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1 week ago | 
bmmagazine.co.uk | Jamie Young
Britain’s steelmakers are bracing for a sharp escalation in trade tensions after the United States signalled it will double import tariffs on UK steel to 50% from Wednesday — despite a recent transatlantic deal to remove such duties. The expected hike replaces the 25% tariff President Trump imposed on foreign steel earlier this year, which officially came into force on 12 March.
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1 week ago | 
bmmagazine.co.uk | Jamie Young
UK business confidence surged in May to its highest level since last August, according to new data from Lloyds Bank, driven by a sharp rebound in global financial markets and a softening in trade tensions between the US and its partners. The Lloyds Bank business barometer rose by 11 points to 50 per cent, up from 39 per cent in April, more than reversing the dip seen last month. The reading is now at its strongest since the summer of 2024.
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1 week ago | 
bmmagazine.co.uk | Jamie Young
Reform UK has become the first political party in Britain to accept bitcoin and other cryptocurrency donations, Nigel Farage announced during a high-profile appearance at the Bitcoin Conference in Las Vegas. Farage told the audience that Reform UK had updated its website to accept crypto donations from eligible UK donors, marking what he called an “innovative” step for British politics.
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1 week ago | 
bmmagazine.co.uk | Jamie Young
Berry Bros. & Rudd, the historic British wine merchant favoured by the Royal family, is set to open its first US store in Washington, marking a significant expansion as demand for luxury British heritage brands surges across the Atlantic. Founded in 1698 and holding a Royal Warrant since the reign of George III, the company is renowned for its deep ties to the British establishment and its reputation for fine wines and spirits.
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1 week ago | 
bmmagazine.co.uk | Jamie Young
Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey has called on Sir Keir Starmer to go beyond the government’s recent EU “reset” deal and forge deeper trade and financial links with Brussels, warning that the economic fallout from Brexit and Donald Trump’s resurgent protectionism pose mounting risks to UK growth. In a major speech delivered in Dublin, Mr Bailey welcomed the government’s latest agreement with the European Union, which reduces customs checks and aligns UK food standards with the bloc.
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1 week ago | 
bmmagazine.co.uk | Jamie Young
Nationwide Building Society will hand £100 to more than four million members following what it described as an “outstanding twelve months” of performance, capped by its takeover of Virgin Money and a surge in mortgage lending. The £410 million “Fairer Share” payout — the third consecutive annual bonus to qualifying members — was revealed in Nationwide’s full-year results, which showed profits rising to £2.3 billion, up from £1.8 billion the year before.
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1 week ago | 
bmmagazine.co.uk | Jamie Young
Capita, Pizza Express, Lidl and British Airways are among more than 500 companies publicly named and shamed by the UK government for failing to pay thousands of staff the legal minimum wage. The Department for Business and Trade on Thursday published a list of 518 employers who collectively owed £7.4 million to nearly 60,000 workers. The underpayments were identified through HMRC investigations spanning from 2015 to 2022.
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1 week ago | 
bmmagazine.co.uk | Jamie Young
Michael O’Leary, the outspoken chief executive of Ryanair, has qualified for share options worth over €100 million after the airline’s stock sustained a major milestone for nearly a month — hitting a share price target set more than six years ago. Shares in Europe’s largest low-cost airline closed above €21 for a 28th consecutive trading day, meeting a key condition of a share option scheme first laid out in 2019, just before the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic.
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1 week ago | 
bmmagazine.co.uk | Jamie Young
Millions of savers could see their retirement pots put at risk under sweeping new pension reforms unveiled by the government, leading experts and campaigners have warned. A series of proposed changes, confirmed on Thursday as part of the new Pension Schemes Bill, would loosen rules on how surplus funds can be extracted from defined benefit (DB) pension schemes — allowing employers to reclaim billions of pounds that are currently locked within retirement funds.
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1 week ago | 
bmmagazine.co.uk | Jamie Young
Britain’s car industry suffered its worst April in over 70 years, with new figures revealing a sharp fall in vehicle production that underscores deepening challenges facing the sector. Data from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) showed that UK car output fell by 8.9 per cent last month, with only 56,500 vehicles rolling off production lines — the worst April since 1952, excluding the shutdowns during the Covid pandemic.
