News Archives

Shein lost $99m (£74.1m) in the first three months of the year, against net income of $395m a year earlier, the fast-fashion group said in a filing lodged ahead of its planned stock market debut in Hong Kong.

Shein swings to $99m loss after US scraps duty-free parcel rule

27 July 2026 Get Funded, News Amy Ingham 0 Comments

Shein reported a $99m quarterly loss ahead of its Hong Kong listing, blaming the removal of the US de minimis exemption on parcels worth under $800.

President Trump has reopened his long-running feud with Paris, warning that he will slap a 100 per cent tariff on French wine and champagne unless President Macron abandons France's digital services tax, the 3 per cent levy that falls most heavily on America's biggest technology firms.

Trump orders 301 investigation into EU over Google’s €890m fine

26 July 2026 News Amy Ingham 0 Comments

Trump says the US will open a Section 301 investigation into the EU and is considering a tariff after Brussels fined Google €890m under the DMA.

Labour would be the largest party in the House of Commons but fall 117 seats short of an overall majority if a general election were held now, according to a seat projection published by UK Polling Report, as Prime Minister Andy Burnham ruled out going to the country before 2029.

Burnham rules out early election as poll puts Labour on 209 seats

26 July 2026 News Paul Jones 0 Comments

A new UK Polling Report seat projection puts Labour largest on 209 seats, 117 short of a majority, as Andy Burnham rules out an early election before 2029.

Wise has been refused a US banking licence, the payments company said, months after switching its primary stock market listing from London to New York in May.

US regulator rejects Wise application for banking licence

25 July 2026 Get Funded, News Amy Ingham 0 Comments

Wise’s US banking licence application has been rejected by the OCC over issues with its original filing. The fintech says it will submit a new application.

Dragons’ Den star bags £900m as Vitabiotics falls to US buyer

24 July 2026 Get Funded, News Jamie Young 0 Comments

Vitabiotics, Britain’s biggest vitamin maker, is sold to US firm Bain Capital for £900m, ending 50 years of family ownership. What it signals for SMEs.

A record number of UK businesses are facing significant financial distress, underlining the precarious state of the economy as Chancellor Rachel Reeves prepares to unveil her first budget on 30 October.

City bank: Starmer and Reeves left Britain ‘no better off’

24 July 2026 News Amy Ingham 0 Comments

Panmure Liberum says Starmer and Reeves left the UK economy no better off than in 2024, warning SMEs of higher energy costs and new barriers to hiring.

Andy Burnham chose Manchester for the defining image of his new premiership this week, opening a temporary "No10 North" and telling staff it might be "the best day of my life".

Burnham opens No10 North, but the SME payoff waits until 2032

24 July 2026 News Amy Ingham 0 Comments

Burnham opens No10 North in Manchester, but the civil service campus isn’t operational until 2032. What his devolution push means for UK SMEs now

Elon Musk has told the world to prepare for machines that out-think it, predicting that artificial intelligence "may exceed the sum of human intelligence in about and around five years".

Musk says AI will surpass human intelligence within five years

24 July 2026 Get Funded, News, Technology Amy Ingham 0 Comments

Elon Musk says AI may surpass human intelligence within five years. What the trillionaire’s forecast means for UK SMEs weighing whether to adopt now.

British small businesses are being approved for bank loans at less than half the rate they enjoyed before the financial crisis, and one of Donald Trump's former economic advisers says the fault lies not with the 2008 crash but with the rules written in its aftermath.

Post-2008 bank rules, not recession, throttled UK growth says former White House advisor

24 July 2026 News Jamie Young 0 Comments

SME lending approvals have halved since 2008, an ex-Trump adviser warns, blaming post-crisis bank capital rules for starving UK small firms of credit.

Britain's new Chancellor has told the country's business owners that their pain is now firmly on his desk. In his first major broadcast interview since taking the job, John Healey used an appearance on Bloomberg TV to promise that he is "just as concerned about the cost of business as I am about the cost of living".

Cost of business worries me as much as cost of living, says Healey

24 July 2026 News Paul Jones 0 Comments

New Chancellor John Healey says the cost of business worries him as much as the cost of living, and pledges to back UK firms on tax, energy and labour.

Gary Lineker, the former England footballer turned broadcaster, has strategically placed his television production company, Goalhanger Films, into voluntary liquidation ahead of upcoming capital gains tax rises.

Lineker leads millionaires urging Burnham: ‘tax our wealth’

23 July 2026 News Paul Jones 0 Comments

Gary Lineker and 100-plus UK millionaires urge Andy Burnham for a wealth tax. What a 2% levy on the super-rich could mean for business owners and SMEs.

The publisher of Harry Potter is about to bank a multimillion-pound cheque from an artificial intelligence company, and the reason should give every UK business owner pause for thought.

Harry Potter publisher lands £14m in Anthropic AI payout

23 July 2026 News, Technology Amy Ingham 0 Comments

Bloomsbury will bank about £14m from Anthropic’s $1.5bn AI copyright settlement. What the landmark payout means for UK SMEs that own valuable content.