Commercial Awareness
The Autumn Budget and Concerns at Swatch
The Autumn Budget and Concerns at Swatch
Dylan Anton
Nov 30, 2025
Law firms expect candidates to spot and analyse developments like this in applications and interviews. We cover how to do that and more stories in our Commercial Awareness hub.
The first thing we will consider is the Autumn Budget.
The Budget refers to the government’s annual financial plan with regards to taxation and expenditure. The UK Autumn Budget was detailed on Wednesday, and included a pretty hefty £26 billion rise in taxation.
Key business-relevant announcements from the Budget include:
National Insurance Contributions being introduced for salary sacrifice pension schemes where contributions exceed £2,000;
tax rates on property and savings/dividend income going up by 2%;
the annual cash ISA limit being pushed down to £12,000 in 2027; and
both the minimum and national living wage going up.
The second thing is that something is brewing at Swatch.
Swatch, a Swiss watchmaker known for upmarket brands like Omega and Longines faces internal angst from a discontent shareholder. Steven Wood owns shares worth only 0.5% of the voting rights in the company. Despite this, he has posited ambitions to join the company board and has more recently put forth a number of proposals for changes in the company’s governance. However, the Hayek family (with Nick Hayek running the company) has successfully blocked his efforts to join the board.
This is because the company’s shareholding is split between a dual class share structure, constituting bearer shares and registered shares. Bearer shares convey weaker voting rights than registered shares, and registered shares are held by the Hayek family. Voting rights refer to the eligibility of shareholders to vote on corporate actions (like starting a merger). This means change is very difficult to drive as a bearer shareholder, even with a large shareholding.
Knowing the story isn’t enough. In applications and interviews, firms expect you to explain why this matters commercially and how it affects clients. The Commercial Awareness Starter Pack shows you exactly how to do this using a simple, repeatable framework.
Law firms expect candidates to spot and analyse developments like this in applications and interviews. We cover how to do that and more stories in our Commercial Awareness hub.
The first thing we will consider is the Autumn Budget.
The Budget refers to the government’s annual financial plan with regards to taxation and expenditure. The UK Autumn Budget was detailed on Wednesday, and included a pretty hefty £26 billion rise in taxation.
Key business-relevant announcements from the Budget include:
National Insurance Contributions being introduced for salary sacrifice pension schemes where contributions exceed £2,000;
tax rates on property and savings/dividend income going up by 2%;
the annual cash ISA limit being pushed down to £12,000 in 2027; and
both the minimum and national living wage going up.
The second thing is that something is brewing at Swatch.
Swatch, a Swiss watchmaker known for upmarket brands like Omega and Longines faces internal angst from a discontent shareholder. Steven Wood owns shares worth only 0.5% of the voting rights in the company. Despite this, he has posited ambitions to join the company board and has more recently put forth a number of proposals for changes in the company’s governance. However, the Hayek family (with Nick Hayek running the company) has successfully blocked his efforts to join the board.
This is because the company’s shareholding is split between a dual class share structure, constituting bearer shares and registered shares. Bearer shares convey weaker voting rights than registered shares, and registered shares are held by the Hayek family. Voting rights refer to the eligibility of shareholders to vote on corporate actions (like starting a merger). This means change is very difficult to drive as a bearer shareholder, even with a large shareholding.
Knowing the story isn’t enough. In applications and interviews, firms expect you to explain why this matters commercially and how it affects clients. The Commercial Awareness Starter Pack shows you exactly how to do this using a simple, repeatable framework.
Law firms expect candidates to spot and analyse developments like this in applications and interviews. We cover how to do that and more stories in our Commercial Awareness hub.
The first thing we will consider is the Autumn Budget.
The Budget refers to the government’s annual financial plan with regards to taxation and expenditure. The UK Autumn Budget was detailed on Wednesday, and included a pretty hefty £26 billion rise in taxation.
Key business-relevant announcements from the Budget include:
National Insurance Contributions being introduced for salary sacrifice pension schemes where contributions exceed £2,000;
tax rates on property and savings/dividend income going up by 2%;
the annual cash ISA limit being pushed down to £12,000 in 2027; and
both the minimum and national living wage going up.
The second thing is that something is brewing at Swatch.
Swatch, a Swiss watchmaker known for upmarket brands like Omega and Longines faces internal angst from a discontent shareholder. Steven Wood owns shares worth only 0.5% of the voting rights in the company. Despite this, he has posited ambitions to join the company board and has more recently put forth a number of proposals for changes in the company’s governance. However, the Hayek family (with Nick Hayek running the company) has successfully blocked his efforts to join the board.
This is because the company’s shareholding is split between a dual class share structure, constituting bearer shares and registered shares. Bearer shares convey weaker voting rights than registered shares, and registered shares are held by the Hayek family. Voting rights refer to the eligibility of shareholders to vote on corporate actions (like starting a merger). This means change is very difficult to drive as a bearer shareholder, even with a large shareholding.
Knowing the story isn’t enough. In applications and interviews, firms expect you to explain why this matters commercially and how it affects clients. The Commercial Awareness Starter Pack shows you exactly how to do this using a simple, repeatable framework.
