Halfords: Departing CEO gets golden goodbye July 29, 2025 The departing chief executive of Halfords saw his pay more than double as the company clocked a statutory £30m loss in the year before he stepped down. Graham Stapleton took home a pay packet of £1.5m for the firm’s latest financial year, up from the £650,440 he received in the prior 12 months. Stapleton had [...]
Aldi tops up wages for staff: ‘Our people are the driving force of our success’ July 29, 2025 Aldi has announced a top-up to its staff wages, retaining its crown as the UK’s highest-paying supermarket. The new minimum rate of pay, which increases to £14.33 within the M25, will take effect from 1 September this year. It further exceeds the Real Living Wage of £12.60 an hour that was set by the Living [...]
Here’s how to make sure Great British Railways stays on track July 29, 2025 If Labour must steam ahead with its plan to renationalise the railways, there’s a few things it must do to make it a success, says Emma Revell One of the least surprising and most ideologically consistent aspects of Labour’s first year in office has been the impetus behind Great British Railways. The new body, which [...]
Great British Railways risk repeating British Rail mistakes July 28, 2025 Plans for the government’s flagship rail reform body, Great British Railways (GBR), risk reviving the failings of the past if urgent changes aren’t made, a leading think tank has warned. A new report from the Centre for Policy Studies (CPS) cautions that the structure of GBR could stifle innovation, reduce accountability, and discourage competition, particularly [...]
Business lender Shawbrook plots £2bn London IPO July 23, 2025 Shawbrook is lining up a London IPO in the second half of the year in a much-needed boost to the capital’s public markets. The business lender is pressing ahead with plans that target a valuation of as much as £2bn, according to the Financial Times. The firm’s private equity owners had been seeking an exit [...]
London hotel rates quintuple amid supersonic Oasis demand July 22, 2025 London hotel rates have soared as Oasis fans pour into the capital for a string of shows at Wembley. The average cost of room rates in Wembley jumped to £560 for Friday, 25 July, compared to £114.83 for the following week, according to consulting firm RSM UK. “The impact of this iconic band reforming brings [...]
The Works: Shares triple in value after ‘living to fight another day’ July 22, 2025 Shares in The Works have more than tripled in price in the space of four months after recovering from investors questioning “its relevancy in modern retail”. Stock in the West Midlands-headquartered company was priced at 20p towards the end of March but their value has rocketed since then and are now changing hands for more [...]
Fraud risk surges as leaked files expose UK firms July 22, 2025 London’s cyber watchdogs are sounding the alarm over a growing wave of corporate data breaches, as new research reveals the vast majority of leaked datasets now include sensitive financial and personal files, fueling a sharp rise in fraud, cybercrime and reputational risk. A landmark study published on Tuesday by Lab 1, an AI-driven cybersecurity platform, [...]
Ministers urged to reinstate tax-free shopping to deliver Brexit boost July 22, 2025 Ministers have been urged to reinstate tax-free purchases for international visitors to make the UK a ‘global shopping capital’ and help the country benefit from its position outside the EU. “With Britain no longer in the EU, we have the opportunity to become the best place in the world for shopping,” Derrick Hardman, chair of [...]
Flexjet: Private jet giant valued at $4bn after mega funding round July 21, 2025 Flexjet, the world’s second-largest private jet company, has been valued at around $4bn (£2.9bn) after securing $800m in new funding. The US firm’s latest funding round has been led by private equity giant L Catterton – which itself is backed by luxury group LVMH. Other backers of the round include KSL Capital Partners and J. [...]