Last month’s Autumn Statement was heavily focused on boosting the UK’s poor level of business investment, rightly identifying that without much higher investment, the productivity improvements required to restore the economy to meaningful growth will be unachievable. The scale of the problem The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has confirmed that real-term business investment in the UK was still at a
In this month’s business overview, we take a closer look at the Autumn Statement and consider its real impact on business investment It’s a well-worn joke that asking two experts about the economy is likely to get you at least three opinions or that if you laid all the world’s economists end to end, they still wouldn’t reach a conclusion.
Our analysis of the latest published accounts of the travel facilitation sub-sector of the wider travel and tourism industry in the UK formed the main basis of our recent market sector report on travel. Our report showed a picture of cautious optimism, but some clear weaknesses in the overall finances of the sub-sector. A deeper dive beyond those financial weaknesses
Public confidence in travel agents Despite the rise of self-booked holidays, self-assembled via the internet, over a third of UK tourists book their trips through travel agents, according to research by Travel Counsellors. Figures published by ABTA in October as part of its first-ever Travel Confidence Index shows a score of +72 for those who booked through a professional, compared
The most recent results of major airlines focused on the UK market show an extraordinary level of positivity. Profits at British Airways owner, IAG in Q2 2023 soared by 400% and broke previous records for that quarter. EasyJet has announced a $30bn order for Airbus planes as part of setting an ambitious annual profit before tax target of £1bn as
Our latest report into the finances and prospects of the hospitality sector published earlier this month showed that the industry’s borrowings had fallen by 18% in the last fourteen months. Only the very smallest pub, bar and restaurant businesses saw their debts rise and then only marginally. While debts still remain higher than pre-pandemic, this drop is nevertheless welcome news
