Britain’s business owners are quietly Googling their way through VAT season. Searches for “VAT definition” have jumped 23 per cent in the past week, new research from Hiscox shows, as firms with VAT quarters ending 30 June face a 7 August filing deadline.

Searches for “VAT meaning” are up 11 per cent over the same period, and the tax generates 17,500 definition-related searches every month, enough to make it one of the UK’s most searched business acronyms. Only KPI, on 60,800 monthly searches, along with the likes of GDPR, CRM and EBITDA, rank higher.

The confusion runs deeper than one tax. More than half (52 per cent) of business owners admit they do not feel confident in their understanding of common business and financial terminology. When they hit an unfamiliar term, 16 per cent say they feel frustrated, 13 per cent intimidated and 12 per cent overwhelmed.

Where do they turn? Over two-thirds (69 per cent) reach for a search engine. Some 16 per cent use social media platforms such as TikTok and LinkedIn for short-form explanations, a figure that rises to 31 per cent among under-30s. And one in six (15 per cent) now ask AI tools such as ChatGPT to decode unfamiliar concepts.

That last habit comes with a health warning. “AI tools can help to provide quick explanations, but they’re not always consistent with how information is sourced or explained,” cautions Nick Thornhill, Direct and Partnerships Director at Hiscox. “As these tools are becoming more widely used in day-to-day business decision-making, it becomes increasingly important that business owners cross-check their understanding, especially when terminology feeds into financial, operational or compliance decisions.”

The stakes are not trivial. HMRC’s latest figures put the total tax gap for 2024/25 at £59.2 billion, with VAT accounting for a fifth of that shortfall, and failure to take reasonable care and simple error the two biggest behavioural causes. Small businesses represent the largest slice of the gap, at 62 per cent.

Getting it wrong is expensive at an individual level too. Inaccuracies judged to show a lack of reasonable care can attract penalties of up to 30 per cent of the extra tax due.

Clare March, founder of Her Business Counts, argues the real problem is not remembering what the acronym stands for but understanding what it means in practice. Misjudging VAT’s impact on cash flow, she warns, can lead to decisions that “look fine on the surface but quietly put you in a really difficult position.”

For SMEs, VAT is rarely just an admin line. The tax shapes behaviour to the point that firms are deliberately curbing growth to stay under the £90,000 registration threshold, and it remains politically live, with ministers scrapping VAT on electricity bills only this month. Add the demands of Making Tax Digital and the shift towards e-invoicing, and the terminology burden keeps growing.

In response, Hiscox has partnered with business mentor Jonathan Cooper on four tips for building financial confidence, including finding trusted sources of guidance and avoiding common mistakes, and has launched an interactive quiz letting owners test themselves on the UK’s most searched acronyms.

“Business owners are expected to know and use a wide range of terms across finance, operations and compliance on a daily basis, but our research suggests that many are still having to look them up as they go,” says Thornhill. “Business language can be complicated and having an understanding of these terms is important for decision-making and communication with advisors, investors and teams.”

One note of reassurance for anyone panicking about 7 August: not every business files that day. VAT deadlines depend on your accounting period, and returns are normally due one calendar month and seven days after the quarter ends. Checking your own date, rather than Googling someone else’s, is a sensible place to start.

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Shares of Karur Vysya Bank rallied as much as 10.6% to their day’s high of Rs 333 on the BSE on Tuesday after the lender reported a 44.92% YoY jump in net profit to Rs 756 crore in the first quarter, compared with Rs 521 crore a year earlier.

Pre-provision operating profit (PPOP) rose 36.15% YoY to Rs 1,096 crore from Rs 805 crore, while net interest income increased 31.76% YoY to Rs 1,423 crore from Rs 1,080 crore.

Net interest margin (NIM) improved to 4.34% from 3.86% in the year-ago quarter. The cost of deposits declined by 32 bps to 5.45% from 5.77%, while the yield on advances increased by 11 bps to 10.11% from 10%, the company said in a regulatory filing.

Commission and fee income rose 7.57% YoY to Rs 270 crore from Rs 251 crore. Operating expenses increased to Rs 769 crore from Rs 721 crore in the corresponding quarter last year, while the cost-to-income ratio improved to 41.24% from 47.24%.

Karur Vysya Bank asset quality

On asset quality, gross non-performing assets (GNPA) stood at 0.74% of gross advances as of June 30, 2026, compared with 0.66% a year earlier, though the ratio was lower by 1 bp QoQ. In absolute terms, GNPA stood at Rs 772 crore, up from Rs 593 crore as of June 30, 2025. Net NPA (NNPA) remained at 0.19%, unchanged from a year earlier, while the absolute figure stood at Rs 196 crore compared with Rs 170 crore. The provision coverage ratio (PCR) stood at 96.21% as of June 30, 2026, compared with 96.76% a year earlier.

Karur Vysya Bank’s total business stood at Rs 2.27 lakh crore as of June 30, 2026, up 15.94% YoY from Rs 1.96 lakh crore a year earlier, an increase of Rs 31,243 crore. Total deposits rose 14.94% YoY to Rs 1.22 lakh crore from Rs 1.06 lakh crore, while total advances grew 17.13% YoY to Rs 1.04 lakh crore from Rs 89,374 crore, an increase of Rs 15,306 crore.
Also read:SBI Funds Management shares list at 7% premium over IPO price

Karur Vysya Q1 management commentary

Ramesh Babu B, Managing Director and CEO of Karur Vysya Bank, said the bank’s performance indicators were in line with its earlier guidance. He said the bank had front-loaded growth in the first quarter of the financial year, in line with its approach in recent years. He added that consistent performance across growth, profitability and asset quality reflected the strength of the bank’s performance since the start of the year.
(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of The Economic Times)

Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary said on Monday that an initial finding from an investigation into a broken window incident earlier this month suggested “foreign object damage” and that the problem was caused by the aircraft’s age or servicing conditions.

“Initial indication would suggest it looks like a foreign object damage to the engine on takeoff at Thessaloniki, but we don’t have, we can’t say that definitively,” O’Leary told analysts after Ryanair’s results for the April-June quarter.

O’Leary said the aircraft was 18 years old and that the engine had been fully serviced and overhauled within the last two years.

WHY A BLOWN-OUT PLANE WINDOW NEARLY SUCKED A PASSENGER OUTSIDE AT 16,000 FEET

He also said that a draft report on the incident would be released in under a month, with a more detailed report to follow.

On July 10, a piece of a Boeing 737’s engine broke off the aircraft and smashed into a window shortly after takeoff from Thessaloniki, Greece, en route to Memmingen, Germany, according to video footage and the Federal Aviation Administration.

The plane lost pressure and was forced to make an emergency landing.

RYANAIR ‘RELUCTANTLY’ ENDS MANDATORY FEE FOR PARENTS TO SIT WITH CHILDREN AMID INVESTIGATION

A passenger was partly sucked out of the aircraft during the incident, but his wife and other passengers were able to grab him and pull him back inside.

The 61-year-old passenger was hospitalized after he suffered neck and shoulder injuries as well as friction burns.

Flight records show the aircraft, which was delivered new to Ryanair in 2008, had been climbing past 15,000 feet about six minutes after takeoff before then descending to about 6,000 feet. The aircraft remained at the lower altitude for about 30 minutes to burn fuel before returning to Thessaloniki about an hour after departure, according to flight-tracking site Flightradar24.

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The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the incident.

If damage to the aircraft was caused by an external object, it could reduce Boeing’s and Ryanair’s responsibilities in the incident.

Reuters contributed to this report.

British EV charging specialist Rightcharge has been certified as Visa’s only recommended home charging reimbursement partner in Europe, a tie-up that tackles the problem fuel cards were never built to solve: paying drivers back for the electricity they buy at home.

The numbers explain why Visa went looking. Data from Rightcharge’s fleet platform shows just 27 per cent of EV fleet charging spend goes through the public network. The other 73 per cent happens at home, typically overnight, on the driver’s own energy bill.

For fleet suppliers, and the thousands of UK businesses that rely on them, that split is the awkward truth of electrification. A fuel card only ever had to work at the petrol station. An electric fleet charges on the road and on the driveway, and any supplier solving just one side leaves most of its customers’ charging spend unmanaged.

Visa covers the public side through Visa Fleet 2.0, its open-loop payment infrastructure for fleet and mobility, offering real-time tracking, spend controls and acceptance wherever Visa is taken. The home side has historically been harder. Legacy fuel card systems were never designed for home energy billing, leaving fleet managers to verify costs manually, driver by driver.

Rightcharge’s platform closes that gap. It integrates with each driver’s home energy tariff to calculate the exact cost of every charging session, reimburses drivers automatically through a direct payment to their energy bill, and gives fleet managers confidence that only the work vehicle is being charged.

Getting the sums right is not a trivial concern. HMRC’s advisory electric rate currently stands at 7p per mile for home charging against 15p for public charging, a gap that makes the driveway comfortably the cheapest place to run an electric fleet, provided the reimbursement is accurate.

Certification under the Visa Ready for Fleet programme validates Rightcharge’s platform against Visa’s standards for functionality, integration and security. It also puts the firm in front of Visa’s global network of issuers and fleet mobility providers, which the company says will accelerate the rollout of accurate home charging reimbursement across UK fleets.

For fleet managers, the combined offering promises accurate reimbursement for every home session and real-time visibility across the fleet. For drivers, it means no out-of-pocket costs and no expense claims, wherever they plug in.

“We’re witnessing a rapid transition across Europe as fleets move from diesel to electric. The technology that fleets use to pay is transitioning with it. We realise that Visa will play a major role as a public charging payment platform and we’re proud to offer fleet suppliers the Rightcharge platform in parallel to manage payments for charging at home. Joining Visa Ready for Fleet also gives us the opportunity to work with a broader ecosystem of fleet, payments and mobility partners, supporting our ambitions to expand our reach across Europe,” said Freddie Winterbotham, Head of Strategic Partnerships at Rightcharge.

Neil Halls, Head of Fleet & Mobility at Visa, commented: “Through the Visa Ready for Fleet programme, we’re building a network of partners who can offer a comprehensive range of solutions tailored to our fleet and mobility clients. Rightcharge’s expertise in home charging reimbursement fills a critical gap in the ecosystem. We look forward to working together to help more UK fleets make the move to electric with confidence.”

The timing is notable for smaller operators. Fleets remain the engine of EV demand even as some big names, Uber among them, row back on all-electric targets, citing costs and patchy incentives. With the Workplace Charging Scheme now in its final confirmed year and grant money still on the table, SMEs weighing up the practicalities of workplace EV charging may find the admin side of electrification is finally catching up with the ambition.

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The fashion group, which owns Sports Direct and Flannels, has bought 2.5m new shares in Hugo Boss, taking its total stake up to 30.28 per cent and crossing the mandatory bid threshold under German takeover rules

Frasers Group has increased its stake in Hugo Boss beyond the threshold that compels it to make an offer for the entire business, intensifying pressure on the German fashion house to accept its £1.7bn proposal.

The fashion retailer, which owns Sports Direct and Flannels, announced on Tuesday that it had acquired 2.5m additional shares in Hugo Boss, lifting its total holding to 30.28 per cent. Under German takeover regulations, a shareholder must launch a bid for the whole company once their stake reaches the 30 per cent threshold.

Frasers said it was “pleased to confirm that it has exceeded the mandatory bid threshold,” adding that its existing bid “remains open for shareholders to accept”, City AM reported. The group, established by billionaire Mike Ashley, put forward a €38 per share offer for Hugo Boss last month, placing a value of nearly €2bn on the fashion brand.

However, Hugo Boss has urged its investors to reject this “inadequate bid”. The offer is set to expire on Monday 27 July. FTSE 250-listed Frasers Group already held approximately 26 per cent of Hugo Boss when it launched its bid last month.

The €38-per-share proposal raised questions amongst analysts as it represented merely a four per cent premium on Hugo Boss’ share price at the time of the offer. Shares in the German fashion house have subsequently risen above €38, having jumped more than nine per cent on the day Frasers submitted its offer.

Earlier this month, members of Hugo Boss’s management and supervisory board declared they “unanimously recommend that shareholders do not accept” the offer. Following a “comprehensive and independent review process”, the German fashion house concluded that the proposal would be “inadequate from a financial point of view”.

The company said it sought advice from bankers at the Bank of America and Goldman Sachs before determining that the offer price failed to reflect either the “standalone value” of Hugo Boss “nor its medium to long-term value creation potential”.

Last week, Frasers disclosed that its string of takeover bids — which included a hostile approach for Australian footwear retailer Accent — is driving its recovery. The group’s stakes in Hugo Boss and Accent contributed £50m to adjusted profit over the past year, it confirmed.

The FTSE 250 company recorded an eight per cent rise in revenue to £5.3bn for the year ending April, while pre-tax profit surged by more than a third to £528m.

Jones, who was also previously chief secretary to the Treasury, wrote on X that the Digital ID programme was unfunded.

While praising the VAT cut as “good”, he said “the government will have to set out how it will pay for its new policies at the budget”.

Shadow Chancellor Mel Stride also criticised the use of the Digital ID budget to fund the VAT cut.

“The cuts to the Digital ID card budget are not real because the money was never provided in the first place.

“We are only one day in and already its smoke and mirrors on the public finances.”

Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds told BBC Breakfast: “We’re not saying it’s everything but it will give people breathing space.”

He said the announcement was “a statement of priorities from the new administration”.

Household energy prices rose by 13% for millions of people in England, Scotland and Wales at the start of July, under regulator Ofgem’s price cap.

Price rises were driven by the higher cost of gas, but have a relatively limited impact owing to warm weather and lower energy use during the summer months.

However, higher energy prices caused by the US-Israeli war with Iran, which has constrained global supplies of oil and liquified natural gas, are likely to persist into the winter, according to analysts.

The VAT cut only applies to the current financial year — any decision to keep it in future years would have to be made in a Budget.

The government expects it will lower inflation by 0.1 percentage points.

In his first speech as the UK’s prime minister, Burnham vowed to provide “breathing space” for households struggling with the cost of living.

On Tuesday, he said the VAT cut would “put more money in people’s pockets”.

The VAT cut is the second intervention on energy bills by the government in six months.

Former chancellor Rachel Reeves removed one levy and shifted others onto general taxation to lower bills in April.

Burnham’s new cabinet is due to meet for the first time at lunchtime on Tuesday.

The End Fuel Poverty Coalition welcomed the reduction, but said it “does not address the scale of what households are facing”.

Simon Francis, the group’s co-ordinator, said Burnham’s government must “go even further” with targeted support for those most in need.

He added: “This breathing space is also not a cure. The only way to bring bills down for good is to change how they are set.”

Shares of leading private lender HDFC Bank fell 1.5% to Rs 766 on Tuesday, extending their decline to over 6% in two sessions, after the bank reported a 5% YoY increase in standalone net profit for the April-June quarter of FY27.

The bank posted a standalone net profit of Rs 19,060 crore for the quarter, compared with Rs 18,155 crore in the corresponding period last year. Net interest income (NII), which reflects the difference between interest earned and interest paid, increased 7% YoY to Rs 33,534 crore from Rs 31,438 crore a year earlier.

Despite the fall, analysts remain bullish on HDFC Bank shares.

Jefferies on HDFC Bank share price

Jefferies maintained its ‘Buy’ call on HDFC Bank shares with a target price of Rs 1,050 (35% upside) apiece. HDFC Bank remains one of the international brokerage’s top picks, while it noted that the company’s June quarter earnings were in-line with estimates, as a slight miss on NII was offset by lower opex and credit cost. The bank’s desire to participate in corp lending lifted loan growth to 16% YoY, but dragged NIMs by 12 bps QoQ, limiting NII growth to 7%, Nomura said, adding that slower growth in opex (slow branch/staff growth) and lower credit costs (low slippages) aided profits.

“We tweak earnings estimates for FY27 and FY29. Improvement in margins should aid earnings that should grow at 15% CAGR in PBT (ex-treasury/ one-offs) over FY26-29 with ROE of 13% in FY27. Valuations at 1.8x FY27 adjusted PB and 14x PE are attractive,” Jefferies further said.
Also read | HDFC Bank Q1 Results: Net profit rises 5% YoY to Rs 19,060 crore, NII up 7%

Nomura on HDFC Bank share price

Nomura also has a ‘Buy’ call on HDFC Bank shares, with a target price of Rs 950 apiece, implying nearly 22% upside potential. The international brokerage noted that the bank reported a largely in-line Q1 FY27 performance.
“We raise our FY27F loan/deposit growth estimates to 16%/17% (from 13%/15%). FY27-28F EPS estimates are largely unchanged, as lower top-line is offset by lower provisions and opex. On the FCNR(B) scheme, management expects to gain a handsome market share, though it did not disclose any quantum. Leadership continuity and FCNR execution remain key near-term monitorables, in our view,” it added.

Motilal Oswal on HDFC Bank

Motilal Oswal has reiterated its Buy rating on HDFC Bank with a target price of Rs 1,050, implying an upside of around 35%. The brokerage said the bank reported a largely in-line quarter, supported by healthy business growth and lower provisions, although net interest margin (NIM) remained the key disappointment, contracting 12 basis points QoQ to 3.26%. Loan growth was led by the SME and corporate segments, while retail lending remained relatively subdued.

It believes NIM has meaningful room for improvement as Rs 400-500 billion of high-cost borrowings mature over the next two years, lowering funding costs and supporting profitability. Factoring this in, Motilal Oswal has cut its FY27 and FY28 earnings estimates by 2% each and expects HDFC Bank to deliver an FY28E RoA/RoE of 1.84%/14.7%.

JM Financial on HDFC Bank stock price

JM Financial has maintained its Add rating on HDFC Bank with a revised target price of Rs 900, implying an upside of around 16%. The brokerage said the bank’s liquidity coverage ratio (LCR) of 115% and a credit-deposit ratio of around 96% limit its ability to accelerate loan growth. As a result, loan growth has been driven by the wholesale portfolio, which has weighed on net interest margins (NIM).

Read more: Q1 earnings begin on a strong note as banks fuel double-digit growth
However, JM Financial remains constructive on the bank’s medium-term margin outlook, expecting NIM to improve as high-cost borrowings gradually run off. It also believes HDFC Bank’s strong asset quality will keep credit costs under control. The brokerage expects the bank to deliver 15% loan CAGR and 14% EPS CAGR over FY26-28E, translating into an average RoA of 1.8% and RoE of 14% over FY27-28E.

(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of The Economic Times)

Topps announced Monday that it will release a one-of-one trading card featuring the widely circulated photograph of Argentina’s Lionel Messi holding a young Lamine Yamal, an image that became a viral sensation throughout this year’s World Cup as the two players’ paths eventually crossed on soccer’s biggest stage.

The card, which the company confirmed via a post on X, will be inserted into boxes of Topps Stadium Club UCC later this year. “The iconic Messi & Yamal photoshoot is going on a 1-of-1 trading card,” Topps wrote in its announcement, sharing an image of the card alongside the post.

A photo that predates Yamal’s rise to stardom

The photograph at the center of the card dates back to a period when Yamal, now a 19-year-old rising star at FC Barcelona, was still an infant, and Messi was already established as one of the sport’s most decorated players during his own time with the Catalan club, where he became a global star and won numerous trophies. The original photo session came about through a fundraising initiative for UNICEF, during which Messi took part in the campaign and ended up holding the child who would, nearly two decades later, become one of the faces of the sport’s next generation.

A meeting nearly two decades in the making

The renewed attention around the photograph stems directly from Sunday’s World Cup final, in which Yamal and Spain defeated Messi and Argentina 1-0 in extra time, marking the first time the two players faced each other at the international level. The moment carried added symbolic weight given the earlier photograph, transforming what had once been a charity photo op into what many viewed as a full-circle moment linking one generation of soccer’s biggest stars to the next.

Speaking ahead of Sunday’s final, Messi reflected on the unlikely nature of the connection between the old photograph and the current tournament. “That photo is incredible,” Messi said Friday. “I took a picture with him when he was a baby. The fact that we’re both playing in the World Cup now is crazy.”

A potential changing of the guard

Sunday’s final carried broader significance beyond the individual result, with many observers describing the match as a symbolic passing of the torch within international soccer. At 39, Messi is widely believed to have played in his final World Cup, while the 19-year-old Yamal, appearing in his first, is increasingly viewed as a central figure in the sport’s next era.

Both players logged heavy workloads throughout the tournament, each appearing in eight matches across the six-week competition. Following the World Cup’s conclusion, both are expected to take time off before returning to their respective club and league commitments. Yamal is set to resume training ahead of the 2026-27 La Liga season with Barcelona, while Messi will rejoin Major League Soccer club Inter Miami CF as the team resumes its league schedule following the break for the FIFA tournament.

Part of a broader wave of World Cup memorabilia interest

Topps’ announcement of the Messi and Yamal card arrives amid a broader surge of interest in collectibles and memorabilia tied to this year’s tournament, one of the most closely watched and heavily attended World Cups in the competition’s history. The specific choice to commemorate the Messi-Yamal photograph as a one-of-one card, the rarest possible designation in trading card production, reflects the significance collectors and the broader soccer community have placed on the image following its resurfacing throughout the tournament’s buildup and eventual final.

A tournament full of storylines beyond the pitch

The Messi-Yamal card announcement adds to a wide range of storylines that emerged from Sunday’s final and its aftermath. Spain’s players returned home to a jubilant welcome in Madrid, where hundreds of thousands of fans gathered to celebrate the team’s second World Cup title with an open-top bus parade through the city. Messi, meanwhile, was reported to be taking a brief hiatus from his club duties with Inter Miami following the emotional conclusion to his World Cup campaign, reflecting the toll of an extended and demanding tournament run for the Argentine captain.

FIFA has also confirmed it will investigate a clash between players that occurred following the conclusion of Sunday’s final, adding another layer of post-match scrutiny to a tournament that organizers have already described as one of the most significant in the competition’s history, both on and off the field.

With the Topps card set for release later this year as part of the Stadium Club UCC product line, collectors and fans are expected to closely watch for further details regarding the card’s exact release timing and any accompanying promotional rollout. In the meantime, the renewed attention surrounding the Messi-Yamal photograph is likely to remain one of the more enduring storylines from this year’s tournament, encapsulating both the emotional weight of Messi’s likely final World Cup appearance and the growing anticipation surrounding Yamal’s emergence as one of the sport’s next great stars.