Budget airline Ryanair has today announced it returned to profit for the year to March after reporting its first annual loss a year ago. The airline unveiled pre-tax profits of €341 million (£289 million) for the year and said it intends to pay a one-off dividend to shareholders totalling €500 million – the first one [...]
Pub chain JD Wetherspoon brings some good news to the economy today by announcing it is to open 250 new pubs and create 10,000 jobs. The new pubs will be located in Sheffield, Livingston, Leominster, Otley, New Malden, Liverpool, Haverfordwest and Newcastle and are part of a £250 million investment over a five-year period. JD [...]
Mothercare appears to be bucking the trend amid British retailers after the group announced a profit of £10 million for the six months to 10 October, up 11% compared with a year earlier. Sales for the half-year period were £387.3 million compared with £359 million in the same period a year ago – a rise [...]
Apple has benefited from the popularity of iPhones and posted a net profit of $1.67 billion (£1 billion) in the three months to 26 September – a 47% rise compared with a year earlier. The California-based technology giant, which has bucked the trend in the economic downturn, exceeded analysts expectations after sales grew 25% in [...]
Marks and Spencer (M&S), which is Britain’s largest clothing retailer, has reported a strong performance by recording its best quarter for two years. The retailing industry overall has suffered in the wake of the economic downturn as consumers rein in their spending. However, today the retailer said like-for-like sales in the UK (which exclude new [...]
Pub chain JD Wetherspoon has today announced its best ever annual results despite the economic downturn. The group, which has more than 700 pubs across the UK, said takings rose 1.2% in the year to 26 July, with underlying pre-tax profits up 13.6% to £66.2 million. The pub operator also reported sales of £955.1 million [...]
Discount clothing retailer Primark continues to buck the trend on the High Street after reporting a 9% rise in sales in the past six months at stores open at least a year. The results come as rivals such as Marks & Spencer, Next and Sweden’s Hennes & Mauritz (H&M) report declines amid the recession. H&M [...]
M&S Money launches 3% cash ISA
M&S Money has launched an Advantage Cash ISA paying 3 per cent, and which allows transfers in from other ISAs. It can be opened with a minimum deposit of £100 lump sum followed by minimum monthly deposits of £25. The 3% rate is variable, but there is no short-term bonus so the return won’t plummet [...]
Google suspends UK Compare Mortgages site
Google has closed its UK mortgage comparison site which it launched in July last year, after it proved to be less popular than expected. Mortgage comparison sites are designed to allow visitors to compare mortgages quickly and easily without having to visit each lender’s individual site. Google was competing with several well-established comparison sites, including [...]
AA launches ‘black-box’ policy for young drivers
The AA is launching an innovative car insurance policy called Drivesafe which could help younger drivers save up to £850 a year. Younger drivers already pay substantially higher premiums than other motorists and these costs are increasing. A new study by Confused.com suggests insurance costs for younger driver have gone up by 5.7 per cent [...]
ATOL scheme updated to protect online bookers
ATOL, a financial protection scheme managed by the Civil Aviation Authority, is being extended to protect up to six million more holidays a year. The scheme ensures that holiday makers do not lose out financially if a travel company collapses, and that they are not stranded abroad. An increase in the number of holidays booked [...]
Home repossessions lowest for four years
The number of UK homes repossessed fell to 36,200 in 2011, significantly below the Council of Mortgage Lenders’ forecast of 40,000, and lower than 2010 when 37,100 homes were repossessed. With interest rates remaining low and lenders adopting a sympathetic attitude to customers in financial difficulty, repossessions fell to their lowest level since 2007. However, [...]
Monthly pay lasting just 17 days
Workers are running out of money just 17 days after receiving their monthly pay, according to new research by the Halifax bank. This means that the average UK worker spends half the month worrying about money. The study, based on the responses of more than 2,000 adults, found that 10 per cent of workers start [...]
Women disadvantaged by auto-enrolment changes
Government proposals to increase the auto-enrolment threshold to £10,000 could put 1.8 million women at risk of missing out on a pension, the TUC has warned. Under the auto-enrolment scheme, which will be phased in from October, private sector employers will automatically enrol workers between the age of 22 years and the state pension age, [...]
Emergency household repairs company Homeserve is taking longer than expected to get back on track after its operations were suspended last October. The company expected customer numbers to fall by 5% this year but it has increased this estimate to 8% and announced the loss of 200 jobs. It estimates that renewal revenue in 2013 [...]
Sale rumoured for Yorkshire and Clydesdale banks
There is growing speculation that National Australia Bank (NAB) may sell Yorkshire Bank and Clydesdale Bank after the Australian parent company announced a strategic review of the two banks’ operations. The Australian economy is performing well and NAB reported strong profits for the final quarter of 2011 but with the UK economy at a virtual [...]
More women experiencing debt difficulties
Women in Debt, which offers female-focused debt advice, has warned that the number of UK women facing serious debt has grown significantly over recent years. The organisation believes that more women will need advice on solving debt problems in the future because they are building up an unsustainable level of indebtedness. Women in Debt’s director, [...]
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