Swedish furniture retailer’s arrival is seen as crucial to hopes of reviving the London shopping street
Ikea will be bringing its mix of meatballs, lampshades and kitchen planning to London’s Oxford Street from 1 May, when the world’s largest furniture retailer finally opens its store 18 months late.
The company said its three-floor outlet, in the former Topshop base, would house a 130-seat Swedish deli and showrooms, as well as offering one-to-one design consultations.
Continue reading...Charlie Bean says OBR forecasts are ‘flaky’ and cautions against trying to hit targets five years away
The former Bank of England deputy governor Charlie Bean has warned the chancellor against making kneejerk cuts in next week’s spring statement to try to hit fiscal targets that are five years away.
Rachel Reeves is preparing to slash spending, including on disability benefits, in response to weaker forecasts from the independent Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) – prompting a backlash from within her own party.
Continue reading...Communist party aims to ‘promote reasonable wage growth’ and to reduce financial burdens amid Trump tariffs
China’s government has announced ambitious plans to “vigorously boost consumption” by putting up pay and reducing financial burdens, in its latest attempt to increase consumer confidence and lift its struggling economy.
The plans, announced by the ruling Chinese Communist party’s (CCP) central committee and state council on Sunday, include aims to “promote reasonable wage growth” and to improve the mechanisms for adjusting the minimum wage.
Continue reading...Sunday Times estimates the celebrity makeup artist, who founded her brand in 2013, has amassed £350m fortune
Charlotte Tilbury has topped a list of the top 30 richest beauty entrepreneurs in the UK.
The entries on the Sunday Times’s inaugural Beauty Rich List have built their wealth from a range of products and services including skincare, hair care, makeup, bath bombs and tanning shops.
Continue reading...Christopher Tsai retains faith in carmaker’s earnings potential despite backlash that has seen its shares take a hit
A devoted investor in Elon Musk’s Tesla – and once a close childhood friend of the US president’s eldest son and namesake – says he hopes the world’s richest man’s role in cutting federal spending for Donald Trump’s administration is “short-lived” and that he returns to managing his businesses.
Investment manager Christopher Tsai, whose firm has tens of millions of dollars tied up in Tesla, said the stock market had demonstrated clear signs of displeasure with Musk’s activities at the so-called department of government efficiency. And, in an interview with the Guardian, Tsai said: “I hope his involvement with [Doge] is short-lived so he can spend even more time on his businesses.”
Continue reading...British steelmakers lobby for government to set limit to compete with France and Germany
The British steel industry has called for capped energy prices for heavy industry in order to match France and Germany, as companies grapple with the fallout from Donald Trump’s trade war.
UK Steel, a lobby group, has proposed the government set a maximum price for energy through a contract for difference (CfD), before an announcement of a new steel strategy.
Continue reading...Swedish company’s valuation jumped 24% in 2024 as ‘buy now, pay later’ market is projected to top $160bn by 2032
The Swedish fintech firm Klarna disclosed on Friday that its revenue jumped 24% in 2024 as the “buy now, pay later” (BNPL) pioneer made public its filing for a much-anticipated US stock market listing.
The company, which reshaped online shopping through its short-term financing model, drew investor attention as its valuation soared from $5.5bn to $46.5bn in just two years, fueled by three funding rounds between mid-2020 and 2021.
Continue reading...Commentary urged CK Hutchison to ‘think twice’ about ‘what position and side they are on’ in sale to US investors
China has criticised the sale of the business that controls ports in Panama to US investors, saying the Hong Kong-based parent company should “think twice” and that the $22.8bn deal is “power politics” that is not in the country’s national interest.
Shares in the Hong Kong-based conglomerate CK Hutchison fell more than 6% on Friday after a critical commentary appeared in the Beijing-backed newspaper Ta Kung Pao in Hong Kong.
Continue reading...Letter from Elon Musk’s firm to US trade representative warns of ‘downstream impacts’ of tit-for-tat tariffs
Elon Musk’s Tesla has warned that Donald Trump’s trade war could expose the electric carmaker to retaliatory tariffs that would also affect other automotive manufacturers in the US.
In an unsigned letter to Jamieson Greer, the US trade representative, Tesla said it “supports fair trade” but that the US administration should ensure it did not “inadvertently harm US companies”.
Continue reading...GDP goes in wrong direction as chancellor puts final touches to fiscal plans
For a government that has made growth its overriding mission, the 0.1% decline in GDP in January signalled by the Office for National Statistics will be depressing news.
As Rachel Reeves prepares to announce her spring statement on 26 March, the economy appears to be going in the wrong direction – underlining the fact that the Office for Budget Responsibility is likely to have presented her with notably weaker forecasts than in October.
Continue reading...ONS data showing 0.1% fall in GDP in January comes less than two weeks before chancellor’s spring statement
The UK economy contracted by 0.1% in January, dealing a blow to Rachel Reeves before the spring statement later this month.
In a surprise to City economists, who expected 0.1% growth in January, the Office for National Statistics data showed the services sector failed to offset a decline in the industrial sector and maintain growth from the previous month.
Continue reading...Minicab drivers say Uber’s bid to apply tax to all rides would put many out of business and leave people stranded
Two British taxi companies have launched a crowdfunding drive for the last leg of a lengthy legal battle with Uber that could result in higher cab fares.
Uber will seek, at a supreme court hearing in July, a ruling on contractual models that affect whether VAT applies to private-hire companies outside London, which it has argued would level the playing field across the UK.
Continue reading...A similar number have also seen staff abused as shops say crime is spiralling out of control with 55,000 thefts a day
Nearly a quarter of Britons have witnessed shoplifting in the past year and seen physical or verbal abuse of shop workers as criminals become “bolder and more aggressive”.
A survey carried out for the British Retail Consortium (BRC) by the market research firm Opinium found Nottingham to be a UK hotspot for retail crime where 32% of residents said they had witnessed shoplifting. London was close behind on 29%.
Continue reading...Peter Dutton blames the government for proposed rises but won’t guarantee power prices will be lower if he wins coming election
Hundreds of thousands of households face higher power bills after the energy regulator proposed lifting benchmark prices by up to 9% in some regions.
The move prompted the energy minister on Thursday to concede power bills are “too high” and urge users to shop around for the best deal, while the opposition branded the price rise a failure of Labor’s energy policy.
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Continue reading...Districts in Birmingham now ranked below poorest areas of France, Malta and Slovenia as institute urges rethink on planned welfare cuts
The UK has tumbled down the league of affluent nations after almost a decade of welfare cuts and stagnant incomes, according to a report that found the poorest districts in Britain now rank below the lowest-income areas of Malta and Slovenia.
In a warning for ministers to protect welfare spending before Rachel Reeves’s spring statement later this month, the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) said the UK’s reputation for high living standards was under threat.
Continue reading...FCA presents email evidence it claims shows bank boss and child sex offender were like ‘family’
Prince Andrew was among a number of high-profile contacts of Jeffrey Epstein who were told that the child sex offender considered the former Barclays boss Jes Staley to be a close friend and like “family”, a court has heard
A package of emails presented at the upper tribunal in London marked the first time that the prince was explicitly mentioned in the case launched by Staley in hopes of overturning a lifetime ban from working in the City.
Continue reading...The US president is making energy deals with Japan and Ukraine, and in Africa has even touted resurrecting coal
Donald Trump’s repeated mantra of “drill, baby, drill” demands that more oil and gas be extracted in the United States, but the president has set his sights on an even broader goal: keeping the world hooked on planet-heating fossil fuels for as long as possible.
In deals being formulated with countries such as Japan and Ukraine, Trump is using US leverage in tariffs and military aid to bolster the flow of oil and gas around the world. In Africa, his administration has even touted the resurrection of coal, the dirtiest of all fossil fuels, to bring energy to the continent.
Continue reading...The prime minister has ruled out imposing reciprocal tariffs on the US. Follow today’s news live
Trump tariff decision bad for Australia-US ties – Butler
Mark Butler said the US tariff decision was “bad for our relationship” when asked whether it had a damaging effect on international relations on ABC News Breakfast a short while ago.
This is a disappointing decision. It’s a bad economic decision. It’s bad for our relationship. It’s bad for the US, ultimately, because we think that the exports we send to them - which are significantly less than the exports they send to us - are good for the US economy. They’re good for US industry. They’re particularly good for defence, which is an important area of cooperation.
We think this is a bad decision that’s disappointing, and we’ll continue to press the case for it.
We’ve only been going at this for almost seven weeks that President Trump has been back in office. We intend to continue to press the case at the highest level – particularly ambassador Rudd has been relentless in this, meeting with officials almost constantly to press the American case. We’ve had a lot of senior ministerial engagement.
Obviously the prime minister has spoken directly with the president. We’ll continue to do that. It’s not only in Australia’s interest – which for us, is the most important thing – we’re confident, we’re very sure it’s in both of our interests’ interest to continue the open trade that has characterised particularly the last 20 years under the US FTA.
Continue reading...Committee warns of serious injustice to disabled motorists and those reliant on public chargers
The rollout of electric vehicle chargers across Britain is “patchy”, behind deadline and ignores the needs of disabled drivers, the parliamentary spending watchdog has found.
A report published by the public accounts committee (PAC) warned that the charging points needed to give drivers confidence for the switch to EVs were still lacking, particularly on Britain’s biggest roads.
Continue reading...Company says successful turnaround of the heritage brand will provide the blueprint for the rest of the group
The online fashion retailer Boohoo is rebranding as Debenhams, after buying it out of administration four years ago, as it took a £40m hit on excess stock in its brands aimed at younger shoppers.
Debenhams, founded as a single store in London in 1778, disappeared from the high street when it collapsed in 2021, costing thousands of jobs. Boohoo then swooped for the brand and relaunched it as an online-only retailer.
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