Parent trap: the child benefits system has ended up punishing the very people it was designed to protect January 16, 2019 For high-flying parents who earn more than £50,000 a year, the child benefit system will seem ridiculous. You go through the effort of applying for the benefits (over the course of a year, this amounts to £1,000 for the first child, and £700 for each additional child), only for the money to be clawed back [...]
Games Workshop enjoys record year as business remains ‘in great shape’ January 15, 2019 Miniature wargaming manufacturer Games Workshop struck a positive tone this morning after posting record sales, despite a slowdown in growth during the half-year to December. The figures Sales in the six months to 2 December 2018 hit £125m, rising from £110m during the same period in the previous year. Meanwhile, operating and pre-tax profits rose from £38.1m [...]
Eager for a house price fall? It’s time for a lesson in economics January 15, 2019 Would it be a good thing if house prices in the UK fell? The British public, a host of commentators on Twitter, and even some economists seem to think so. A recent YouGov poll asked Britons whether a 30 per cent fall in property values after Brexit would be a “bad thing”. Just 32 per [...]
Revolution Bars suffers share price drop in wake of profit warning January 14, 2019 Cocktail group Revolution Bars saw its share price dive this morning as it became the latest UK retailer to issue a stark profit warning, in spite of a Christmas boost for the business. Shares in early morning trading plummeted 17 per cent as the Manchester-based group warned of an expected 20 per cent drop in its [...]
Fears over business rates mount as Britain’s major retailers prepare to form action group January 13, 2019 Some of Britain’s biggest retailers are coming together in an urgent bid to seek business rates relief from the government, Morning Wire has learned. Around 50 major high street names are joining a mass lobbying effort to curb forthcoming rises in their property tax, as profits plunge in the face of falling sales and online [...]
Christmas shoppers shunned the high street, but attacking Amazon won’t help January 11, 2019 Between the fierce renewal of the Brexit saga, parliamentary shenanigans, and a particularly chilling cold front (interpret that literally or metaphorically, as you will), the merriness of Christmas feels like a thing of the past. But for the high street, it feels like Christmas never came at all. Reports of retail sales, released yesterday by [...]
HMRC claims its online tax evasion crackdown has clawed back £200m January 11, 2019 The government claims to have recovered more than £200m of lost VAT from overseas sellers since gaining new powers, saying its crackdown on online tax evasion is paying off. HMRC has issued over 4,600 ‘red flag’ notices to online marketplaces such as Amazon and Ebay since 2016. The flags, called Joint and Several Liability (JSL) [...]
Nike’s Dutch tax status to be investigated by European Commission January 10, 2019 The European Commission has opened a detailed probe into whether Nike has received an unfair advantage over its competitors by being granted a favourable tax environment in the Netherlands. The Commission said the Netherlands issued five tax rulings since 2006, two of which are still active, which endorsed a method of calculating royalty payments that "may not reflect [...]
People’s Vote campaigners are playing dirty with the facts January 10, 2019 As Monday's Channel 4 drama Brexit: The Uncivil War reminded us, the Remain campaign likes to take comfort in the fact that it tried to win us over with facts and figures, never stooping to the kind of outright lies about the economic benefits of leaving the EU or the threats of immigration indulged in by members [...]
City Moves for Thursday 10 January: Who’s switching jobs at Newton Investment Management, Kirkland & Ellis and KPMG? January 10, 2019 Newton Investment Management Newton Investment Management (Newton IM), part of BNY Mellon Investment Management (BNY Mellon IM), announced the appointment of Jin Philips as head of strategic relationships EMEA. In this role, Jin will be responsible for directing Newton IM’s sales strategy across UK institutional and charity channels and EMEA-partnered distribution relationships. Jin will report [...]