Image copyright Getty Images The Bank of England has kept interest rates on hold amid continued uncertainty over Brexit. All nine members of the Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) voted to keep rates at 0.75%, where they have been since August last year. In the meeting’s minutes, the MPC said the economic outlook would continue […]
Image copyright Getty Images Scams in which criminals trick bank customers into paying them money out of their bank accounts jumped by 45% in the second half of last year. In the six months to December, £135m was transferred out of personal accounts to fraudsters with the customer’s permission. In the first half of 2018, […]
Image copyright Getty Images Retail sales rose in February, up by 0.4% on the previous month, official figures show. But sales at food stores saw the biggest fall since December 2016, the Office for National Statistics said. Separate data showed government borrowing fell to £0.2bn in February from £1.2bn a year earlier. After 11 months […]
Image copyright Reuters Next says annual profits at its High Street stores have fallen by just over 20%, while online profits jumped by nearly 14%. Sales in its stores fell nearly 8% to £1.95bn, while online sales rose by 14.7% to £1.92bn. Overall, the company said group pre-tax profits were in line with expectations at […]
Troubled fashion chain Ted Baker has seen a 26% fall in annual profits amid “very difficult trading conditions”. The results come less than three weeks after the retailer’s boss, Ray Kelvin, resigned in the wake of allegations of misconduct, including “forced hugging”. The figures were in line with a profit warning issued last month that […]
Image copyright Getty Images Five minutes before closing time, Lilly was restocking milk when two masked men entered the shop where she worked, one with a Taser and one with a gun. They demanded money from the till, then panicked and tasered both Lilly and her colleague Mary. Lilly and Mary are just two of […]
Image copyright Getty Images One of the UK’s major toilet tissue importers has been stockpiling to ensure it can maintain supplies in the event of a no-deal Brexit. German-owned Wepa has stockpiled an extra 600 tonnes of finished product, or about 3.5m rolls, in UK warehouses. UK boss Mike Docker said Wepa was now chartering […]
Image copyright Jeroen van Loon Image caption Kenya’s fishermen are increasingly struggling to make a living As the frozen fish defrosts under the hot Kenyan sun, fishmonger Mechak Juma prefers not to tell his customers that it has come all the way from China. We are at the largest fish market in the city of […]
Image copyright Reuters Levi Strauss will be worth about $6.5bn (£5bn) when the denim-maker rejoins the stock market after 34 years away. Shares in the inventor of the blue jean have been priced at $17 each, just above the target range of $14-16. Levi’s has sold $623m worth of shares to institutional investors before allowing […]
The UK’s request to delay Brexit drew more fire from business leaders, as the value of sterling fell on concern that leaving without a deal was more likely. The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) said it was “unacceptable” business was no clearer about the terms on which Britain would exit the EU. It follows Prime […]
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption US Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell The US Federal Reserve does not expect to raise interest rates for the rest of 2019 amid slower economic growth. After a two-day meeting, monetary policymakers voted unanimously to keep the US interest rate range between 2.25%-2.5%. Fed members changed their outlook for […]
Image copyright AFP US stocks have fallen after President Donald Trump said his administration was considering leaving tariffs on China for a “substantial period”. Mr Trump said that a trade deal with Beijing was “coming along nicely”, but his comments dampened hopes a deal would be reached soon. US negotiators are due to visit China […]