The decision by the Bank to hold the base rate at 4 per cent was widely expected, but economists are divided over when they will next be cut.
Yael Selfin, at KPMG UK: “The labour market has continued to cool, but evidence of deterioration has become less apparent, weakening the case for further policy easing. Meanwhile, inflation is set to rise further in the near term. The less favourable backdrop has seen the odds shift against further interest rate cuts this year. But we expect a small majority on the MPC to vote for a cut in November, leaving interest rates at 3.75 per cent by the end of 2025.”
Janet Mui, at RBC Brewin Dolphin: “Unlike the Fed, which has shifted focus on the labour market, the Bank of England (BoE) does not have the luxury to ease policy in the face of a weakening economy. Even as the UK economy cools, inflation is not backing down as hoped, which leaves the BoE stuck. Ongoing tight monetary conditions may risk deeper economic weakness in 2026 and beyond, which could eventually curb inflation and justify rate cuts, but not yet.”
Paul Dales, Capital Economics: “We continue to think the Bank won’t cut rates again until February. The repetition of the phrase that ‘a gradual and careful’ approach to rate cuts is appropriate suggests the Bank still thinks interest rates will fall further. But our sense is that the Bank decides it’s safer to slow the pace of rate cuts from 25bps per quarter by keeping rates on hold at the next two meetings (November and December).”
Ed Monk, Fidelity International: “The gilt market is indicating that no further rate cuts are likely this year, with the MPC meeting in March 2026 currently looking most likely to bring the next reduction. That was not part of the plan for households who have been hanging on under the pressure of higher borrowing costs. The Treasury would like monetary policy to be aiding its push for growth but the reality is that it is likely to remain restrictive for some time to come.”
Nvidia takes $5 billion stake in rival Intel
Jensen Huang, Nvidia’s chief executive, in California earlier this year
JOSH EDELSON/GETTY IMAGES
Nvidia has announced it will invest $5 billion in troubled rival US chipmaker Intel, in which the US government recently took a stake.
The deal includes a plan for Intel and Nvidia to jointly develop PC and data centre chips, representing a potential risk to the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company which currently manufactures Nvidia’s key processors. AMD, which competes with Intel for supplying chips to data centres, could also lose out thanks to Nvidia’s backing.
Nvidia, a company regarded as key to AI, will become one of Intel’s largest shareholders, owning about 4 per cent of the company. It will be behind the US government, however, which took a 10 per cent stake last month.
Intel is the semi-conductor maker that claimed it put the “silicon” into Silicon Valley. It appointed a new boss, Lip-Bu Tan, in March.
Bank holds rates and slows bond sales
Andrew Bailey, governor of the Bank of England, announced the rate decision at noon
ISABEL INFANTES/PA
The Bank of England has kept interest rates unchanged and announced a slower pace of government bond sales as Andrew Bailey warned that the UK economy is “not out of the woods yet” from entrenched inflation.
The Bank of England’s monetary policy committee (MPC), the nine-member panel that sets the base rate every six weeks, voted 7-2 in favour of leaving borrowing costs at 4 per cent on Thursday, matching the market consensus.
The central bank also decided to slow the speed at which it disposes of UK government bonds that it purchased during the 2008 financial crisis and Covid-19 pandemic to £70 billion from £100 billion previously, broadly in line with market expectations.
• Read in full: Bank holds UK interest rates at 4% amid inflation fears
Deliveroo’s Shu rides into the sunset
Will Shu, the founder of Deliveroo
TIMES PHOTOGRAPHER JACK HILL
The Deliveroo co-founder and boss Will Shu has confirmed that he is to step down from the takeaway delivery group after its sale to DoorDash, an American rival.
Shu, a former Goldman Sachs banker who founded the business in London in 2013, said he will step down as chief executive once the £2.9 billion takeover is complete.
In May, Deliveroo bosses agreed for the business to be bought by San Francisco-based DoorDash for 180p a share. That was less than half the 390p set at 2021’s infamous IPO, but a premium to the 140p level to which they had sunk in the subsequent four years.
Shu is estimated to be in line for a £185 million payday from the deal.
Deliveroo’s non-executive directors, which include the Café Rouge founder, Dame Karen Jones, and the Flutter boss, Peter Jackson, will all also step down once the takeover is complete, expected in October.
Shu said: “I’m super proud of everything we have achieved. We pioneered and then redefined a new category.”
Rank Group chairman exits after six years
Grosvenor Casino, owned by Rank Group, in Blackpool
RANK
Alex Thursby is to step down as chairman of Rank Group next month after six years in the role, the gambling company behind Grosvenor casinos and Mecca bingo halls announced this morning.
Rank said the hunt for a replacement is “well advanced” with a successor expected to be announced within the next couple of months. In the meantime, Karen Whitworth, a senior independent director on the board, will stand in as interim chairwoman.
John O’Reilly, Rank’s chief executive, said the group’s “recent successes and outlook are due in no small part to his [Thursby’s] sure-footed guidance and invaluable leadership.”
After a tough few years navigating weak visitor numbers in the aftermath of the pandemic, Rank, which operates more than 100 venues, is now enjoying the fruits of its turnaround with profits more than tripling last year to £53.9 million as it continued to invest across its estate. Its shares have risen almost 70 per cent in the past 12 months.
Kraken breaks free from Octopus Energy
Amir Orad, the chief executive of Octopus Energy’s technology arm, Kraken
Octopus Energy, the UK’s largest energy supplier, is to spin off its technology arm, Kraken, into a separate company.
The business could go public with a stock market listing, likely to be in London or New York, in the next 12 months valued at as much as $15 billion, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Contracted revenue at the unit has increased fourfold in the past three years to $500 million, driven by licensing deals with energy majors such as EDF, E.ON Next and National Grid US. It runs more than 70 million household and business accounts worldwide.
Octopus said the spin-off would allow Kraken to accelerate investments into its technology, expand into new energy markets and drive innovation.
Amir Orad, the chief executive of Kraken, said: “Octopus has been a phenomenal founding partner and first client. Kraken is now a globally successful business in its own right, operating independently for some time — completing our journey to full independence is a strategic and inevitable next step.”
Bloomsbury names Guardian’s Keith Underwood as finance chief
Harry Potter books by JK Rowling published by Bloomsbury
SUZANNE PLUNKETT/GETTY IMAGES
Bloomsbury Publishing has named the Guardian Media Group’s Keith Underwood as its finance and operating chief .
Underwood, 49, is currently the chief financial officer and chief operating officer at the publisher of The Guardian newspaper, and has previously worked at Channel 4, Sky, and PwC. He is set to assume office in February, taking over from the long-time finance director Penny Scott-Bayfield.
The Harry Potter publisher has seen profit soar from demand for Sarah J Maas’s
“romantasy” books such as the A Court of Thorns and Roses series. It has also recently expanded into academic books and digital resources.
Berenberg analysts said the appointment was “a positive” and Underwood’s expertise would help in improving efficiency and in securing content licensing deals.
Pets at Home shares tumble after boss leaves
Lyssa McGowan, with Luna, a six-year-old Yorkshire Terrier
LUCY YOUNG FOR THE TIMES
Lyssa McGowan, the boss of Pets at Home since 2022, has left effective immediately after the company issued its second profit warning in two months – sending shares down to their lowest since March 2020.
In an unscheduled trading update, the FTSE 250 retailer said in-store sales had fallen 5 per cent in the year-to-date, against guidance for 1 per cent growth across the business. It said the pet retail market has remained subdued, and that although the retail business has narrowed the gap to the market “the rate of improvement has been below expectations”.
Pets now expects underlying profit before tax for the year to March 2026 in the range of £90 to £100 million against a previously guided £115 to £125 million.
The current non-executive chair Ian Burke has assumed the role of executive chair until a permanent successor is appointed. The update sent shares in Pets down by 20 per cent.
McGowan, 47, who had been chief consumer officer at Sky UK for 12 years, was appointed chief executive in June 2022, replacing Peter Pritchard.
In a rare interview, she told the Times last year that while retail was new to her “I had a very complementary skillset.” AJ Bell has calculated that £1 billion has been wiped off the value of the company since McGowan was appointed CEO designate in February 2022.
Next flags UK labour pressures
Lord Wolfson of Aspley Guise, the chief executive of Next
REUTERS
Back to Next, the high-street bellwether whose boss Lord Wolfson of Aspley Guise’s thoughts are always worth a close look. This time, alongside impressive results, the chief executive has issued a brutal warning about the “anaemic” state of the UK economy.
The group said the rise to national insurance contributions (NICs) and the minimum wage was leading to a steep drop in vacancies. Within its own business, job vacancies are down 35 per cent while applications have jumped 76 per cent, with numbers per vacancy 2.7 times higher than two years ago.
Wolfson wrote: “The medium to long-term outlook for the UK economy does not look favourable.
“To be clear, we do not believe the UK economy is approaching a cliff edge. At best we expect
anaemic growth, with progress constrained by four factors: declining job opportunities, new
regulation that erodes competitiveness, government spending commitments that are beyond its
means, and a rising tax burden that undermines national productivity.”
The warning sent shares in Next down 6 per cent on market opening, despite the group posting a 13.8 per cent rise in underlying pre-tax profits to £515 million for the six months to the end of July.
Bank of England advised to hold rates at 4%
The Bank of England
TOLGA AKMEN/GETTY IMAGES
All eyes turn to the Bank of England at noon today, with policymakers on the nine-member monetary committee advised to hold rates at 4 per cent by The Times’ own shadow MPC.
Our panel believes that policymakers should wait until after the budget on November 26 before considering lowering borrowing costs again in order to get clarity over the government’s tax and spending plans.
You can read their latest verdict here. Our economics team has posted a full preview of what to expect from today’s meeting, in particular over the fraught issue of bond sales, here.
Advertising house warns on sales as profits fall
Shares in M&C Saatchi took a sharp hit after the storied advertising house warned that it expects like-for-like sales to fall this year as anxious clients defer spending decisions, particularly in Australia.
Analysts had forecast the company’s operating profit to increase to £37.6 million for 2025, according to a company-compiled consensus.
The warning comes after operating profit for the six months to June 30 fell 36 per cent to £10.3 million, weighed down by investments in the first quarter and a drop in revenue.
Shares in M&C, whose clients include Amazon, Meta, Adidas and Burberry, have retreated by almost a fifth in the past 12 months and lost another 5 per cent in early trading.
Renishaw profits rise as engineer eyes growth opportunities
Renishaw’s annual profits beat expectations to rise 3.8 per cent to £127.2 million on an adjusted basis in the 12 months to the end of June, from £122.6 million last year.
Revenue over the period rose 3.1 per cent to a record £713 million, up from £691.3 million.
The company’s full-year results were the first without the company’s visionary co-founder and long-time leader, Sir David McMurtry, who died in December at the age of 84.
Will Lee, the chief executive, said the FTSE 250 precision engineer made solid progress despite “challenging market conditions”. He added: “Despite the continued global uncertainty, the structural drivers that underpin our markets are presenting growth opportunities across our businesses.”
Debenhams revives designer scheme to regain fashion edge
Debenhams collapsing into administration in 2020 resulted in the closure of all its shops
ALAMY
Debenhams is resurrecting the designer fashion scheme that brought Julien Macdonald and Henry Holland to the high street in the 1990s, as the retailer attempts to recapture its former influence.
The online department store, which struggled after it collapsed into administration, is relaunching its “Designers at Debenhams” initiative next month in an effort to close the gap with rivals Marks & Spencer and John Lewis.
The initiative was scrapped when the company collapsed into administration in 2020, resulting in the closure of all its shops. The retailer was bought by Boohoo Group for £55 million in 2021.
The scheme, which launched in 1993, was a retail pioneer, offering affordable designer fashion long before collaborations between high street and luxury labels became commonplace. It gave exposure to rising names such as Jasper Conran and Betty Jackson, cementing Debenhams’ reputation as a style innovator. For some, including Macdonald, the department store’s collapse in 2020 left a significant gap in their business.
Domino’s head of dough steps down
Domino’s Pizza Group has announced that its finance director, Edward Jamieson, is leaving immediately by “mutual agreement”.
His departure comes as the FTSE 250 takeaway chain, which owns the master franchise for its US parent, faces activist pressure from Browning West over its strategy. In August, the group cut its 2025 profit forecast citing high costs and subdued customer demand.
Jamieson, who joined the company as its finance head in October 2022, will be replaced on an interim basis by Richard Snow, the former finance chief at Ladbrokes, until Andrew Andrea arrives by mid-March.
Andrea is stepping down from C&C Group after 18 months in the latest board shake-up at the Magners cider maker.
Roger White, who came out of retirement in January to become C&C’s third boss in less than two years, said: “Andrew joined the business during challenging times and has played a significant role in the stabilisation and improvement of the business.”
Next lifts profits but warns on UK outlook
The Next boss insisted the retailer was “in a good place”
NEXT
Lord Wolfson of Aspley Guise, the chief executive of the high street and online retailer Next, has issued a stark warning about “the medium to long-term outlook” for the UK economy alongside interim results this morning.
“At best we expect anaemic growth, with progress constrained by four factors: declining job opportunities, new regulation that erodes competitiveness, government spending commitments that are beyond its means, and a rising tax burden that undermines national productivity,” he stated.
Despite the warning, the long-standing boss of Next insisted that the retailer was “in a good place, with multiple opportunities for growth, both in the UK and overseas”.
The actual numbers show that pre-tax profits in the six months to the end of July rose 13.8 per cent to £515 million, up from £452 million over the same period last year. Sales were up 10.3 per cent on 2024 at £3.25 billion.
Gold dips after Fed signals caution
Gold prices extended losses overnight and the dollar firmed after the US Federal Reserve cut interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point but dampened hopes for faster policy easing.
Spot gold dipped 0.1 per cent to $3,655.10 per ounce after hitting a record high of $3,707.40 on Wednesday. Gold futures for December delivery slipped 0.8 per cent to $3,689.80.
“The general message from the Fed was slightly to the hawkish side on interest rates, they didn’t really enthusiastically endorse lower rates,” said Edward Meir, a Marex analyst.
The dollar rose 0.3 per cent to extend gains against global currencies, gaining slightly against both the pound and euro.
The Fed reduced rates by 25 basis points on Wednesday to 4-4.25 per cent and indicated it will steadily lower borrowing costs for the rest of this year with two more cuts at most. The move comes as the Bank of England rate-setting committee prepares to meet at noon, with traders expecting policymakers to hold the base rate at 4 per cent amid stubbornly high inflation.