What this means for UK businesses right now Events in the Middle East are once again influencing global energy markets. Recent reports suggest UK wholesale gas prices have jumped by as much as 50% following concerns about supply disruption. The increase has been linked to fears of reduced liquefied natural gas (LNG) shipments after QatarEnergy reportedly halted LNG production following Iranian drone attacks on its facilities . Whenever supply from the Middle East is threatened, markets react...

Your hidden costs are about to matter a lot more. From April, staffing costs rise again.For many businesses, that single change wipes out months of margin. When payroll jumps, attention naturally goes there.What gets missed is everything else quietly draining cash in the background. That’s where problems start. The real risk isn’t wages. It’s the contracts no one is watching. When costs rise, businesses tend to: Delay renewals Ignore non-core contracts Accept “we’ll look at it later” as a...