London £4 trillion stock market sees profit warnings hit financial crisis levels January 30, 2023 Profit warnings issued by companies on London’s £4 trillion stock market surged over the last year, propelled by swelling costs squeezing margins, a new report out today reveals. Against a backdrop of skyrocketing energy prices and slowing demand amid cost of living crisis, businesses have had to tell shareholders to brace for profits to come [...]
Ikea UK pays out £90m dividend to parent as instore sales soar January 29, 2023 Ikea reportedly paid out a £90m dividend from its UK business to its parent last year – the first in six years – as the Swedish furniture giant continues to rake in bumper profits. The dividend, reported by The Sunday Times, reflected the £62.4m profit made in 2021, a year interrupted by a series of [...]
Bank of England, Fed and ECB to heap more pain on global economy – but could peak rates be in sight? January 29, 2023 City traders are gearing up for a week in which the world’s top central banks will heap even more pain on households and businesses by hiking interest rates to tame inflation – but they could send the first signal indicating they will stop doing so soon. The UK, US and eurozone economies are beginning to [...]
Three things we learnt from Easyjet and Wizz Air’s results January 29, 2023 The European aviation industry took centre stage last week, with low-cost carriers Easyjet and Wizz Air posting their financial results for the final three months of last year. Both were encouraging, with each firm reporting revenue rises driven by Brits returning to the skies after pandemic travel restrictions. Easyjet’s income jumped to £1.5bn after traveller [...]
Half-term strike action to bring chaos at British Museum January 28, 2023 Fresh strikes have been called by the biggest civil service union in its long-running dispute over jobs, pay and pensions. Members of the Public and Commercial Service union (PCS) at the British Museum will take industrial action during February half term. More than 100 members of the museum’s visitor services and security teams will take [...]
The best cut is inflation: Hunt hits back at recession ‘declinism’ but appears to rule out tax cuts in March budget January 27, 2023 Jeremy Hunt today hit back at gloomy assessments about the UK’s economic prospects but told voters not to expect tax cuts at the March budget. In a speech at Bloomberg, the chancellor said “declinism about Britain is just wrong” adding that the economy has actually grown faster than fellow G7 nations France, Italy and Japan. [...]
Boris Johnson paid £500K advance for memoirs – as public foot £222K bill for his partygate legal fees January 27, 2023 Boris Johnson has picked up an advance of more than £500,000 for his forthcoming memoir, as it emerged taxpayers face a bill of £222,000 for his legal fees to defend himself in the partygate inquiry. The former prime minister’s latest entry in the Register of Members’ Interests says that he “received £510,000 as an advance [...]
Charging for GP visits defies all the rules of healthcare economics January 27, 2023 The former Health Secretary Sajid Javid has said we should have to pay to see the GP as the crisis in the NHS worsens everyday, but doctor Jatinder Hayres argues this defies every principle of healthcare economics. Just like former health secretary Sajid Javid, one of my earlier memories was sitting in the GP practice [...]
Why I think Bitcoin could be a key to saving the environment January 26, 2023 Susie Violet Ward busts some myths on Bitcoin's environmental credentials urging users to understand the technology to understand the value.
Bank of England expected to raise interest rates by 50 points to post financial crisis high of four per cent January 26, 2023 The Bank of England is set to hike interest rates 50 basis points to four per cent next week, jacking them up to the highest level since the financial crisis, markets expect. City traders reckon its governor Andrew Bailey will lift borrowing costs for the tenth time in a row, something the UK central bank [...]