The slump in the UK’s manufacturing sector deepened last month, with output levels worse than expected despite a decline in inflationary pressures. Factories recorded their eighth consecutive monthly drop in activity, according to purchasing managers, with an index of the sector declining to 47.9 in March — lower than forecast and below an initial reading […]
Hospitality bodies have warned that business failure is worse now than it was during the pandemic as the sector braces itself for the first month of trading following the end of the government’s energy bill relief scheme. “We’re seeing an acceleration of business failure which is now worse than the pandemic,” Emma McClarkin, chief executive […]
Moonpig has reported its largest ever week of sales in the UK thanks to consumers scrambling for Mother’s Day cards. The listed retailer, which allows shoppers to personalise cards and gifts, said it now expects annual revenue for the year ending 30 April to remain at £320m, despite previously warning that Royal Mail strikes haddisrupted […]
Increasing capital requirements on SME lending will stifle economic growth and depress the UK’s small business sector, business groups have warned. Under proposals being considered by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) as part of the Basel 3.1 regulations, favourable treatment for SME lending will be removed. Removing the preferential treatment, known as the SME Supporting […]
A decision on whether to bring forward the date when the state pension age rises to 68 has been postponed until after the next general election, the government has announced. Responding to a review of the UK retirement system’s funding, the work and pensions secretary, Mel Stride, told MPs on Thursday that now was not […]
NatWest and Lloyds are to axe a further 81 bank branches as both announced fresh cuts to their high street networks. Lloyds Banking Group is closing 39 branches – 26 Lloyds Bank outlets, nine Halifax branches and four Bank of Scotland outlets – between July and September this year. NatWest Group said it was shutting […]
Ocado Group has seen off claims from an international rival “goods retrieval” company that alleged the British online retailer and technology group had stolen several of its technology inventions. A High Court judge ruled that two patents held by the Norwegian company were invalid and that, regardless, Ocado had not infringed them. In its claim […]
Virgin Orbit will lay off 85 per cent of its workforce after the satellite launch business failed to find new funding in the face of a cash crunch. Shares in the group, founded by Sir Richard Branson in 2017, tumbled sharply in out-of-hours trading in New York last night after it announced it would cut […]
Business confidence has risen to its highest level in ten months as companies become increasingly optimistic about filling staff shortages, according to the latest Lloyds Bank business barometer. An easing of wage demands from last year’s highs boosted optimism among business leaders that they will be able to recruit staff, according to the survey of […]
A gas-fired power station and plants making low-carbon hydrogen will be among Britain’s first projects to capture their carbon emissions under plans unveiled by the government yesterday. A cement works, a lime plant and energy-from-waste projects were also among eight winning carbon capture and storage schemes across Teesside, the northwest and north Wales that have […]