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Will the public miss WH Smith if it disappears from the UK high street?

January 29, 2025

YouGov’s chief executive Steve Hatch takes a closer look at the data behind the biggest stories in business. Here, he looks at the future of WH Smith. News broke last week that WH Smith was looking to sell its UK high street stores. The company told the London Stock Exchange that it intended to become [...]

Retail crime ‘spiralling out of control’ despite £1.8bn spent on protection

January 29, 2025

Retail crime is “spiralling out of control”, hitting a new high last year despite billions spent on protection. Losses from customer theft reached a record £2.2bn, while retail violence and abuse increased over 50 per cent to more than 2,000 incidents a day, according to the British Retail Consortium’s (BRC) Annual Crime Survey. More than [...]

Mark Kleinman: Are Barclays pay rows a mere historical relic?

January 29, 2025

Mark Kleinman is Sky News’ City Editor and the man who gets the Square Mile talking in his weekly City AM column. This week, he tackles pay rows at Barclays, how WH Smith is clinging on and a floating debate for Monzo Are Barclays pay rows a mere historical relic? There was a time when Barclays and public [...]

Meta pays Trump $25m to settle Facebook lawsuit

January 29, 2025

Meta has agreed to pay $25m (£20m) to settle a lawsuit filed by President Donald Trump back in 2021 over his banned accounts. The president had sued Facebook and Instagram’s parent company, as well as its owner, Mark Zuckerberg, due to his accounts being suspended on its platforms. Meta had banned his accounts following the [...]

Elon Musk says 2025 will be a ‘pivotal year for Tesla’ despite sales slowdown

January 29, 2025

On Wednesday, electric vehicle (EV) giant Tesla reported a significant decline in profit for 2024, with its net income dropping over 70 per cent to $2.3bn (£1.83bn). The firm reported a profit of $2.3bn (£1.84bn) in the last three months of the year. Profit at Elon Musk’s group dropped despite an increase in sales, which [...]

Pembroke VCT boss Andrew Wolfson: ‘New founders aren’t blaming Brexit’

January 29, 2025

Pembroke VCT boss Andrew Wolfson has backed brands like TALA and Pasta Evangelists. He tells us the wisdom he's picked up along his career.

Pinewood Studios: Home of James Bond reveals expansion plans

January 29, 2025

The group behind Pinewood Studios has revealed plans to build more film stages at the iconic home of the James Bond franchise. Pinewood Group has launched a public consultation into its proposals to expand Pinewood Studios in Buckinghamshire. In a statement, the group said the plans would involve the expansion and investment would incorporate additional [...]

‘The Slab’ redevelopment begins construction on London’s South Bank

January 29, 2025

A mixed use construction scheme on London’s South Bank has been given the green light after developers won a court battle against a campaign group last December. Mitsubishi Estate was granted planning permission by the High Court last December for the redevelopment of 72 Upper Ground, the old headquarters of ITV, after over a year [...]

St James’s Place: Britain’s biggest wealth manager has stock upgraded

January 29, 2025

City broker Peel Hunt has upgraded St James’s Place this morning, after a strong set of results and a surge in share price. Britain’s biggest wealth manager reported £4.3bn in new money throughout 2024 this morning, sending its stock price up more than eight per cent to more than £10. The bump came from £1.5bn [...]

Britain’s independent brewers hit record turnover as small firms flounder

January 29, 2025

Turnover of the UK’s top 25 independent breweries hit a record high of £1.72bn in the last year although there was a higher rate of insolvencies for small brewers, according to new data. The figure was up nine per cent year on year, according to national accountancy group UHY Hacker Young. The record turnover was [...]

Barclays the latest to harden line on office attendance rules

January 29, 2025

Barclays has become the latest blue chip firm to tighten its office attendance policy, asking staff to attend the office a minimum of three days a week. The British-headquartered lender unveiled a more stringent approach to hybrid working in a memo to staff earlier this week, which cut the minimum number of days staff can [...]

The Capitalist: Pedicabs, WH Smith and HMRC hang-ups

January 29, 2025

Pedicab politics, the demise of WH Smith and taxman ghostings: catch up on the latest gossip in this week's edition of The Capitalist.

Chrysalis stock jumps on Klarna and Starling upgrades

January 29, 2025

Chrysalis stock has jumped by more than six per cent this morning after its private equity holdings, including Klarna and Starling Bank, saw significant upgrades to their valuations. The private equity trust’s underlying assets rose 11 per cent to 156p per share in the last quarter of 2024, it said in a trading update today. [...]

Fevertree shares spike on ‘transformational’ deal with Molson Coors

January 29, 2025

Fevertree shares have soared more than 20 per cent after the drinks company announced a tie-up with Coors and Carling owner Molson Coors. The agreement will see Molson Coors handle the exclusive sales, distribution and production of the Fevertree brand in the US. Analysts were uniformly positive about the deal, and expected both businesses to [...]

UK’s small businesses underestimating risk of cyber attacks

January 29, 2025

Small businesses (SMEs) consider themselves too small to be targeted for data theft, severely exposing themselves to cyber attacks. According to a new Association of Business Insurers (ABI) report, SMEs generally consider themselves too small to be targeted by cyber criminals and, as a result, are not using cyber insurance to help mitigate these risks. The [...]