Myenergi, a British startup that produces home chargers for electric vehicles and energy-saving devices, has swung from a £8.8 million profit to a pre-tax loss of £25 million in the year to May. The company, whose high-profile backers include former Tesco chief Sir Terry Leahy, blamed the downturn on weaker demand, intensifying competition, and a […]
Homebase is set to return in a slimmed-down format after the DIY chain’s collapse last month, with its new owner CDS confirming plans to reopen 70 former stores under the Range Superstores banner. Each outlet will preserve the Homebase name in garden centre sections, and some will also incorporate Homebase-branded kitchen departments. CDS, founded by […]
British consumers are opening their wallets more freely in the final run-up to Christmas, with retailers reporting a 2.3 per cent year-on-year rise in spending for the seven weeks to 20 December, according to figures from Visa. Online sales led the increase, up 6.1 per cent, while electronics and homeware purchases enjoyed the most significant […]
London’s iconic black cabs could all but vanish by 2040, warn long-serving cabbies who have seen their ranks thin by a third in the past decade. At the heart of the crisis are mounting pressures to switch to electric vehicles, an ageing workforce reluctant to invest in pricey new taxis, and city-wide “anti-car” measures that […]
BMW has acknowledged that more than 100 of its high-end vehicles were sold to Russian customers, breaching international sanctions imposed after the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine. The German carmaker attributed the sales to a handful of rogue employees at its Hanover branch, who have since been dismissed. BMW, along with other major German manufacturers like […]
Aviva has struck a definitive agreement to purchase Direct Line for £3.7 billion, creating one of the largest motor insurance providers in Britain. The FTSE 100 insurer will pay 275p per share for the FTSE 250-listed company, representing a 73.3 per cent premium to Direct Line’s share price before talks emerged in November. The acquisition, […]
The prospect of swift economic recovery remains elusive, Sir Keir Starmer warned on Monday, as official figures confirmed the UK economy stagnated in the third quarter. Downing Street stopped short of denying the possibility of further tax rises, fuelling concerns among businesses that the government’s package of fiscal measures might not be enough to steady […]
Moonpig, the UK’s largest online card retailer, has introduced a new artificial intelligence (AI) feature that aims to recreate the sentiment of a handwritten note—without the need to pick up a pen. Announced this month, the tool allows users to generate a unique digital font based on their own handwriting, which can then be stored […]