Two of the world’s largest banks have redrafted their economic forecasts amid expectations a new political momentum will lift Britain from the doldrums. The optimistic breeze blowing through financial and economic circles has identified Boris Johnson’s £100billion infrastructure spending plan and the possibility of a good UK-European Union trade deal as reasons to be cheerful. The Bank of England has also aired the possibility of an interest rate cut. Back in the autumn HSBC and JP Morgan cut their 1.2% 2020 growth forecasts to just 1%. But, according to the independent research group Consensus Forecasts, they have since raised their predictions to 1.1%.
John Lewis is on track to deliver a profit slump after the exit of its department store boss and dismal trading figures, City sources say. The department store is set to report just £30million profit in the year to the end of January before any bonus is handed to staff. That would be a quarter of the profit reported last year, according to retail analyst Nick Bubb. He said the fall at the retailer, which has a £4billion-a-year turnover, would mean the group bonus would be ‘mostly blown away’. John Lewis’s sister chain Waitrose, which made an operating profit of £200million last year, is expected to deliver a more ‘solid’ performance, Bubb added. However, another analyst, Richard Hyman, said the departure of department store boss Paula Nickolds, Waitrose managing director Rob Collins and chairman Sir Charlie Mayfield to make way for his replacement Sharon White, a former chief executive at Ofcom, leaves a power vacuum at the firm.
Readers of The Mail are being urged to avoid a ‘scam’ advert doing the rounds on professional networking website LinkedIn promising annual returns of up to 35%. The advert is from London-based company UK Bonds, which claims to be the ‘UK’s leading provider in secure investments’. Its website – ukbonds.org.uk – says the products it offers are covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme and approved by the City regulator. It then uses the logos of the London Stock Exchange, the FSCS and two media groups to give its offerings further credence. Justin Modray, of Candid Financial Advice, saw the advert on LinkedIn a few days ago and immediately smelt a financial rat. He says: ‘There were no company details on the website other than an address and telephone number. I imagine there are a lot more websites like this that seek to take advantage of vulnerable people.’ On Friday, investigations by Personal Finance confirmed that the company is not authorised by regulator the Financial Conduct Authority. Also, one of the companies promoted by UK Bonds said the product was ‘not legitimate’ and ‘had nothing to do with them’.
