Twitter political ads, UK car production, TK Maxx profits: your commercial news round-up
updated on 31 October 2019
Is it a trick or a treat? If you thought that the UK would be leaving the EU today, you have been mistaken once again, and instead the country faces another Brexit extension, another general election and another festive time of year likely to be ruined by the political chaos of 2019. Don’t be scared! Our collection of creepy commercial and bloody business news stories is sure to cheer you up this Hallows’ Eve:
- Twitter has announced that it is banning all political advertising on the social media platform across the globe. CEO Jack Dorsey tweeted that “while internet advertising is incredibly powerful and very effective for commercial advertisers, that power brings significant risks to politics”, with the ban bringing more scrutiny to Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg who has always defended his company’s policy of allowing political advertising and targeting. Remember the Cambridge Analytica scandal? Facebook yesterday agreed to pay the £500,000 fine after sharing personal data with the research company who then used it for political advertising purposes.
- If you want any more proof that the political and business worlds do not move entirely independent of each other, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) today disclosed that car production in the UK fell by 3.8% in September due to political and Brexit uncertainty and a lessened demand for British cars overseas. It’s been the weakest year for car manufacturing since 2011, with British carmakers having to divert huge resources to prepare for the possibility of a no-deal Brexit.
- Last week we reported that the Royal Bank of Scotland was hit drastically by PPI repayments, and this week it’s Lloyds Banking Group which has released the news that its third quarter profits have been nearly wiped out after being forced to pay out £1.8 billion for PPI. Lloyds had the biggest PPI repayment bill of British banks at £22 billion, with Barclays coming in second at £11.1 billion.
- Going against the grain of the deteriorating British high street, TK Maxx posted a 6.4% rise in sales to £3.1 billion in the 12 months to February 2019. Twenty-one new TK Maxx and 13 new Homesense stores were opened during the year, with operating margins rising from 2.3 - 3.3%.
- Meanwhile, carpet retailer Carpetright is hoping to raise £80 million in order to stay afloat. The firm, which faces £56 million worth of debts, is in talks with its biggest shareholder to offer a low-cost £15 million sale in a bid to alleviate some of its financial woes. Over 90 of the brand’s stores have closed in recent years as it faces fierce competition from carpet rival Tapi.
Be sure to check the News every Thursday for this weekly commercial news round-up. Follow @LawCareersNetUK on Twitter and like us on Facebook for instant business news updates.
