UK construction activity falls sharply as confidence plunges February 6, 2025 UK construction activity fell sharply in January, ending a 10-month streak of expansion as higher borrowing costs, gloomy economic prospects and weak client confidence hit the sector. S&P Global’s UK Construction Purchasing Managers Index fell to 48.1 last month, down from 53.3 in December and well below the 53.4 expected by analysts. “The overall construction [...]
Babcock hikes guidance amid Skynet ramp up February 6, 2025 Defence firm Babcock has hiked full-year guidance for revenue and profit as business in its Nuclear and Marine segments has boomed. The FTSE 250 group said on Thursday it expects underlying operating profit to exceed the top end of analyst expectations, which were in the range of £327.1m to £339.7m. Revenue is expected to come [...]
Cut taxes for BP and Shell to protect UK from Trump’s trade war, Rachel Reeves told February 6, 2025 Oil giants such as BP and Shell who operate in the North Sea should be given huge tax breaks to help protect the UK against Donald Trump’s burgeoning trade war, Chancellor Rachel Reeves has been told. Aberdeen & Grampian Chamber of Commerce is calling on the UK government to reduce the 78 per cent tax [...]
County cricket windfall from Hundred sale must be spent properly February 6, 2025 With every county cricket club set to profit to the tune of millions from the Hundred sale, the ECB must ensure the windfall is money well spent. I dreamt last night that DeepSeek bought my favourite football club. Trouble was that the stadium PA played Glory, Glory Tottenham Hotspur as the players took to the [...]
The most romantic restaurants in the City February 6, 2025 I’ve never met the intrepid Mr Gordon Ramsay, yet our lives have been semi-entwined for over two decades. During his initial peak in the noughties, as I began my own career, I recall my first experience dining in his The Londoner restaurant in NYC, where a maitre d’ complete with Dick Van Dyke accent greeted [...]
‘Those who told me to start small are eating their words’: Kate Robertson on setting up ‘the Young Davos’ February 6, 2025 After 30 years in advertising, Kate Robertson launched One Young World, since dubbed 'the Young Davos'. She gives us her best career advice.
Government pursuing ‘confused’ approach to energy transition February 6, 2025 The UK’s “confused” energy strategy is more about slogans than results and risks hollowing out the local economy in Aberdeen, the boss of one of the UK’s largest energy services firms has said. John Heiton, who has run the offshore specialist OEG for over 16 years, told City AM the government is adopting a jumbled [...]
Fun-police Labour are waging a war on pubs February 6, 2025 From business rates to labour costs and even employment regulations that could require landlords to clamp down on free speech, this Labour government has launched an all-out assault on pubs, says Chris Philp For millions of Londoners – especially those who WFH on Friday – when the end of week in the office comes into [...]
The Capitalist: Tory lemonade, Mrs T the opera and Netflix’s creativity crisis February 6, 2025 Tory lemonade, a Margaret Thatcher opera and Netflix comes out fighting: catch up on the latest gossip in The Capitalist.
To understand Labour’s challenge on investment, look to Saint Matthew February 6, 2025 Why are all the infrastructure projects the Chancellor wants to invest in in the South? James Nations says the answer can be found in Matthew’s Gospel: “for to everyone who has, more shall be given”… With the Chancellor wanting to move the conversation on from last year’s doom and gloom, she might be pleased to [...]