Mark Kleinman: FCA chief Rathi not at the exit door after all March 13, 2025 Mark Kleinman is Sky News’ City Editor and the man who gets the Square Mile talking in his weekly City AM column. Today, he looks at the FCA chief, big Boots to fill and a high street icon FCA chief Rathi not at the exit door after all Embattled, besieged, under-fire: a few short weeks ago, there seemed no [...]
Government urged to ditch ‘shares tax’ for retail investors March 12, 2025 The government must use its Spring Statement to cut the stamp duty on shares paid by retail investors to help foster a British investment culture and boost financial inclusion, Hargreaves Lansdown has said. In an impassioned plea, the investment platform argued cutting the tax, which is applied on the purchase of all UK shares, would [...]
Legal & General: FTSE 100 giant hikes shareholder returns after strong year March 12, 2025 Asset management and insurance giant Legal & General has reported a six per cent increase in core operating profit for 2024. Core operating profit hit £1.6bn and pre-tax profit under IFRS accounting standards stood at £542m. Off the back of these robust numbers Legal & General announced a £500m share buyback for 2025, as part [...]
Boohoo rebrands as Debenhams in shift to a marketplace model March 11, 2025 Boohoo will rebrand to Debenhams as it shifts to a marketplace model to house its brands in the first phase of its turnaround plan. Shares in the company dropped just over three per cent on the news. The Manchester-based company has been struggling with low sales for its youth brands—Boohoo, PLT, and MAN—posting a pre-tax [...]
Confidence boost for UK shoppers fails to improve high street retail sales March 11, 2025 High street retail sales continued to fall in February despite a confidence boost for UK consumers, a survey has found. Overall, retail sales increased by 1.1 per cent in February, according to the British Retail Consortium (BRC).However, this was driven by food sales, which grew 2.3 per cent year-on-year. Non-food sales were flat in February, [...]
Boots to be taken over by US private equity firm in $10bn deal March 7, 2025 Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA), the owner of Boots, has agreed to a $10bn (£7.8bn) takeover by a US private equity firm. Sycamore Partners is expected to complete the takeover by the end of the year. The US-listed WBA said of the deal: “[Sycamore’s] experience in retail and consumer services would ensure WBA was better positioned [...]
Ocado: CEO pay jumps despite heavy losses and flagging share price March 6, 2025 The chief executive of Ocado has seen his pay jump despite continuing heavy losses at the technology and grocery platform. Tim Steiner took home more than £2.6m for his company’s latest financial year, a rise from the £1.9m he was awarded in the prior 12 months. The increase was mainly driven by a rise in [...]
Jollyes sinks further into the red despite sales surge at Pets at Home rival March 5, 2025 Jollyes has sunk further into the red despite its sales continuing to surge as it attempts to increase its rivalry with Pets at Home. The company has posted a pre-tax loss of £13.3m for the year to 26 May, 2024, after having also made a £5.3m loss in the prior 12 months. However, newly-filed accounts [...]
Brits spent almost £1bn this Valentines Day March 5, 2025 Brits spent almost £1bn on flowers, gifts, and at-home meals this Valentine’s Day as shoppers sought to create a special occasion at home rather than splashing out at a restaurant. According to the latest NIQ Till Tracker, £962m was spent on food and gifting on Valentine’s Day, with the biggest growth in spending on flowers, [...]
Supermarket sales rise, but Asda continues to struggle March 4, 2025 Sales at UK supermarkets rose above inflation in February as Brits looked for cost-effective ways to treat themselves. Take-home sales at the grocers rose by 3.6 per cent over the four weeks to 23 February, while prices rose 3.3 per cent, according to Kantar. However, the headline figure masked a gulf between the performance of [...]