WH Smith: Travel drives growth ahead of possible high street exit January 29, 2025 Revenue at WH Smith rose four per cent in the first half of the financial year, driven by growth in its travel stores as it prepares to exit the high street. Total travel revenue rose six per cent like for like in the 21 weeks to January 25, while high street revenue dipped three per [...]
Breakfast and brunch fuel sales surge at pub giant Butcombe January 29, 2025 A surge in customers ordering breakfast and brunch has helped sales surge at pub and brewing group Butcombe. The North Somerset-headquartered group has reported an increase in its total managed like-for-like sales of 7.8 per cent for the year to 25 January, 2025. Its food category jumped by 12 per cent while both accommodation and [...]
London’s top spot for super-prime property crowned January 29, 2025 Belgravia has taken the crown as London’s most-sought-after super prime neighbourhood, home to more than a tenth of sales in the capital last year and overtaking Chelsea for the first time since 2020. The area was even home to London’s first super prime deal of 2025, a £38m mansion on Wilton Crescent. “Belgravia has benefited from [...]
Big Law and the four day week? No, they’re moving the other way January 29, 2025 Big Law is resisting the four-day workweek trend, with City firms opting for at least four days in the office, and sometimes more
Cornwall hopes for tin mining revival as metals firm lands £56m injection January 29, 2025 After the belts whirred to a halt and workers left Cornwall’s last operating tin mine for a final time in March 1998, a question was painted on its outer wall: “Cornish lads are fishermen and Cornish lads are miners too. But when the fish and tin are gone, what are the Cornish boys to do?” [...]
Government must improve its cybersecurity, warns UK watchdog January 29, 2025 The government must fix its significant deficiencies as the cyber threat landscape outpaces its current defensive strategies, UK watchdog has warned. According to Wednesday’s report by the National Audit Office (NAO), the UK has a huge shortage of skilled cyber security professionals within its government departments. Gareth Davies, head of NAO, said: “The risk of [...]
Grow, baby, grow… but will Labour’s growth agenda be enough? January 29, 2025 City AM’s politics reporter, Jessica Frank-Keyes, unpacks the week in Westminster. Today, she tackles Labour’s growing promises. Picture a graph with the x axis stretching from 1800 to the present day. The data is represented as a fairly flat line along the bottom, up to about 1960. Then it bumps around at about a quarter [...]
Venture capital prospects are a bright spot for the UK economy January 29, 2025 Despite fears about the Budget and Donald Trump, venture capital rebounded strongly in 2024 and the view is looking optimistic for the years ahead, says Nicole Lowe It is fair to say that 2024 was a rollercoaster year when it came to venture capital (VC) investment. Major elections and political shifts on both sides of [...]
Sky News to shift focus to ‘premium’ content January 28, 2025 Sky News is planning a seismic overhaul of its newsroom that will see the national broadcaster focus on “premium” paid-for content over its traditional linear news. The channel’s executive chair unveiled the strategy – branded Sky News 2030 – in a speech to staff on Tuesday in an attempt to seek out new streams of [...]
Why the crypto bull market party might be over for Britain January 28, 2025 While crypto markets have dipped in recent days after the release of Deepseek shook US tech firms, UK companies are struggling to keep the momentum of digital finance going. Bitcoin managed to pull itself back above the $100,000 mark this morning after Deepseek’s new AI model shook the stock prices of the Magnificent Seven; Apple, [...]