Pub giants allay fears of hospitality crisis despite higher wage bills January 15, 2025 Pub giants Mitchells & Butlers and Fuller, Smith & Turner have both expressed confidence as the firms adapt to higher wage bills, in a positive sign for an industry which warned of crisis last year. Mitchells, the owner of Harvester, Toby Carvery and All Bar One, reported like-for-like growth of 10.4 per cent over the [...]
Vistry: Housebuilder avoids fourth profit downgrade but warns of market uncertainty January 15, 2025 Vistry has warned of uncertain market conditions as it reaffirmed previously downgraded profit guidance for the year ahead. The UK’s largest housebuilder by output said the outcome of the government’s spending review and a “recovery in consumer confidence” would prove pivotal in determining performance in 2025. Group adjusted pre-tax profit is forecast to be around [...]
Demand for AI tech boosts Currys January 15, 2025 Electrical retailer Currys has reinstated its dividend after a jump in sales related to AI tech helped boost the firm’s top and bottom lines. In a trading update issued this morning, the FTSE 100 firm said it expected to record a profit for its 2024/25 financial year of £145m to £155m, up 23 per cent to [...]
Business confidence plunges to lowest level since Liz Truss’s mini-budget January 15, 2025 Rachel Reeves’s tax hikes have pushed business confidence to its lowest level since the wake of Liz Truss’s calamitous mini-Budget, as firms fret over a surge in costs and slowdown in the domestic economy, a closely watched survey has suggested. Concerns over a looming tax bill and a slump in sales caused business confidence to [...]
Most retailers will hike prices in response to Reeves’ NI Budget raid January 15, 2025 Two thirds of CFOs have said their business will be forced to raise prices as a result of higher wage bills, according to a new survey. Around 70 per cent of respondents to the survey, which looked at the attitudes of CFOs at 52 retailers, were “pessimistic” or “very pessimistic” about trading conditions over the [...]
‘Budget hasn’t worked’: Reeves defends China trip as Stride says Brits ‘deserve better’ January 14, 2025 Rachel Reeves has defended her trip to China amid economic turmoil in the UK as MPs argued her Budget “hasn’t worked” and insisted: “The British people deserve better.” The Chancellor appeared in the House of Commons for the first time since last week’s bond market shock threw her public spending plans and fiscal rules into [...]
Games Workshop: Warhammer maker’s stock dips amid cost pressures January 14, 2025 FTSE 100 giant Games Workshop’s stock price dipped three per cent today after warning that rising costs could have a growing impact on its business. In the Warhammer maker’s half-yearly report, it revealed that profit before tax at the firm jumped by a third, from £95.2m in the first half of last year to £126.8m. [...]
Surging gold price helps pawnbroker Ramsdens to record profit January 14, 2025 Ramsdens has delivered a record profit thanks to the surging gold price and demand for its pawnbroking services. The retailer, which offers financial services as well as pawnbroking, told markets this morning that revenue rose 14 per cent in the year to September 30, to £95.6m from £83.8m in 2023. Gross profit rose 13 per [...]
Trouble for B&M as millions wiped off value despite huge pay day January 14, 2025 Despite reporting increased sales and a huge dividend of more than £150m, shares in B&M plunged in the aftermath of its latest trading update last week. Shares in the Liverpool-headquartered discount retailer slumped from 360p to 316p following the publication of its third quarter results. B&M’s price has hardly recovered in the days since, with [...]
JD Sports shares plunge after retailer warns on profit January 14, 2025 JD Sports shares plunged more than 12 per cent this morning after the company issued a profit warning. The FTSE 100 giant forecast full year profit before tax at between £915m and £935m, down from its previous estimate of £955m to £1.035bn. This morning, the retail giant told markets sales fell 1.5 per cent across November [...]