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IAG unveils €1.5bn share buyback after record profits at British Airways owner

The owner of British Airways has launched a fresh €1.5 billion share buyback after reporting record annual profits, underlining the scale of the post-pandemic turnaround in the airline industry. International Airlines Group (IAG), which also owns British Airways, Iberia, Aer Lingus and Vueling, reported a 22 per cent rise in profit after tax to €3.34 billion for 2025. Group revenues climbed 3.5 per cent to €33.2 billion, despite passenger numbers edging down slightly to 121.5...

54.7% of Retail Brands now Have Their Own Product Line

Businesses are rapidly growing their branded product lines in an attempt to meet changing consumer behaviour. Private labels now account for over 54.7% of sales made at grocery stores. Retailer-owned products not being seen as a cheap alternative anymore, but instead, a way to convey luxury and exclusivity. Price-Led Positioning is No Longer Dominating UK Supermarkets Small UK businesses are aggressively growing, with price-led positioning becoming a dated trend. It’s becoming evident that brands are...

Understanding Trading: A Beginner’s Guide to Financial Markets

Trading is the process of buying and selling financial assets such as stocks, currencies, commodities, or cryptocurrencies with the goal of making a profit. Unlike long-term investing, trading often focuses on short-term price movements. Today, trading has become accessible to ordinary people through online platforms and global exchanges like the New York Stock Exchange, NASDAQ, and regional markets such as the Pakistan Stock Exchange. How Trading Works At its core, trading is based on price...

Finding the Right Telemarketing Agency in the UK: A Complete Guide for Growing Businesses

It’s 9 AM on a Tuesday morning, and your sales team is already drowning in leads they can’t seem to convert. Meanwhile, your competitors are somehow managing to reach prospects you didn’t even know existed. The difference? They’ve partnered with a professional telemarketing agency. If you’re a UK business owner wondering whether outsourcing your telephone sales efforts could be the game-changer you’ve been looking for, you’re in the right place. In today’s competitive marketplace, finding...

Top 5 Best AP Automation Software Platforms Reviewed: Finding the Right Fit for Your Finance Team

Accounts Payable (AP) automation is revolutionizing how finance teams manage invoices, payments, and vendor relations. This technology streamlines processes that were traditionally manual and labor-intensive, offering a host of benefits such as increased efficiency, reduced errors, and improved cash flow management. Understanding the Need for AP Automation The manual processing of accounts payable can be fraught with challenges, including errors in data entry, delayed payments, and difficulty in tracking invoices. These issues can lead to...

MPs back Doug Gurr for CMA chair but demand safeguards over conflicts and independence

MPs have approved Doug Gurr as fit to become the next permanent chair of the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), but warned ministers that additional safeguards are needed to protect the regulator’s independence and address potential conflicts of interest. In a report published on Thursday following a pre-appointment hearing earlier this week, the House of Commons Business and Trade Committee said it was satisfied that Mr Gurr has “the professional competence and independence required” to...

Instagram to alert parents if teens search for suicide and self-harm content

Instagram will begin notifying parents if their teenagers repeatedly search for suicide or self-harm related content, marking the first time owner Meta has proactively flagged search behaviour rather than simply blocking it. From next week, parents and teenagers enrolled in Instagram’s “Teen Accounts” supervision programme in the UK, US, Australia and Canada will receive alerts if a young user searches for harmful terms within a short period of time. The feature will be rolled out...

Ocado to axe 1,000 jobs in cost-cutting drive

Ocado Group is preparing to cut 1,000 jobs over the next year as it accelerates a cost-cutting drive aimed at stabilising finances and restoring investor confidence. The reductions, equivalent to around 5 per cent of its global workforce , will fall heavily on the UK, with roughly two-thirds of the affected roles based domestically. Most of the cuts are expected at the company’s headquarters in Hatfield, Hertfordshire, and will largely impact technology and support functions....

Nearly one million young people out of work or education as Neet rate edges higher

The number of young people not in education, employment or training has edged closer to one million, underlining mounting pressure on Britain’s fragile labour market and intensifying calls for targeted intervention from ministers. Official figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that an estimated 957,000 people aged 16 to 24 were classified as Neet between October and December 2025. That represents 12.8 per cent of the age group, a slight rise on the...

OpenAI to make London its largest research hub outside US

OpenAI is to expand its London research centre to become its largest hub outside the United States, setting the stage for an intensified battle with Google DeepMind for top artificial intelligence talent in the UK capital. The developer of ChatGPT said it would significantly increase the size of its London operation, which currently employs around 30 researchers, although it stopped short of disclosing specific headcount targets or investment figures. The move represents a strategic deepening...