Apple and Microsoft to join Nvidia in $4tn club amid AI market boom October 28, 2025 Apple and Microsoft are each within touching distance of a $4tn (£3.01tn) market valuation, setting the stage for a big week of earnings on Wall Street as investor confidence in AI continues to propel Big Tech stocks to new heights. Both tech heavyweights’ shares rose on Monday, leaving them less than two per cent away [...]
PwC shrinks global headcount amid $1.5bn AI drive October 28, 2025 Big Four giant PwC has shrunk its global workforce for the first time since 2010, trimming staff numbers by nearly 6,000, as the chairman cited investments in AI tools. In its annual report, published on Tuesday, PwC firms reported record gross revenues of $56.9bn for the 12 months ending 30 June 2025, marking a 2.7 [...]
Lawyers to rethink personal tax structures as Reeves set to target LLPs October 28, 2025 Chancellor Rachel Reeves’s proposed tax raid on LLPs may force partners to work longer or reconsider their retirement plans, with significant financial implications for many professionals. It was reported last week that Reeves is targeting limited liability partnerships (LLPs) in a tax raid as she tries to fill a fiscal black hole. The proposed 15 [...]
Paddy Power founder: Bookies ‘scaremongering’ over tax hike damage October 28, 2025 The betting sector is “scaremongering” over the potential damage of a tax raid on gambling, according to the retired co-founder of Paddy Power, who said he had led similar industry warnings of job losses and store closures before other mooted tax changes. Stewart Kenny, who served as chairman and chief executive at the Irish gambling [...]
HSBC shares rise as Georges Elhedery’s pivot East beats the noise October 28, 2025 HSBC’s pass through the third quarter was almost identical to the second. Despite another hefty hit to the firm’s bottom line, chief executive Georges Elhedery has quietly and effectively pushed ahead with his bold overhaul of the group. For the three months to September 30, HSBC took a 14 per cent profit beat falling to [...]
Sweet relief: Ferrero’s Nutella biscuits remain VAT-free snack October 28, 2025 A Tax Tribunal ruled in favour of Ferrero UK, stating that their ‘Nutella Biscuits’ are zero-rated for VAT, in yet another food battle HMRC has had over the bizarre tax rules around food. The case centred on whether the ‘Nutella Biscuits’ were “biscuits… partly covered with chocolate or some product similar in taste and appearance” [...]
Six vineyards, one bike: inside the UK’s first boozy bike trail October 28, 2025 For the Autumn edition of City AM The Magazine, Adam Bloodworth takes on the UK’s first wine bike trail The Rother Wine Triangle unites two groups that should arguably never meet: cyclists and vinophiles. Connecting seven vineyards together with one handy new map, one bloke got so drunk at the first stop he was forced [...]
Street food vendors face confidence crisis ahead of Budget October 28, 2025 Grassroots vendors are rapidly losing confidence in their future ahead of the Autumn Budget, according to new data. Just one per cent of respondents in a new hospitality survey described the UK street food sector as having a strong, viable future, according to independent hospitality group Kerb. “There’s a clear message here for the government,” [...]
HSBC: FTSE 100 lender’s profit slumps as legal costs jump October 28, 2025 Europe’s biggest lender, HSBC reported better-than-expected revenue in the third quarter, but recorded a double digit decline in profit as it set aside over a billion dollars following a fresh ruling on the Bernie Madoff fraud scheme. HSBC’s pre-tax profit fell to $7.3bn (£5.4bn) in the three months to September 30, a fall of nearly [...]
Business rates burden to disproportionately hit London offices October 28, 2025 The upcoming change in how business rates are calculated will affect far more office-based firms in London than elsewhere and may cause a rise in closures, according to a new report. The business tax reforms, scheduled for next April, will introduce a higher rate of payment for properties worth over £500,000. The new multiplier for [...]