Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are essential for understanding and improving business performance. In my 20+ years of experience as an accountant, I’ve seen businesses that devote substantial time to financial reporting but neglect to monitor the metrics that drive growth. For team-building and events businesses, tracking the right KPIs is critical to understanding client satisfaction,…
The Covid inquiry will hold private hearings to examine details about the government’s awarding of multimillion-pound PPE contracts to PPE Medpro, a company with links to the Conservative peer Michelle Mone. Dame Heather Hallett, the inquiry chair, ruled that making the evidence public could jeopardise an ongoing National Crime Agency (NCA) investigation. The NCA has…
Tesla’s market value has dipped below the $1 trillion mark for the first time since November 2024, after fresh data showed its sales in Europe and the UK fell by almost 50 per cent in January. The decline stands in stark contrast to a 34 per cent rise in European electric car registrations overall, according…
The billionaire Conservative Party donor Lord Spencer of Alresford has increased his already sizeable holding in Chapel Down Group, England’s largest wine producer, amid a protracted share-price slump since its December 2023 flotation. Recent stock exchange filings show that Spencer, founder of broker Icap and a non-executive director at Chapel Down, snapped up an additional…
Aston Martin Lagonda is set to push back its long-held plans for an all-electric range, with new chief executive Adrian Hallmark preparing to announce a revised strategy at the British carmaker’s annual results on Wednesday. Hallmark, who joined last autumn after leading Bentley Motors, is expected to confirm that Aston Martin remains committed to an…
In a move that has sent ripples through Hollywood, Amazon MGM, in partnership with long-time James Bond producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli, has formed a joint venture to oversee the rights to the iconic 007 franchise. Although all three parties will remain co-owners of Bond’s intellectual property, Amazon MGM will now lead on…
The global employment market is mired in its longest downturn in more than 20 years, according to Dirk Hahn, chief executive of Hays, Britain’s largest listed recruitment group. “I’ve been in this business for 27 years and have never seen a global downturn like it,” he said, citing “ongoing macroeconomic uncertainty” as the primary factor…
Unions are calling on the UK government to inject £200 million into British Steel, in a last-ditch attempt to keep its two blast furnaces in Scunthorpe running until electric arc replacements can be brought online. The trade union Community warns that without additional support, the rapid shutdown of Scunthorpe’s coal-fuelled blast furnaces could spark nearly…
A Cambridge-based start-up that designs and manufactures folding electric bikes has secured £1.2 million in fresh investment, aiming to ramp up production in a bid to rival market leader Brompton. Flit, founded in 2016 by cycling enthusiast Alex Murray and former Jaguar Land Rover engineer Dave Henderson, says demand for its models far exceeds current…
British companies selling via online marketplaces could be hit hard by Donald Trump’s forthcoming import regulations, with industry experts warning of a “second Brexit” in terms of disruption to trade. The changes, introduced in early February but now paused, demand that goods originating from China and sold to the US pay standard import duty—of up…
Gordon Ramsay is uniting his restaurant operations on both sides of the Atlantic through a deal that sees fresh investment flowing from US private equity house Lion Capital. The celebrity chef, 58, is merging the British and American arms of his global dining empire into a single entity, jointly owned on a 50–50 basis by…
TikTok is once again available for download in the US, after former president Donald Trump granted a 75-day extension on enforcing a law that would ban the app unless its Chinese owner, ByteDance, sells its US operations. The popular video-sharing platform, which has more than 170 million American users, briefly disappeared from Apple and Google’s…
A majority of high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs) who backed Labour in the last election now regret their decision, as confidence in the UK economy nosedives, according to a new survey. The poll, conducted by wealth manager Saltus, found that two-thirds of affluent voters who supported Sir Keir Starmer’s party in July now wish they had not….
The UK government has refused to criticise Donald Trump’s decision to impose 25 per cent tariffs on British steel exports, despite mounting concerns from industry leaders that the move will severely damage the sector. Trump’s executive order, which removes exemptions for the UK and all other nations, will see all steel and aluminium imports into…
In the early hours of the morning, 16-year-old Tom Lucas climbed into his 1970 Massey Ferguson tractor, called in sick to college, and embarked on an eight-hour journey to London—driving at just 16 miles per hour. The young farmer from Cambridgeshire made the journey to join hundreds of farmers and their vehicles—tractors, farm trucks, and…
