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Deutsche Bank's deal-making business weaker than expected, CEO says

Deutsche Bank's deal-making business weaker than expected, CEO says

Reuters2 days ago

FRANKFURT, June 12 (Reuters) - Deutsche Bank's (DBKGn.DE), opens new tab origination and advisory business is not as strong as the German bank had expected at the beginning of the year, CEO Christian Sewing said on Thursday.
Sewing said at a financial conference that the deal-making business will be weaker in the second quarter than executives had initially thought at the start of 2025, but he added that deals were being delayed and not cancelled.

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Reeves faces welfare revolt after Labour rebels rejected an 'olive branch' designed to head off a Commons mutiny over benefit cuts
Reeves faces welfare revolt after Labour rebels rejected an 'olive branch' designed to head off a Commons mutiny over benefit cuts

Daily Mail​

timean hour ago

  • Daily Mail​

Reeves faces welfare revolt after Labour rebels rejected an 'olive branch' designed to head off a Commons mutiny over benefit cuts

was on collision course with Labour welfare rebels last night after they rejected an 'olive branch' designed to head off a Commons mutiny over benefit cuts. The Chancellor is facing a ferocious backlash from her own MPs over plans to trim £5 billion from the benefits bill. More than 100 Labour MPs have warned party whips they could vote against the plan to restrict eligibility to disability benefits. Ministers are trying to contain the rebellion by suggesting possible concessions. Under one proposal, those affected would continue to receive their benefits for a further 13 weeks to give them more time to find a job. The compromise is set to be included when the legislation needed to push through the cuts is published next week. But leading rebels dismissed the idea. Poole MP Neil Duncan-Jordan said the proposal was 'not a concession' as it was already included in a government consultation on the cuts. Mr Duncan-Jordan, a long-time anti-poverty campaigner, said the cuts would 'make disabled poorer'. He added: 'No amount of warm words mask the reality - cuts don't create jobs they create austerity. I'm voting No.' Fellow rebel Rachel Maskell said: 'I'll have to vote against something which will cause such harm to my constituents - too many lives will be put at risk if they press ahead.' Ms Reeves used the £5 billion package of benefit cuts to help balance the books when she gave her spring statement on the economy in March. Without them she would have been at risk of breaking her own fiscal rules set just five months earlier. Economists say the cuts will hit 1.2 million people, with those affected losing an average of around £4,500 per year each. The government's own impact assessment suggested the changes would drive 250,000 people into poverty, including 50,000 children. But Ms Reeves signalled she will not back down further, despite her recent U-turn on cuts to the winter fuel allowance. Ruling out a climb down, she said reform was needed to prevent the welfare system becoming unsustainable. 'It is important we reform the way the welfare state works so there is a welfare state there for people,' she said. 'We are the only developed country where the number of people in the labour market is lower than it was before Covid. The number of economically inactive people of working age is rising.' The Chancellor said sickness benefits are forecast to rise sharply despite the cuts, with official estimates suggesting they will reach almost £100 billion a year by the end of the decade.

'I was Mrs Poundland, but I stopped going when their prices went up'
'I was Mrs Poundland, but I stopped going when their prices went up'

BBC News

timean hour ago

  • BBC News

'I was Mrs Poundland, but I stopped going when their prices went up'

Sharon Carroll once shopped so much at her local Poundland that her friends described her as "Mrs Poundland". "I'd just buy so many things," says Sharon. "I'd spend £40 to £50."When everything used to be £1 it was a big attraction."But when the company began to change its pricing strategy, increasing the prices of some products from £1, the 45-year-old says she cut down on her purchases."The quality of the products was also going down and you were paying more for things." Other shoppers also told the BBC that they were put off when the retailer started putting its prices week, the struggling budget chain was sold for (appropriately) £1 by its owner Pepco to a US investment firm, Gordon Brothers. Up to 100 stores are at risk of £1 promise was Poundland's "most compelling proposition", says Howard Lake, a retail consultant at Kantar."Removing this identity alienated its core shopper base."The company clearly agreed. After it raised some prices from £1 in 2017, earlier this year it said it was returning to its roots, increasing the number of products it offered that cost £1 or less from 1,500 to 2,400, almost half its range. Small towns Poundland has 825 stores in the UK, with around 16,000 of those shops are former Woolworths or Wilko branches, which it hoovered up after the two brands became the biggest occupant of ex-Woolworths stores after the retailer went into administration in 2009, taking on 93 of its stores, more than 10% of the Woolworths estate. In September 2023 it took over the leases of 71 former Wilko these stores were in the kinds of small towns where other large retailers do not have a presence."They might have had a Woolworths, a bank and a charity shop," says Jonathan de Mello, a retail analyst and the founder of JDM Gray loves going into her local Poundland in Bangor, Northern Ireland. Recently, she found a pair of small ceramic houses in the store, which were a copy of a design she had seen at Zara. "We don't have a Zara near where I live," she says. Poundland's presence in small towns has been crucial to fostering a sense of customer loyalty, says retail psychologist Kate Nightingale."Simply being present in people's daily rituals is one of the strongest ways to build interdependence."Presence plus reliance are some of the most important qualities of loyal relationships and it is no different to relationships we build with brands."But de Mello says when Poundland expanded into small towns, not enough people went in, which hit their bottom line."In the small locations that they've opened multiple stores in, I feel the volumes aren't there in terms of footfall, unfortunately." Increased competition In 2016 Poundland expanded into fashion, beginning the roll-out of its Pep&Co clothing range, but this soon faced a trading update in May 2024, the company admitted that changes to the way it sourced clothing had reduced the number of sizes on offer. While the wide range of products stocked by Poundland may have been handy for consumers, it became a problem for the stocked so many different products – from food to clothing, to homewares and baby products – that it became, says Kantar's Howard Lake, a "supermarket-general store hybrid".That made it vulnerable to competition from numerous other the food side, there are Aldi and Lidl, whose UK presence has grown rapidly in recent years. On the homewares side are Home Bargains and B&M. And on the clothing side are Shein and Temu, the cheap Chinese exporters which have enjoyed a surge in popularity among British says Lake, consumers found these other offers "far more attractive". Poundland told the BBC: "Our missteps have been well documented and those include the execution of Pepco-sourced clothing and general merchandise product ranges in a way that didn't fully align with UK & Ireland customers' expectations."We're looking forward to having the opportunity to put those missteps right as we put our recovery plan in place." Shoppers like Elinor Martin in Sutton Coldfield hope the company uses Poundland to pick up snacks for her sons' packed lunches, stationery and birthday cards for school, plus shampoo, shower gel and cleaning says she would miss her local branch if it were to close. "I can get things I need at Poundland. I find things cheaper there [than local supermarkets]."Elizabeth Gray in Bangor says she would miss her local store too if it went."I would be sad if it closed," she says. "I'm kind of in love with Poundland." Additional reporting by Charlotte Edwards and Tom Espiner

Tax hikes will force retailers to push up prices, cut jobs and halt shop openings retail chief warns Rachel Reeves
Tax hikes will force retailers to push up prices, cut jobs and halt shop openings retail chief warns Rachel Reeves

Daily Mail​

timean hour ago

  • Daily Mail​

Tax hikes will force retailers to push up prices, cut jobs and halt shop openings retail chief warns Rachel Reeves

has been warned that further tax hikes will cause retailers to push up prices, cut jobs and halt shop openings. The latest alert was issued by Andy Higginson, the chairman of JD Sports and the British Retail Consortium industry group. He said 'all' retailers have already been left 'looking to reduce their labour forces' following a barrage of tax rises this year. And now firms fear another raid after the Chancellor's spending review on Wednesday. Concerns that bosses are set to be hammered at the next autumn Budget were ignited after Ms Reeves said she had failed to shrink the public spending 'envelope'. Major retailers, including Morrisons, Tesco and Sainsbury's, have already axed staff. Firms have had to grapple with higher cost pressures in the wake of measures introduced in the Chancellor's autumn Budget. A sharp rise in employer national insurance contributions (NICs) and a big hike in the national minimum wage mean retailers face a £5 billion higher bill after the Budget, according to the British Retail Consortium. Firms have also been disappointed by the Government's lack of urgent action to reform business rates. Mr Higginson told Radio 4's Today programme: 'You have seen immediately the impact of the changes made in April, the slowdown that has come straight through to the economy.' He warned that in the end the Government's tax hikes 'do work through' the supply chain, meaning consumers pay more. Describing the influx of rises introduced in April as a 'tax on jobs', Mr Higginson added: 'All the retailers I know have been looking to reduce their labour forces.' It comes as dismal employment figures published this week revealed UK payroll numbers have shrunk by 276,000 over the past seven months. But in recent days, the Chancellor and Prime Minister have claimed that Labour has 'fixed the foundations' of the economy.

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