IT’S been a weird and wonderful year for business.
Put your wits to the test with this trivia quiz on everything that’s happened this year.
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JANUARY
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2023 started with a jolt when Britishvolt went bust.
The £3.8billion electric car battery site had been hailed by Boris Johnson as the start of the “global green industrial revolution”.
How many cars did the gigafactory say it could make batteries for?
a) 3,000
b) 300,000
c) 3 million
FEBRUARY
FORMER Barclays boss Jes Staley’s links to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein blew up in court as documents revealed they had exchanged 1,200 emails as part of a “profound” friendship, including photos of young women.
Which “Disney princess” did the former banking boss tell Epstein to “Say hi” to in one bizarre chat?
a) Ariel
b) Princess Jasmine
c) Snow White
MARCH
FEARS of a repeat of the 2008 banking crisis erupted when Credit Suisse hit the skids in March.
It was snapped up in a Swiss government-backed rescue by rival UBS.
The £3.7billion deal valued the 167-year-old Swiss bank at the same price as what food chain?
a) Greggs
b) Pret A Manger
c) Pizza Express
APRIL
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THE CBI was engulfed in a huge sexual misconduct scandal.
What did boss Tony Danker say after he was sacked?
a) “Not only did they throw me under the bus, they reversed the bus back over me.”
b) “A lorry-load of crap was poured on my head.”
c) “A train of claims hit me at 100mph.”
MAY
BT was the first big British company to blame the loss of human jobs on the rise of artificial intelligence.
The telecommunications firm said that it would axe thousands of roles by 2030.
But how many of the job losses did it say were specifically because of the march of AI?
a) 1,000
b) 100
c) 10,000
JUNE
BANK of England Governor Andrew Bailey raised interest rates this year to 15-year highs, punishing borrowers and mortgage-holders.
Turmoil in the markets over the summer meant lenders pulled hundreds of home loans, and mortgage rates hit a high of what?
a) 6.4 per cent
b) 2.25 per cent
c) Five per cent
JULY
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THE affairs of private bank Coutts became very public when Nigel Farage accused Natwest of debanking him for his political views.
Chief executive Alison Rose was sacked.
But it all came out after Ms Rose sat next to who at dinner?
a) I’m A Celeb’s Sam Thompson
b) Ex-US President Donald Trump
c) Simon Jack, BBC Business Editor
AUGUST
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FAMILY-OWNED Wilko went bust over the summer after 93 years on the high street.
The Wilkinson family blamed rising costs, the mini-budget and keeping its shops open during the pandemic for its collapse.
But how much did they take out in dividends over the last decade?
a) £77million
b) Nowt
c) Just a few penny sweets and Post-it notes
SEPTEMBER
BP boss Bernard Looney was ousted after an exposé of his widespread workplace romances.
The oily loverman has since forfeited £32.4million but what nickname, given to him by his predecessor Lord Browne, lives on?
a) Turtle (after the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles)
b) Casanova
c) Romeo
OCTOBER
THERE has been a drought of new company listings in London this year.
The only big flotation of CAB Payments turned into a disaster when it issued a major profit warning three months after going public.
How much of the shares was wiped off in one day?
a) 33 per cent
b) 50 per cent
c) 74 per cent
NOVEMBER
ELON Musk has rarely been out of the news this year following his rebranding of Twitter to X, swinging at his critics like a heavyweight boxer.
After a slump in revenues, what did he say to advertisers who didn’t approve?
a) Please keep my bastion of free speech alive
b) Go f*ck yourself
c) Sticks and stones can break my bones but words will never hurt me
DECEMBER
THE woes of Thames Water saw it come close to nationalisation.
It will still take £14billion and 20 years to fix its network. But which film quote was used by MPs to describe its debt structures?
a) I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore — The Wizard Of Oz
b) May the Force be with you — Star Wars
c) Slippery little suckers — Pretty Woman
ANSWERS
January: b) 300,000
February: c) Snow White
March: a) Greggs
April: a) Bus Danker
May: c) 10,000
June: a) 6.4 per cent
July: c) Simon Jack
August: a) £77million
September: a) Turtle
October: c) 74 per cent
November: b) Go f*ck yourself
December: c) Pretty Woman
TOP FILM DUO TALK MERGERS
TWO of the world’s biggest film companies are in mega-merger talks that could combine HBO and the Harry Potter franchises with the studio that made Top Gun and Indiana Jones.
The top bosses at Warner Bros Discovery and Paramount, David Zaslav and Bob Bakish, are reported to have recently discussed a possible ($38billion) £29billion deal over lunch.
Together, they would control 30 per cent of all films produced.
Both companies have massive debt mountains and are struggling with weak TV advertising and the huge costs of cable networks.
But Warner Bros Discovery and Paramount’s combined number of streaming customers would still be 100million lower than Netflix.
Warner Bros is restricted from doing any deals until April 8 due to tax rules, following its takeover of Discovery in 2022.
SHARES
BARCLAYS down 0.22 to 151.42
BP down 0.75 to 466.25
CENTRICA up 0.30 to 142.50
HSBC up 3.10 to 622.50
LLOYDS down 0.28 to 47.19
M&S down 1.00 to 270.40
NATWEST down 0.90 to 217.10
ROYAL MAIL down 0.40 to 280.50
SAINSBURY’S down 0.90 to 298.60
SHELL down 24.00 to 2,557.00
TESCO down 1.30 to 287.30
RECORD ON DEBT
THE Government is having to spend more to service its debts than at any time since records began in 1997, as a result of higher interest rates.
In November it paid £7.7billion in debt interest, £100million more than a year ago, with rates at a 15-year high of 5.25 per cent.
If the Bank of England starts lowering rates on the back of inflation easing, it could increase the Government’s financial headroom.
The UK’s public debt pile is now worth 97.5 per cent of the economy, a ratio last seen in the 1960s.
NEARLY 4,500 retailers are in critical financial distress with an uncertain future ahead in 2024, according to a “red flag” index by Begbies Traynor.
Higher costs, expensive debts and a slump in consumer spending are hitting shops the hardest.
