Shell backlash shows no profit is safe in windfall tax-crazed Britain October 27, 2022 Another windfall tax after Shell profits? Britain is at risk of becoming uninvestable Pity the folks in Shell’s communications department, who must be tempted to wear bullet-proof armour whenever they send out a trading update. Yesterday’s numbers were impressive, as you’d expect when energy prices are inflated. They also avoided paying any of Rishi Sunak’s [...]
Government eyes bank surcharge U-turn despite Lloyds profits tumbling October 27, 2022 Britain’s biggest mortgage lender, Lloyds Bank, has set aside hundreds of millions of pounds in preparation for a surge in loan defaults caused by the rising cost of living and higher interest rates squeezing household budgets. The lender today said it had banked £668m over the three months to September to absorb souring loans, primarily [...]
Exclusive: Seven Dials Market boss says ‘Brexit means we are short-staffed for every shift, every day’ October 27, 2022 Brexit has “absolutely screwed” the food industry after it “ripped away” its labour source, according to the boss behind the West End’s popular Seven Dials Market. Businesses at the food and drink destination are facing staff shortages “for every single shift, every single day,” Simon Mitchell, who heads the street food market operator Kerb, exclusively [...]
Realistic interest rates will save us, and we have a sub-Prime Minister to thank for it October 27, 2022 This time last week, Monty Munford was enjoying a bit of lunch in Westminster when all manner of hell kicked off around him.
Fed pivot hopes fade after US economy returns to strong growth October 27, 2022 The US economy has surprisingly shaken off a series of steep rate rises, indicating the Federal Reserve’s campaign to tame historic high inflation is not over yet, new figures out today reveal. Gross domestic product (GDP) across the pond climbed 2.6 per cent last quarter, swinging from a 0.6 per cent contraction in the three [...]
ECB fires second successive jumbo rate hike in push to end Europe’s cheap money addiction October 27, 2022 The European Central Bank (ECB) today fired its second jumbo rate hike in a row in another sign that it is putting years of ultra-cheap money to the sword. The central bank that oversees the financial system of the 19 countries using the euro lifted borrowing costs 75 basis points to 1.5 per cent as [...]
Budweiser owner hikes guidance after raking in higher-than-anticipated beer sales October 27, 2022 Brewing giant AB InBev has lifted its yearly earnings guidance after posting higher than anticipated earnings, with punters’ thirst for beer not waning despite high inflation levels. Raising a glass to its best quarterly performance this year, on a volume basis, the Budweiser maker elevated its 2022 guidance. EBITDA is now anticipated to rise between [...]
Explainer-in-brief: Ben Wallace and his hardline for defence spending October 27, 2022 Ben Wallace is one of the few faces in Rishi Sunak’s cabinet who hasn’t been doing a kind of hokey-poke between his department and the back benches. The Defence Secretary has significant political pull as a result of his handling of the war in Ukraine and has consistently tried to stay above the internal turmoil [...]
Meta struggles: Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp owner’s profits halved October 27, 2022 Owner of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, Meta, reported a fall in its revenue for the third quarter driven by plummeting ad revenue. The social media giant’s intake was four per cent down on last year’s third quarter, from £29bn to £27bn, while its costs and expenses were up almost 20 per cent. Income was down [...]
Gender pay gap grows in past year but is – slowly – falling in the longer term October 27, 2022 The gender pay gap has grown over the past year as inflation sweeps the UK, but a longer-term trend reveals that the figure is – albeit slowly – declining. The difference in pay between men and women stood at 8.3 per cent in April of this year, up from 7.7 per cent in the same month a year prior, according to [...]