‘Shame on them’: Standard Chartered CEO decries banks that drop climate pledges

The chief executive of Standard Chartered has condemned rival banks that have dropped their climate commitments amid mounting political pressure.Speaking to journalists on Thursday, Bill Winters criticised banks that had jumped on the climate bandwagon when it was “fashionable”, but had since rolled back on their green ambitions or gone quiet on the subject.“Shame on them,” he said, without naming individual firms.His comments came weeks after HSBC became the first UK-headquartered bank to leave the global Net-Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA), in a further blow to international climate coordination efforts.The UN environment programme’s finance initiative, which is led by banks, commits members to aligning their lending, investment and capital markets activities with net zero emissions by 2050 or earlier

Next gets sales lift from sunny weather and M&S disruption

Next has reported bumper sales between May and July as sunnier UK weather and a disruptive hack at its rival Marks & Spencer sent customers flocking to the clothes and homewares retailer.Full-price sales at Next in the 13 weeks to 26 July rose by 10.5%, compared with the same period last year, which was £49m ahead of its guidance forecast of a 6.5% rise in takings.“In the UK, we believe that the over-performance was largely due to better than expected weather and trading disruption at a major competitor,” Next said, referring to the damaging cyber-attack that forced M&S to pause online customer orders for almost seven weeks and led to some shortages in stores

Rolls-Royce profits soar 50% on strong demand for jet engines

Rolls-Royce has reported a 50% rise in half-year profits as strong demand for its jet engines and power generators for AI datacentres solidified its turnaround efforts.The British jet-engine maker said underlying operating profits climbed to £1.7bn in the first six months of 2025, from £1.1bn during the same period last year, in an earnings update that pushed the company’s shares to a fresh all-time high, and helped push the FTSE 100 share index to a new peak too.The strong half-year results meant the manufacturer, whose main operations are in Derby, was able to raise its profit forecast for the year from a range of £2

Shell profits down nearly a third after drop in gas prices

Europe’s tumbling gas prices caused profits at Shell to slump by almost a third in the last quarter after denting the earnings in its gas trading business.Gas prices in Europe fell by almost a fifth between April and June this year after a sudden ceasefire forged between Iran and Israel eased fears that gas deliveries via the strait of Hormuz might be disrupted by conflict.The biggest weekly slump in gas prices in almost two years helped to dent Shell’s adjusted earnings for the second quarter, which fell by almost a third from last year to $4.26bn (£3.22bn)

Co-op expands its ‘food on the go’ offering with 15 new bitesize stores

The Co-op is to challenge takeaway outlets such as Greggs, Pret a Manger and Subway with plans for hundreds of small food shops selling hot pizza, fried chicken and sandwiches.The first Co-op On The Go store opens in Solihull, near Birmingham, on Thursday and 14 more are planned this year, including five in London.They will sell ready meals, such as pizzas and lasagne to heat up at home, alcoholic and soft drinks, and essentials such as toothpaste and loo roll alongside staffed hot food counters and food in heated cabinets.At between 600 sq ft and 1,000 sq ft, the stores will be about a quarter of the size of a typical Co-op but unlike many convenience stores they will not sell cigarettes or vapes. However, the company has developed 35 new products for the new format, such as all day-breakfast meal pots and smoked salmon, egg and spinach pots

Queensland Productivity Commission argues construction industry ‘reset’ needed to fix housing crisis and deliver Olympics

Queensland’s Productivity Commission has flagged a broad construction industry “reset” that could threaten existing enterprise bargaining agreements, arguing it may be required if the state is to build its way out of a housing crisis – and host the Olympics.The commission released an interim report on Thursday into improving productivity in the construction sector that called on the Queensland government to permanently remove so-called “Best Practice Industry Conditions” (BPICs) from its procurement policy.Adopted under the previous Labor government in 2018, BPICs outlined construction union workers’ pay and conditions for all major state projects. Union proponents claim BPICs improved safety and lifted standards and created apprenticeship opportunities for women and Indigenous workers – industry opponents complained it led to cost blowouts and worksite shutdowns.Sign up: AU Breaking News emailThe Liberal National party deputy premier, Jarrod Bleijie, hit pause on BPICs in November until the re-established Productivity Commission completed its building industry review