Coming soon...
The new Business Leader
Hello everyone and welcome to the latest edition of Off to Lunch…
I would like to start today’s newsletter with a quick announcement. Next week we will be revealing the new Business Leader. After months of work behind the scenes, next week we will be sharing the new magazine, website, content and our membership community.
We want to build a new agenda-setting, inspirational and aspirational business publication for the UK. Next week is just the start.
I will be sharing details of the new content in Off to Lunch next week and I can’t wait to do that. Please continue to get in touch with ideas, feedback or any questions - it has been vital in building the new content.
The next episode of our Business Leader podcast will also be with you next week. Without wishing to give much away, the remarkable story featured in that episode is also on the cover of the new magazine.
In the meantime, a reminder that you can find our episode with Marc Allera, the chief executive of EE and BT’s consumer business, here
Other stories that matter…
1. The latest official data on jobs in the UK suggests the economy is more robust than feared. Annual pay excluding bonuses rose by 6.2 per cent year-on-year in the final three months of 2023. This is down from a rise of 6.7 per cent in the data last month, but is higher than the 6 per cent forecast by economists. Meanwhile, unemployment fell to 3.8 per cent in the final quarter of 2023, down from 4 per cent in the previous quarter. You can find the report from the Office for National Statistics here
2. The jobs data will dampen expectations that the Bank of England will cut interest rates anytime soon. This is because it suggests that inflation is still hanging around and that the economy does not urgently need a jolt from lower interest rates. Nonetheless, we will find out later this week whether the UK is in recession. A recession is two consecutive quarters of negative economic growth. Data has already shown that the economy shrank in Q3 and we get the Q4 data on Thursday. However, Andrew Bailey, the governor of the Bank of England, has downplayed the significance of this. Speaking at Loughborough University on Monday evening, he said: “If we do get two successive negative quarters… it will be very shallow,” he said. “What I would put more weight on is that the indicators we have seen since have shown some signs of upturn.” You can read the lecture that Bailey gave here and a report on his comments by the Financial Times here
3. The struggling parcel delivery company Yodel has been bought. A rescue deal has been led by rival business Shift and Solano Partners, a boutique investment bank. Story by Sky News here
4. Adnams, the 151-year-old Suffolk brewery, is looking to raise funds to shore up its balance sheet. The company has hired advisory firm Alvarez & Marsal to help it explore options. Guardian story here and company statement here
5. Why has Tata Motors, owner of Jaguar Land Rover, gone quiet about building a gigafactory in Somerset? Interesting stuff from The Fast Charge newsletter here
6. The latest Bartleby column on management in The Economist looks at the importance of fairness in the workplace. “Even if people differ over what counts as the right outcome, they can usually agree on what makes for a fair process. That is more than half the battle.” You can read it here
Business Leader event…
The owner of Business Leader’s parent company, Richard Harpin, is meeting with two small groups of CEOs this week to discuss his eight secrets to growing a billion-pound business. These are the first in a series of scale-up workshops Richard will be hosting across the country. If you’re the founder or CEO of a business with a turnover of at least £3 million and a workforce of more than fifteen, please get in touch if you’d like to attend one of the free workshops. Please email craig.wilmann@businessleader.co.uk for more details
And finally…
Who said traditional television is dead? The Super Bowl was the most-watched television broadcast in the US since the Moon landing in 1969. An average of 123.4 million people watched in the US as the Kansas City Chiefs beat the San Francisco 49ers, with Taylor Swift celebrating on the pitch afterwards with boyfriend Travis Kelce. More from the BBC here. Remarkably, as many as 5 million are estimated to have watched some of the game in the UK, despite the fact it did not kick-off until 11.30pm.
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Best
Graham
There's long been a space for national pro-business pro-growth title so this is great news. We read and have worked with Business Leader in Bristol and its good. It's largely going to be business and the private sector (working with enlightened institutions like universities) which will solve the world's most pressing issues.