Bank of England warns ‘age of uncertainty’ stopping rapid rate cuts March 5, 2025 An “age of uncertainty”, especially over the path of inflation, means that rapid interest rate cuts are unlikely to be coming to the UK, top Bank of England officials have said. Huw Pill, chief economist at the Bank of England, said the central bank was unlikely to make “larger and more rapid cuts to interest [...]
Government told to improve education for young entrepreneurs March 5, 2025 A new report has exposed the education system’s failure to boost business knowledge among aspiring entrepreneurs. The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) and Simply Business have called on the Government to incorporate business education into the national curriculum, in a bid to unlock “a gold mine of enterprise potential”. The study revealed just a third [...]
HSBC’s ‘never had it so good’ say Barclays analysts March 4, 2025 Barclays analysts have said HSBC “never had it so good” as they predicted further growth and upsides for the FTSE 100 lender. Following the lender’s strong full-year performance, the analysts upgraded HSBC’s share price target by 28 per cent to 1,200p. The lender pocketed a pre-tax profit of £25.6bn in 2024, up from £24bn in [...]
Meet the British volunteers trying to get the Marshall Islands into a World Cup March 4, 2025 The Marshall Islands is the last country without a national football team but a clutch of enthusiastic Britons are trying to rectify that – and get them into a Fifa World Cup campaign. Exeter may not seem an obvious nerve centre for a mission to get a tiny Micronesian nation into Fifa, but then this [...]
One in five Brits in ‘high financial stress’ as economic woes deepen March 3, 2025 Public confidence in the UK economy has taken another hit, with the latest City AM Freshwater Strategy poll showing little hope for the near future. The polling revealed nearly one in five voters, 18 per cent, could not pay an unexpected £500 bill, categorising them as in “high financial stress”. 35 per cent said their [...]
Mortgage approvals up a fifth since January last year March 3, 2025 Mortgage approvals rose 18 per cent year on year in January after interest rate cuts improved affordability. Mortgage approvals sat at 66,189 in January, up 18 per cent from 55,941 in January 2024, according to ONS data. “UK homebuyers appear to have begun the year on the front foot,” CEO of specialist lender Octane Capital, [...]
Ex-Barclays boss case against FCA over relationship with Epstein goes to court March 3, 2025 Former Barclays boss Jes Staley is seeking to overturn an FCA ban after he was found to have misled the watchdog over his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein
Rightmove hikes dividends amid confident outlook February 28, 2025 Rightmove has hiked dividends after issuing a confident outlook for 2025 despite wider uncertainties in the UK housing market. The property portal unveiled a 6.1p per share dividend in its full-year results on Friday, up five per cent and taking the total payout to 9.8p. Underlying operating profit increased four per cent to £273.9m in [...]
First-time buying pushes house prices up ahead of stamp duty deadline February 28, 2025 First-time buyers continued to drive the housing market in February as they rush to purchase homes before the end of the stamp duty holiday at the end of March. The annual rate of UK house price growth was 3.9 per cent in February, compared with 4.1 per cent in January. House prices rose by 0.4 [...]
Concern for British high street deepens with flat February sales February 28, 2025 Online shopping drove retail sales in February, offsetting flat in-store sales on the high street. In-store sales were lower in real terms in February, meaning that actual sales volumes shrank year on year, according to accountancy and business advisory firm BDO. Total like-for-like sales grew by 2.3 per cent in February. Retailers faced particularly challenging [...]