UK Retailers Press Chancellor on Jobs Costs as Business Pressures Mount Across Sectors

Oct 14 – Some of Britain's most prominent retailers urged Chancellor John Healey on Tuesday to reduce the cost of employing young people, as a string of business developments – from a major retail cyber-attack to a struggling discount chain seeking a buyer – underscored the pressures facing the UK economy.

Senior executives from Tesco, Costa Coffee, the Co-op, Marks and Spencer and Sainsbury's met Healey at No. 11 Downing Street to call for a reduction in the employers' national insurance contributions threshold ahead of his first budget, according to The Guardian. Marks and Spencer chief executive Stuart Machin and Sainsbury's chief executive Simon Roberts were among those who addressed the chancellor directly on the financial burden the current contributions regime places on businesses that employ large numbers of young workers.

The meeting came as the International Monetary Fund upgraded its growth forecast for the UK economy this year, though the IMF cautioned that higher energy prices are expected to weigh on the economy in the year ahead, BBC News reported. UK government bond yields fell following the IMF announcement, reflecting investor optimism, but JPMorgan separately missed profit expectations, with its chief executive warning of "large fiscal deficits" and "sticky inflation" as broader risks to the global economy, The Guardian reported. The budget is the first under Prime Minister Andy Burnham, according to BBC News.

Elsewhere in the retail sector, Poundland entered rescue talks as its owners sought a buyer for the discount chain, BBC News reported. The retailer's leadership team is attempting a management buyout, but a union warned the business could fall into administration if a deal is not reached. Meanwhile, TFG London, the South Africa-listed owner of Phase Eight, Hobbs and Whistles, said it had identified a cybersecurity incident affecting its websites and IT systems that may have compromised customers' personal data, The Guardian reported. The attack came less than a week after online fashion retailer Asos was also targeted by hackers.

In global markets, shares in semiconductor companies fell sharply after Broadcom's chief executive compared many artificial intelligence investors to "casino" gamblers, The Guardian reported. South Korea's benchmark Kospi index dropped 6.25 percent as investors sold chip stocks, while Japan's Nikkei fell 1.8 percent and Taiwan's exchange lost nearly 2 percent. The declines were compounded by Chinese memory chip maker CXMT claiming significant progress on a new chip architecture. Separately, dating app Bumble was acquired for $1.3 billion by an investment firm in what the buyer described as a "bet on the future of humanity," according to BBC News.

In Nigeria, financial technology company eTranzact International appointed five new directors following a change in ownership, Premium Times reported. The company said the incoming directors bring expertise spanning banking, development finance, governance, legal advisory, infrastructure, energy and investment management, signaling a strategic repositioning of the firm under its new leadership structure.