A university is helping launch a course aimed at helping the next generation of finance executives working in professional football. Loughborough University – one of the UK’s top sports universities – has worked with finance expert and former graduate Neill Wood on an online programme providing a broad understanding of football finance using first-hand industry experience. The course is being...
A Bristol-based financial services company has said it has provided more than £1bn to SMEs in the first half of this year. Ultimate Finance, a specialist asset-based lender headquartered in Bradley Stoke, said it had built on its previous, record-breaking year during which it delivered its highest ever total funding advances to clients of £1.9bn. Figures newly released by the company, which is...
House prices in Wales are continuing to rise but the cost of living crisis has seen enquiries and sales curtail, according to a new report. The latest Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) survey reported demand and sales fell in the housing market in Wales during June, with expectations muted for the next few months. The residential market survey found that net balances of new buyer...
A Bristol financial services firm has acquired an Aberdeen-based company after securing “significant” investment in its first funding round. Clifton Asset Management completed the acquisition of Scotland’s Burnett & Reid (B&R) on Monday (July 18) in a move it said would be “the first of a number of firms” it aims to takeover as it accelerates its acquisition strategy. B&R is an...
Office investment firm Circle Property has reported a rebound to profit after completing a series of multi-million pound sales of its regional workspace assets. The Aim-listed company said it made “good progress” with a disposal strategy during its last financial year, ending March 31, 2022, selling four properties for a total of £62m. These transactions included deals for major office...
Shoppers waiting for promotions and mark downs before buying have hit margins at ‘country chic’ fashion and lifestyle retailer Joules. The firm has reported “significant pressure” on its gross margins in its latest trading update with “customer appetite weighted toward mark downs amidst a heavily promotional environment”. But cost reduction measures are paying off, it reports with loss before tax...
Virgin Money has told most of its staff that they will receive a £1,000 one-off bonus to help with the cost of living. The banking group – which has offices in Newcastle, Glasgow and Leeds – said all of its employees who are paid £50,000 a year or less, which represents 78% of its workforce, will be eligible. Around 6,000 people will receive the windfall as part of their August pay packet. In an...
The number of profit warnings issued by listed companies in the South West doubled in the second quarter of the year amid rising costs and supply chain issues, a report has found. In the first six months of 2022, 136 profit warnings were issued by listed companies across the UK, up from 82 in the first six months of 2021, with a record number of firms citing rising costs as the reason behind the...
Welshpool in Powys is the latest town to benefit from a new shared banking hub, thanks to a commitment from the banking industry to protect access to cash. LINK, the UK’s cash access and ATM network, is assessing the effect of bank branch closures on communities and identifying where new shared facilities such as ATMs, cashback or banking hubs are needed. Following recent branch closures, it has...
North East challenger bank Atom bank says it is poised to post a profit for the first time since its launch, following a year of financial progress. The Durham based business, the UK’s first app-based bank, said that after posting its first month of operating profit in the its first quarter of the financial year, Atom recorded operating profits for the remaining three quarters of the year ended...