Accountancy firm BDO has warned Britain’s retailers should prepare themselves for some tough times as pressure builds on consumers in the run-up to Christmas. According to the firm’s High Street Sales Tracker, sales figures for August fell 2.2% among mid-market retailers, attributed to the riots and cooler weather during the month. The riots, in particular, [...]
A report by letting agency network LSL Property Services has revealed tenant demand has risen in recent weeks after April’s long bank holiday weekends and warm weather led to a surge in would-be tenants looking for property. According to the agency, rents grew by 0.8% in April to £692 per month compared with the previous [...]
The long bank holiday weekends and sunny weather has led to a rise in retail sales for the month of April, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS) today. The ONS said retail sales grew 1.12% last month due to the late Easter holidays, hot weather and Royal Wedding, with clothing, footwear and food [...]
The long bank holiday weekends and sunny weather has led to a surge in retail sales for the month of April, according to the British Retail Consortium (BRC) today. The BRC said retail sales grew 5.2% last month due to the late Easter holidays, hot weather and Royal Wedding, with clothing, barbecue food, champagne and [...]
According to the latest Lloyds TSB Business Monitor, Scotland’s economic recovery has been hit by the severe wintry weather at the end of last year. For the three months to the end of February, almost half of companies experienced a decline in turnover, one third experienced level, or “static”, turnover, while a quarter noted an [...]
The Commerce Department has today revealed a sharp fall in sales of new homes in the US for the month of January. According to the Commerce Department, new single-family home sales fell 12.6% on a monthly basis to an annual rate of 248,000 units. On an annual basis, January sales were down 18.6%. However, the [...]
Europe’s largest economy, Germany, looks set to be continuing its strong recovery after Federal Statistical Office, Destatis, reported the economy grew by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. For the 2010 year, the economy expanded by 3.6%, said Destatis. However, both figures were slightly below forecasts with economists expecting quarterly growth of 0.5% and annual growth [...]
Influential think tank, the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR), has today suggested the UK economy recovered in January after adverse weather conditions led to a shock contraction in the final quarter of last year. Last month, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed the UK economy contracted by 0.5% in the October [...]
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has today revealed UK manufacturing output fell in December – due to the severe wintry weather during the month. However, the coldest December for a century resulted in a sharp rise in energy production leading to an overall rise in output. According to the ONS, manufacturing output fell 0.1% [...]
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has today revealed the UK’s trade deficit hit a record high in December – fuelled by a sharp rise in imports of aircraft. According to the ONS, the goods trade gap widened to £9.247 billion in December from a revised £8.460 billion the previous month. The December figure represented [...]
The European Union’s statistics office Eurostat has today revealed retail sales fell unexpectedly in the euro zone last month. It represented the second consecutive monthly decline and followed November’s fall of 0.3%. According to Eurostat, sales fell 0.6% in December on the month, while on an annual basis, sales were down 0.9%. The figures surprised [...]
The severe wintry weather that gripped most parts of the country last month meant a surge in internet sales. While the High Street suffered as consumers opted to stay at home, internet sales surged 25% in December (compared with December 2009) to £6.8 billion, with the sale of clothing, footwear and alcohol particularly strong. The [...]
Supermarket giant Tesco today announced like-for-like sales, excluding petrol, grew by just 0.6% in the six week period to 8 January compared with a year earlier. The figures were worse than expected for the Christmas period and the company blamed the heavy snowfall which gripped most of the country during the build up to the [...]
A meeting between Business Secretary Vince Cable, Chancellor George Osborne and the bosses of the UK’s top five banks has been delayed after Mr Osborne is stranded in the US due to bad weather. The meeting, scheduled for this afternoon to discuss the controversial issue of bonuses, had to be cancelled due to transport problems. [...]
Christmas shopping could be hit with the expected return of heavy snowfall over the next few days, according to a report today. A survey by market research company, GfK NOP, found that almost one third of Christmas shopping in Britain is done in the two weeks prior to Christmas. Should the bad weather return, retailers [...]
A survey by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) today revealed shoppers hit the High Street in July, with sales increasing at the fastest pace in more than three years. According to the CBI’s monthly distributive trades survey, supermarkets, clothes and shoe shops received the most business as sales grew at the fastest rate since [...]
The Scottish Chambers of Commerce (SCC) has today reported that the Scottish economy suffered in the early part of the year due to severe wintry weather, which hit both confidence and activity. The report, which reviewed the first three months of 2010, was carried out by the SCC in conjunction with Strathclyde University’s Fraser of [...]
Scottish airline, Highland Airways, has gone into voluntary administration putting 100 jobs at risk. The company, which is based in Inverness and also has routes to Wales, called in administrators last night, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), to take over the running of the business. The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said operations had been suspended “with immediate effect”. [...]
A study by Lloyds TSB Commercial has revealed the impact the big freeze had on the UK’s small and medium-sized companies (SMEs) earlier this year. According to the research, the coldest winter in decades cost SMEs more than £7 billion. Seven out of ten small firms were severely affected with snow and ice hitting deliveries [...]
Figures published by the Federal Reserve today revealed a marginal rise in US industrial production in February. According to the US central bank, industrial output rose by just 0.1% in the month and followed a 0.9% increase in January. However, the small rise was better than the zero percent that analysts had forecast after severe [...]
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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