Kent Morning Briefing

Monday, 27 July 2026

UK firms face rising costs and falling margins, CBI warns

UK firms face rising costs and falling margins, CBI warns

The day in Kent · Kent businesses are feeling the squeeze as the CBI warns UK firms are absorbing rising costs through shrinking margins, weaker investment and job cuts. With demand staying soft, local employers face tough choices heading into the months ahead.

The day ahead in Kent

Weather

Today: Mostly clear morning, high 25°C, low 16°C.

Tomorrow: Clear morning, becoming mostly clear in the afternoon, clearing in the evening, high 28°C, low 17°C.

Travel

Roads (1 incident): M25 — M25 Clockwise Jct 12 to Jct 13 carriageway and link road closure.

Rail: All Kent services running to schedule.

As of 22:30 from National Highways + National Rail.

Coastal tides

Dover: Low 05:13 (1.87m) · High 10:50 (5.78m) · Low 17:44 (1.73m) · High 23:15 (5.80m)

Margate: Low 05:23 (1.25m) · High 11:38 (4.19m) · Low 18:06 (1.00m) · High 00:09 (4.26m)

Tides via tidetimes.co.uk.

5 things to know

Top Kent Stories

Crime & Justice

No additional crime stories in the last 12 hours.

Business & Economy

No additional B&E stories in the last 12 hours.

Kent Sport

No additional sport updates in the last 12 hours.

Financial markets

FTSE 100 10736.23 ▲ +0.18%
GBP / USD 1.3354 ▲ +0.31%
GBP / EUR 1.1705 ▲ +0.03%
Brent crude 92.35 ▼ -4.58%

Bank of England (last 7 days):

Markets via Yahoo Finance; ONS + BoE via official feeds.

What’s on today

No public events scheduled today.

Coming up tomorrow

More on KLN events →

“Kent was once home to over 70 paper mills, making it the papermaking capital of England by the 18th century.”

Kent fact of the day