The news of potentially successful coronavirus vaccines has provided welcome light amid the gloom of continued lockdowns and restrictions. Announcements from Moderna, AstraZeneca and Pfizer/BioNTech of candidate vaccines with efficacy above 90% have seen stock markets soar and hopes grow that, by autumn 2021, the world might see a return to a more ‘normal’ existence.
Following our ealier blog which has looked at The Curious Case of the Casual Dining Industry, we have taken a further look at the UK Restaurants industry.
Competition will lead to lower prices for customers. Private enterprises will deliver efficient services where state monopolies once wasted more and more taxpayer’s money. Popular capitalism is nothing less than a crusade to enfranchise the many in the economic life of the nation.
Along with the humble pub and the red telephone box, the corner shop is a quintessentially British institution. However, does recent news that McColls’, the UK’s largest local shop operator, has plunged into administration serve as yet more evidence that times are changing?
Grain Merchant Wellgrain Ltd went into administration earlier this month owning at least £15m to almost 300 creditors.
Hammered by Brexit uncertainty, government paralysis, and increasingly uncertain Global trade, the UK economy has struggled for growth in recent years. However, some regions are powering ahead while others stagnate.
The UK financial sector has, for many decades, been the main growth engine of the UK economy. The effects of the financial crisis of 2008, triggered by irrational exuberance and light regulation of the sector, were felt much less in financial circles than in many other parts of the UK economy. While the average take-home pay for the average worker remains below pre-crisis levels, the financial sector has paid out 50% in bonuses in 2021, despite the pandemic.
Leading figures in the chemical market are increasingly concerned about being able to continue production in the UK as the energy crisis deepens and Brexit chokes off the supply chain. Stephen Elliott, chief executive of the Chemical Industry Association, inferred that some of their members could begin closing plants within weeks.
Lost in the noise of the ongoing troubles at Thomas Cook Group Plc is a gem of an opportunity – the company’s airline.