City analysts betting on Bank of England interest rate cuts by early 2024 – as long as inflation falls quickly January 18, 2023 The Bank of England could cut interest rates as soon as early next year if inflation continues to tumble in 2023, top City analysts have predicted. The rate of price increases is forecast to more than halve which would bring inflation to below five per cent by the end of 2023, according to forecasts from [...]
Corporate insolvencies surge as firms struggle to survive harsh economic climate January 17, 2023 The number of company insolvencies in December 2022 was 76 per cent higher than before the Covid-19 pandemic, new data from the ONS revealed on Tuesday. There were 1,964 company insolvencies in December 2022, 32 per cent higher than the previous year and 76 per cent higher than the 1,119 registered in December 2019. Fladgate’s [...]
FTSE 100 close: Ocado drags London index away from record high January 17, 2023 London’s FTSE 100 edged away from its record high today, driven lower by traders ditching middle-class favourite and online supermarket Ocado after it said income has tanked. The capital’s premier index closed 0.12 per cent lower at 7,851.02 points, while the domestically-focused and mid-cap FTSE 250 index, which is more aligned with the health of [...]
Morgan Stanley profits nearly halve as US bank earnings season ends without cooling recession fears January 17, 2023 Wall Street banking giant Morgan Stanley’s profits have nearly halved due to intense US recession fears and rising interest rates chilling deal making activity, the firm announced today. The lender has become the latest casualty of businesses and investors parking their money in safer places to ride out the worldwide economic slowdown. Morgan Stanley’s profits [...]
The fintech bubble may have burst, but these investment bankers are bullish January 17, 2023 Slashed valuations, mass layoffs, a funding drought and shuttered IPO market. For most, 2022 won’t be remembered as a stellar vintage for the fintech sector. But it wasn’t all doom and gloom, according to new analysis from investment bank Peel Hunt. A new note from the firm today says the spectacular bursting of the fintech [...]
Brits’ take home pay still falling rapidly despite record wage rises January 17, 2023 Brits are suffering one of the sharpest hits to their take home pay despite businesses handing workers bumper pay prices, official figures out today reveal. Real pay tumbled 2.6 per cent over the three months to November, among the steepest drops seen outside the Covid-19 crisis, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The [...]
Naked Wines: 2023 revenues likely to rise but challenging times still ahead January 17, 2023 Naked Wines increased its full year earnings estimates upward to between £13 and17m, compared to previous guidance of around £9m to 13m. In a trading update for the quarter ending 26 December 2022 Naked Wines said it expected trading performance to remain flat, trading compared to the previous year. There was no change to a [...]
How Gaucho’s boss has turned the once-troubled steakhouse into a success story January 17, 2023 Martin Williams – the man behind M Restaurants – and his partners pulled Gaucho out of administration in 2018. Since then he’s turned the brand into one of the hospitality industry’s shining lights, with profits up and expansion continuing. We ask him how he’s done it. ASK regular restaurant-goers what their biggest bug bear is [...]
To withstand future recessions, the UK needs radical supply side reform January 17, 2023 When academics write essays, they begin with an abstract that captures the causes, effects and outcomes of the economic policy change they are examining. Boosting the supply side has a pretty simple argument. Either increasing the volume or productivity of resources used to produce things makes a country richer. That’s it. Let’s take a look [...]
Sika offloads assets to Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s INEOS to pave way for MBCC deal January 16, 2023 Sika has agreed to sell part of its admixture business to UK-based INEOS, the construction chemicals maker confirmed today,.