Higher bills fuel revenue surge at FTSE 100 United Utilities November 14, 2024 The increase, which was largely due to more expensive consumer bills, helped underlying operating profit jump 24 per cent to £335.7m.
Founders warn of hiring freeze ahead of national insurance hike November 14, 2024 A majority of founders are warning they will have to implement a hiring freeze ahead of the employers’ National Insurance Contributions (NICs) increase set to come into effect this spring. The warning signs follow Rachel Reeves’ announcement in the Budget last month of a 1.2 per cent increase to employers’ NICs, taking the total to [...]
Trump’s victory: Why Americans chose the man who impoverished them November 14, 2024 US voters chose to elect a President who made them materially poorer not richer. Sam Fowles investigates why.
Retailers warn of ‘inevitable’ job losses and price rises after budget tax hikes November 13, 2024 Retail bosses warned that they will be forced to hike prices and cut jobs due to the government’s tax hikes, as the sector braces for a substantial increase in employment costs. In a draft letter to the Chancellor, coordinated by the British Retail Consortium (BRC), retail bosses warned that job losses were “inevitable” and higher [...]
US inflation picks up as Fed considers pace of interest rate cuts November 13, 2024 US inflation increased on the back of stubborn housing costs, new figures show, strengthening the case for a gradual approach to cutting interest rates. The consumer price index increased to 2.6 per cent in October, according to figures from the Bureau of Labour Statistics, up from 2.4 per cent the month before but in line [...]
Do luxury products have a pricing problem? November 13, 2024 At some point, luxury brands all face the same question: How do you price a good at a level that implies desirability and exclusivity without making it completely exclusionary? The vast majority of luxury brands rely on the aspirational consumer just as much as the super-wealthy. McKinsey has estimated that around half of the luxury [...]
Just Eat shares spike after it announces Grubhub sale November 13, 2024 Delivery platform Just Eat has agreed to sell its American arm, Grubhub, to the US takeaway startup Wonder. Shares in Just Eat rose 19 per cent in early trades on the news. Just Eat sold the platform for $650m (£500m), a 90 per cent discount on the $7bn it paid in 2021—or, adjusting for inflation, [...]
Fuller’s pub boss warns Budget tax changes will drive hospitality to the brink November 13, 2024 The boss of pub chain Fuller, Smith and Turner has made a stark warning about the effect of recent tax rises on hospitality, warning it will increase inflation and drive businesses “to the wall”. Chair of the London-listed firm known as Fuller’s, Michael Turner, said that the changes to employer’s national insurance contributions (NICs) announced [...]
‘Disaster Budget will kill UK farming’, warns chicken king Boparan November 12, 2024 Entrepreneur Ranjit Singh Boparan, whose empire ranges from Bernard Matthews to Carluccio’s, has warned the autumn Budget is a “disaster for business” and will “deliver a final fatal blow to the thousands of small family-owned farms”. Boparan added that the “inheritance tax raid” on farms announced in the Budget on 30 October “risks supply being [...]
Employer National Insurance hike a ‘significant burden’ and will impact working people, warns Thwaites November 12, 2024 The hike in employer National Insurance contribution (NICs), which was revealed by Chancellor Rachel Reeves in her Budget, will place a “significant burden” on historic brewer, pub and hotel owner, Daniel Thwaites, the company has said. The Lancashire-headquartered group added that the increase, together with the rise in the National Living Wage, “make it less [...]