Exclusive: Hotels struggle with double whammy of staff costs and pressure on room rates June 2, 2025 Hotels struggled with falling profit in April after margins were squeezed by higher staff hosts and price pressure on rooms. UK hotel payroll costs increased from 31.6 per cent of revenue to 33.3 per cent in April year-on-year, and from 29.5 per cent to 31.4 per cent in London, according to RSM. A slight reduction [...]
Spending in pubs surges as Brits flock to beer gardens May 28, 2025 Pubs enjoyed a boost in April during the sunny spring weather as Brits opted for outdoor beer gardens over indoor restaurants. Like-for-like sales growth at pubs reached 9.1 per cent year on year, according to the latest CGA RSM Hospitality Business Tracker. Sales across all hospitality outlets were 4.2 per cent ahead of April 2024 [...]
Retail and graduate job vacancies continue to plummet May 27, 2025 Retail and graduate vacancies fell further in April despite overall improvement in the number of available UK jobs. UK vacancies dipped 0.95 per cent in April to 862,876, but annual growth remained positive at 1.02 per cent, according to Adzuna’s latest jobs report. Average advertised salaries hit a new record of £42,278 – up 0.75 [...]
London crowned most expensive city for office refits after ‘perfect storm’ of costs May 7, 2025 Demand for high-quality facilities and specialist skills has made London the most expensive city in the world to refit an office, according to new research. The average high specification project in London costs £4,671 ($5,932) per square metre, four per cent higher than runner-up New York and eight per cent higher than third-place Zurich, Turner [...]
Vanquis and Barclays lead surge in bank complaints amid motor finance May 7, 2025 Banking complaints rocketed by 76 per cent in the second half of 2024 as the motor finance scandal continued to haunt the sector, according to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS). The regulator revealed of the 141,846 complaints made to the FOS, 77 per cent were related to banking and credit at 109,155. This also marked [...]
UK retail sales surge at the fastest rate in four years April 25, 2025 Retail sales unexpectedly rose in March as shoppers were boosted by good weather, according to new data. Retail sales volumes rose by 0.4 per cent in March 2025, following 0.7 per cent rise in February, according to the Office for National Statistics. Quarterly sales volumes rose by 1.6 per cent quarter on quarter and 1.7 [...]
Next: Boss of FTSE 100 giant rewarded after £1bn profit April 10, 2025 The chief executive of FTSE 100 giant Next took home almost £5m as the high street icon’s profit surged to more than £1bn for the first time. Lord Simon Wolfson took home a total pay packet of £4.72m for the Leicester-headquartered retailer’s latest financial year, up from £4.63m. The CEO’s remuneration package included a salary [...]
Bionow Awards honour our greatest Innovators April 9, 2025 The Bionow Awards are given to honour those most deserving for their ingenuity and dedication, distinguishing them from their competitors and proving them worthy of recognition. With a prestigious history of more than 20 years, the awards have become the leading life sciences accolades in the UK; highlighting the achievements of the sector, shining a [...]
Will Trump tariffs end up helping Next, M&S and Dunelm? April 8, 2025 UK heavyweights who aren’t exposed to the US market, like Next and M&S, may end up seeing some silver linings from Trump’s tariffs, according to analysts. Only a few UK retailers – namely JD Sports, Doc Martens and Burberry – sell to the states and produce in eastern Asia. Berenberg analysts said that positives from [...]
WHSmith and Inchcape lead fall in retail stocks April 4, 2025 UK retail stocks have dropped in value this morning, led by a sell-off of WHSmith, Inchcape and AO World. Earlier today, tax body RSM said that price rises at UK retailers as a result of the tariffs were “inevitable”. “The tariffs announced by President Trump this week would in themselves be a blow to the [...]