Hunt confirms full fat budget and OBR forecast on 15 March 2023 December 19, 2022 The government will deliver a full fat budget on 15 March next year, chancellor Jeremy Hunt confirmed today. The announcement will be accompanied by an assessment of the impact of the government’s tax and spending plans on the public finances by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR). Last month, Hunt delivered what was in effect [...]
Treasury grabs extra £85bn in taxes from Brits after Covid measures end December 19, 2022 The UK government has added an extra £85.1bn in tax revenues over the last year after a raft of Covid-19 support measures were scrapped, new figures out today show. Total revenue flowing into the treasury from Brits’ pockets hit £775.6bn in the year to April 2022, up from £690.5bn in the previous year, according to [...]
UK on course for slow burning recession, KPMG predicts December 19, 2022 The UK economy is on track to enter a long recession sparked by households and businesses being squeezed by sky high price rises, new forecasts out today unveil. Gross domestic product (GDP) will shrink 1.3 per cent next year, according to consultancy KPMG, who have become the latest organisation to warn of a protracted slump [...]
The Labour Party has yet to find a compelling answer to the winter of strikes December 19, 2022 What we’re witnessing now reads like something from the political history section of an A-level history book. Welcome the widespread strikes, including in the public sector, a government struggling to manage a difficult economy, a charismatic union boss and a prime minister conscious of approaching elections but still hoping for an upswing in his fortunes. [...]
Ikea: Sales up 13 per cent despite costs of living and inflation December 19, 2022 Ikea has revealed that sales jumped over the past year due to customers returning to its shops and price increases in the face of cost inflation. The Swedish furniture retailer revealed that total sales grew by 13 per cent to £2.2bn over the year to 31 August, compared with the same period last year. Peter [...]
Christmas strikes: Government sends in 1,200 troops to replace workers December 18, 2022 Around 1,200 members of the military and 1,000 civil servants are being sent in by the government to cover striking ambulance drivers and Border Force staff. The staff will be deployed to minimise disruption throughout the rest of the month as more key sector workers go on strike. Up to 10,000 ambulance staff will go [...]
Investors set to be cheered by Bunzl’s climbing profits December 18, 2022 Specialist distribution group Bunzl is set to have waded through cost inflation and supply chain challenges and emerged with strong sales at the end of the year. The FTSE 100 company, which sells global businesses a wide range of products from coffee cups to cafes, food wrap to supermarkets, and cleaning materials to hospitals, will [...]
City eyes final economic data before Christmas shut down December 18, 2022 Although investors will be readying to get away over the Christmas break, there are a few economic data sets to get through before the City shuts down. Last week, London’s FTSE 100 index slumped nearly two per cent to close at 7,332.12 points as traders were bombarded by a barrage of global economic news. FTSE [...]
Liz Truss, Bill Hwang and Elon Musk: The 2022 awards you don’t want to win December 18, 2022 We started the year with Boris Johnson in Downing Street and optimism for a Covid-19 rebound. It didn’t quite turn out that way – and here’s our pick of the best of the best (or worst of the worst) of 2022… THE MUM OF THE YEAR AWARD This year hasn’t been smooth sailing for e-commerce retail [...]
Toshiba’s prospective buyer mulls reducing £13bn bid after weak earnings December 18, 2022 The prospective buyer of Toshiba is reportedly mulling the decision to lower its bid for the Japanese tech giant. Japan Industrial Partners (JIP) secured 2.2 trillion yen (£13.23bn) for Toshiba from four Japanese banks on Friday. However, local business newspaper Nikkei reported yesterday that Toshiba’s weaker than expected earnings may knock some value off the [...]