Currensea: Travel card fintech targets overseas growth after bumper summer October 22, 2024 Travel debit card start-up Currensea is targeting overseas markets for its next phase of growth after a rebound in holiday demand helped the fintech grow its user base by a third this summer.
The Notebook: The self-employed pension crisis is on the cusp of boiling point October 22, 2024 A new report has shown the self-employed are facing a pension crisis. Interactive Investor's Craig Rickman digs into the findings.
Brand Architekts: Sales at owner of Skinny Tan and Super Facialist slump October 21, 2024 Brand Architekts, the beauty specialist behind British brands including Skinny Tan and Super Facialist, has reported a fall in sales as it pivots to fewer, bigger brands. The company reported an underlying loss of £0.4m compared to a loss of £1.2m for 2023, while its gross profit margin increased 1.5 per cent to 41.2 per [...]
Fans will grow weary if player burnout continues in sport October 21, 2024 With demands on players like nothing seen previously, is potential player burnout also going to have an impact on fans too? It’s a surprising thing that during a cost-of-living crisis, with households struggling and economies straining, I find myself sympathising with Rodrigo Hernández Cascante. The £200,000-a-week Manchester City midfielder, better known as Rodri, last month [...]
The Debate: Should London’s suburbs be spikier? October 17, 2024 A housing crisis and London’s relatively flat skyline have prompted calls for building taller (or ‘spikier’) in the suburbs. Growth bros on Twitter are desperate for London to “densify”, i.e. cram more buildings into a smaller space by building taller structures or extending current buildings upwards. Yet London’s outer regions are typically flat with parks, [...]
Starmer hands councils millions for housebuilding on brownfield sites October 15, 2024 The Government has committed £68m to unlocking brownfield sites in 54 local authorities as it looks to deliver on its election promise of 1.5 million homes by 2029. Around a sixth of councils will receive money to turn neglected land into new homes, which the government have said will “transform local communities and help families [...]
Fenwick: John Lewis rival slumps into the red and cuts jobs October 15, 2024 Department store chain Fenwick slumped back into the red and cut jobs as it battled the cost-of-living crisis and a “changing retail environment”. The Newcastle-headquartered business has reported a pre-tax loss of £28.3m for the year to 26 January, 2024, having previously made a pre-tax profit of £57.1m in the prior 12 months. Newly-filed accounts [...]
Is reckless Reeves about to open the door to the next financial crisis? October 15, 2024 Rachel Reeves’ plan to change the fiscal rules to redefine debt reveal a Chancellor dangerously out of her depth, says Andrew Griffith A flurry of briefings suggest that the Chancellor is rolling the pitch to change the fiscal rules or the definitions of debt within them. These are the same thing: the ‘golden rule’ of [...]
The UK is an economic powerhouse – and we should know October 14, 2024 Brits should be less British about boasting about the strengths of our economy and our enduring spirit of entrepreneurialism, creativity and innovation, says Saker Nusseibeh It is a common characteristic of our national discourse to err towards the negative. An inclination to see, but not celebrate, what this country already does so well. Perhaps it [...]
Retailers pin hopes on bumper golden quarter with Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Christmas October 14, 2024 The final three months of the year, also known as the golden quarter, are make-or-break for retailers. Retail spending has consistently languished this year, or been propped up by margin-carving discounts, but pent-up demand is expected to give the sector a much-needed boost during the holidays, according to a panel of industry experts. Despite consumer [...]