UK jobs market wobbles after months of defying economic reality December 8, 2022 The UK jobs market is looking increasingly fragile after months of defying economic gravity, a new survey out today reveals. KPMG and the Recruitment and Employment Confederation’s (REC) permanent hiring index came in at 46.4 points last month, below the 50 point mark that separates growth and contraction. Despite the index indicating businesses are cooling [...]
Letters: A new look at supply chains December 8, 2022 [Re: UK business fear supply chain chaos will ruin Christmas trading, December 5] In the last week, City AM has run several stories on the continuing chaos engulfing global supply chains and the industries this is affecting. The articles rightly identify problems such as key materials shortages, a shrinking labour market, and rising energy costs, [...]
Rachel Reeves: Macron is ‘eating UK’s lunch’ when it comes to global investment December 7, 2022 French President Emmanuel Macron is “eating the UK’s lunch” when it comes to attracting global investment, shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves has said. Reeves today told City A.M. that France was stealing investment away from British start-ups post-Brexit, with the shadow chancellor promising to help pension funds unleash billions of pounds of long-term capital into the [...]
Exclusive: Treasury tax raid to drag 200,000 Londoners into higher rate December 7, 2022 NEW analysis suggests that almost a quarter of a million Londoners will be dragged into the higher rate tax band as a result of Jeremy Hunt’s decision to freeze income tax thresholds in the Autumn Statement. Some 213,165 workers in London, and 122,543 more across the wider south-east, will paying the 40 per cent rate [...]
European IPO tech slump: London comes out on top December 7, 2022 The European tech industry has lost more than $400bn (£327bn) in value as dealmaking ground to a halt this year amid ongoing economic uncertainty. According to a report by London-based Atomico, tech startups across Europe are on track to raise $85bn (£70bn) in funding this year, down $15bn (£12bn) on 2021 levels. The report said [...]
All Bar One owner Mitchells & Butlers complains of ‘significant uncertainty’ over energy bills next year December 7, 2022 Mitchells & Butlers has said “significant uncertainty” remains over the heftiness of its energy bill next year, as pub bosses have called for more financial aid. The All Bar One and Toby Carvery owner said its trading environment “remains very challenging,” as cost inflation headwinds were expected to be as much as 12 per cent [...]
Dragons’ Den star Levi Roots on Brixton being the ‘sauce’ of entrepreneurial spirit December 7, 2022 In Brixton, the “heartbeat of the community” is its market, Dragons’ Den star and the businessman behind Reggae Reggae sauce, Levi Roots, tells CityA.M. The south London district has been Roots’ home ever since he moved to the UK as a young child from Jamaica, so it’s no surprise it is close to his heart. [...]
Exclusive: Planned redundancies in financial services up 46 per cent in last quarter December 7, 2022 Redundancies in financial services are up 46 per cent in the last quarter as employers look to save money amid the prospect of a bleak economic winter. Recessionary headwinds have “caught up” with hundreds of firms, forced to move on from desperately filling a shortage of staff, to letting existing employees go. In figures exclusively [...]
Wall Street banks shed staff as global slowdown bears its teeth December 7, 2022 Wall Street banks are laying off workers to offset the damage inflicted on their finances by a slowing global economy. US lender Morgan Stanley yesterday became the latest firm to announce redundancies, shedding two per cent, or around 1,600, of its workforce. Goldman Sachs earlier this year also slashed staff and its chief executive, David [...]
Loosening Covid-19 laws in China will not be economy’s silver bullet, says ING December 7, 2022 The loosening of strict Covid-19 restrictions in China Is unlikely to be the silver bullet the local economy needs, according to banking giant ING. China announced today that it is further relaxing its pandemic measures, meaning only those working in high-risk positions and located in elderly homes, hospitals, child care and primary schools will need proof of [...]