FTSE 100 retail giant Next passes £1bn profit milestone for the first time March 27, 2025 Next has joined a small group of UK retail companies in reporting more than £1bn in annual profit. The high street bellwether told markets this morning that its profit before tax for the year to January 2025 was £1.01bn, up 10.1 per cent year on year. Its share price rose more than eight per cent [...]
High street giants facing shareholder revolt over low wages March 27, 2025 Investor groups and City giants have teamed up to target high street giants Next, M&S and JD Sports with shareholder resolutions over their low wages. Seven institutional investors managing over £1 trillion in assets have joined the campaign, including Axa, Scottish Widows and the Greater Manchester Pension Fund. The campaign is being led by responsible [...]
Spring Statement 2025: Workers’ rights bill ‘net negative’ for economy, OBR says March 26, 2025 The government’s workers’ rights bill will “probably [have] net negative economic impacts”, the independent fiscal watchdog has said. Labour unveiled their workers’ rights package – the Employment Rights Bill – last year, and measures were hailed by unions as “common sense” reforms for a “fairer economy”. But according to the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), [...]
Eat, drink, sleep, repeat: London’s best dog-friendly restaurants March 26, 2025 Last week Franco Manca announced that they have become ‘dog friendly’. This a welcome turnaround for the restaurant group that turned away a guide dog from one of their venues in 2018. Fortunately, this shameful incident led to my meeting with Dave Kent, the blind gentleman who required his trusty friend Chad to lead him [...]
Spring Statement 2025: ‘Very small’ headroom risks getting erased again, OBR warns March 26, 2025 Rachel Reeves faces the prospect of her newly-restored fiscal headroom being wiped out again ahead of the Autumn budget, raising the spectre of fresh take hikes in the future as she battles sluggish growth and economic headwinds. The Chancellor had previously left herself £9.9bn of headroom but the OBR calculated the UK was in fact [...]
Spring Statement provides some relief, but probably not for long March 26, 2025 The Spring Statement offered some reasonably good news on growth, but the margin for error is incredibly slim and the chances of further painful tax rises in autumn are high, says Julian Jessop Not quite a non-event, but it could have been a lot worse. Rachel Reeves’ Spring Statement is unlikely to do any significant [...]
Spring Statement 2025: Businesses cautious on growth, expect further tax hikes March 26, 2025 Rachel Reeves may have ended her Spring Statement upbeat on long-term prospects after an upgrade from the Office of Budget Responsibility, but businesses don’t seem to be buying it. The Chancellor announced that the OBR had upgraded growth forecasts for the coming years, as she brushed aside the 2025 outlook which was slashed in half. [...]
Tax returns: HMRC fines set to jump as Treasury pushes for ‘easy wins’ March 26, 2025 Higher VAT and self-assessment fines are looming after the Treasury pushed against tax evaders in the Spring Statement
Small businesses let down by Spring Statement March 26, 2025 Chancellor Rachel Reeves delivered the Spring Statement today, promising stability but offering little relief for small businesses (SMEs) struggling with rising costs. Businesses in the sector said they were at “breaking point” ahead of today’s announcement, with one in five SME business owners saying they have been forced out of business within a year, citing [...]
Spring Statement 2025: OBR slashes growth forecast March 26, 2025 The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) has slashed its growth forecast in half to one per cent as Chancellor Rachel Reeves said she was “not happy” about the revised figures. Reeves has insisted that high growth is key to Labour’s mission in government, while Prime Minister Keir Starmer has previously suggested that it is aiming for a rate [...]