Amazon to open its first physical store outside the US in the UK this morning October 6, 2021 E-commerce giant Amazon is opening its first store in the UK this morning, selling items including books, technology and toys, as the online retail behemoth continues its expansion in physical retail. The US company will open the first Amazon 4-star store outside the US on Wednesday at 10am at the Bluewater shopping centre, near Dartford [...]
PM aiming to schmooze globe’s top finance brass at green summit October 5, 2021 The chiefs of the globe’s top finance brass will attend a green summit hosted by Prime Minister Boris Johnson. The bosses of Wall Street behemoths JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs and asset manager big beasts BlackRock and Blackstone will be among those Johnson is hoping to schmooze to generate billions of pounds of investment for the [...]
Greggs share price surges ten per cent as revenues near £1.2bn October 5, 2021 Greggs has announced ambitious plans to double annual intake to £2.4bn over the next five years after the company lifted full year revenue expectations on the back of strong Q3 results. The bakery chain today revealed that like for like sales were up 3.5 per cent in Q3 compared to pre-pandemic levels with rebounding interest [...]
Shortages: Boris Johnson denies crisis exists as he calls supply chain ‘fantastic’ October 5, 2021 The Prime Minister today he is “not worried” about the staffing shortages which have played a role in petrol pumps running dry and risk a mass pig cull and shortages this Christmas. Boris Johnson played down the prospect that rising inflation rates could cancel out wage growth as he pins his long-term hopes on transitioning [...]
UK businesses jack up prices at record pace amid supply chain epidemic October 5, 2021 Businesses are jacking up prices at the fastest rate on record to cancel out soaring costs caused by endemic supply chain breakdowns. A closely watched index measuring UK services businesses’ activity hit 55.4 in September, up slightly from August’s six-month low 55. A reading above 50 indicates a majority of firms reported growth. Soaring oil [...]
Soaring oil prices fuel London markets October 5, 2021 Soaring oil prices fuelled industrial megacaps this morning, pulling London markets away from yesterday’s losses. The capital’s premier index added 0.60 per cent to reach 7,052.75 points during the first couple hours of trading today. The likes of Shell and BP were boosted this morning by oil prices reaching a seven-year high, climbing above $80 [...]
Britain’s pay gap standards are outdated and threaten an equal future October 5, 2021 The continual disparity between men’s and women’s pay remains the starkest illustration of gender inequality in the UK. For several years now, we’ve had the data showing the harsh reality that female workers are valued less – but simply shining a light on a problem is not always enough to fix it. We only know [...]
Food and beverage M&A activity at highest since 2010 October 5, 2021 UK food and beverage M&A market activity was at its highest since 2010 this summer. Deal value between May and August, was at an estimated £3.9bn, according to corporate finance house Oghma Partners’ latest report. The year-to-date total value of recorded deals are estimated at £5.8bn – the nearest annual total was that 2015’s figure [...]
UK hospitality crisis: 75 per cent of pubs and restaurants are hiking pay to attract new staff October 4, 2021 As a worker shortage continues to hamper the sector’s recovery, three quarters of pub and restaurant bosses say they are increasing pay to attract staff. One in six jobs currently lies vacant, and 96 per cent of business leaders were seeing staffing shortages for some roles, according to a survey of 200 senior executives from [...]
Interview: IoD’s new chief economist delivers damning verdict on Tory tax hikes October 4, 2021 After just a month or so into the job, the freshly appointed chief economist of the organisation that represents British business leaders is wasting no time in weighing in on the ails of the UK economy, shooting down one area in particular – tax. Kitty Ussher of the Institute of Directors (IoD) has slammed the [...]