Lloyds fires bank tax warning shot as industry ‘ripe for cash grab’ April 29, 2026 Lloyds Banking Group has warned the Treasury not to look at the banks for a tax raid as the industry sets its sights on booming profits in 2026. The FTSE 100 giant beat profit expectations by a cool £200m in the first-quarter after booking £2bn. This was also followed up by an upgrade to its [...]
Three reasons AI will not replace the mortgage broker April 29, 2026 Mortgage advice has never been a simple numbers game, and it is becoming even less so. Technology is speeding up sourcing, suitability checks and paperwork. Clients are also more digitally confident than ever, and lenders are ever more competitive. But for anyone advising complex borrowers, especially in the high-net-worth space, the idea that AI will [...]
Lloyds shares drop after income upgrade on higher interest rates April 29, 2026 Lloyds Banking Group has upgraded its income targets for the year as the bank expects to bring in more cash as interest rates remain elevated from the Iran war. The FTSE 100 financial giant – which counts Lloyds Bank, Halifax and Bank of Scotland among its subsidiaries – said it expects net interest income to [...]
Rent controls: The left hand doesn’t know what the far-left hand is doing April 29, 2026 For just under 24 hours the residential landlord sector was seized by panic following reports that first appeared on Monday night that the Chancellor was preparing to impose a ‘temporary’ ban on rent increases. The policy of rent controls was hitherto the preserve of the Green Party and Labour’s loony left, but then came reports [...]
Whitbread hopes to win back investors with £1.5bn property sell-off April 29, 2026 Premier Inn owner Whitbread will hope to win back investors when it announces a £1.5bn sell-off of a shedload of its property portfolio on Thursday. The FTSE 100 giant is gearing up for its full-year results later this week, and aims to please its investors with a cash injection to turn the corner on a [...]
Londoners wait far longer to sell homes as stamp duty weighs on confidence April 29, 2026 The wait for a London house sale is six days longer now than last year, as the capital sees the “greatest impact” from stamp duty and the Iran war’s hit to property confidence. The average time it takes for a house in the capital to be snapped up once it is listed on the market [...]
Luxfer Reports First Quarter 2026 Results April 28, 2026 Strong performance and resilient margins lift 2026 guidance, with a clear path to accelerating earnings growth in 2027 First Quarter 2026 Highlights* GAAP Net Sales of $83.9 million from $97.0 million, Adjusted Sales1 declined 7.3% GAAP Net Income was $3.8 million, or $0.14 per diluted share, compared to $5.5 million and $0.20 per diluted share Adjusted EBITDA1 increased to $12.3 million, up 8.8%, and Adjusted Diluted EPS1 increased 17.4% to $0.27 Margins expanded, with Adjusted EBITDA margin of 14.7%, up 220bps, and gross margin of 26.1%, up 370 bps 2026 guidance raised, increasing Adj Diluted EPS midpoint to $1.17 from ~$1.12 Material step-up expected in 2027, with robust double-digit earnings growth Comparative information is relative to prior-year first quarter; results exclude discontinued operations 1 Note: Adjusted results exclude Graphic Arts
OpenAI-linked shares plummet after it fails to hit growth targets April 28, 2026 Companies with financial ties to the fate of OpenAI sold off sharply on Tuesday after it emerged the ChatGPT maker had fallen short of internal targets for revenue and user growth. Shares in Japanese investment giant Softbank and data centre hyperscalers Coreweave and Oracle plunged by between four and eight per cent reigniting nerves over [...]
Housing stocks drag on FTSE as inflation woes build into Bank of England interest rates call April 28, 2026 Fears about the impact of interest rates on the UK’s struggling economy echoed around the City into this week’s set-piece interest rate meeting at the Bank of England. A trio of Tuesday trading updates from London-listed firms with direct exposure to the housing market revealed rising costs. The insight reverberated across an industry which depends on affordable mortgages [...]
Chaos: Now Downing Street rules out rent freeze after backlash over ‘reckless’ rumours April 28, 2026 Downing Street has ruled out a rent freeze just hours after the Chancellor refused to distance herself from the policy while speaking in the Commons. The apparent kite flying sparked 24 hours of panic among residential landlords and economists, who dubbed the rumoured policy a would-be “disaster”. Reeves had reportedly been considering the policy to [...]