How much will the UK economy grow in 2025? December 31, 2024 At the beginning of the year, most forecasters expected that the UK would suffer another year of stagnation.
FTSE 100 records best performance since 2021 December 31, 2024 The FTSE 100 returned just 5.8 per cent in 2024, despite a last-minute selloff in the final weeks of December. Despite hopes of a ‘Santa rally’ in December, the FTSE fell 1.7 per cent in the month. However, this will be its best year since 2021. That year, the blue-chip index returned 14.3 per cent, [...]
Women’s football and NFL: The biggest sports deals of 2024 December 31, 2024 Sport has been full of deals in 2024 with Premier League clubs being taken over, cricket selling stakes in franchise teams and transfers sending sports fans mad. But which were the standout deals of the last 12 months? Founder of SportsInvest Advisory Achille de Rauglaudre takes a look. March: Women’s football on the rise 2024 [...]
City grandees named in the New Year Honours list 2025 December 31, 2024 Former HSBC boss Noel Quinn, Babcock chair Ruth Cairnie and the Network Rail chief executive Andrew Haines are among the big names from business and industry to be included in the New Year Honours list for 2025. The trio of heavyweights were given knighthoods and a damehood for their services to industry, transport and financial [...]
The purposeful CEO is dead: Long live the ‘corporate diplomat’ December 31, 2024 The era of green-centric grandstanding by CEOs might be over – welcome to the age of corporate diplomacy, writes Ali Lyon It had never been more essential, Blackrock’s Larry Fink wrote in the 2022 edition of his widely-read annual letter to CEOs, for bosses “to have a clear purpose”. “Putting your company’s purpose at the [...]
Hiring frenzy at London law firms as ‘apex predator’ disrupts market December 30, 2024 Partners at London law firms are switching companies at record pace as a surge of investment by American rivals ramps up competition for talent. According to data provided by legal recruiter, Edwards Gibson, there were 546 partner moves recorded over 2024. This figure is up seven from 510 moves in 2023, and up 14 per [...]
Retail insolvencies set to surge as Budget bites, experts warn December 30, 2024 A wave of insolvencies could be coming to the retail and hospitality sectors next year as businesses crumble under the tax bill brought on by Labour’s Budget, bosses have warned. Insolvencies and restructuring could rise further over the start of 2025 as firms face increased cost pressures, industry experts have said, with the retail, hospitality [...]
Relief for Reeves as business outlook brightens for new year December 30, 2024 UK businesses have defied the negative sentiment which has defined the latter part of the year and predicted an upswing in 2025. More UK businesses are expecting a stronger start to 2025 than they did entering 2024, new research from Lloyds Business Barometer has found. Seven in ten UK businesses expect to see their turnover [...]
Small businesses gear up for growth despite Budget pressures December 29, 2024 Small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) are gearing up for expansion in 2025 despite fears about the state of the economy. In a survey of over 2,000 SMEs conducted directly after Labour’s Autumn Budget, 81 per cent said they were confident their business would grow next year, with confidence among those employing more than 50 [...]
Mark Kleinman: Hold the Telegraph front page – then hold it some more December 27, 2024 Mark Kleinman is Sky News’ City Editor and is the man who gets the Square Mile talking in his weekly City AM column. This week he tackles the Telegraph bid, Mike Ashley’s failed Boohoo approach and an oil deal in the North Sea I suspect you’d have got long odds on January 1 on the auction of The Daily [...]