26. Weekly Newsletter
Bank of England holds interest rates
The Bank of England have decided to hold interest rates at 5.25% for the seventh time in what was a tight decision due to recent inflation figures. Data just before the announcement showed that inflation had fell to below 2% which reached the BoE’s target for the first time in three years. However, the issue with this data is that services inflation remained high at 5.7%. The BoE also signalled that a reduction in interest rates would be possible in August with BoE’s governor stating that it has been “good news” that inflation has fell to the target of 2% but that BoE wants to be “sure” that inflation remains low which led to the decision to keep interest rates at 5.25% “for now”.
Newspapers
Some of the British headlines from the past week are:
- Financial Times- ‘Labour faces £7bn bill to fund public sector pay deals if it wins election’
- Financial Times- ‘Extra £38bn a year needed by 2029-30 to ‘revive’ NHS, says think-tank’
- Financial Times- ‘Motorola sues UK government over unpaid bill for emergency services’
- Financial Times- ‘At least $10tn of insurance cover needed to reach net zero, report says’
- Financial Times- ‘Robinsons maker Britvic rejects £3.1bn bid from Carlsberg’
- Sunday Telegraph- ‘Households ‘must brace for tax rises over next five years’
- The Times- ‘UK’s debt burden reaches almost 100% of GDP, a 30-year high’
UK soft drink giant rejects bid from Carlsberg
Britvic has rejected two initial bids from Danish multinational brewing company, Carlsberg. Britvic, a soft drinks company with a revenue of £1.75 billion, has said that Carlsberg have severely undervalued them in the first two bids. Subsequent to an offer of 1,250p/share, their own share prices rose by 15% and now Carlsberg have until the 19th of July to make a revised offer, otherwise, Britvic will walk away altogether.
