UK lost 37 shops a day in 2024, data suggests

The UK lost about 37 shops a day during 2024 in yet another brutal year for the high street, data suggests.Almost 13,500 retail stores closed for good in the last 12 months, a rise of 28% on 2023 – although the losses were below the levels seen each year between 2019 and 2022, according to provisional figures compiled by the Centre for Retail Research.The group’s research director, Prof Joshua Bamfield, said: “The results for 2024 show that although the outcomes for store closures overall were not as poor as in either 2020 or 2022, they are still disconcerting, with worse set to come in 2025.”He said the research group expected store closures to rise by the same factor again during 2025, to about 17,350, with approximately 14,660 coming from independent retailers.Pressure on retailers, particularly independents, has been a long-running theme for the high street, although new challenges are emerging alongside the more persistent threats

It’s time to get serious about stamp duty on shares, a terrible advert for London | Nils Pratley

Last year was another depressing one for departures from the London stock market. Back in January, it was Flutter heading for the exit. The owner of Paddy Power, Betfair and Sky Bet got itself a secondary listing in the US and said it would quickly convert it into the primary one, which it did in May.When December arrived, we were still on the same theme. Ashtead Group, the £27bn construction rental company that has been listed in London since 1986, announced plans to shift its primary listing to New York

A year of two halves: how global financial markets fared in 2024

Global stock markets climbed in 2024, helped by falling inflation and the US economy’s success in avoiding a hangover from a strong post-pandemic recovery.While Europe and the UK struggled to make headway, the US maintained pole position at the top of the rich nations’ growth league, pushing shares in New York to new record highs.However,the year ended with jitters in the bond market, as investors feared that central bankers had failed to slay inflationary pressures, forcing many to rip up forecasts about likely cuts in interest rates.Daniele Antonucci, chief investment officer at Quintet Private Bank, says “2024 was a masterclass in unpredictability.”“Despite earlier concerns, the US avoided a recession, the eurozone and UK experienced only mild downturns, and China picked up steam towards the end of the year

UK property will be a buyers’ market in 2025, analysts predict

Experts have predicted a “buyer’s market” for house hunters in the year ahead, giving them greater negotiating power as the mood of the housing market shifts to “cautious optimism”.However, even the more hopeful expectations for 2025 were met with caution, as an important stamp duty relief for first-time buyers was scheduled to end in the spring, as well as potentially high interest rates and taxes bearing down on the market.Aneisha Beveridge, head of research at the property company Hamptons, said: “As the end of 2024 approaches, the mood of the housing market has shifted from trepidation to cautious optimism.“Lower mortgage rates have been the principal catalyst for change, falling much more rapidly than we had expected. House prices are moving upwards, reversing the declines of 2023

Great Guinness heist: thieves stole truck carrying 35,000 pints

In the days leading up to Christmas, stout-lovers were left reeling from a nationwide shortage of Guinness so severe that some pubs were forced to ration pints of the “black stuff” as taps began to run dry.Supermarkets remain at risk of running out due to customers’ stockpiling, according to reports, while the maker of the popular stout, Diageo, has even sent for back-up Guinness reserves from Ireland.Now it can be revealed that criminals appear to have gone to even greater lengths to beat the drought, with a heist that exacerbated the nationwide shortage.A truck carrying 400 50-litre kegs of the Irish stout – equivalent to 35,200 pints – disappeared from a depot in the Midlands in mid-December, the Guardian can reveal.It is understood the truck, whose contents were destined for pubs desperate for kegs of Guinness during the festive peak, was stolen from a logistics hub near Daventry, in Northamptonshire

FTSE 100 rallies by 5.7% in 2024 in ‘a year of resilience’ for the stock market – as it happened

Britain’s FTSE 100 share index has closed for the year, posting a 5.7% gain for 2024.The index of blue-ship shares listed in London has gained 440 points this year.As the market closed early for New Year, the FTSE 100 ended the day up 52 points or 0.65% today at 8173 points, having begun 2024 at 7733 points