BUSINESS LIVE: Spring Budget set for 6th March; AstraZeneca buys Gracell; Ex-Wilko stores witness ‘amazing’ sales

Footfall at Britain’s shopping destinations rose by four per cent on Boxing Day compared to last year, figures show.

A combination of online and Black Friday sales and the cost of living did not deter Britons from heading out for the traditional post-Christmas shopping event yesterday.

The Government is to rebrand its ‘Rose review’ into female entrepreneurship, named after former NatWest boss Alison Rose, in the wake of the Nigel Farage debanking row.

The banking executive stepped down this summer from the project, which she was appointed to lead four years ago.

Jeremy Hunt has announced the 2024 spring budget will be delivered on March 6.

The Chancellor made the announcement this morning amid rumours he is planning a raft of tax cuts designed to rescue Tory election hopes.

The boss in charge of the HS2 high speed rail project said there will be ‘no let-up’ in its progress next year, after parts of the line were scrapped in October.

HS2 Ltd executive chair Sir Jon Thompson said improvements to tracks and signalling, will ‘edge [it] ever closer’ to completion.

Poundland’s boss has cheered ‘amazing’ sales across its former Wilko outlets after acquiring multiple stores from the collapsed firm.

The discount retailer has converted 64 former Wilko shops to the Poundland brand name following a deal to buy the leases on 71 stores from administrators PwC in September.

Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets at Hargreaves Lansdown, comments on the Apple Watch import ban:

This patent row will inevitably cause some bruising for Apple given that the sales of the latest incarnations of the watch have been held up.

It means that die-hard fans who always want to get their hands on the latest kit, will inevitably have a much longer wait, and it will disrupt the sales pipeline.

The oxygen monitoring technology, which is at the heart of this case, has sparked a series of patent infringement disputes between Masimo and Apple.

It’s estimated that Apple’s watch division, as a whole, will be worth around $17billion this year. So, it’s still small fry but has potential to become a much bigger fish in Apple’s pool of products.

She added: The health tech sector is expected to be an engine for growth in coming years, and big tech firms are super-keen to stay at the cutting edge of the market. This is particularly the case for Apple.

Although it can rely heavily on the power of its brand, it can’t be complacent and it will keep having to develop desirable hardware to sell its packages of services, everything from health and fitness to music to TV apps.

Should you be looking for a New Year’s resolution that will bring you a wealthier 2024, commit to paying into a cash Isa.

Individual Savings Accounts (Isas) are a more valuable part of a saver’s armoury than they have been for years.

HSBC has vowed not to announce any new bank branch closures in 2024, it revealed to customers this month.

In a ‘festive message’ to customers, Jose Carvalho, HSBC UK’s head of wealth and personal banking, said the bank was ‘expanding community locations up and down the country’ via pop-up branches and banking hubs.

The great vision of Victorian thinkers and engineers lives on in the railways, the Bazalgette sewers, Brunel bridges and the town halls which grace the nation’s industrial cities.

Contemporary political leaders fail us with a lack of resolve essential to guiding imaginary projects through to completion.

One in three Britons is planning to make a New Year’s resolution to tackle their finances in 2024 — and saving more for a rainy day is the most popular pledge.

As many as 25 per cent of those making a financial resolution plan to spend less, while 16 per cent plan to pay off at least some of their debts.

On a blustery day on Tyneside, Sir Nigel Wilson is in his element. The Legal & General boss is visiting the Newcastle Helix, a £350million urban redevelopment he helped finance.

Wilson, who grew up on a council estate in nearby Newton Aycliffe, is about to step down after more than 11 years at the top of L&>.

Stella McCartney’s fashion house slashed its losses last year as it pushed ahead with a turnaround.

The label, run by the daughter of Beatles legend Paul McCartney, said losses shrank to £10million in 2022 – compared with £32.7million in 2021.

AstraZeneca has agreed to buy a Shanghai-based pharmaceutical company for just under £1bn as it places its bets on China’s medical technology.

Britain’s biggest drugmaker yesterday said it would buy Gracell Biotechnologies for up to £950million.