Image copyright Reuters If you want a clear explanation of what’s wrong with the retail sector, read Next’s results statement. Not a recommendation you’d hear very often, frankly, about most companies’ financial reporting. But rather than seeming designed to confuse and mislead, Next’s report crisply spells out the challenges it’s facing. And of course it’s […]
Business
Higher fuel prices take toll on retail sales
Image copyright Getty Images UK retail sales posted a 1.4% rise in February from the previous month, but there are signs that higher fuel prices have begun to hit shoppers’ pockets. In the three months to February, sales volumes fell by 1.4%, a sharper slide than the 0.5% decline for the three months to January. […]
Apple 'paid no tax' in New Zealand for at least a decade
Image copyright Reuters Apple is facing scrutiny in New Zealand following reports it paid no tax for at least a decade, despite having logged billions in sales. An investigation by the New Zealand Herald newspaper found Apple’s local unit paid about NZ$37m ($26m; £21m) in taxes since 2007 in Australia instead. Apple New Zealand’s parent […]
Next sees first annual profit fall in eight years
Image copyright Newscast Next has posted its first fall in annual profit for eight years and has warned of “another tough year ahead”. Pre-tax profit at the clothing and homeware retailer dropped 5.5% from £836.1m to £790.2m last year. The firm, which had warned profits would fall, said it remained “extremely cautious” about trading. It […]
Energy price cap implications ominous, former regulators say
Image copyright PA Energy experts have warned the government not to intervene in the market by capping prices. According to five former energy regulators, such a move would have an “adverse effect” on the market and could have “ominous implications”. Their intervention comes amid speculation that the government is poised to announce price controls for […]
Could this be Britain's cheapest supermarket?
The average price of an item at Nifties in Dover is 60p. Source link
'I am very confident we can find a good trade deal'
The UK government is expected to trigger Article 50 next week, kick-starting the process for Britain to leave the European Union. Export-oriented businesses will face being outside the EU’s single market. So how are businesses changing their strategies to cope with Brexit? Cecile Reinaud runs Seraphine, a London-based maternity wear company. She is on an […]
‘Vegetable ivory’
Image copyright Ivonne Wierink Image caption The tagua seed reaches 9cm (3.5 inches) in length, and can be carved like ivory Onno Heerma van Voss jokes that he never intended to be a conservationist, but he is helping to save the African elephant. Numbers of elephants in the wild are still falling; it’s estimated 100 […]
Brexit vote: Single market benefit 'largely imaginary'
Image copyright Getty Images The trade benefits of belonging to the European Union have been “largely imaginary”, according to the social policy think-tank Civitas. Its analysis argues that exports from non-EU countries to the single market have grown faster than the UK’s, since its creation in 1993. That lends weight to the argument that no […]
State pension age could be raised to 70, says report
Image copyright Getty Images Two separate reports for the government have raised the possibility that millions of people may have to work longer to qualify for a state pension. An analysis for the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has suggested that workers under the age of 30 may not get a pension until the […]
Libor expert witness texted for help
Media captionThe BBC’s Andrew Verity explains the Libor scandal A prosecution witness called by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) as an expert on trading has admitted texting friends in the middle of his trial evidence to ask basic questions. Saul Haydon Rowe texted a friend for help in explaining email evidence he had been asked […]
The women still working into their 70s
The proportion of women working into their 70s in the UK has doubled in the last four years and is starting to catch up with men. Analysis of official data reveals that 5.6% of women only stopped working after the age of 70 in 2012. This had risen to 11.3% in 2016. Worries over pension […]