Sales overflow for drink giants Diageo and AB InBev as consumers still opt for pricey tipples July 28, 2022 Global drinks titans Diageo and AB InBev have reported overflowing sales after the easing of Covid lockdowns has driven punters back into bars. Johnnie Walker maker Diageo posted net sales of £15.5bn, an increase of 21.4 per cent, which it accredited to the pub and bar sector recovering from the side effects of Covid 19 [...]
Nestlé sees resilient demand from shoppers despite Kit-Kat maker boosting prices July 28, 2022 Kit-Kat maker Nestlé was the latest household name to declare that price increases for consumers had failed to offset demand, with sales surging. The London-listed firm admitted it had put up prices 6.5 per cent this year but saw profits soar in six months regardless. In half-year results, the consumer goods giant said total reported [...]
Explainer-in-brief: Behind Rishi Sunak’s VAT cut promise July 28, 2022 Rishi Sunak has announced a plan to cut VAT from energy bills in a bid to ease the burden on households. Many, however, have seen it as a desperate attempt to revive his “underdog campaign” for the Tory leadership. His flagship ideology thus far has been that tax cuts would stoke inflation by encouraging people [...]
We should question the mandate of the Bank of England – not its independence July 28, 2022 ONE OF the most surprising things to come out of the race to replace Boris Johnson as leader of the Conservative Party has been the space the Bank of England has taken up in the discourse. One unsuccessful candidate argued the government should have more oversight of the Bank’s activities and current frontrunner Liz Truss [...]
One in three UK bosses on brink of burnout: ‘Years of 19-hour work days nearly put me in hospital’ July 27, 2022 More than a third of UK bosses are on the brink of burnout, while nearly one in five are currently experiencing it because of rising energy prices, rocketing inflation and supply chain delays. Rising costs are already one of the main causes of burnout, with 36 per cent of SMB owners citing that as a [...]
Trade unions challenge government’s strike breaking law July 27, 2022 A COALITION of trade unions have launched a legal challenge against the government, over claims its new law, allowing companies to bring in agency workers as strikebreakers, breaches the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR) and violates the UK’s Brexit trade deal. The challenge comes after the government last week overturned laws forbidding companies from hiring angency [...]
Powell invokes Volcker spirit with second successive 75 point hike July 27, 2022 The US Federal Reserve today doubled down on its efforts to chase down the biggest inflation shock in recent memory by hiking rates 75 basis points for the second time in a row. Chair Jerome Powell and the rest of the federal open market committee backed another big rise to cool America’s overheating jobs market [...]
Cryptocurrencies continue to struggle July 27, 2022 In association with Luno. Bitcoin’s (BTC) recent strong momentum stalled in the middle of last week, and the price has been drifting back towards the $20k mark after hitting highs above $24k last week. The leading cryptocurrency by market capitalisation has hovered around $21k since Monday, down almost 10 per cent over the past 7 [...]
Crypto crash does not have major impact on broader financial systems, says IMF July 27, 2022 The sell-off in the crypto market does not have a major effect on global financial conditions, the International Monetary Fund wrote in a report this week. “Crypto assets have experienced a dramatic sell-off that has led to large losses,” the IMF’s World Economic Outlook Update for July 2022 stated. “But spill overs to the broader [...]
Rio Tinto slashes dividend in half as cooling iron ore demand weighs down profits July 27, 2022 Rio Tinto has suffered a 29 per cent drop in profits during the first six months of trading this year, amid weaker prices for iron ore.