Business

Rolls-Royce has signalled it could manufacture its next-generation UltraFan engine outside Britain unless the government provides financial support, raising fresh questions about the UK’s commitment to its aerospace industrial strategy. The FTSE 100 engineering group, led by chief executive Tufan Erginbilgic, is seeking to re-enter the highly lucrative market for narrowbody, single-aisle aircraft engines, the fastest-growing segment of global civil aviation. However, it says industrialising the UltraFan platform for this market will require public backing,...

In their most simple forms, expense policies are designed to control costs, ensure fairness and reduce financial risk. On paper, most organisations already have these documents in place, often reviewed annually and signed off by finance and HR teams. In theory, they should provide clarity and consistency. In practice, however, many expense policies fail to deliver the control they promised at the offset. Spend becomes unpredictable, enforcement slips into inconsistency, and finance teams are left...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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 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 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 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....