SMEs need support February 10, 2022 Since April 2020, as the pandemic started to truly bite, we’ve been getting regular feedback from our UK members about the financial outlook of their SME clients through our monthly ACCA UK and Corporate Finance Network SME Recovery Tracker. The data provides an insightful picture of the ups and downs for SMEs. We’ve seen how [...]
Bailey’s wage dilemma is real, but the Bank has dragged its feet on inflation February 10, 2022 It is often argued the signal central banks’ bond buying programmes send to markets is more effective at shaping financial conditions than the purchases themselves. It is all about influencing expectations by sending the message that monetary policy will stay loose. Governor of the Bank of England Andrew Bailey’s message to workers to temper pay [...]
Inflation crunch to intensify as wave of firms hike prices to survive cost assault February 10, 2022 A cost assault is forcing businesses to hike prices to protect margins in a sign the UK cost of living crisis is set to get worse before it gets better, reveals a new study published today. Around three in four firms are raising prices to weather soaring energy and staffing costs in what is being [...]
Persistent labour crunch intensifies pay pressures in sign of sticky inflation February 10, 2022 A shallower pool of available workers and growing calls among staff for employers to lift pay to offset the cost of living crunch is stoking wage tension in the jobs market, reveals fresh figures released today. Intensifying pay pressures in the jobs markets adds to the growing body of evidence indicating historically high inflation could [...]
Bank of England chief wonk backs ‘steady handed’ approach to rate hikes February 9, 2022 The chief wonk at the Bank of England today backed a “steady handed” approach to rate hikes despite a projected more than seven per cent inflation peak. Huw Pill, the Bank’s chief economist and successor to Andy Haldane, said the Bank needs to hold fire on pursuing an “activist” approach to tightening monetary policy. Pill’s [...]
Consumer price cap: Is the safety net fit for purpose? February 9, 2022 Ofgem remain committed to the price cap, but how much of a role has it played in the ensuing energy crisis?
Exclusive: Sceptical environmentalist Bjorn Lomborg on 50 years of misguided climate panic February 9, 2022 Bjorn Lomborg is President of the Copenhagen Consensus and Visiting Fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution. His latest book is “False Alarm: How Climate Change Panic Costs Us Trillions, Hurts the Poor, and Fails to Fix the Planet.” Writing exclusively for City A.M. today, Lomborg zooms in on half a century of what has been, [...]
Amazon Prime fees could soon rise to over £90 for 15m Brits despite record UK sales of £23.6bn February 9, 2022 Amazon’s UK revenue jumped over 20 per cent last year. That won’t halt a rise of at least 17 per cent in the cost of Prime membership, if it follows the lead of Amazon US. Even though Amazon has just announced record sales of £23.6bn here in the UK, it’s unlikely that will stop a [...]
Smurfit Kappa wraps up full-year with €913m profit and dividend hike February 9, 2022 Packaging giant Smurfit Kappa has reported full-year profits before income tax of €913m, a 22 per cent boost on last year.
Surging rents ‘fanning the flames of cost of living crisis’ February 9, 2022 Rents have surged 8.3 per cent in a year, to the highest level they have been in 13 years. London rents have risen 11 per cent in a year as office workers have returned to the capital. Monthly rents are up £62 since the start of the pandemic, hitting an average of £969 a month, [...]