Small businesses gear up for growth despite Budget pressures December 29, 2024 Small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) are gearing up for expansion in 2025 despite fears about the state of the economy. In a survey of over 2,000 SMEs conducted directly after Labour’s Autumn Budget, 81 per cent said they were confident their business would grow next year, with confidence among those employing more than 50 [...]
Caution persists in London’s prime property market after Budget hit December 27, 2024 A tense political and economic environment has left buyers of prime property cautious in the last few months of the year, with prices dipping in central London. House prices in Knightsbridge and Belgravia fell by two per cent and 1.5 per cent, respectively, while prices fell 0.8 per cent across the capital as a whole, [...]
Shoe Zone shares crash as Budget deals major blow to profit plans December 18, 2024 Shares in Shoe Zone have plummeted to their lowest value for more than three years after the company warning the changes announced in the Autumn Budget has forced it to close a number of stores. The Leicester-headquartered retailer issued a trading update to the London Stock Exchange in which it revealed the impacted that “significant [...]
Shoe Zone: Firm slams Budget tax hikes as it’s forced to close ‘unviable’ stores December 18, 2024 Shoe Zone has said it has been forced to close “a number” of stores following higher costs announced in the Autumn budget. The affordable footwear company said a combination of lower consumer confidence following the budget, plus “significant additional costs” due to the increases in National Insurance and the National Living Wage, have made the stores [...]
Budget sparks 13 per cent jump in business insolvencies December 17, 2024 The number of business insolvencies in England and Wales rose 13 per cent in November, as the impact of the Budget continues to hit firms hard. Experts have also warned that things are not going to get better, with April’s looming Employers’ National Insurance increase leaving firms in a “perilous position”. Nearly 2,000 firms went [...]
Retail jobs slashed as high costs lead to automation and outsourcing December 17, 2024 The number of jobs offered by the UK’s largest private sector employer – retail – has dropped again, as companies shift to outsourcing and automation in an effort to deal with higher costs. This trend has been ongoing for some time, and is responsible for both job loss and a lack of job creation as [...]
UK economy ‘at risk of stagflation’ as growth stalls under Labour December 13, 2024 Latest official GDP figures show the UK economy has stopped expanding since Labour took power, creating a headache for Keir Starmer after putting growth at the centre of his government’s mission. The economy unexpectedly shrank by 0.1 per cent in October, according to new data from the Office for National Statistics. It missed economists’ expectations [...]
Labour’s tax bombshell for high streets December 11, 2024 The government is rushing through business rates reforms for private schools without considering the wider implications for sectors we all rely on, says John Webber Twelve months ago, the Labour Party was still talking about scrapping business rates if it got into power. Whether that was a genuine plan or whether the £22m blackhole discovered [...]
Change in business rates could cost firms millions, research finds December 10, 2024 A number of sectors could be hit with hundreds of millions of pounds in extra business rates due to “poorly thought-out legislation”, according to new research. The analysis, conducted by property consultancy Colliers, highlighted the impact that the new business rates legislation proposed by the Labour government could have on larger retailers and hospitality businesses. [...]
More companies to follow Homebase and Typhoo Tea into administration following Budget, warns Begbies Traynor December 10, 2024 More UK companies will crash into administration following the tax hikes announced in Labour’s Budget at the end of October, according to Begbies Traynor. Announcing its half-year results to the London Stock Exchange, the Manchester-headquartered group said “UK insolvencies remain at elevated levels” and that it expects “continuing growth” in its business recovery division as [...]