The U.K. economy sank into a recession in the final six months of 2023, marking it out as one of the weakest performers among developed nations, hit by high inflation and interest rates that stifled household spending, official data confirmed Thursday, the Wall Street Journal reported. U.K. gross domestic product shrank 0.3% between October and December, matching prior data from the Office for National Statistics published in February.
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The collapse of Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge is likely to lead to a multi-billion dollar insurance loss, the chairperson of commercial insurance market Lloyd's of London said on Thursday, Reuters reported. The massive Singapore-flagged container ship Dali sailing out of Baltimore Harbor bound for Sri Lanka reported losing power and the ability to maneuver before plowing into a support pylon of the bridge on Tuesday.
Rishi Sunak has denied there is a “crisis” in local government funding despite warnings that well-run councils are on the brink of bankruptcy and local services at risk without more support, The Guardian reported. The prime minister admitted that councils faced “challenges,” in particular with inflation, which has significantly outpaced recent cash injections, at the cross-party liaison committee.
Newcastle United football club co-owner Amanda Staveley on Monday lost a London High Court battle with a Greek shipping tycoon over a historic debt of nearly 3.5 million pounds ($4.4 million), ThePrint reported. Staveley, who owns 10% of the Premier League side with her husband, denied she was liable to Victor Restis for a sum that had snowballed with interest to over 36 million pounds. The total bill had included around 31 million pounds in interest, accruing at 505,000 pounds per day.
Farmers drove dozens of tractors in a slow-motion convoy towards Britain’s Parliament on Monday to protest post-Brexit rules and trade deals that they say are endangering livelihoods and food security, the Associated Press reported. Supporters of the campaign groups Save British Farming and Fairness for Farmers of Kent rolled from southeast England and through southern districts of the capital, bound for Parliament Square, where dozens of supporters waited to welcome them.
Listed aviation group Esken is to appoint adminstrators after concluding its proposed restructuring plan has "ceased to be commercially viable," InsiderMedia.com reported. One of Esken's main assets is London Southend Airport and the business is progressing a recapitalisation in relation to the hub.
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The Bank of England took another step toward cutting interest rates in the coming months after two of its most ardent hawks dropped their demands for hikes, Bloomberg News reported. Catherine Mann and Jonathan Haskel joined an 8-1 majority on the Monetary Policy Committee to keep rates at a 16-year high of 5.25%, the latest sign that the BOE was edging toward easing policy later this year. That represented the first time since September 2021 that no member of the panel had supported an increase.
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U.K. inflation fell more sharply than expected to the lowest level in 2 1/2 years, bolstering investor expectations that the Bank of England will be able to reduce borrowing costs in the coming months, Bloomberg News reported. The Consumer Prices Index rose 3.4% in February from a year earlier, compared with 4% pace the month before, the Office for National Statistics said Wednesday. The figure was lower than the median of 3.5% predicted by economists and the BOE, although it was in line with the Bloomberg Economics’s forecast.
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China Life Insurance Co. is in crunch talks with lenders to an office tower in Canary Wharf to help stave off the locality’s third potential major default, as the eastern financial district of London grapples with some of the city’s highest vacancy rates, Bloomberg News reported. The landlord is in discussions with Lloyds Banking Group Plc, which originally financed 10 Upper Bank Street before syndicating the vast majority of the debt to several Chinese banks, about a plan to avoid an event of default ahead of the loan’s maturity next month, people with knowledge of the negotiations said.
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Saudi Arabia and Gucci-owner Kering are said to be circling Selfridges as the insolvency of the department store’s co-owner triggers a battle for the business, the Telegraph reported. Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) and luxury goods giant Kering, which is owned by French billionaire Francois Pinault, are both thought to be interested in a stake in Selfridges, according to City sources. Interest has been triggered by the collapse of Signa, the Austrian company run by businessman Rene Benko that owns half of Selfridges’ property company.
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