Holiday Inn owner InterContinental Hotels Group has seen group profit more than double versus 2021 after a recovery in demand for travel.

The London-listed firm said it was also reintroducing an interim dividend at a level 10 per cent higher than when last paid and launching an initial $500m share buyback.

Revenue for the first half of the year hit $1,794m, compared to $1,179m in the same period in 2021.

What’s more, operating profit for the year stood at $361m, versus $138m the year prior. 

“We saw continued strong trading in the first half of 2022 with increased demand for travel in most of our markets,” Keith Barr, chief executive officer for IHG Hotels & Resorts, said.

He added: “This brought group RevPAR very close to pre-pandemic levels in the second quarter. Alongside leisure stays, the return of business and group travel demand continued to build over the period, and our hotels are seeing increased pricing power due...

Just under £300bn has been wiped off the value of UK corporate bonds since the start of this year following a major sell-off in the bond market in what is considered the biggest collapse in two decades.

In the first six months of this year, the total outstanding value of UK corporate bonds has fallen by 13.3% from £2.237 trillion to £1.940 trillion, a fall of £297.5 billion.

This compares to a fall of 3% for the FTSE100 over the same period, digital asset manager Collidr told City A.M. this morning.

Bond prices have been hit by rising interest rates and rising inflation since the start of the year, in response to central banks tightening monetary policy to control inflation.

Collidr’s research shows that £283.8bn has also been wiped off the value of Gilts (UK government bonds) since the start of the year.

Gilts have fallen by 14.8%, the biggest drop since the 1980s.

The collapse in bond prices has been a major challenge for...

Scanning the candidates vying to become the next prime minister, the most immediate question springing to mind is: who on Earth would want that job? Soaring inflation, snarled supply chains, labour shortages and some of the detrimental effects of Brexit are plaguing our country. Whichever way you look at it, the UK finds itself in a hole, and it’s difficult to see how it can climb out. 

It’s not just the economy that’s shrinking – so is its population. By 2025 the UK will become dependent on migration to bolster its declining working-age population, according to the Office for National Statistics. Britain isn’t the only country facing a demographic conundrum. Most of the developed world is looking at long-term population decline – even China has issues. 

Declining populations will lead to higher inflation and higher nominal interest rates, according to Professor Charles Goodhart, author of “The Great Demographic Reversal”. Either we...

The summer is set to be “the lull before the storm,” with consumers splashing out on heatwave essentials at the tills while inflation masks a drop in volume sales. 

UK retail sales increased 1.6 per cent on a like-for-like basis from July 2021, according to the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and KPMG sales monitor. 

However, a small rise in sales masked a much bigger drop in volumes if historically high levels of inflation are accounted for, the monitor stressed.

Over the three months to July, food sales increased 2.3 per cent on a total basis while sales of non-food items dropped by two per cent over the same period.

Summer essentials boosted sales, with clothes, picnic food and fans seeing uplifts. 

“However, with inflation at over nine per cent many retailers are still contending with falling sales volumes during what remains an incredibly difficult trading period,” Helen Dickinson OBE, chief executive of the...

The cost of living crisis has continued to be a major worry for people across the country and a key talking point during the Conservative leadership race. Rising energy prices, partly due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, have significantly fuelled the crisis. As the energy price cap is expected to rise to over £3,300 in October, bills will only continue to increase, threatening 9.6 million families with fuel poverty. 

There are two opposing forces at play. Of course, the government needs to help struggling families in the short-term as we head towards winter, but there still needs to be continued investment into renewable energy, which will lower bills in the medium and long-term. 

Liz Truss has already announced that if she wins she will put a moratorium on green levies. These levies primarily go towards three key purposes: energy efficiency improvements in homes and businesses, helping vulnerable people with their bills and encouraging...

A coalition of retailers including Morrisons, Greggs and Tesco, have called on the Conservative party leader candidates to slash business rates.

The Retail Jobs Alliance has called on both Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss to pledge to cut business rates, which it said were “killing our high streets”.

The group, consisting of Co-op, Greggs, Kingfisher, Morrisons, RivingtonHark, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Waterstones, said it feared “without urgent action many more shops, restaurants and pubs will struggle to keep their doors open.”

Businesses are facing a 10 per cent increase in rates next spring as inflation is set to climb even higher in the coming months.

In an open letter to both candidates, the Alliance dubbed the so-called ‘shop tax’ as “a pre-profit tax which inhibits investment and disproportionately impacts those communities most in need of levelling up.”

It said “piecemeal” reform would not be enough, highlighting that property taxes in...

The pandemic may have brought many businesses to their knees, but for the tech sector, it was a boon. It accelerated changes to the way we use technology in our work and personal lives, and this, plus a low-interest rate environment, drove higher levels of expectations, investment, and valuations. The world’s biggest tech companies even enjoyed combined revenues in excess of $1.4tn in 2021.

But it wasn’t to last. When it became clear that increased adoption of tech tools was partly just demand pulled forward by the pandemic rather than an overall structural shift, long-term expectations for interest rates corrected (to name two potential causes) purse strings tightened and valuations started to fall.

Now that post-pandemic reality is setting in, the bubble has burst. The tech-dominated Nasdaq Composite Index just recorded its worst first half of any year, ever. One fellow venture capitalist Tomasz Tungus has estimated tech startups should prepare for a 21...

Just under £300bn has been wiped off the value of UK corporate bonds since the start of this year following a major sell-off in the bond market in what is considered the biggest collapse in two decades.

In the first six months of this year, the total outstanding value of UK corporate bonds has fallen by 13.3% from £2.237 trillion to £1.940 trillion, a fall of £297.5 billion.

This compares to a fall of 3% for the FTSE100 over the same period, digital asset manager Collidr told City A.M. this morning.

Bond prices have been hit by rising interest rates and rising inflation since the start of the year, in response to central banks tightening monetary policy to control inflation.

Collidr’s research shows that £283.8bn has also been wiped off the value of Gilts (UK government bonds) since the start of the year.

Gilts have fallen by 14.8%, the biggest drop since the 1980s.

The collapse in bond prices has been a major challenge for...

Premier League football clubs have recovered from the financial effects of Covid-19 just a year after stadiums were reopened, according to a new survey compiled by accountants BDO.

But that is in stark contrast to the fortunes of teams in the Championship, whose money worries have deepened since the pandemic, the business advisory firm found.

BDO’s Annual Survey of Football Club Finance Directors, published today, reports that 71 per cent of respondents from Premier League clubs rated their position as “very healthy”.

That represents a major increase on 12 months ago, when the figure stood at just 29 per cent.

In the Championship, however, only 18 per cent of respondents rated their financial position as “very healthy”, while the number who considered it “in need of attention” more than doubled year-on-year to 55 per cent. 

Alarmingly, 45 per cent of respondents from second-tier clubs reported spending more than 110 per cent of...

Five of the UK’s Big Six energy firms have encouraged worried customers to make contact with them as soon possible, so that they can talk through potential ways to ease the burden of painful price hikes to their energy bills this winter.

EDF, EON, Octopus Energy, Scottish Power and British Gas owner Centrica told City A.M. they understood how concerned customers will be about rising living costs, and that many people could be left struggling to pay their bills this winter in the coldest months of the year, when demand is at its peak.

An EDF spokesperson said: “We strongly recommend customers to contact us if they are worried about paying for their bills. We have a comprehensive support package which ensures we are able to provide sustainable solutions tailored to individual needs.”

An EON spokesperson said: “We know these are difficult times for our customers and we’d urge anyone who is struggling to get in touch as there are ways we can...

Citizens Advice has urged suppliers not to chase customers for debts they cannot afford – with household energy bills expected to climb to painful new heights this winter.

Gillian Cooper, head of energy policy at Citizens Advice, urged the Government and energy firms to do more to help customers.

She told City A.M.: “The government must act again and provide more financial support so people can cope with spiralling costs. We’d also urge energy companies to do everything they can to help customers and not chase them for debts they can’t pay.”

The policy chief also warned customers against not paying their energy bills, as this could worsen financial issues and lead to enforcement action from suppliers.

Cooper revealed that the charity hears from people every single day facing desperate choices because they’re struggling to pay their energy bills.

She said: “Many are simply running out of options. But it’s important to know that there...

Global guidelines on corporate climate reporting must fall in line with those in Europe and the US or investors could be hit by fragmented and inconsistent information, the European Central Bank and IMF have warned.

Financial institutions globally are looking to establish standards for corporate climate reporting in a bid to stamp out ‘greenwashing’, with Frankfurt-based International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) proposing global “baseline” measures.

But the European Union and the US Securities and Exchange Commission are already drafting standards for climate guidelines, prompting the International Monetary Fund to warn there needed to be coordination and alignment between the sets of rules.

“Interoperability between the forthcoming ISSB standards and jurisdictional requirements remains one of the largest challenges that harmonization work ultimately faces,” the IMF said.

“It is important to avoid further fragmentation.”

The...

Just under £300bn has been wiped off the value of UK corporate bonds since the start of this year following a major sell-off in the bond market in what is considered the biggest collapse in two decades.

In the first six months of this year, the total outstanding value of UK corporate bonds has fallen by 13.3% from £2.237 trillion to £1.940 trillion, a fall of £297.5 billion.

This compares to a fall of 3% for the FTSE100 over the same period, digital asset manager Collidr told City A.M. this morning.

Bond prices have been hit by rising interest rates and rising inflation since the start of the year, in response to central banks tightening monetary policy to control inflation.

Collidr’s research shows that £283.8bn has also been wiped off the value of Gilts (UK government bonds) since the start of the year.

Gilts have fallen by 14.8%, the biggest drop since the 1980s.

The collapse in bond prices has been a major challenge for...

At the weekend 30,000 fans crammed into Birmingham’s Alexander Stadium for a Saturday evening session of athletics. On show were British superstars Keely Hodgkinson, Laura Muir  and Zharnel Hughes.

But the loudest cheer of the night was for Rosefelo Siosi from the Solomon Islands. The 25-year-old long-distance runner came last in the 5,000m – by over two minutes – but drew a raucous round of applause from the track and field stadium in England’s second city.

The government should consider merging the UK’s several financial services regulators into one body post-Brexit, an influential Tory think tank has said.

A new report from the centre-right Policy Exchange, which was founded by Michael Gove, today said “meeting the demands” of the multiple City regulators can be “a major barrier to innovation” for new firms.

The think tank also said creating a single regulator would “enable greater accountability for regulatory performance” and lead to more talented people being put in charge of regulating the sector.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Bank of England’s Prudential Regulation Authority are the UK’s two major financial services regulators.

However, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), Pensions Regulator and Payment Systems Regulator also have roles in regulating the City.

The report comes after the government recently introduced the Financial Services and Markets...

KPMG has restarted competing for UK government contracts, after the Big Four accounting firm withdrew from public sector tenders last December, following a series of high-profile accounting scandals.

The Big Four accountancy firm re-commenced bidding for UK public sector contracts in early-June, after it pulled out of competing for lucrative UK government contracts at the end of last year.

KPMG’s withdrawal last December came after the Cabinet Office threatened to ban the Big Four accounting firm from working on government contracts, after launching a review into the firm.

The Cabinet Office’s letter came after the UK’s accounting watchdog last August fined the firm £13m over misconduct in its work with bedmaker Silentnight, that allegedly saw the firm push Silentnight towards insolvency, in its efforts to benefit private equity firm HIG.

The accounting firm’s decision to restart competing for government contracts comes as KPMG has faced a...

The UK’s largest water provider has stopped short of announcing a hosepipe ban, but has not ruled out bringing in the measure if the latest drought continues.

Thames Water has urged its 15m customers to conserve supplies, with the country engulfed in another heatwave following the driest July since 1935.

While other firms such as Southern Water, South East Water and Welsh Water have announced bans, Thames Water has instead called on people to “use water wisely.”

It has suggested customers consider water-saving measures like shorter showers, fixing leaky bathroom facilities, and using a watering can rather than a hose for gardening.

Over the last three months, its catchment area received only 65 per cent of expected rainfall, with similarly low levels of rainfall over the preceding winter and spring period.

A Thames Water spokesperson said: “We know the water we have stored in our reservoirs will continue to reduce, so if we do not...

Justice secretary Dominic Raab is considering introducing new measures to make it harder to challenge government decisions via judicial reviews, leaked documents seen by the Guardian show.

The plans could also see judges subject to new more stringent criteria in bringing forward cases, that could see courts banned from hearing cases in certain areas of government decision-making, the leaked Ministry of Justice (MoJ) papers reportedly show.

The new measures could also see claimants subject to higher costs if they are ruled not to have sufficient connection to the case, in a shift that could deter charities and other non-governmental organisations (NGOs) from bringing forward claims

The leaked MoJ documents says: “You [Raab] have indicated that you are minded to consult on further reforms to judicial review.”

Campaigners said the plans come as part of “an unprecedented assault” on the power of the courts that has seen the UK government put up...

Just under £300bn has been wiped off the value of UK corporate bonds since the start of this year following a major sell-off in the bond market in what is considered the biggest collapse in two decades.

In the first six months of this year, the total outstanding value of UK corporate bonds has fallen by 13.3% from £2.237 trillion to £1.940 trillion, a fall of £297.5 billion.

This compares to a fall of 3% for the FTSE100 over the same period, digital asset manager Collidr told City A.M. this morning.

Bond prices have been hit by rising interest rates and rising inflation since the start of the year, in response to central banks tightening monetary policy to control inflation.

Collidr’s research shows that £283.8bn has also been wiped off the value of Gilts (UK government bonds) since the start of the year.

Gilts have fallen by 14.8%, the biggest drop since the 1980s.

The collapse in bond prices has been a major challenge for...