Marketing Newscast

The Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer refused to repeat Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ promise to the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) just nine days ago that there would be no more borrowing or tax rises following those announced in her first Budget, and now she herself has refused to make the same explicit promise again. “I’m really clear, I’m not coming back with more borrowing or more taxes,” she said at the CBI annual conference, but yesterday in Parliament, when Shadow Chancellor Mel Stride asked her: “When she recently pledged to the CBI that she would not be raising taxes again, did she mean it?” Reeves replied: “At the Budget in October, which [he] knows, we had to fix a £22bn black hole in the public finances. And of course some of that black hole comes from the fact that we are the only G7 economy where employment is lower than it was before the pandemic, when he was presiding as work and pensions secretary in the previous government.” Stride followed up by asking whether Downing Street had “changed its mind”, or if she “spoke without thinking” when she told the CBI she would not repeat her Budget hikes, to which Reeves said: “No Chancellor is going to write five years’ worth of Budget in their first five months as Chancellor of the Exchequer, but what I can say is that we will never have to deliver a Budget like that again.” Conservative MP Nick Timothy also asked her to repeat her own words, saying: “Last week the Chancellor told the CBI she wouldn’t ‘come back with more borrowing or taxes’… so will she repeat them today… yes or no?” The Chancellor replied: “At the Budget in October we had to fill the £22bn black hole left by the previous government. We will never have to repeat a Budget like that because we won’t ever have to clear up the mess of the previous government ever again.” John O’Connell, CEO of the TaxPayers’ Alliance told City AM: “Taxpayers will be genuinely fearing a spring tax raid in the new year given the comments by the chancellor. Reeves should deliver on the promise she made just weeks ago to not impose any more punishing tax hikes on businesses and households.”

The Government yesterday published legislation that will enforce a pre-9pm ban on junk food advertising on television from October 2025, claiming the policy will prevent an estimated 20,000 cases of childhood obesity by removing 7.2bn calories a year from UK children’s diets. The scope of the proposed new law is broad, covering granola, porridge oats, yoghurt, ice cream, cakes, rice cakes, croissants, custard, pizza, fries and chips, as well as a range of ready meals and pre-prepared food. There will also be a ban on online advertising, with Ministers claiming that “overall the studies do find a clear link between food advertising and calorie consumption”. However, The Advertising Association (AA) has criticised the policy, saying it “will have an inevitable impact on the creative industries and wider economic growth that advertising plays a key role in driving”. “The government’s own impact assessment recognised that this could cost commercial media hundreds of millions of pounds. Money which would be used to fund journalism, new programming, sport, and Britain’s creative industries, all of which are vital to the government’s growth agenda,” it added. The AA also suggested that the impact “in reducing the daily calorie intake of an average child will be minimal at best while potentially costing our sector millions of pounds”. In stark contrast to the Government’s data, the AA believes the advertising ban will cut just 2.1 calories from children’s diets each day while costing advertisers £659m in returns over 25 years. Health Secretary Wes Streeting insisted: “Obesity robs our kids of the best possible start in life, sets them up for a lifetime of health problems, and costs the NHS billions. This is the first step to deliver a major shift in the focus of healthcare from sickness to prevention, and to meeting our ambition to give every child a healthy, happy start to life.”

South Western Railway (SWR) will become the first rail operator to be renationalised by the Labour Government, when its contract finishes in May 2025, the Department for Transport (DfT) has confirmed. c2c will also be renationalised in July next year, followed by Greater Anglia in the Autumn. The Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Act 2024, allowing the Government to take rail contracts back into public ownership, passed last week. Eventually, a new quango, Great British Railways (GBR) will take over service contracts currently held by private firms as they expire. Four major operators - East Coast Mainline, TransPennine, Northern and South Eastern - have already been taken under public control and are being run by the government's operator of last resort, DfT OLR Holdings Limited (DOHL), which was established by the DfT to maintain the continuity of passenger rail services if a passenger rail franchise terminates and there is no replacement. Transport for Wales was also brought under Welsh Government control in 2021, and Scotrail was taken over by the Scottish Government the following year. Northern Ireland's rail system has remained nationalised since 1948. The plan is for GBR to also take over responsibility for maintaining and improving rail infrastructure from the already nationalised Network Rail. SWR has more than 1,500 services scheduled to run per weekday in south west London and the south of England, where it provides key commuter service into London Waterloo. It is run currently as a joint venture between First Group and MTR, the Hong Kong rail operator. c2c runs services between Fenchurch Street and Shoeburyness, and serves 26 stations in east London and south Essex; while Greater Anglia runs services between London, Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire Hertfordshire and Essex.

While international firms snapped up UK companies apace over the summer, domestic mergers and acquisitions (M&A) slumped, according to figures from the Office for National Statistics ONS). Foreign buyers engaged in deals worth some £7.8bn between July and September, a 16% rise, notably as a result of the $976m (£769m) takeover by UK door and window supplier Tyman by US-based Quanex in August. However, UK firms spent just £2.1bn acquiring domestic targets over the period, its lowest level since the first quarter of 2023, and down from £3bn the prior quarter, the ONS said.

South Korean firms have seen their share prices plummet as the country’s President Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial law, an unexpected move that prompted a sharp sell-off. Coupang (CPNG), South Korea’s largest online retailer, saw its US stock drop by 6%, while Posco (PKX), the country’s leading steelmaker, declined by 5% decline, reflecting worries about the broader implications for industrial sectors, Yahoo! Finance says. Samsung Electronics (SMSN.IL), meanwhile, the world’s largest semiconductor maker, saw its UK-listed shares fall 7%, while Captivision (CAPT), a South Korean company specialising in architectural media glass, dropped by over 10% on Wall Street.

Revolut CEO Nik Storonsky has said it is “not rational” for his firm, Europe’s most valuable fintech start-up, to list in London, despite being based in the capital. Although Revolut would consider an IPO “sooner or later,” the UK market just “can’t compete” with the liquidity offered by the US, given the stamp duty charged on buying shares, Storonsky argued on the 20VC podcast. There have been numerous calls for the Government to scrap the 0.5% stamp duty charge on UK shares, including from Revolut, and the new Lord Mayor of London Alastair King. Storonsky added that if he were to start Revolut today, he would do so in the US, suggesting the bank is leaning towards a listing on Wall Street.

Games Workshop will join the FTSE 100 later this month, in the next quarterly reshuffle. The Warhammer maker’s stock has climbed 44% this year, making it the 85th largest UK listed company.

The Financial Conduct Authority is likely to give the green light to a London IPO by Chinese retailer Shein judging by an interview the FCA CEO Nikhil Rathi has given to the Financial Times. Rathisaid companies were admitted to the London Stock Exchange (LSE) based on their disclosures and not "every aspect of their corporate behaviour," adding that it was "not unusual" for UK-listed companies to carry risks. "What's important is that they disclose it, the investors understand it and they can price that risk," he said. Shein is one of the world's largest online fashion retailers in recent years and is likely be valued at around £50bn should a listing go ahead, but there has been pressure to block a London listing because of the environmental impact of its fast fashion empire and allegations of human rights abuses in its supply chain, including using forced labour in China. The firm denies these allegations, but has admitted it found two cases of child labour in its supply chain last year. If Shein did list in London, it would instantly become the most valuable company on the LSE and the UK’s largest ever IPO. Before the election, Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds met with Shein executives and suggested it would back the company’s plans for a London stock flotation as it would then be regulated by UK law.

Marston's reported a rise in full-year profit and revenue yesterday. In the 52 weeks to 28^th September, underlying pre-tax profit at the London-listed brewer and pub operator rose 64.5% to £42.1m. Revenue grew 3% to £898.6m and like-for-like sales were up 4.8%. Statutory pre-tax profit was £14.4m compared to a loss of £30.6m the year before.

NatWest Group is on course to return to full private ownership next year, CEO Paul Thwaite said at the Financial Times' global banking summit yesterday. The bank received a Government bailout totalling £46bn during the 2008 financial crisis, when it was known as the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS). The state took a 58% stake in the firm, but the taxpayer now owns just 11%. Thwaite said: "It is reasonable to expect that, absent some big dislocation or economic event, we'll be back in private ownership next year, maybe as early as the first half of the year." "I think it will be a symbolic moment for the sector,” he added. the government also bailed out Lloyds Banking Group, Bradford & Bingley and Northern Rock during the crisis.

Iberica, the Spanish restaurant chain headed by Michelin-starred chef Nacho Manzano yesterday filed a notice of intention to appoint administrators. Iberica opened its first restaurant in Marylebone, central London, in 2008 and has since expanded to other parts of the capital, Sky News reports. In 2016, it opened a site in Leeds. RSM, the professional services firm, is understood to have been lined up to handle the insolvency.

More than 600 super-rich buyers are already on a waiting list to buy luxury London apartments starting at £35m, City AM reports. 1 Mayfair, the £2bn scheme being led by the Phones4u billionaire John Caudwell, is set for completion in spring of 2026, when it will become London’s most expensive residential property development ever, trumping Knightsbridge’s One Hyde Park. The 300,000 sq ft scheme includes an in-house spa and underground parking.

Former Post Office CEO Nick Read is expected to lose out on a bonus package worth more than £750,000 because he stepped down abruptly in September in the wake of the Horizon scandal, the BBC reports. With Read earning basic pay of £435,750 in 2024, he would have been in line for a maximum payout totalling £383,460 for the year ending March 2024, the Post Office’s most recent annual report shows. In addition, it is understood that the 58-year old stood to pick up roughly the same amount in financial rewards again for the coming year, taking the maximum possible bonuses over the two years to £767,000. However, by handing in his resignation he has forfeited those too, the Post Office said.

Gary Lineker has been back in court in a dispute over a £4.9m tax bill as HMRC aims to overturn a previous ruling in favour of the BBC Match of the Day presenter. The long-running dispute stems back to 2017 when the taxman first alleged Lineker’s claim to be freelance was incorrect, and argued that he was essentially an employee who should have had income tax and national insurance deducted from his salary on a PAYE basis.

China has banned exports of "dual-use items" related to gallium, germanium, antimony and superhard materials to the US with immediate effect, its commerce ministry said. Gallium and germanium are used in semiconductors while germanium is also used in infrared technology, fibre optic cables and solar cells. Antimony is used in bullets and other weaponry while graphite is the largest component by volume of electric vehicle batteries. The announcement comes a day after Washington's third crackdown in three years on China’s semiconductor industry, which restricts exports to 140 companies. “It comes as no surprise that China has responded to the increasing restrictions by American authorities, current and imminent, with its own restrictions on the supply of these strategic minerals,” Peter Arkell, chairman of the Global Mining Association of China, told Aljazeera. On Monday, in response to the US crackdown, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian warned that China would take measures to safeguard the rights and interests of its firms.