Category Archives: Business

Virgin Trains on track to challenge Eurostar cross-Channel monopoly with access to key depot

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UK rail regulator approves Richard Branson firm’s application to use Temple Mills site in London

Richard Branson’s train company is a step closer to challenging Eurostar’s monopoly on transporting passengers across the Channel after the UK rail regulator approved Virgin Train’s application to use a key depot in east London.

The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) approved Virgin’s application to use the Temple Mills depot in Leyton – which is used for maintaining and storing trains. It said the move would unlock £700m of investment in new services and create 400 jobs.

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Microsoft reports strong earnings as Azure hit by major outage

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Tech giant reports earnings of $3.72 per share day after deal with OpenAI pushed value of company to more than $4tn

Microsoft blew off concerns of overspending on AI on Wednesday, reporting elevated earnings even as it faced an outage of its cloud computing service, Azure, and its office software suite, 365. The strong earnings report comes a day after a deal with OpenAI pushed the value of tech giant to more than $4tn.

After its Xbox and investor relations pages went down, the company issued a statement that said: “We are working to address an issue affecting Azure Front Door that is impacting the availability of some services.”

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Meta reports mixed financial results amid spree of AI hiring and spending

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Tech company brings in record quarterly revenue but major tax bill dampens earnings per share

Meta reported mixed financial results for the third quarter of 2025. The company brought in record quarterly revenue but reported a major tax bill that dampened earnings per share, the company announced on Wednesday. The financial results come as Meta ends a multibillion-dollar hiring spree focused on artificial intelligence talent.

The tech giant earned $51.24bn in quarterly revenue, beating Wall Street expectations and the company’s own projections for third-quarter sales. However, it reported earnings per share (EPS) of $1.05, far below Wall Street expectations of $6.70 in EPS. The major drop was due to a one-time non-cash income tax charge of $15.93bn. The EPS would have been $7.25 without this one-time charge, the company said.

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Google parent Alphabet beats forecasts with first $100bn quarter

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Strong demand for ads and cloud services powered tech giant’s growth as it makes multibillion-dollar AI investment

Google’s parent company, Alphabet, displayed steady growth in its core advertising business and cloud computing division as it reported third-quarter earnings on Wednesday, beating Wall Street estimates as it reported its first quarter of $100bn in revenue.

The company thrilled Wall Street – shares rose in after-hours trading – even as it announced that it would spend billions more than previously predicted. Alphabet raised its capital expenditure guidance in financial filings, declaring it would spend between $91bn and $93bn in the upcoming year, nearly all of it on infrastructure like datacenters to support artificial intelligence products, which are becoming an integral part of the company’s business. That estimate is up from an original declaration of $75bn in February and a revised figure of $85bn announced in July.

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Fed cuts interest rates for second time this year amid economic uncertainty

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Central bank sets rates at range between 3.75% and 4% amid turbulence from government shutdown and Trump’s tariffs

The US Federal Reserve cut interest rates on Wednesday, the second rate cut this year amid economic turbulence from the federal government shutdown and Donald Trump’s tariffs.

The decision to cut the Fed’s benchmark interest rate by a quarter point to a range of 3.75% to 4% comes at an extraordinary moment for the central bank. The Fed has been under immense pressure from Donald Trump to cut rates despite persistent inflation.

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UK must reform drug pricing to become life sciences superpower, says GSK boss

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Shares jump on higher profits as Emma Walmsley is ‘hopeful’ standoff with NHS can be resolved

GSK’s outgoing chief executive, Emma Walmsley, has said Britain will struggle to be a “life sciences superpower” unless it overhauls drug pricing.

As ministers draw up proposals to increase the amount the NHS spends on new medicines by up to 25%, Walmsley said she was “hopeful and ambitious” that the standoff with the pharma industry could be resolved.

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Trump and Xi talks could end months of global economic chaos

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High on agenda for the leaders of the US and China will be rare earths and tariffs, with a chance of a relationship reset

Ahead of Thursday’s long-awaited first meeting between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping since the US president’s return to office, officials from both sides have been hammering out the contours of what a trade deal between Washington and Beijing might look like, an agreement that could bring an end to months of global economic chaos caused by the US-China trade war.

The two leaders have not met in person since 2019. Since then, the war in Ukraine and increasing concern in Washington about China’s technological advances, as well as longstanding issues about the imbalanced US-China trade relationship, have strained the bonds between the two superpowers.

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BT ‘considering low-cost mobile brand’ as Revolut and Monzo plan launches

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Move into budget market could involve creating new brand in-house or buying virtual network operator

BT is reportedly considering the launch of new a low-cost mobile brand, as the telecoms group explores ways to compete with new rivals in the market including the fintech companies Revolut and Monzo.

The group is exploring options to enter the budget market, which could involve creating a new brand in-house or buying an existing virtual network operator, according to the Financial Times.

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Australia’s largest aluminium smelter Tomago ‘not commercially viable’ and facing closure, says Rio Tinto

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Consultation over future pathway with employees as smelter struggles with high power prices

Rio Tinto says it is contemplating ceasing operations at its New South Wales-based Tomago aluminium smelter at the end of its current electricity supply contract.

The Tomago aluminium smelter, Australia’s largest, had been struggling with high power prices. It had started a consultation process with employees on the potential future of its operations, but was yet to reach a decision and is weighing a possible closure.

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Exxon sues California over climate laws, alleging free speech violations

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Oil firm asks court to block enforcement of laws that would require disclosure of planet-heating carbon emissions

Exxon, an oil firm consistently ranked among the world’s top contributors to global carbon emissions, is suing the state of California over two climate-focused state laws, arguing that the rules infringe upon the corporation’s right to free speech.

The 2023 laws, known collectively as the California Climate Accountability Package, will require large companies doing business in the state to disclose both their planet-heating carbon emissions and their climate-related financial risks, or face annual penalties.

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US Boeing workers continue midwest strike after rejecting latest contract offer

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Nearly three-month strike includes 3,200 machinists at plants where military aircraft and weapons are developed

Boeing workers at three midwest plants where military aircraft and weapons are developed voted Sunday to reject the company’s latest contract offer and to continue a strike that started almost three months ago.

The strike by about 3,200 machinists at the plants in Mascoutah, Illinois, and the Missouri cities of St Louis and St Charles is smaller in scale than a walkout last year by 33,000 Boeing workers who assemble commercial jetliners but threatens to complicate the aerospace company’s progress in regaining its financial footing.

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Trump sanctions have swift impact but will world stop buying Russian oil and gas?

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Analysts say president’s war on Russia’s fossil fuel revenues is a chance to bring peace to Ukraine and profit to US

Donald Trump’s stated mission to broker peace in Ukraine could come down to this simple question: can the US president convince the world to stop buying Russia’s fossil fuels?

Last week, Trump imposed sanctions on Russia’s two largest oil companies, Rosneft and Lukoil, in an effort to damage Moscow’s ability to fund its war machine.

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Do populists always crash the economy?

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Argentina is counting the cost of its turn to Javier Milei. Politicians from Donald Trump to Giorgia Meloni and Nigel Farage will be closely watching what happens next

“Cambio, cambio.” Under the blazing sun, dozens of money changers are hawking US dollars along Florida Street, a bustling pedestrian strip in Buenos Aires. Known as arbolitos (“little trees”), they are thriving ahead of the 26 October midterm elections in a country long used to saving in the greenback.

“The best time to buy is now,” says one arbolito, declining to give her name. “[The dollar] went down a little but it is a fake-out – it’ll rise again.”

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US prices rose at a 3% annual rate in September, slightly beating forecasts

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Increase was largely driven by a 4.1% increase in gasoline prices despite Trump’s campaign pledge to ‘end inflation’

Prices continued to rise in September, increasing at an annual rate of 3%, according to the latest government inflation report.

The September 2025 consumer price index (CPI) was published approximately two weeks later than usual due to the federal government shutdown, which halted all Bureau of Labor Statistics operations.

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NatWest boss warns against higher bank taxes as lender’s profits rise 30%

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CEO says fiscal discipline should be balanced with ‘policies that create stability, consistency and support growth’

NatWest Group’s chief executive has warned the government against increasing taxes on banks in the autumn budget as the high street lender reported a 30% jump in profits.

Paul Thwaite said he understood the “difficult choices” that the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, had to make in order to help close a potential £30bn shortfall in the public finances but argued she needed to “balance fiscal discipline” with “policies that create stability, consistency and support growth”.

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UK’s biggest weapons firm BAE grounds ‘lifeline’ aircraft delivering food aid

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Exclusive: In the year they announced record profits, Britain’s arms maker has revoked licence to fly for planes taking supplies of food to starving people in South Sudan, Somalia and DRC

Britain’s biggest weapons manufacturer, BAE Systems, has quietly scrapped support for a fleet of aircraft providing “life-saving” humanitarian aid to some of the world’s poorest countries.

The decision further reduces the distribution of vital aid to countries facing serious humanitarian crises, including South Sudan, Somalia and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

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Trump says all Canada trade talks ‘terminated’ over ad criticising tariffs

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US president accuses Canada of ‘egregious behaviour’ after release of ad featuring Ronald Reagan criticising tariffs

Donald Trump has announced an immediate end to “all trade negotiations” with Canada over a television advertisement opposing US tariffs that quoted the former US president Ronald Reagan.

The ad, which was paid for by the government of the Canadian province of Ontario, uses excerpts of a 1987 speech where Reagan says “trade barriers hurt every American worker”.

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Tesla reports steep drop in profits despite US rush to buy electric vehicles

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Carmaker exceeded Wall Street’s expectations with more than $26bn in revenue, but saw a 37% drop in profits

Despite record vehicle sales, Tesla saw a precipitous drop in profit in its most recent quarter.

A rush to buy electric vehicles before a US tax credit for them disappears had boosted Tesla’s flagging sales, leading to the automaker exceeding some of Wall Street’s projections in its most recent financial quarter. Yet the company failed to meet earnings expectations and its stock fell in after hours trading.

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US demands EU reverse new climate rules to allow surge in gas imports

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US and Qatar say new rules will hinder imports of LNG, posing ‘existential threat’ to European economies

The US has demanded that the European Union roll back its climate and human rights rules in order to allow greater imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG), as the Trump administration approved a controversial gas export hub along the Gulf of Mexico coast.

A letter jointly sent by the US and Qatar, two of the three largest LNG exporters in the world, warned the EU that its new rules pose an “existential threat” to European economies as they would hinder imports of gas from countries such as theirs.

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Signs of peak inflation open door to earlier Bank of England interest rate cuts

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Policymakers under pressure for rethink after price growth in UK remained at 3.8% in September

Has UK inflation peaked? The latest official figures showing price growth in the UK stayed at 3.8% in September seem to suggest so.

The statement cannot be made with absolute certainty yet but many economists reacted to the latest consumer prices index (CPI) data with a message that the only direction for inflation over the rest of the year was down.

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