Pennon Group: FTSE 250 water firm swings to loss after parasite scandal June 3, 2025 Pennon Group, the British utility firm which owns South West Water, swung to a loss in the latest financial year after struggles driven by the Brixham water supply scandal. The FTSE 250 company made a loss of £35.1m for the year, which the firm said was in line with management expectations. It marked a steep [...]
Build-to-rent: UK boom in purpose-built properties June 2, 2025 The number of build-to-rent completions in the last year has shot up in another sign the sector is here to stay in the UK. Completions of built to rent properties – which refers to purpose built, institutionally owned and professionally managed residential blocks of flats – have risen by 16 per cent year on year, [...]
Mortgage lending plummets in April as estate agents cross fingers for rate cut June 2, 2025 Mortgage lending dropped in April after the market ‘reset’ following the end of the stamp duty holiday, according to new figures. Net borrowing of mortgage debt decreased sharply by £13.7bn to -£0.8bn in April, according to the Bank of England’s latest data. Net mortgage approvals for house purchases also fell for the third consecutive month, [...]
Invidior: Drug maker ditches London for US June 2, 2025 The London Stock Exchange suffered another blow on Monday after drug maker Invidior said it intends to abandon its London listing and focus on its primary listing in the US. The firm said it had reviewed its listing structure and considered liquidity, the location of shareholders and red tape associated with its London listing. Its [...]
Exclusive: Hotels struggle with double whammy of staff costs and pressure on room rates June 2, 2025 Hotels struggled with falling profit in April after margins were squeezed by higher staff hosts and price pressure on rooms. UK hotel payroll costs increased from 31.6 per cent of revenue to 33.3 per cent in April year-on-year, and from 29.5 per cent to 31.4 per cent in London, according to RSM. A slight reduction [...]
Property transactions falter despite rise in number of homes available May 30, 2025 Homebuying in the UK slowed in April after the end of the stamp duty holiday, despite an uptick in the number of properties available. The number of UK residential transactions in April 2025 was 64,680, 28 per cent lower than April 2024 and 64 per cent lower than March 2025, according to official statistics. Estate agents attributed [...]
Bank of England rate-setter calls for interest rate cut May 30, 2025 A top Bank of England rate-setter has dismissed the latest spike in inflation and doubled down on calls for further interest rate cuts. Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) member Alan Taylor said the fresh inflation surge was driven by “one-off factors” related to President Donald Trump’s trade war. Whilst he said recent trade progress, with the [...]
Vets complaints service for pet owners ‘completely unjust’, says consumer body May 30, 2025 Britain’s pet owners are being underserved by the vet industry’s complaints service, according to a leading consumer body. Which? found that the complaints process is “often stacked against pet owners”, with owners put off making a complaint and limited help for those that do. The findings come amid a watchdog probe into the vet sector, [...]
UK business confidence bounces back from Trump’s tariff blow May 30, 2025 UK business confidence rallied in May as global financial markets made their recovery from President Donald Trump’s tariff onslaught. Lloyds Bank business barometer jumped 11 points over the last month to 50 per cent. – marking a nine month high. The lender surveys 1,200 companies and weighs up the percentage of firms that have a [...]
Civil service cull can save £5bn a year May 30, 2025 Civil service cull can save £5bn a year, Policy Exchange says Cutting 80,000 civil service jobs could save the Treasury as much as £5bn pounds a year, a new report has found, as the government seeks to rein in spending in a bid to stick to its fiscal rules. The research by Westminster think tank [...]