Business

Aston Martin has been pushed deeper into junk bond territory after Fitch Ratings downgraded the luxury carmaker’s credit score to ‘CCC+’, citing worsening cash flow, rising financial pressures and the impact of US tariffs on its largest market. The rating, cut from ‘B-’, reflects what Fitch described as “deteriorating liquidity” following materially weaker and negative free cash flow in the …

Rachel Reeves is preparing to scale back the tax benefits available through the government’s popular cycle to work scheme, amid concern that high earners are exploiting the programme to buy luxury bicycles at the taxpayer’s expense. According to a report in the Financial Times, the Chancellor is expected to introduce a cap on the value of bicycles that can be …

UK exports to the United States have slumped to their lowest level in more than three years, as Donald Trump’s renewed tariff regime continues to weigh heavily on British trade. New figures from the Office for National Statistics show that the value of UK exports to the US fell by £500 million in September, an 11.4% drop month on month, …

UK economic growth slowed sharply in the third quarter, rising just 0.1% between July and September, as a steep fall in car production and subdued consumer spending weighed on activity ahead of the Chancellor’s Budget later this month. The figure, published by the Office for National Statistics, came in below analysts’ expectations of 0.2% and marks a clear slowdown from …

Two of the UK beauty industry’s most successful founders, Susie Ma of Tropic Skincare and Jenna Meek of Refy, are set to join the BBC’s Dragons’ Den as guest dragons in 2026. The pair will sit alongside Peter Jones, Deborah Meaden, Touker Suleyman and Steven Bartlett, as well as fellow guest dragons Tinie Tempah and Gary Neville, in a line-up …

The UK is still grappling with what economists call the “productivity puzzle.” Since the 2008 global financial crisis, growth in output per worker has been sluggish when compared with international competitors such as the United States, Germany and France. Weak productivity holds back wages, dampens economic growth and limits our ability to fund vital public services. The government has rightly …

Dr. Phyllis Pobee, M.D., is a triple board-certified physician and the Founder & CEO of GeneLean360°, a science-based weight loss company helping women transform their health through genetics and cellular insight. Based in Toronto, Canada, she is certified in Family Medicine, Aesthetic Medicine, and Obesity Medicine, and is the author of Lean Genes. Her journey began not in a lab, …

For catering and food businesses, packaging shapes the entire experience – how well the food travels, how customers consume it and what they say about it afterwards. Yet the story doesn’t end with the meal itself. What happens to those cups and containers once they’ve served their purpose is becoming just as much a part of how our industry is …

Japanese executives are sitting on a potential liquidity source worth hundreds of billions of dollars at precisely the moment when traditional financing channels are tightening. One study found that direct ownership in listed firms averages approximately 4% across the market, which would represent substantial total equity in companies capitalized at a total of $6.3 trillion as of February 2025. Yet …

Paul Arrendell is a seasoned quality and engineering executive with more than 30 years of experience shaping the medical device and manufacturing industries. His career has spanned leadership roles at Abbott Diagnostics, Wright Medical, KCI Medical, and Becton Dickinson, where he developed global quality systems and regulatory strategies that improved product safety and efficiency across markets. A graduate of the …