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The market is still digesting the news that current home secretary Shabana Mahmood has emerged as the frontrunner to be Andy Burnham’s chancellor.
Jim Reid, of Deutsche Bank, notes this has been a key focus for UK investors in recent days, and that the pound ended the day yesterday up 1.12% against the US dollar. It is still holding above $1.35 this morning, around its highest level in two months.
It tells us two things about Andy Burnham’s government: firstly, the market trusts Mahmood to take a sensible approach to economic policy, and to tackle the hard questions of welfare spending, secondly, Burnham is willing to have those to the right of the Labour party in his cabinet in key economic roles.
Although there has been no formal announcement that Mahmod will be chancellor, reports suggest that Burnham consulted the City on the appointment, which is a wise thing to do when you rely on investors to buy British debt to keep the economy running.
There is little doubt that the underlying robotic technology for packing shipping orders is cutting-edge, impressive and efficient, with automated bots scuttling seamlessly within a preset grid. However, rolling out this CFC (Customer Fulfilment Centre) offering to partners has brought its own challenges, with the international expansion on which the group was relying failing to materialise in a meaningful enough way.
…From an investment perspective, there remains a mountain to climb. Recent news that the CEO will be departing, albeit not until a replacement is found in time for the beginning of fiscal 2028, adds another level of uncertainty which could exempt even more investors from entering the fray.
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