Welcome to taking stock on.... Tuesday 22nd August 2023
Taking Stock: Is a look at today's top business news & investment views plus we cover the winners, losers, the most read company news & the most followed. Today this includes:
Do you pay any attention to the saying, "Sell in May and go away, don't come back until St Leger's Day?"
MOST READ RNS
Seeing Machines - FY2023 Trading Update & Q4 KPIs
RISERS
Plexus Holdings - Contract Value Increase from c. £5m to c. £8m
FALLERS
Powerhouse Energy - Placing to raise £1,000,000 and issue of equity
REQUESTS
Anexo
Base Resources
Bodycote
RNS WORTH READING
TOP BUSINESS STORIES
Britain's gloomy weather dents supermarket sales growth into August
Sales growth at British supermarkets slowed in August, industry data showed on Tuesday, reflecting lower inflation as well as a hit to demand from unsettled, unseasonably wet weather.
Market researcher NIQ said supermarket sales on a value basis grew 7.2% in the four weeks to Aug. 12 - the lowest growth since January and down from 8.9% in its July data set.
The data is the most up-to-date snapshot of UK consumer behaviour.
NIQ said sales on a volume basis fell 3.8%.
Britain's consumers have largely defied high inflation and rising borrowing costs to keep up their spending in 2023, but July's official measure of overall retail sales showed a fall in sales volumes which was widely attributed to rain.
Mike Watkins, NIQ’s UK head of retailer and business insight, said that despite easing inflation, most consumers remain pessimistic about their financial situation in the coming three months, with 60% anticipating that they will be severely or moderately impacted by rising living costs.
Public borrowing below forecasts despite July rise
Government borrowing was lower than expected last month, adding to speculation about possible tax cuts later this year.
Borrowing - the difference between spending and tax income - was £4.3bn in July, official figures show, below analysts' forecasts of about £5bn.
The figure was helped by rising self assessment tax revenues, but debt interest payments hit a July record.
July's borrowing figure was £3.4bn more than a year ago and the fifth-highest figure for July since monthly records began in 1993.
Total net debt had reached £2.58 trillion by the end of July, the ONS said, which was about 98.5% of the UK's gross domestic product (GDP) - the value of all the goods and services produced in the UK in a year.
The government paid debt interest of £7.7bn, which the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said was the highest total for July on record.
Big firm bosses' pay rose 16% as workers squeezed
Bosses at Britain's biggest companies saw their pay rise by almost 16% on average last year as most workers' wages were squeezed by rising prices.
The High Pay Centre said the median pay of a FTSE 100 chief executive was £3.91m in 2022, up from £3.38m in 2021.
It added that the average earnings of a FTSE 100 boss was 118 times more than a typical UK worker on £33,000 a year.