Dixons Carphone kills dividend as mobile pushes it to loss July 15, 2020 Dixons Carphone has cancelled its dividend as poor mobile sales during lockdown pushed it to another annual loss, prompting its share price to sink today. Shares sank 7.8 per cent in early trading as a jump in online sales failed to offset a 20 per cent plunge in mobile sales during lockdown. The figures Dixons [...]
Businesses must find their purpose, or risk becoming the next corporate scandal July 14, 2020 In the midst of a pandemic, the corporate scandals keep coming. The most recent is Boohoo, a previously admired brand in the fashion industry that has been accused of sourcing clothes from a Leicester factory where workers were paid as little as £3.50 an hour. For many in the fashion industry, the darker side of [...]
Revenue soars at Ocado during lockdown July 14, 2020 Retail sales for the first half of 2020 for online grocer Ocado jumped 27 per cent to £1bn, as Brits did their supermarket shopping from home. The group reported a loss before tax of £40.6m in the six months to the end of May, citing an increase in investment to handle increased demand as a [...]
My son needs medical cannabis — but the UK approach remains a national disgrace July 14, 2020 For any parent to hear a child’s horrific scream as they have a seizure, not breathing or responding, is a rude wakeup call that life will be far from normal. Alfie was just eight months old and diagnosed as suffering from a rare form of epilepsy. For us as a family, every day became crisis [...]
Let’s transform our coastal communities into the beating heart of a green industrial revolution July 13, 2020 Covid-19 is set to do long-term damage to the communities of the three million people who live along the UK coastline. These communities often felt neglected even before the outbreak, and now they are especially vulnerable. Coastal constituencies overwhelmingly voted Conservative in the 2019 election on the promise of a “levelling up” agenda. Yet they [...]
UK retailers warn shoppers face price hikes if no EU trade deal agreed July 10, 2020 Britain’s retail industry has warned that consumers could face higher prices next year if the UK is unable to reach a tariff-free EU trade deal. The British Retail Consortium said the industry could not absorb the additional costs of tariffs, meaning the hike in prices would be passed on to consumers whose finances have already [...]
Sunak’s spending spree ‘catastrophe’ for UK’s night time industry July 9, 2020 Casinos, comedy clubs and nightclubs have accused the chancellor of letting Britain’s night industry “slip through the cracks”, as a new wave of financial support for the hospitality industry failed to provide specific support for shuttered night time venues. Chancellor Rishi Sunak unveiled a raft of measures in his £30bn mini-Budget yesterday, in a bid [...]
Rishi Sunak Summer Statement: All the Chancellor’s spending pledges July 8, 2020 Chancellor Rishi Sunak today announced a raft of measures in his Summer Statement in a bid to help the UK economy recover from the worst effects of coronavirus. The Treasury boss revealed massive public spending to bolster the UK economy in what people are calling his mini-Budget. While he did not extend the government’s furlough [...]
New job retention bonus at heart of Rishi Sunak’s £30bn spending spree July 8, 2020 UK chancellor Rishi Sunak today put a new “job retention bonus” programme to encourage companies to bring back furloughed workers at the centre of a £30bn package aimed at kickstarting the economy. In his summer statement, Sunak said employers who take back furloughed workers until the end of January will receive a £1,000 payment for [...]
Stamp duty holiday: Industry reacts to property tax cut July 8, 2020 The UK property sector has reacted to the stamp duty holiday announced this afternoon, with many believing it will help to reinvigorate the market following months at a standstill during lockdown. Chancellor Rishi Sunak said this afternoon that the stamp duty threshold will increase from £125,000 to £500,000 until March next year to boost activity [...]