £25bn from the firm. But on Wednesday, [...]
Why the UK investment system needs a complete overhaul June 4, 2025 Nick Saunders, CEO of Webull UK, an online investment platform, says the UK must completely overhaul its investment system if it wants to drive growth. Like a rickety Edwardian chair with a broken leg, the retail investment infrastructure in the UK is so badly damaged that not even the most optimistic Bargain Hunt contestant would [...]
B&M: Revenue ticks up as new stores outperform June 4, 2025 Discount retailer B&M has reported a bump in its full-year earnings after progress in France and a better-than-anticipated performance at its new stores. The London-listed Luxembourg-headquartered company reported revenue of £5.57bn in the 52 weeks ended March 29, up 3.7 per cent year on year. It said the higher revenue was “primarily driven” by the contribution [...]