Big Boss Interview

Mondelēz International, the company behind Cadbury, Oreo, Toblerone and Ritz, has warned that future European investment could bypass the UK if regulatory instability persists.

Chief executive Dirk Van de Put says the UK is the company’s second-biggest market globally and contributes more than £2.3 billion to the economy each year, supporting 12,000 jobs and spending £1.3 billion with more than 1,000 UK suppliers. But he is sharply critical of food and drink being left out of the government’s industrial strategy, despite representing around a quarter of industrial turnover. He says the sector is being taken for granted and warns t...

The next great wave of demand for artificial intelligence chips could come not from chatbots, but from humanoid robots caring for ageing populations. That is the prediction of Wendell Huang, chief financial officer of TSMC, the Taiwanese company that manufactures the world’s most advanced semiconductors. As countries grapple with rapidly ageing societies, Huang sees robot carers and autonomous vehicles as major commercial frontiers beyond the current boom in AI data centres.

TSMC is already struggling to keep pace with demand. Huang says the company is expanding as fast as it can across Taiwan, the United States, Ja...

Debenhams was once one of the biggest names on the British high street. Founded in 1778, it collapsed into administration before being rescued in 2024 and rebuilt as a digital-only marketplace. Now, under chief executive Dan Finley, Debenhams Group is back to growth after reporting a £350 million loss in the year to February 2025. Finley argues the business is now one of the biggest turnarounds in recent UK retail history, with the Debenhams brand generating £654 million in annual revenue and a marketplace model built around 25,000 brands across fashion, home and beauty.

But his biggest fight is not just with the le...

Jackie Jantos, CEO of Hinge, says the cost of living is reshaping dating habits, with daytime meet-ups becoming more common and traditional drinks dates becoming less popular as younger people look for cheaper ways to meet in person.

She argues that AI should help users express themselves rather than speak on their behalf, rejecting suggestions that AI is making online dating less authentic. Hinge has introduced a range of AI-powered tools, including features that help users improve profiles, start conversations and reconsider potentially offensive messages before sending them. Jantos defends these interventions, saying they encourage reflection rather...

David Thomas, the outgoing chief executive of Barratt Redrow, says bricklaying robots are already being deployed on commercial building sites and predicts a revolution in how homes are built over the next decade.

Factory-built timber frames, off-site manufacturing and “brick-simulation” cladding are beginning to reshape the construction industry, reducing the amount of labour required on site and changing how developments are assembled. Thomas believes the biggest transformation will come beyond ten years, as automation and factory production become increasingly embedded across housebuilding.

The industry has struggled with recruitment for more than two decades, with far fewe...

Lord Wolfson, Chief Executive of Next and a Conservative peer, warns Britain is facing a crisis in entry-level employment. Applicants for every shop vacancy at Next have almost doubled from 10 to 19 in just two years — a trend he describes as “indicative of just how big the crisis is in youth unemployment.” Across retail and the wider economy, he says there has been “a dramatic fall in entry-level employment opportunities” as rising National Insurance and National Living Wage costs push up the cost of hiring younger and less experienced workers. UK youth unemployment has now reached 15%.

The crisis, he argues...

Amazon's UK boss has called for work experience to be made mandatory for everyone aged sixteen and over, describing it as "the most transformative thing" he has seen for young people entering the workforce. John Boumphrey argues that the education system is not producing work-ready school leavers and that the blame should fall on the system rather than on young people themselves.

The cost of living crisis and its effect on retail pricing is a constant theme. Just this week the govenment called on supermarkets to cap the price of some goods to help consumers. Boumphrey...

Eben Upton, founder and chief executive of Raspberry Pi, joins the Big Boss Interview to discuss artificial intelligence, British manufacturing, semiconductors and why he believes there is a growing tendency to overestimate what AI tools can currently do. AI tools are “genuinely incredible”, Upton says, and he uses them regularly himself. But he warns against assuming they remove the need for human judgment, engineering skill or technical understanding.

His concern is that the current enthusiasm around AI risks creating the impression that deep technical understanding is becoming less important, when in reality the opposite may be true. Rasp...

Andy Briggs, chief executive of Standard Life, joins the Big Boss Interview to discuss the war in Iran, pension reform,and the growing risk that millions of people are not putting enough aside for later life.

Briggs says pension savers should not panic about the conflict in the Middle East, arguing that most economists expect short-term volatility rather than lasting structural damage to investments. Standard Life, which looks after 12 million customers and manages more than £300 billion in assets, believes pensions should be viewed over decades. Workplace retirement saving continued through COVID, the Ukraine inflation shock and the L...

Sarah Breeden, Deputy Governor of the Bank of England for financial stability, joins Big Boss Interview to discuss risks in the global financial system, the rapid growth of private credit, and whether markets are prepared for the next economic shock.

She tells BBC Business Editor, Simon Jack the private credit market has grown to around $2.5 trillion in less than two decades, and says the BoE is watching the sector closely. She warns it has “never been tested at this scale” and that aspects of the market carry echoes of the period leading up to the 2008 financial crisis — includ...

Pano Christou, CEO of Pret, joins Sean Farrington for this episode of Big Boss Interview to discuss fuel volatility, salads, and subscriptions.

Pret is starting to see inflation from the war in the Middle East, with fuel price volatility affecting the business. Prices aren’t currently set to rise, but he says they may have to if disruption continues. Some exports into the Middle East business are taking longer, but that’s not hampering Pret’s growth ambitions in the region.

He says Pret’s revised £5-a-month drinks subscription has grown by close to 25% over the past...

Nathan Coe, CEO of Autotrader, joins Sean Farrington for this episode of Big Boss Interview to discuss how rising fuel prices, the rapid growth of Chinese carmakers and advances in AI are reshaping the UK car market.

Coe says the recent spike in petrol prices has triggered an immediate shift towards electric vehicles, with enquiries on Autotrader up 30% month-on-month. He says higher fuel costs are pushing more buyers to reconsider the total cost of ownership, accelerating interest in EVs.

He also highlights the rapid rise of Chinese manufacturers in the UK market, describing their growth...

Wholesale gas prices have roughly doubled in three weeks amid instability in the Middle East, and Greg Jackson, co-founder and Chief Executive of Octopus Energy, the UK's biggest household energy supplier, says it is "very likely" that energy bills will rise from July. The energy price cap is set to fall in April due to government tax cuts on electricity, but Jackson warns that fixed tariffs and business tariffs are expected to climb in the summer quarter. He compares the situation to Groundhog Day — just three years after Russia's invasion of Ukraine triggered a fossil fuel crisis.

Co...

Larry Fink, is Chairman and CEO of BlackRock - the world’s largest asset manager, overseeing more than $14 trillion in investments on behalf of governments, pension funds and individual investors globally.

He tells BBC Business Editor Simon Jack that oil prices could remain above $100 a barrel for years — and rise to $150 — if the Iranian conflict is not resolved, a scenario he says would trigger a “stark and steep recession”. Higher energy costs would ripple through agriculture, fertiliser, and global supply chains, acting as a regressive tax that disproportionately affects the poorest.

Fink calls for “energy pragmatism”...

Mark Neale, founder and chief executive of Mountain Warehouse - the outdoor clothing company - joins Will Bain for this episode of Big Boss Interview to discuss how conflict in the Middle East, tariff volatility and UK economic policy are affecting retailers and the wider economy.

Disruption to global shipping routes is already pushing up costs for businesses importing goods from Asia. Prior to the latest US/Isarael war against Iran ,attacks on commercial vessels in the Red Sea had effectively closed the Suez Canal to many freight ships for nearly a year, forcing cargo to travel...

Marco Amitrano, European boss of PwC, joins the Big Boss Interview to discuss the UK economy, artificial intelligence, business confidence and the case for loosening the government’s fiscal rules to unlock infrastructure investment.

Amitrano makes a direct appeal to Chancellor Rachel Reeves to reconsider the government’s borrowing limits, arguing that strict fiscal rules risk preventing the investment needed for long-term economic growth. He says the UK faces what has been described to him as a £2 trillion infrastructure gap, spanning transport, digital networks and the energy grid. Relaxing borrowing restrictions, he argues, could allow government to inves...

Charles Stewart, chief executive of Sotheby's, joins the Big Boss Interview and discusses the scrutiny facing the art market over money laundering, the growth of digital art and NFTs, the expansion of sports collectibles, and how the conflict in the Middle East could affect the industry.

Stewart, who previously served as chief executive of a small bank before joining Sotheby’s, describes the characterisation of the industry as working with illicit money as a “misjudged notion”. He argues the company’s client base consists largely of established collectors, museum trustees and philanthropists who buy works to live with the...

Anthony Houghton, Chief Executive of Holland & Barrett, joins the Big Boss Interview as social media and online self-diagnosis reshape how consumers approach health and wellness.

He describes a retail landscape where customers increasingly arrive in store — or online — having already decided what they need based on influencer content or digital health advice, not all of which is accurate or appropriate to their individual circumstances. In a £110 billion global health and wellness industry, the challenge for established retailers is navigating the gap between what customers believe products do and what they are legally permitted to claim.

Holla...

Nicole Melillo Shaw, Managing Director of Volvo UK, joins Big Boss Interview at a pivotal moment for the electric vehicle market, as the company recalls 10,500 EX30 electric cars following four battery fires globally.

“It’s against everything we stand for,” she says, reflecting on a situation that challenges a brand built on nearly a century of safety leadership. Despite a global failure rate of just 0.02% and no fatalities, Volvo identified the root cause in late December and immediately instructed owners not to charge beyond 70% while a fix is implemented. Repairs are scheduled to begin in late March. For Vo...

Mark Allan, CEO of FTSE 100 property giant Landsec, tells Will Bain that much of the narrative around the UK’s commercial property market isn’t quite right. Demand for office space is robust: businesses are signing 15 to 20 year leases, and firms that downsized after COVID are reversing course. Even the fear that artificial intelligence will trigger mass job losses isn’t materialising just yet in leasing behaviour.

He is bullish on the future of retail. Allan believes the shopping centre is firmly “back”, with sales and rents climbing again at major destinations such as Liverpool ONE and Bluewater...

Clive Chesser, chief executive of PureGym, says surviving cancer fundamentally changed him as a leader — deepening his empathy and reshaping how he approached life, including changing career..

His diagnosis came during an extraordinarily difficult period in December 2021. While leading his then pub business through a complex private equity transaction, he was experiencing persistent breathlessness and fatigue he initially attributed to long COVID. After noticing swollen lymph nodes in his neck, members of his family — several of whom are senior doctors — urged him to undergo further tests. He completed them just before finalising the business deal.

Christ...

Timo Boldt, founder and chief executive of Gousto, believes Britain’s food system is broken.

He points to the growing economic burden of diet-related disease with Government figures suggesting obesity alone costs the NHS more than £11 billion a year, while broader estimates put the total economic cost of overweight and obesity at more than £100 billion annually once lost productivity and reduced quality of life are included.

Boldt argues the problem begins with what Britons eat. Research suggests more than half of the calories consumed in the UK come from ultra-processed foods, rising to around two-thirds amon...

Brian Niccol took over at Starbucks in 2024. He became CEO at a time profits had been falling and customers going elsewhere. He says Starbucks had got too distracted on efficiency and technology and lost focus on customers and experience.

Starbucks has re-introduced things like handwriting on cups and ceramic mugs in a bid to win back customers, and has also given the menu and stores a makeover. It's already seen sales improve but Brian Niccol says they still need to do more..

Technology is playing a big part in Starbucks plans to improve efficiency. It's...

As CEO of financial services giant Legal & General, António Simões plays a huge role in the UK economy, not to mention in the financial wellbeing of tens of millions of people. From managing pension funds to massive infrastructure spending around the country, he oversees well over a trillion dollars’ worth of UK assets. Simões took the top job at the beginning of 2024, and he tells Will Bain how from the start he has been dedicated to maintaining a corporate culture with a healthy work-life balance.

Bullish on the UK economy, Simões says the countr...

Britain's education system stands accused of failing to prepare young people for careers by Neil Clifford, Chief Executive of Kurt Geiger. He tells Will Bain in this episode of BBI that the current education system is "not really fit for purpose" in preparing people for life after education. His own school journey saw him leave with a single O-level in art, achieved by drawing a Dunlop Green Flash trainer that he now keeps displayed in his office. The spurred him on to create the Kurt Geiger Academy, a government-recognised educational institution built within the company's London HQ.

...

John Vincent, founder and chief executive of Leon, joins the Big Boss Interview to explore how the rapid rise of weight-loss medications could reshape the food industry—and how Leon intends to position itself to benefit.

Vincent returned to the business in October 2025, four years after selling it, having grown disillusioned as a minority shareholder. He says he lacked the board control needed to run the company how he wanted.

Following its sale to the Issa Brothers and subsequent ownership by Asda, Vincent argues Leon became an “orphan child” inside a larger corporate structure, losing what h...

Tom Beahon, co-founder and co-chief executive of premium sportswear firm Castore, joins Sean Farrington on this week’s BBI to tackle some of the most contested questions facing sport, retail and work—including a debate that many families and fans discuss: why replica football kits now cost what they do, and whether supporters are being priced out of the game.

Beahon pushes back against the idea that brands are inflating prices arbitrarily, arguing that higher costs reflect inflation, rising material prices and unprecedented global investment in elite sport. He maintains that if consumers genuinely could not afford offi...

Mark Constantine, founder and chief executive of Lush, discusses the Christmas rush, family run businesses, being "woke" and his love of birdsong in an amazing interview for Big Boss. He offers a festive perspective on the realities of retail during the Christmas season and describes the intense preparations for the holiday rush as akin to “preparing for war,” highlighting the logistical challenges and the need for resilience as customers descend on shops in the final days before Christmas.

He also discusses the importance of personal support in business, revealing that he works with a psychologist who helps him...

Rupert Soames speaks to Felicity Hannah for his final interview before he stands down as Chair of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI). He describes his surprise at the limited understanding many ministers and policymakers have of the realities faced by business leaders, particularly when it comes to employment, investment, and economic growth.

With the Employment Rights Bills ping-ponging its way between the House of Lords and the House of Commons, Soames expresses concern over measures that have increased the cost and risk of employing people, particularly younger workers. He points to the Bill as a source...

Dame Emma Walmsley, Chief Executive one of Britain's biggest pharmaceutical companies GSK (GlaxoSmithKline), says the company is prioritising the United States for product launches and investment, citing its scale, commercial opportunities and favourable business environment. She confirms GSK will invest four times more in the US than in the UK over the coming years, making America the company’s primary growth and innovation focus.

Explaining GSK’s investment strategy, Dame Emma Walmsley points to the US market’s scale and competitiveness, boosted by recent government policy. She welcomes a new UK-US agreement removing tariffs and recognising pharmaceutical innova...

James Daunt, CEO of Waterstones and Barnes & Noble, offers his take on the evolving landscape of bookselling in the United Kingdom and United States. Whilst he has a "natural and instinctive disdain" for literature generated by AI, he says that if they are clearly labelled as such he would sell them, if people wanted them.

The conversation also examines the economic environment for bookshops, with Daunt commenting on Chancellor Rachel Reeves' budget and its implications for the high street. He acknowledges what he see's as the positive impact of government policy on business rates and retail sustainability...

Speculation surrounding the UK budget hurt the UK pension industry, that's according to Mark Fitzpatrick, Chief Executive of St. James’s Place, the UK's biggest wealth management company. He highlights how uncertainty in government policy has led to premature pension withdrawals, with many individuals acting on speculation rather than long-term strategy.

Fitzpatrick also delivers a comparison between the UK and the USA investors saying there's a marked difference in cultural attitudes towards investing. He observes that Americans are more likely to discuss and celebrate investment, viewing wealth as a sign of progress and success, while in the UK...

Vodafone’s chief executive, Margherita Della Valle, highlights the growing risks to Europe’s submarine cables, and calls for international cooperation to ensure the security and resilience of digital infrastructure. Addressing the recent threats posed by Russia, she calls for cross-border collaboration, and the implications for national and European security.

Discussing the impact of the merger with Three, Della Valle examines the UK’s persistent “not spots”—areas with little or no mobile coverage—and the company’s commitment to eliminating these gaps through an £11billion pound investment. Della Valle also notes that Vodafone is set to launch a rival to...

The UK automotive sector is navigating a period of significant change, with government policy, economic pressures, and international competition shaping the landscape. Ford UK boss Lisa Brankin outlines the risks posed by reported government measures, including a “pay per mile” on EVs, one of the measures the Chancellor is supposedly looking to address. Brankin tells Sean Farrington that these changes could further suppress demand for electric vehicles at a time when the market is already fragile. She also draws attention to the role of employee car benefit schemes, explaining that any reduction in these incentives could have a substantial impa...

Sundar Pichai, chief executive of Google and Alphabet, acknowledges that no company is immune from the risks of an AI investment bubble, including Google itself, and warns that the rapid growth of artificial intelligence will lead to significant societal disruptions. Speaking to BBC Economics Editor Faisal Islam he explains that, despite the company’s scale and diversified approach, overinvestment in artificial intelligence could still require Google to navigate challenging phases, just as any other business would. This admission comes as Google’s annual AI infrastructure spending surpasses $90 billion, reflecting the extraordinary scale and pace of global investment in the sect...

Centrica CEO Chris O’Shea provides a comprehensive overview of the challenges and opportunities facing the UK energy sector. He begins by addressing the recent collapse of Tomato Energy, emphasising that when energy suppliers fail, the costs are ultimately borne by consumers. He calls for stronger regulation and greater financial resilience among energy companies, criticising Ofgem for a lack of transparency. He argues that the current system allows "profits to be privatised while losses are socialised".

O’Shea discusses the government’s net zero by 2030 target, describing it as “unbelievably ambitious” but necessary to drive progress in the indust...

Julian Dunkerton co-founded Superdry and took it to a £2billion market cap at its height in 2010 - within years the company was fighting for survival, and in 2018 he walked away. A decision he says he regrets.  But with Superdry now valued at just £8million and looking like it might fail, he returned just one year later and wrestled back control of the company he set up, and began turning it around.  After a restructuring, renegotiating rent, and now a rebrand, Superdry has just turned a profit once again.

This is the story of that turn around.

In...

Tim Richards is the CEO and Founder of Vue International—one of Europe’s largest cinema groups. He joins Will Bain for the Big Boss Interview to share his remarkable journey from mergers and acquisitions (M&A) lawyer to major Hollywood player, all sparked by a chance ad in the Financial Times. The anonymous job listing turned out to be for a role at Paramount and Universal, leading to first-class travel on Concorde and a front-row seat in the film industry.

Despite the glitz and glamour, Tim recounts a moment of reckoning when he realised his division was...

Jo Whitfield, in her first chat since becoming Chair of the British Retail Consortium, tells Sean Farrington how she ended up at the organisation after a career spanning some of the High Street's biggest businesses. She shares why it’s such an important time for retail, and talks about how the sector’s changing—thanks to online shopping, social media, and shifting customer habits—and how retailers are adapting. Jo dives into the pressures businesses face, especially around business rates and taxes, and calls for a fairer system that doesn’t penalize physical stores. There’s also a look at how super...

Glenn Fogel, CEO and President of the world's largest online travel platform, Booking.com joins Will Bain to discuss whether the USA is witnessing a downturn in foreign visits due to the policies of the Trump administration. He also outlines his thoughts on issues that affect many Brits on their summer holidays: over-tourism. You’ll also hear how his company is positioning itself in legal disputes over some property listings, and why the rapid rise of AI could reshape the way we plan and experience our trips. Plus find out why Will got offended!

Presenter: Will Bain Ed...