January 17, 2020
Retail sales fell again in December as a Christmas shopping spree failed to materialise. Sales volumes fell by 0.6% from November, the fifth month in a row without growth, the Office for National Statistics said. It comes amid worries about economic growth and forecasts that the Bank of England could cut interest rates soon. Read More…
January 7, 2020
Chancellor Sajid Javid has set 11 March as the date for his first Budget – the first since the general election. Mr Javid says billions of pounds will be invested “across the country”. The Treasury will “prioritise the environment”, he said and reiterated a plan to make use of low borrowing rates to spend Read More…
September 25, 2019
Sainsbury’s has announced a shake-up aimed at saving the company £500m over the next five years. The group said it would shut a further 70 Argos stores and relocate another 80 sites into its supermarkets. Some 15 large supermarkets will also go, though this will be in part offset by the opening of 10 Read More…
September 25, 2019
Brewing firm Budweiser is to phase out single-use plastic pack rings from its entire range of UK-produced beer – which include the bestselling brands Stella Artois, Budweiser and Bud Light – by the end of 2020. The group is investing £6.3m on upgrading production at its two UK factories to produce alternatives to single-use Read More…
September 4, 2019
US online retail giant Amazon paid £220m UK tax in 2018, according to an internal audit analysing the accounts of all UK-based subsidiaries. The disclosure marks the first time Amazon has revealed the full amount it has paid in taxes in the UK. National insurance contributions made up the biggest proportion of the payment, Read More…
September 4, 2019
It is the end of an era for Marks and Spencer, which will be relegated from the FTSE 100 index of Britain’s biggest listed companies on Wednesday. It will be the first time the retailer has not been a FTSE 100 member since the index was launched in 1984. Based on the closing price Read More…
June 13, 2019
The UK’s major supermarkets have signed a pledge to help halve the country’s £20bn annual food waste bill by 2030. More than 100 businesses and organisations have committed to “ground-breaking action” to reduce food waste, which costs an average household £500 per year, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said. Around Read More…
June 13, 2019
Morrisons and Amazon say they will expand their same-day delivery service for groceries to Glasgow, Newcastle, Liverpool, Sheffield and Portsmouth. Morrisons agreed to supply Amazon with groceries in 2016 and the service now includes delivery within the hour for some customers. So far shoppers in Leeds, Manchester, Birmingham and some parts of London can Read More…
May 14, 2019
WhatsApp has urged users around the world to update the messaging app after it was targeted by a cyber surveillance attack. Dozens of WhatsApp users, including human rights organisations and a UK-based lawyer, are thought to have been targeted after hackers exploited a major vulnerability in the app in an attempt to take over Read More…
May 14, 2019
UK unemployment fell to 3.8% in the first three months of the year, its lowest level since the end of 1974, official figures show. However the figures for the three months to March showed a slight slowdown in annual wage growth – excluding bonuses – to 3.3%, compared to 3.4% in the three months Read More…