Reuters UK Business

(Reuters) -Workspace, a London-focused flexible office-space provider, said on Thursday its customers are vacating larger spaces and reported lower third-quarter occupancy at its buildings amid challenging macroeconomic conditions. Although British commercial property firms are recovering after a post-pandemic freeze, with property values stabilising in the second half of 2024, recent concerns around the decreased pace …

London-focused Workspace posts drop in Dec-qtr occupancy Read More »

By Agata Rybska (Reuters) -Swedish hygiene products maker Essity reported fourth-quarter core profit below market expectations on Thursday, as high raw material costs in its consumer tissue business and strong U.S. dollar hurt margins. Its shares fell more than 5% in early trading, among the biggest decliners on Europe’s benchmark STOXX 600 index. Essity’s adjusted …

Essity lags Q4 forecasts as higher costs offset volume and price growth Read More »

By Niklas Pollard STOCKHOLM (Reuters) -Swedbank proposed a larger-than-expected annual dividend after beating fourth-quarter operating profit expectations on Thursday, sending its shares up 4%. Its operating profit dipped to 10.67 billion crowns ($969 million) from 11.08 billion a year earlier but topped the 9.25 billion expected by analysts, LSEG data showed. Sweden’s biggest mortgage lender …

Swedbank beats quarterly profit view, shareholders set for bigger pay day Read More »

MOSCOW (Reuters) – The Russian economy has shown resilience during the three years of war in Ukraine and Western sanctions. However, as the war approaches its fourth year, the economy faces major challenges with key economic policymakers at odds on how to address them. Economists describe the outlook for 2025 as an “ideal storm” with …

Factbox-Five key challenges for the Russian economy in 2025 Read More »

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain will make it easier for major infrastructure projects to go ahead by limiting the number of legal challenges that opposition groups can bring, the government said on Thursday. Since coming to office in July, Prime Minister Keir Starmer has identified planning delays as a major impediment to economic growth. That growth …

UK tackles infrastructure ‘blockers’ by cutting legal challenge options Read More »

By Ludwig Burger and Valentina Za FRANKFURT (Reuters) -Commerzbank on Wednesday defined UniCredit’s approach for a potential tie-up as “hostile”, and said there had been no discussion of it with the Italian bank in the past two years, despite UniCredit CEO Andrea Orcel saying there had. UniCredit is awaiting the European Central Bank approval it …

Commerzbank says UniCredit’s approach is hostile and unilateral Read More »