Nestlé: Nespresso and Kit-Kat maker hikes prices and sweetens sales growth April 25, 2023 Share price in Kit-Kat maker Nestlé were up as the food giant beat profit expectations while hiking the price of its goods. The Swedish packager, which owns brands such as Nespresso, Smarties Nesquik and Maggi stock cubes, reported a sales growth of 5.6 per cent to CHF23.5bn (£21.2bn) in the first leg of the year [...]
Jeremy Hunt handed £13bn windfall raising chance of tax cuts ahead of election April 25, 2023 Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has been handed a £13bn windfall from the UK public finances holding up better than expected, raising the chances of tax cuts ahead of the next general election, official figures out today reveal. Numbers from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) this morning showed the UK borrowed around £139bn in the year [...]
Grocery inflation dips by just 0.2 per cent as Aldi now has a tenth of the market April 25, 2023 Grocery price inflation dipped slightly in April – but consumers are still paying 17.3 per cent more than this time last year, figures show. Kantar warned that the fall from last month’s 17.5 per cent only meant that prices were not increasing as quickly after 10 months of double-digit growth. As consumers continued to find [...]
Primark owner claims fast fashion still a draw as cost of living crisis boosts sales April 25, 2023 Primark owner Associated British Foods (ABF) has reported a slight dip in its adjusted operating profit as the retail and grocery giant felt the pain of soaring inflation and a tough economic climate. For the 24 weeks to 4 March, the group’s adjusted operating profit came in three per cent lower at £684m, compared to [...]
Calm before the storm? Private equity deals come roaring back after subdued start to the year April 25, 2023 Private equity deals in the UK slumped to their lowest level since 2020 in the first quarter of the year - but analysts are predicting it may just be the calm before the storm.
Britain’s renters are the real victims of this inflation and interest rate crunch April 25, 2023 People doubtless would’ve gasped at headlines last week about UK interest rates being on course for five per cent. Such a path looked implausible in March when Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse and Credit Suisse’s shotgun marriage to UBS sparked fears of a financial market meltdown. After those events, traders trimmed their expectations of how much more [...]
Nearly every UK business struggling to fill roles amid worker exodus April 25, 2023 Nearly every business in the UK is struggling to hire staff in a sign that the country’s slimmer workforce since the pandemic is pegging back growth, a new survey out last night indicated. Some 80 per cent of 5,000 firms surveyed by the lobby group the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) said they ran into [...]
Our languishing reputation on foreign aid opens the door to China’s influence April 25, 2023 The UK spends more of its shrinking aid budget on housing refugees at home than on third countries who need it. Taking this money from the aid budget is a political choice, but a short-sighted one, writes Elena Siniscalco
FTSE 100 close: Credit Suisse suffers £55bn outflow as BP and Shell claw back losses April 24, 2023 London’s FTSE 100 kicked off a new week in subdued style today, dragged lower by big industrial firms extending last week’s poor performance. The capital’s premier index slipped 0.02 per cent to 7,912.20 points, while the domestically-focused mid-cap FTSE 250 index, which is more aligned with the health of the UK economy, shed 0.22 per [...]
Only five UK retailers issued profit warnings in first leg of 2023, but experts warn of challenges April 24, 2023 Only five UK retailers raised concerns about their profits in the first leg of 2023. However, the sector has warned that challenges remain for shops and the high street. According to data by accountancy firm EY, the number of profit warnings issued by retailers fell by 44 per cent in quarter one compared to the [...]