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Important information: The value of investments can go down as well as up so you may get back less than you invest. Investors should note that the views expressed may no longer be current and may have already been acted upon. This is a third-party news feed and may not reflect Fidelity’s views.
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Fri 20 Dec 2024 07:20
(Sharecast News) - The grocery industry watchdog is to make a rare intervention in a Yorkshire sprout grower's £3.7m legal case against Aldi over the discount chain's decision to terminate a long-term supply deal. In papers filed at the high court, W Clappison Ltd, which produced sprouts for Aldi's UK arm for 13 years, said its supply agreement was ended in February last year at planting time without reasonable notice so it was unable to find new clients immediately. It said it was forced to cease sprout production and sell off its machinery. - Guardian
Thu 19 Dec 2024 07:23
(Sharecast News) - Households in England and Wales will see their water bills rise by an average of £31 a year, as suppliers pay to fix leaky pipes and cut pollution. The industry regulator Ofwat said on Thursday it would allow companies to raise average bills will rise by £157 over five years to an average of £597 by 2030 to help pay for investment. - Guardian
Wed 18 Dec 2024 07:17
(Sharecast News) - Amazon is to settle a group claim from delivery drivers that it deprived them of thousands of pounds, the Guardian has learned, ending a suit that lawyers had said could cost the company £140m. Drivers who deliver for the internet marketplace through its "delivery service partners" (DSPs) are classed as self-employed, meaning they are not entitled to benefits such as holiday pay and the minimum wage, while they also do not have an employment contract. - Guardian
Tue 17 Dec 2024 07:22
(Sharecast News) - Thousands of workers at Amazon are threatening to strike at the company after giving the company a deadline of 15 December to agree to begin negotiating a first contract with the union representing employees. The strike threats, which started in New York, have now spread to Chicago and Atlanta. They come during Amazon's peak holiday season and after the company experienced record sales during its 2024 Black Friday and Cyber Monday events. - Guardian
Mon 16 Dec 2024 07:25
(Sharecast News) - Water companies should spend more on helping vulnerable customers, according to consumer groups, as households in England and Wales brace for steep bill increases to be announced this week. The water regulator, Ofwat, is due to reveal on Thursday how much water bills will rise over the five years from next April. - Guardian
Sun 15 Dec 2024 18:45
(Sharecast News) - Hopes that the Bank of England will cut interest rates again just before Christmas have been all but expunged due to concerns that Labour's tax-and-spend Budget will stoke inflation. Traders are assigning a chance of just one-in-eight that rates will be cut when policymakers at Bank meet this week. In particular, rate-setters worry that the £25bn rise in companies' National Insurance contributions will be passed onto customers. - The Financial Mail on Sunday
Fri 13 Dec 2024 07:30
(Sharecast News) - Britain's financial regulator is taking longer than usual to approve the fast-fashion retailer Shein's stock market listing because it is checking its supply chain oversight and assessing legal risks after an advocacy group for China's Uyghur population challenged the listing, according to two sources close to the matter. Britain's Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner, a monitoring body of the Home Office, has also raised concerns within government over a Shein initial public offering (IPO) because of allegations about labour practices at its suppliers. - Guardian
Thu 12 Dec 2024 07:18
(Sharecast News) - The police criminal inquiry into the Post Office has identified dozens of persons of interest so far, as a team bolstered to 100 officers investigates the actions of executives, legal teams and civil servants connected to the Horizon IT scandal. The investigation, which the police describe as unprecedented in size and scale, is in the first instance examining potential offences of perjury and perverting the course of justice by those involved in making "key decisions" on Post Office investigations and supporting prosecutions of branch owner-operators. - Guardian
Wed 11 Dec 2024 07:27
(Sharecast News) - Train managers at Avanti West Coast are to strike in a dispute over rest day working. Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union plan to walk out on 22, 23 and 29 December. Union members voted overwhelmingly against the company's proposals. - Guardian
Tue 10 Dec 2024 07:25
(Sharecast News) - Rupert Murdoch's three adult children will retain control over their father's media empire upon his death, a Nevada court has ruled after Murdoch launched a campaign to wrest away their power and give it all to his oldest son. The New York Times reported on Murdoch's loss, citing a sealed court decision that was filed on Saturday. The family battle took place outside of the public's eye, despite attempts from the media to gain access to the trial. - Guardian
Mon 09 Dec 2024 07:27
(Sharecast News) - Rachel Reeves plans to end the UK's "fractious" post-Brexit accord with the EU, a relationship she said had been defined by "division and chaos", by promising closer ties in the first speech by a UK chancellor to eurozone finance ministers since 2020. Reeves will say she wants to adopt a "business-like" approach through an "economic reset" with the EU, offering the goal of driving up trade and growth. - Guardian
Sun 08 Dec 2024 13:54
(Sharecast News) - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime appeared to collapse on Sunday morning, after rebels entered the capital Damascus. Assad's whereabouts are not clear but Moscow or Tehran are possibilities. One source told Reuters that Assad's plane disappeared off the radar when it was headed towards the country's coastal region. It made an abrupt turn before vanishing from the map. The pilot may have turned off the transponder but it's more likely that it was shot down. - Sunday Times
Fri 06 Dec 2024 07:27
(Sharecast News) - Ten years ago, marketing executives at Britain's biggest supermarket had a brainwave: might slashing the price of basic vegetables tempt shoppers to do their Christmas shop with them? Tesco, under chief executive Dave Lewis, was trying to revive a business reeling after falling sales, five profit warnings and an accounting scandal. That promotion in December 2014, dubbed its Festive Five, offered bags of carrots, potatoes, brussels sprouts, parsnips and a cauliflower for 49p each. - Guardian
Thu 05 Dec 2024 07:21
(Sharecast News) - Ministers are considering renationalising British Steel in a last-ditch attempt to save thousands of jobs, amid a standoff between the government and the company's Chinese owners over a £1bn investment. Jonathan Reynolds, the business secretary, is locked in talks with British Steel and its owner, Jingye, to agree how much each party should put into a rescue plan for its main Scunthorpe site. - Guardian
Wed 04 Dec 2024 07:27
(Sharecast News) - Ministers are considering renationalising British Steel in a last-ditch attempt to save thousands of jobs, amid a standoff between the government and the company's Chinese owners over a £1bn investment. Jonathan Reynolds, the business secretary, is locked in talks with British Steel and its owner, Jingye, to agree how much each party should put into a rescue plan for its main Scunthorpe site. - Guardian
Tue 03 Dec 2024 07:33
(Sharecast News) - The US has announced new export restrictions targeting China's ability to make advanced semiconductors, drawing swift condemnation from Beijing. Washington is expanding efforts to curb exports of state-of-the-art chips to China that can be used in advanced weapons systems and in artificial intelligence. - Guardian
Mon 02 Dec 2024 07:26
(Sharecast News) - There is "no route to net zero" that ignores the real concerns of businesses, a cabinet minister has warned, as the government prepares to reduce financial penalties handed to carmakers not selling enough electric cars. Ministers are also looking at how cheaper loans could be introduced to help people buy an electric vehicle (EV), after a wave of job losses and closures in which carmakers blamed the onerous fines they were facing. - Guardian
Fri 29 Nov 2024 09:33
(Sharecast News) - Jefferies upgraded Anglo American to 'buy' from 'hold' on Friday and lifted its price target to 2,850p from 2,500p following the recent share price decline.
Fri 29 Nov 2024 07:29
(Sharecast News) - House sales are expected to accelerate over the next four months as buyers seek to benefit from tax breaks that are due to run out in April 2025, according to the online property website Zoopla. The number of home sales increased across the UK this year, pushing up prices by 1.5% in the year to October. Next year prices are expected to rise by 2.5% and transactions will jump by 5%, the website said. - Guardian
Fri 29 Nov 2024 07:29
(Sharecast News) - House sales are expected to accelerate over the next four months as buyers seek to benefit from tax breaks that are due to run out in April 2025, according to the online property website Zoopla. The number of home sales increased across the UK this year, pushing up prices by 1.5% in the year to October. Next year prices are expected to rise by 2.5% and transactions will jump by 5%, the website said. - Guardian
Thu 28 Nov 2024 07:20
(Sharecast News) - The owner of Vauxhall told investors that it was "confident" it would meet the UK's rules on electric vehicle sales just two months before it blamed them for the decision to close a factory in Luton, the Guardian can reveal. Stellantis cited the UK's zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) mandate when it announced the closure of its van factory in Bedfordshire on Tuesday, putting 1,100 workers at risk of redundancy or relocation to its factory making smaller vans in Ellesmere Port. - Guardian
Wed 27 Nov 2024 07:24
(Sharecast News) - Bookmakers and casinos will be forced to fund NHS services that tackle problem gambling, after Labour rubber-stamped the previous government's plans, which also include a cap of as little as £2 on the sums that can be staked on online slot machines. The Guardian revealed on Monday that the government was poised to approve the new "statutory levy", using proceeds of around £100m a year to fund research, prevention and treatment of gambling harms. - Guardian
Tue 26 Nov 2024 07:22
(Sharecast News) - Britain's financial sector watchdog is "incompetent at best, dishonest at worst", according to a damning report by MPs and Lords which called for a big shake-up. An examination of the Financial Conduct Authority, which took almost three years and collected evidence from 175 fraud victims, whistleblowers and the regulator's former staff, found "there are very significant shortcomings to the FCA". - Guardian
Mon 25 Nov 2024 07:27
(Sharecast News) - Millions of tourists to the UK could soon be asked to pay a local visitor levy as cash-strapped councils try to raise money to fund services. Nearly half of Scotland's local councils are considering a mandatory levy on overnight stays, known as a tourist tax, to help cope with a surge in visitors that has overwhelmed places such as Skye, the Callanish stones on Lewis and Orkney's neolithic sites. - Guardian
Mon 25 Nov 2024 00:13
(Sharecast News) - Nationwide will announce a £2bn gain on its £2.9bn takeover of Virgin Money in its half-year results, this Wednesday, likely triggering a windfall for its customers. The building society will also turbo-charge investment in the combined business on top of its recently begun 500 person hiring spree. As well, millions of members are in line for more 'fairer share' perks. - Financial Mail on Sunday
Fri 22 Nov 2024 07:25
(Sharecast News) - New inheritance tax rules for farmers could be changed to make it easier for those 80 and over to hand down their farm without it incurring the tax, in what would be a partial climbdown by the government after a bruising row with farmers and a huge protest march in Westminster on Tuesday. The Treasury is understood to be assessing the impact of changes, including amending gifting rules for over-80s so they can pass on their farm to their family without having to live for seven years after making the gift. - Guardian
Thu 21 Nov 2024 07:21
(Sharecast News) - Energy suppliers will spend £500m helping customers with their energy bills this winter, after the government helped broker a deal involving 12 of the biggest companies in the UK. Suppliers will spend the money in a variety of ways, including putting credit on some customers' bills, writing off the debts of others and putting credit on prepayment meters, sources told the Guardian. - Guardian
Wed 20 Nov 2024 07:24
(Sharecast News) - One of the UK's biggest pension funds has lost more than £350m on a series of "calamitous" investments in incinerator power plants that are expected to go bust in the coming days. The Guardian understands that Aviva Investors will put three incinerators into administration this week after pouring millions of pounds into what has been described as the country's "dirtiest form of power generation". - Guardian
Tue 19 Nov 2024 07:25
(Sharecast News) - Staff have resigned at Starling Bank after its new chief executive demanded thousands of workers attend its offices more regularly, despite lacking enough space to host them. In his first major policy change since taking over from the UK digital bank's founder, Anne Boden, in March, Raman Bhatia has ordered all hybrid staff - many of whom were in the office only one or two days a week, or on an ad-hoc basis - to travel to work for a minimum of 10 days each month. - Guardian
Mon 18 Nov 2024 07:32
(Sharecast News) - Household energy bills across Great Britain are set to rise at the start of next year, analysts predict, putting more pressure on household finances. Officially, the price cap for January-March 2025 will be set on Friday morning by regulator Ofgem, limiting what energy providers can charge in England, Scotland and Wales. - Guardian
Sun 17 Nov 2024 18:14
(Sharecast News) - America's President has authorised Ukraine to employ long-range ATACMS supplied by the US to strike targets inside Russia. More specifically, Kyiv will now be allowed to strike targets within the Kursk region, the New York Times reported. Speculation may increase that permission from Britain, the US and France to do the same with Storm Shadow missiles could follow. Joe Biden's decision is said to have been triggered by the appearance of North Korean troops in the Kursk region. - The Sunday Telegraph
Fri 15 Nov 2024 07:24
(Sharecast News) - Investment firm London Capital & Finance (LCF), whose failure in 2019 triggered one of Britain's biggest retail investment scandals, operated as a Ponzi scheme, a London judge ruled on Thursday. The high court said former chief executive Michael Thomson and four others had knowingly participated in the fraud, misled investors and misappropriated assets in a ruling welcomed by LCF's joint administrators, which brought the case. - Guardian
Thu 14 Nov 2024 07:22
(Sharecast News) - The struggling DIY chain Homebase has collapsed into administration, leaving thousands of workers facing an uncertain future, despite the purchase of the bulk of its stores by the owner of The Range homeware retailer. Gavin Park, Gavin Maher and Adele Macleod from the financial advisory firm Teneo were appointed as joint administrators of Homebase's owners, HHGL Limited and Hampden Group Limited. - Guardian
Wed 13 Nov 2024 07:26
(Sharecast News) - The Post Office is expected to announce the closure of dozens of branches and cut up to 1,000 head office jobs as it seeks to reduce costs to secure its financial future. There are about 11,500 Post Office branches across the UK, of which 115 are wholly centrally owned. The rest are operated by independent post office operators under contract and partners such as WH Smith and Tesco. - Guardian
Tue 12 Nov 2024 07:20
(Sharecast News) - Social media platform Bluesky has picked up more than 700,000 new users in the week since the US election, as users seek to escape misinformation and offensive posts on X. The influx, largely from North America and the UK, has helped Bluesky reach 14.5 million users worldwide, up from 9 million in September, the company said. - Guardian
Mon 11 Nov 2024 07:26
(Sharecast News) - Great Britain "lags behind" Europe on measures to restrict betting adverts, according to a report released days after official data showed a sharp increase in the number of children with a gambling problem. Restrictions on ads by bookmakers and casinos are increasingly becoming "the norm" across Europe in response to public health concerns, according to a report commissioned by GambleAware, the UK's leading gambling charity. - Guardian
Fri 08 Nov 2024 07:22
(Sharecast News) - Dozens of health and children's groups have urged ministers to tackle obesity by imposing taxes on foods containing too much salt or sugar. New levies based on the sugar tax on soft drinks would make it easier for consumers to eat more healthily by forcing food manufacturers to reformulate their products, they claim. - Guardian
Thu 07 Nov 2024 07:24
(Sharecast News) - Companies could face fines of up to $50m for failing to prevent scams and may be forced to compensate victims under new laws the Albanese government says would give Australians the strongest anti-scammer protection in the world. The government will introduce legislation to federal parliament on Thursday to establish its long-awaited "scams prevention framework". - Guardian
Wed 06 Nov 2024 07:27
(Sharecast News) - Cross-channel train operator Eurostar has been criticised by the advertising watchdog for exaggerating the number of £39 seats on sale. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) ruled that Eurostar ads across Instagram and Facebook for £39 tickets from London to Amsterdam and Brussels were misleading, the second time it has censured its ads this year. - Guardian
Tue 05 Nov 2024 07:30
(Sharecast News) - The $1m-a-day voter sweepstakes that Elon Musk's political action committee is hosting in swing states can continue through Tuesday's presidential election, a Pennsylvania judge ruled on Monday. The common pleas court judge Angelo Foglietta - ruling after Musk's lawyers said the winners are not chosen by chance - did not immediately give a reason for the ruling. - Guardian
Mon 04 Nov 2024 07:27
(Sharecast News) - Fraudsters may have stolen £500,000 from a taxpayer-funded scheme aimed at accelerating the removal of dangerous cladding from buildings, the public spending watchdog has revealed. The National Audit Office said the government decision to prioritise speed in handing out money to building owners had increased its risk of losses from fraud. The warning came in an NAO report into the government's progress in remediating dangerous cladding from blocks after the Grenfell Tower fire in 2017. - Guardian
Fri 01 Nov 2024 07:28
(Sharecast News) - Striking Boeing workers will vote on an improved contract offer on Monday, which includes a 38% pay rise over four years and a bigger signing bonus, their union said on Thursday. More than 30,000 factory workers who produce Boeing's strongest-selling 737 Max commercial jet and other planes have been on strike since 13 September and have rejected two earlier offers from Boeing. - Guardian
Thu 31 Oct 2024 06:58
(Sharecast News) - The former cryptocurrency executive Nishad Singh, who once shared a $35m Bahamas penthouse with the FTX founder, Sam Bankman-Fried, was spared prison time by a judge on Wednesday for his role in the theft by his imprisoned former boss of about $8bn in customer funds from the now bankrupt exchange. The United States district judge Lewis Kaplan imposed the sentence during a hearing in Manhattan federal court. - Guardian
Wed 30 Oct 2024 07:22
(Sharecast News) - Starbucks office workers will risk losing their jobs if they fail to comply with the company's hybrid work requirement that employees are in the office three times a week. According to the Wall Street Journal an internal message sent to employees warns that an "accountability process" will start in January 2025. Consequences for non-compliance are "up to, and including, separation", according to the company message. - Guardian
Tue 29 Oct 2024 07:24
(Sharecast News) - A lack of social mobility is costing the UK £19bn a year, a report produced by the cross-party thinktank Demos and the Co-op has found. The Social Mobility Commission, which advises the government, defines social mobility as "the link between a person's occupation or income and the occupation or income of their parents". - Guardian
Mon 28 Oct 2024 07:16
(Sharecast News) - Rachel Reeves has been urged not to carry out mooted funding cuts for nuclear sites including Sellafield amid safety concerns, as it emerged that the number of incidents where workers narrowly avoided harm had increased at the Cumbrian site. The GMB union has written to Reeves, the chancellor, before Wednesday's budget to raise safety concerns after rumours emerged that the budget for the taxpayer-owned Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) could be reduced, which could result in cuts at nuclear sites including Sellafield and Dounreay in Scotland. - Guardian
Sun 27 Oct 2024 13:47
(Sharecast News) - The government's debt pile is set to soar to "unsustainable" levels, the Chancellor's new fiscal rules not withstanding, official data reveal. During the previous week, Rachel Reeves binned the old methodology used to measure public debt, which will allow her to foist enormous additional liabilities on future generations of Britons. The new rules will let her borrow £50bn yet claim that she can balance the books. - The Financial Mail on Sunday
Fri 25 Oct 2024 07:17
(Sharecast News) - City firms are only rarely docking pay and bonuses in cases of bad behaviour including sexual harassment, bullying and drug use, according to the industry's watchdog, which recorded a 40% rise in complaints about non-financial misconduct last year. The findings are the result of the City regulator's first survey looking at the issue, which was launched in the wake of high-profile allegations of sexual harassment, including those against individuals at the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) lobby group. - Guardian
Thu 24 Oct 2024 07:29
(Sharecast News) - Boeing workers have rejected the latest offer to end the more than a month-long strike that has crippled the already struggling manufacturing giant. In a blow to Boeing and the Biden administration, which has fought for a resolution to the dispute, 64% of the 33,000 members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers union voted to reject the contract, the union said late on Wednesday. - Guardian
Wed 23 Oct 2024 07:26
(Sharecast News) - Hundreds of millions of pounds of local transport funding in England could be cut in next week's spending review despite having been agreed with regional mayors, putting bus, tube and tram improvements at risk. The mayors, most of whom are Labour, are engaged in a last-minute lobbying campaign to stop the Treasury raiding their transport budgets as Rachel Reeves looks for immediate savings. - Guardian
Tue 22 Oct 2024 07:29
(Sharecast News) - Britain's financial watchdog has interviewed 20 social media influencers under caution, as it clamps down on "finfluencers" who may be touting financial services products illegally. The 20 were interviewed voluntarily using the Financial Conduct Authority's criminal powers. Potential penalties include fines and imprisonment of up to two years. - Guardian
Mon 21 Oct 2024 07:27
(Sharecast News) - Almost half of the UK workforce lack access to workplace health support including winter flu vaccinations and checks for cardiovascular diseases, a report has found. The analysis, by the Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH), looked at data from the Department for Work and Pensions and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (DBEIS) and found that more than 10 million UK workers lack access to services including basic health checks, vaccinations, and smoking or weight loss support, provided by their employer. - Guardian
Sun 20 Oct 2024 11:33
(Sharecast News) - Government bond investors are signalling to the Chancellor that her plans for an additional £80bn of debt will not trigger and Liz-Truss style panic. But that will only hold true if she first establishes clear annual expenditure plans and lays out the economic case for the projects that she wants to fund. The new borrowing would be on top of spending cuts and tax hikes needed to fill a £22bn hole in the country's finances. Chief secretary to the Treasury, Darren Jones, has promised that "independent checks and balances" will be instituted to ensure value for money. - The Sunday Times
Fri 18 Oct 2024 07:24
(Sharecast News) - Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, is taking action to ensure her budget plan for a multibillion-pound increase in government borrowing to fund infrastructure projects avoids a Liz Truss-style meltdown in financial markets. Ahead of her tax and spending event on 30 October, the chancellor is convening on Friday the first meeting of a taskforce of leading City figures to advise on infrastructure projects. The government will also launch a watchdog to oversee public works and ensure value for money for the taxpayer. - Guardian
Thu 17 Oct 2024 07:28
(Sharecast News) - Tesco has struck a deal to buy enough solar power to run 144 of its large supermarkets, buying almost two-thirds of the entire electricity output from the Cleve Hill solar park in Kent. The £450m solar park is being built on farmland near Faversham by Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners, a London-based firm that invests in renewable and low-carbon energy in the US, UK and Australia. - Guardian
Tue 15 Oct 2024 07:13
(Sharecast News) - Britain is at risk of experiencing a repeat of the sharp increase in energy costs which has fuelled the continuing cost of living crisis because it relies too heavily on gas, according to an expert panel of industry leaders. The Energy Crisis Commission has warned that the UK is still "dangerously underprepared" for another crisis because it continues to rely on gas for its power plants and home heating. - Guardian
Mon 14 Oct 2024 07:27
(Sharecast News) - Spanish shipbuilding firm Navantia is in exclusive negotiations to buy Harland & Wolff, the owner of the Belfast shipyard that built the Titanic, in a deal that could rescue up to 1,000 jobs. It is understood the group could take control of the group's four yards - in Belfast; Appledore, Devon; Arnish on the Isle of Lewis; and Methil, Fife - as early as next month. - Guardian
Sun 13 Oct 2024 12:34
(Sharecast News) - Activist investor Bluebell has asked for BP chairman Helge Lund's head due to the oil giant's "embarrassing" share price performance. Whilst Shell or American rivals Chevron and ExxonMobil had doubled down on profitable fossil fuels, BP had followed a green strategy. Reports indicate that BP's new boss, Murray Auchinloss, was looking to pivot back to oil and gas in response to pressure from shareholders. Yet the company had not confirmed those reports and was not due to provide a strategy update until February. - Financial Mail on Sunday
Fri 11 Oct 2024 07:31
(Sharecast News) - The leaders of the world's biggest green energy companies have promised more than £24bn of new private investment across Great Britain ahead of a meeting with the prime minister on Friday. Keir Starmer is expected to meet the green energy bosses on the sidelines of the first Council of Nations and Regions in Edinburgh to discuss the multibillion-pound projects just days before the government's international investment summit next week. - Guardian
Thu 10 Oct 2024 07:26
(Sharecast News) - Rogue employers will be targeted by a beefed-up new enforcement agency to protect sweeping changes to rights at work for millions of Britons, set to be outlined in a "watershed" bill published on Friday. The Fair Work Agency will be created as part of the government's employment rights legislation, which will include stronger protections against unfair dismissal and exploitative contracts. - Guardian
Wed 09 Oct 2024 07:32
(Sharecast News) - The UK advertising watchdog has cracked down on marketing campaigns by telecoms companies including BT, EE, Virgin Media and O2 for misleading consumers about price rises added to their bills during their contracts. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has issued a batch of rulings against ads run by BT, its subsidiaries EE and Plusnet, as well as TalkTalk, O2 and Virgin Media broadband. - Guardian
Tue 08 Oct 2024 07:29
(Sharecast News) - Ticket sales for the Oasis reunion tour helped to increase non-essential spending by British consumers to the highest level this year in September, amid a bumper month for retailers. In a sign of resilience despite a pre-budget hit to consumer confidence, industry figures show retail sales and discretionary spending on entertainment, meals out and little luxuries rose sharply last month. - Guardian
Mon 07 Oct 2024 07:19
(Sharecast News) - More than 70 retailers, including Tesco, Marks & Spencer and Ikea, are lobbying the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, for a 20% cut to business rates, warning that the property tax could force tens of thousands of shops to shut. In a letter to Reeves coordinated by the British Retail Consortium (BRC), executives are pushing the Treasury to introduce a "retail rates corrector" on the levy, which is a property-based tax charged by local councils and imposed on businesses including retailers, pubs, factories and company offices. - Guardian
Sun 06 Oct 2024 12:19
(Sharecast News) - Humanity has failed at the goal of keeping the degree of global warming below 1.5C. According to the head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Jim Skea, the planet was on course to warm by 3C by 2100. But surface temperatures would rise by more than those of the sea. Furthermore, western Europe and the UK were at threat from even greater warming, possibly as much as 5C by the turn of the century. - The Sunday Telegraph
Fri 04 Oct 2024 07:29
(Sharecast News) - Rachel Reeves is paving the way for a multibillion-pound increase in public-sector investment at the budget after the government announced plans to commit almost £22bn over 25 years to fund carbon capture and storage projects. In what is expected to be one of the biggest green spending promises of the parliament, the chancellor, prime minister and the energy secretary, Ed Miliband, will unveil the details on a visit to the Liverpool city region on Friday declaring a "new era" for clean energy jobs. - Guardian
Thu 03 Oct 2024 07:23
(Sharecast News) - Sellafield will have to pay almost £400,000 after it pleaded guilty to criminal charges over years of cybersecurity failings at Britain's most hazardous nuclear site. The vast nuclear waste dump in Cumbria left information that could threaten national security exposed for four years, according to the industry regulator, which brought the charges. It was also found that 75% of its computer servers were vulnerable to cyber-attack. - Guardian
Wed 02 Oct 2024 07:21
(Sharecast News) - Ministers are being asked to draw up billions of pounds in cuts to infrastructure projects over the next 18 months despite Rachel Reeves pledging to invest more to grow the economy, the Guardian has learned. Members of the cabinet have been asked to model cuts to their investment plans of up to 10% of their annual capital spending as part of this month's spending review, government sources said. - Guardian
Tue 01 Oct 2024 07:26
(Sharecast News) - Unions fear some restaurants and other businesses may slip through the net of new legislation over the fair distribution of tips and service charges that comes into force in Great Britain on Tuesday. The government said the long-planned changes would mean workers would be in line for about £200m that may otherwise have been retained by employers. Under the new rules 100% of tips - by cash or card - and any service charge levied on customers must be passed on to staff working in restaurants, cafes, hotels, hairdressers or taxi firms. - Guardian
Mon 30 Sep 2024 07:27
(Sharecast News) - Britain's only remaining coal power plant at Ratcliffe-on-Soar in Nottinghamshire will generate electricity for the last time on Monday after powering the UK for 57 years. The power plant will come to the end of its life in line with the government's world-leading policy to phase out coal power which was first signalled almost a decade ago. - Guardian
Fri 27 Sep 2024 07:20
(Sharecast News) - Ministers have been urged to intervene to stop football clubs from setting their own rules on curbing gambling advertising, after research showed Premier League fans were bombarded with nearly 30,000 gambling messages on a single weekend. Clubs in the top flight have so far avoided compulsory restrictions on gambling sponsorship, instead addressing public concern through voluntary measures such as a ban on front-of-shirt logos, starting in 2026. - Guardian
Thu 26 Sep 2024 07:11
(Sharecast News) - Rachel Reeves is pushing for the UK's tax and spending watchdog to upgrade its national growth forecasts to reflect the economic boost Labour says can be achieved from its blitz of planning reforms. In a development that could open up additional spending headroom for the chancellor before next month's budget, the Treasury has held talks with the Office for Budget Responsibility to try to persuade its officials that unblocking the planning system could drive up growth. - Guardian
Wed 25 Sep 2024 07:23
(Sharecast News) - Business leaders have warned that the government's plans for a major global investment summit are in danger of falling flat, amid growing frustrations over high costs of involvement and its timing two weeks before the budget. As a central plank in Labour's proposals to drive up investment in Britain, the party pledged in the general election campaign to host the summit within the first 100 days of winning power to show that the UK would be "open for business" under a new government. - Guardian
Mon 23 Sep 2024 07:20
(Sharecast News) - Fifty pubs a month closed for good across England and Wales in the first half of this year, with experts warning that tax rises in 2025 could make it even harder for some businesses to keep their doors open. Analysis by the real estate intelligence company Altus found that 305 pubs were forced to shut their doors permanently in the first six months of the year, meaning the number of pubs in England and Wales fell to 39,096 at the end of June. - Guardian
Sun 22 Sep 2024 21:14
(Sharecast News) - Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC is among several international investors who have told the government that they will not look at opportunities in the UK regulated utility sector in the wake of crisis around Thames Water. It is understood that one person at the meeting said that the "UK is totally off our radar at the moment" due to regulators having become "too unpredictable". However, GIC was said to remain bullish on other UK investment opportunities notwithstanding their negativity towards UK regulated utilities. - The Sunday Times
Fri 20 Sep 2024 07:10
(Sharecast News) - Trade union leaders will meet senior ministers on Saturday for crunch talks on the government's workers' rights package, as the government looks to head off a potentially damaging row at Labour conference. General secretaries from the 11 unions affiliated to Labour will meet Angela Rayner, the deputy prime minister, and Jonathan Reynolds, the business secretary, on the eve of conference to thrash out details of the package, sources have told the Guardian. - Guardian
Thu 19 Sep 2024 07:25
(Sharecast News) - Boeing's CEO said on Wednesday that the company would begin furloughing "a large number" of employees to conserve cash during the strike by union machinists that began last week. The chief executive, Kelly Ortberg, said the layoffs would be temporary and affect executives, managers and other employees. - Guardian
Wed 18 Sep 2024 07:25
(Sharecast News) - Employers who force staff to return to the office five days a week have been called the "dinosaurs of our age" by one of the world's leading experts who coined the term "presenteeism". Sir Cary Cooper, a professor of organisational psychology and health at the University of Manchester's Alliance Manchester Business School, said employers imposing strict requirements on staff to be in the office risked driving away talented workers, damaging the wellbeing of employees and undermining their financial performance. - Guardian
Tue 17 Sep 2024 07:22
(Sharecast News) - Alison Rose, the former chief executive of NatWest, has taken a job as an adviser to one of the UK's top law firms as she tries to return to the City after a career-damaging row with Nigel Farage last year. Rose is joining Mishcon de Reya as a diversity and inclusion adviser, a role that will involve mentoring some of the firm's partners. She will also work closely with the equity, diversity and inclusion committee at the firm, which is known for having represented Diana, Princess of Wales during her divorce. - Guardian
Tue 17 Sep 2024 07:22
(Sharecast News) - Alison Rose, the former chief executive of NatWest, has taken a job as an adviser to one of the UK's top law firms as she tries to return to the City after a career-damaging row with Nigel Farage last year. Rose is joining Mishcon de Reya as a diversity and inclusion adviser, a role that will involve mentoring some of the firm's partners. She will also work closely with the equity, diversity and inclusion committee at the firm, which is known for having represented Diana, Princess of Wales during her divorce. - Guardian
Mon 16 Sep 2024 07:21
(Sharecast News) - The younger, tormented minister mulling his position before the Labour government granted Heathrow's third runway in 2009 might have been greatly relieved to know that, 15 years later, not a shovel would have touched the ground. But now, returning to power with a revamped energy and climate brief, Ed Miliband again finds himself in a cabinet which, many in aviation hope, may usher in bigger airports and more flights - as well as enough CO2 emissions to outweigh any new solar farms. - Guardian
Fri 13 Sep 2024 07:26
(Sharecast News) - A plan for a new high-speed rail line linking Birmingham and Manchester has been unveiled, claiming to deliver most of the benefits of the scrapped northern leg of HS2 at significantly cheaper cost and with only slightly longer journey times. The 50-mile track would run from where the HS2 line is now due to end in Staffordshire to join a planned Northern Powerhouse Rail line west of Manchester airport, under a plan unveiled by the mayors of Greater Manchester and the West Midlands. - Guardian
Thu 12 Sep 2024 07:27
(Sharecast News) - The owner of the New York Sun has emerged as the latest bidder aiming to take control of the Daily and Sunday Telegraph. British-born Dovid Efune, who took control of the assets of the former newspaper the New York Sun three years ago, is understood to be in the running to lodge an offer before the deadline set for second-round bidders on 27 September. - Guardian
Wed 11 Sep 2024 07:20
(Sharecast News) - The British steel industry is braced for 2,500 job cuts at the Port Talbot steelworks, with thousands more jobs at risk in the UK, as the government prepares a taxpayer-backed deal for the south Wales plant. The business secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, is expected to outline on Wednesday details of a rescue deal which will see the government hand the historic Welsh plant's owners, Tata Steel, £500m to build a new electric furnace - but at the cost of huge redundancies from the closure of its last remaining blast furnace. - Guardian
Tue 10 Sep 2024 07:29
(Sharecast News) - Rachel Reeves is being urged by a left-of-centre thinktank to announce changes to capital gains tax, inheritance tax and national insurance in next month's budget that would raise more than £20bn a year for the Treasury. With the chancellor looking for ways to plug a £22bn hole that she has identified in the public finances, the Resolution Foundation said it was a time-honoured tradition that taxes were raised in the first budget after an election. - Guardian
Fri 06 Sep 2024 07:24
(Sharecast News) - The consultancy PwC has told its employees it is going to begin tracking their working locations to ensure that all workers spend "a minimum of three days a week" in the office or at client sites. In a memo sent to its 26,000 UK employees, the big four accounting firm announced that it will start monitoring how often employees work from home in the same way it monitors how many chargeable hours they work. - Guardian
Thu 05 Sep 2024 07:25
(Sharecast News) - More than a quarter of advertisers are planning to cut spending on Elon Musk's X over concerns about the social media platform's content and trust in the information disseminated, according to new global research. Advertising revenue flowing to X has been in freefall since Musk bought the site, then known as Twitter, for $44bn (£38bn) in October 2022, claiming it had not lived up to its potential as a platform for "free speech". - Guardian
Wed 04 Sep 2024 07:27
(Sharecast News) - Spending on the UK live music sector and associated businesses has hit a record £6.1bn as a wave of huge acts from Elton John to Beyoncé cashed in on the pent-up demand to attend shows in person. Live, the federation representing Britain's live music industry, revealed that the sector's contribution to the UK economy topped £6bn for the first time last year, as fans denied live experiences in the Covid pandemic rushed to snap up tickets. - Guardian
Tue 03 Sep 2024 07:19
(Sharecast News) - Campaigners have called on the chancellor to introduce a controversial pay-per-mile road charging scheme on electric cars, warning of a £5bn "black hole" in tax revenues from motoring. In a letter to Rachel Reeves, the Campaign for Better Transport (CBT) urged her to reform vehicle taxes, with fuel duty poised to dwindle in the coming decade as petrol and diesel cars are phased out. - Guardian
Mon 02 Sep 2024 07:21
(Sharecast News) - Uber and other ride-hailing apps should be forced to publish data on drivers' workloads so that regulators can tackle exploitation and cut carbon emissions, campaigners argue. Analysis by the pressure group Worker Info Exchange suggests drivers for Uber and its smaller rivals may have missed out on more than £1.2bn in wages and costs last year because of the way they are compensated. - Guardian
Sun 01 Sep 2024 12:14
(Sharecast News) - Abercrombie & Kent, based in Cheltenham, has started talks with bankers regarding an initial public offering in 18 to 24 months' time. The luxury travel agency's boss, Cristina Levis, thinks the flotation will help the outfit become the LVMH of luxury experiential travel. The company, however, is looking at pursuing a possible listing in New York instead of London. Luxury travel has continued to increase since the pandemic with dramatic growth in demand for destinations such as the Nordics or Japan. In 2022, the company racked up sales of $528m (£402m). - The Sunday Telegraph
Fri 30 Aug 2024 07:28
(Sharecast News) - A series of weekend strikes by train drivers on LNER from Saturday has been called off, their trade union Aslef has announced. Passengers travelling between London and Edinburgh had faced the prospect of months of disruption after LNER drivers earlier this month announced 22 days of industrial action from the start of September until early November. On Thursday, Aslef said drivers had reached a resolution with LNER regarding the breaking of agreements. - Guardian
Thu 29 Aug 2024 07:21
(Sharecast News) - Ministers have committed to help households struggling with their gas and electricity bills this winter after energy industry bosses warned that consumer debt had climbed to more than £3bn. With Labour under fire for scrapping universal winter fuel payments to pensioners, ministers met energy industry bosses on Wednesday to discuss ways of supporting struggling households through the coming colder months. - Guardian
Wed 28 Aug 2024 07:24
(Sharecast News) - Water companies will struggle to raise the billions of pounds needed to clear Britain's waterways and fix its creaking infrastructure under the regulator's plan to keep a lid on rising water bills, the industry will warn. The water sector's trade association is expected to warn the industry regulator that its proposals to cap the steady rise in household bills by curbing water company spending may drive away the investors needed for a multibillion-pound overhaul of water infrastructure. - Guardian
Tue 27 Aug 2024 07:26
(Sharecast News) - Ministers have been urged to intervene to prevent businesses struggling with gas and electricity costs from going bust, as bills are forecast to be 70% higher next year than before the energy crisis. A typical small business such as a pub, restaurant or independent retailer is paying more than £5,000 extra a year on bills than before the energy crisis that began in 2021, research by the forecaster Cornwall Insight shared with the Guardian shows. - Guardian
Sun 25 Aug 2024 21:27
(Sharecast News) - Approximately 100 Israeli fighter jets launched strikes on around 270 targets located in over 40 southern Lebanese towns and villages. The set of strikes was one of the biggest between the two sides since fighting resumed in October. The bulk of the strikes were against short-range rocket launchers that could be used to hit northern Israel. In response, terrorist group Hezbollah fired over 320 Katyusha rockets at 11 military targets inside Israel. Most projectiles were stopped or hit open areas. - The Sunday Times
Fri 23 Aug 2024 07:23
(Sharecast News) - Households will begin the run-up to winter with a sharp increase in their energy bills after the industry regulator increased its cap on energy prices by 9.5% from October. Under the new price cap, the average annual energy bill will rise to £1,717 a year for gas and electricity, up £149 from its current level of £1,568, which has been in place since July. The price cap is set every quarter by Ofgem, the energy regulator for Great Britain, and imposes a maximum on how much suppliers can charge their 29 million household customers per unit of gas and electricity. - Guardian
Thu 22 Aug 2024 07:21
(Sharecast News) - The owners of Asda are facing mounting pressure after figures showed the struggling supermarket chain's share of the grocery market reached a "new nadir" as sales fell sharply this summer. The grocer's sales fell 6.4% in the three months to 10 August, equivalent to more than £2bn in annual lost revenues, as it became the only member of the traditional "big four" supermarkets to see sales shrink, according to analysts at NIQ. - Guardian
Wed 21 Aug 2024 07:20
(Sharecast News) - Waitrose is planning to open 100 convenience stores over the next five years as part of a £1bn-plus investment in new outlets and shop refurbishments. The upmarket grocery chain is planning to unveil a revamped outlet in Finchley Road, north London, on Wednesday. This will kick off a new phase of expansion with its first new store in six years in Hampton Hill, west London, by the end of this year. - Guardian
Tue 20 Aug 2024 07:28
(Sharecast News) - Morgan Stanley International chairman Jonathan Bloomer is among those missing after a yacht carrying UK tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch sank off the coast of Sicily during a violent storm, an Italian official has said. Salvatore Cocina, head of the civil protection agency in Sicily, said Bloomer and Chris Morvillo, a lawyer at Clifford Chance, were among the six people missing. Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter, Hannah, were also unaccounted for as of late Monday. - Guardian
Mon 19 Aug 2024 07:21
(Sharecast News) - Fashion brand Ted Baker's remaining 31 stores in the UK are to close this week, putting more than 500 jobs at risk. Started as a men's clothing label in Glasgow in 1988 by entrepreneur Ray Kelvin and becoming known for its quirky advertising and floral prints, Ted Baker's UK arm entered administration in March after racking up losses. - Guardian
Sun 18 Aug 2024 21:39
(Sharecast News) - Moscow has postponed landmark negotiations with Kyiv that might have resulted in a partial ceasefire between the two countries. The two sides had agreed to send delegations to Doha for indirect talks aimed at stopping attacks on energy infrastructure. But the 6 August incursion into Russian territory by Ukraine's troops has been labelled as an escalation and led Moscow to postpone the talks. Some officials had hoped that the negotiations might mark a first step towards a deal to end the war. Nonetheless, Moscow had yet to call off the talks entirely and Kyiv had said that the summit would still go ahead on 22 August via video. - The Sunday Telegraph
Fri 16 Aug 2024 07:20
(Sharecast News) - Angela Rayner has been warned that the government could risk missing its housing targets by placing too much emphasis on creating new towns across England. The deputy prime minister announced plans last month for the "largest housebuilding programme since the postwar period", kickstarted by the construction of a generation of new towns. - Guardian
Thu 15 Aug 2024 07:19
(Sharecast News) - Cybersecurity firm Wiz, which last month rejected a $23bn (£18bn) takeover bid from Google's parent company, Alphabet, is to open a European headquarters in London - a move that is a major shot in the arm for the UK's aspiration to be a global tech hub. The new office, the company's first in Europe, will be run by co-founder and research and development head, Roy Reznik, who is relocating from Israel to the UK capital to underscore the company's business ambitions in the region. - Guardian
Wed 14 Aug 2024 07:26
(Sharecast News) - Anti-sewage campaigners have warned of "extreme anger" if the Labour government does not radically reform the water regulator. Sources at the Environment Agency (EA) and in the Labour party have told the Guardian that while Labour had spent time considering reforms of the EA and Ofwat in order to fix the sewage crisis, some stricter options that had been proposed were now off the table. -Guardian
Tue 13 Aug 2024 07:21
(Sharecast News) - The Treasury has sought to defuse a bitter row with the North Sea oil and gas industry by promising to keep investment reliefs on low-carbon projects, aiming to protect jobs and soften the expansion of the energy windfall tax. The chancellor, Rachel Reeves, said last month that she would expand the levy on energy industry profits as part of her plan to plug a £22bn "hole" in the public finances that Labour said had been left by the previous Conservative government. - Guardian
Mon 12 Aug 2024 07:21
(Sharecast News) - The Bank of England is poised for a setback in the battle against high inflation this week amid expectations for a first increase in the headline rate this year, highlighting the pressure from the cost of living crisis. In a week of key updates from the British economy, official figures on Wednesday are expected to show inflation returned above the Bank's 2% target in July, driven in part by fast-rising prices for air fares, package holidays and hotels. - Guardian
Sun 11 Aug 2024 10:59
(Sharecast News) - The Chancellor has ordered cabinet ministers to search for cost-cutting reforms and to gird themselves for difficult choices over government spending. It is understood that Rachel Reeves still requires £16bn to close an estimated £22bn financing gap. Taxes on capital gains, pension contributions relief and inheritances are all being considered as possible avenues to raise funds. The Chancellor however does not dismiss the possibility of tweaks to fiscal rules that would allow her to invest slightly more. - Guardian
Fri 09 Aug 2024 07:21
(Sharecast News) - The Drax power station was responsible for four times more carbon emissions than the UK's last remaining coal-fired plant last year, despite taking more than £0.5bn in clean-energy subsidies in 2023, according to a report. The North Yorkshire power plant, which burns wood pellets imported from North America to generate electricity, was revealed as Britain's single largest carbon emitter in 2023 by a report from the climate thinktank Ember. - Guardian
Thu 08 Aug 2024 07:18
(Sharecast News) - The UK's largest employers have warned the jobs market is cooling amid a slowdown in wage growth in July and a fall in vacancies, extending an almost two-year downturn in hiring demand for permanent staff. Figures from the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) and the accountancy firm KPMG showed a fall in permanent staff placements in July as large employers made more redundancies and hired fewer new starters. - Guardian
Wed 07 Aug 2024 07:21
(Sharecast News) - The Royal Mint has unveiled a "pioneering" factory that will recover gold from electronic waste, creating a more sustainable source of the precious metal for the coin manufacturer's luxury jewellery line. The factory in south Wales, which has been under construction since March 2022, is designed to extract gold from up to 4,000 tonnes a year of circuit boards sourced in the UK from electronics including phones, laptops and TVs. - Guardian
Tue 06 Aug 2024 07:26
(Sharecast News) - The late arrival of warm summer weather drove a recovery in retail sales last month, industry data shows, despite continuing signs of consumers holding back on big ticket purchases amid the cost of living crisis. Figures from the British Retail Consortium showed that UK total retail sales increased by 0.5% year on year in July, a recovery from the washout month of June when colder weather deterred shoppers from spending on the high street. - Guardian
Mon 05 Aug 2024 07:20
(Sharecast News) - Imported food coming into the UK through Brexit border posts is being sent back to Europe to be tested due to a lack of laboratory capacity in Britain, food bodies have said. The SPS Certification Working Group, which represents 30 trade bodies covering £100bn worth of the UK's food supply, has written to the government warning that members are being advised that some samples of imported foods are being sent to countries such as Germany to be tested before they can be released at the border. - Guardian
Sun 04 Aug 2024 13:01
(Sharecast News) - Contacts between TalkTalk and Macquarie aimed at a £450m investment by the latter in its wholesale unit, known as PlatformX, have run into a wall. The news comes as TalkTalk races to refinance its £1bn debt pile in August, which is comprised of a £330m revolving credit facility maturing in November and a £685m loan falling due in February. TalkTalk was set to be seeking a £1.5bn valuation and Sky News reported that Macquarie wanted a 40% stake in PlatformX. The Australian investment bank was still interested but talks had stalled. TalkTalk founder Sir Charles Dunstone was scheduled to meet with banks and bondholders on Monday. - The Sunday Times
Fri 02 Aug 2024 07:21
(Sharecast News) - Morrisons is testing out raising the temperature of its freezers by 3C in the first move by a UK supermarket to depart from a long-held industry standard, in order to save energy and money. The Bradford-based chain said it would increase the temperature on appliances in 10 of its stores to -15C from -18C, the industry standard set almost 100 years ago and left unchanged. - Guardian
Thu 01 Aug 2024 07:23
(Sharecast News) - Meta's shares rose in after-hours trading on Wednesday off the back of a strong earnings report that comes as the company is spending heavily on AI tools. The company's stock price grew around 5% following the report, which revealed the company outperformed analysts' expectations for its second quarter. Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, reported $39.07bn in revenue and $5.16 earnings per share. Both results outpaced market predictions of around $38bn in revenue and $4.7 per share, while the company also reported $8.47bn in capital expenditures - lower than analysts expected. - Guardian
Wed 31 Jul 2024 07:22
(Sharecast News) - The hidden cost of rising workplace sickness in the UK has increased to more than £100bn a year, largely caused by a loss of productivity amid "staggering" levels of presenteeism, a report warns. Analysis by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) shows the cost of staff sickness has grown by £30bn a year to £103bn in 2023. The annual bill was £73bn in 2018, its study found. - Guardian
Tue 30 Jul 2024 07:13
(Sharecast News) - House prices are expected to rise over the second half of the year across the UK, according to a forecast, with the market bolstered by more people selling their homes. Prices are likely to increase by 2% towards the end of 2024, Zoopla has predicted. The improved outlook for the housing market was the result of an increased number of homes for sale, the property portal said. The number of sales agreed in the four weeks to 21 July was 16% higher than the same period a year ago and the average estate agent had more homes for sale than at any point in the past six years. - Guardian
Mon 29 Jul 2024 07:14
(Sharecast News) - The chief executive of Vodafone has said Labour will fail to achieve its promise of nationwide access to 5G, which is essential for next-generation technology such as artificial intelligence, by 2030 if the telecom company's £15bn merger with the rival Three UK is blocked. In its election manifesto, the government said nationwide coverage was needed by the end of the decade because the UK was falling behind other countries in terms of the investment and rollout of advanced mobile networks. - Guardian
Sun 28 Jul 2024 11:29
(Sharecast News) - The Chancellor's first day at work saw staffers deliver a blunt summary of the realities facing her department. The biggest surprise was the rapidly growing £4bn annual bill for housing illegal immigrants. Reeves was also told of the inflation-busting public sector pay recommendations from pay review bodies for multiple key sectors, including teachers and NHS staff. The briefings left her infuriated at how the Tories had been playing with the theme of tax cuts despite the presence of a "gaping black hole" in the public finances, a senior government source said. - The Sunday Times
Fri 26 Jul 2024 07:22
(Sharecast News) - Rachel Reeves is expected to reveal a £20bn hole in government spending for essential public services on Monday, paving the way for potential tax rises in the autumn budget. Labour sources said the blame lay with the Tory government, describing it as a "shocking inheritance" and accusing the former chancellor of "presiding over a black hole and still campaigning for tax cuts". - Guardian
Thu 25 Jul 2024 07:13
(Sharecast News) - Thames Water has breached its licence to supply water to nearly 16 million people after some of its debt was downgraded to junk status. The regulator Ofwat could now fine Thames, the country's largest water monopoly, up to 10% of its annual turnover, equating to hundreds of millions of pounds. However, since the company is already teetering close to temporary renationalisation, Ofwat is likely to hold off on any immediate large fines. - Guardian
Wed 24 Jul 2024 07:16
(Sharecast News) - Reckitt is under pressure from top shareholders to revisit a sale of its nutrition business, following litigation and a series of other setbacks at the division that have sent the company's share price to decade lows. The FTSE 100 consumer giant acquired the Mead Johnson infant formula business in 2017 for $17bn - its largest-ever acquisition - and it has been plagued by mishaps ever since. Meanwhile, the wider group, which makes Lysol detergent and Durex condoms, has underwhelmed investors as it struggles to build back sales volumes following a period of high inflation and suppressed consumer demand. - Financial Times
Tue 23 Jul 2024 07:05
(Sharecast News) -
Kamala Harris has secured enough delegates from her party to clinch the Democratic presidential nomination, as she pledged to offer Americans a "brighter future" compared to the "chaos, fear and hate" proposed by Donald Trump. The US vice-president was speaking in Wilmington, Delaware, on Monday, the first full day since President Joe Biden dropped his re-election bid and endorsed her for the Democratic presidential nomination, shaking up the 2024 race for the White House. - Financial Times
Mon 22 Jul 2024 07:15
(Sharecast News) - Kamala Harris, the vice-president, has emerged as the frontrunner to replace President Biden as the Democratic nominee for the election against Donald Trump in November. Biden, 81, announced yesterday afternoon that he would drop out of the race. In the hours that followed, Harris, 59, was endorsed by leading Democrats, prospective rivals and the chairs of all 50 state parties. - The Times
Sun 21 Jul 2024 21:41
(Sharecast News) - BT's former chief executive officer, Philip Jansen, is plotting to takeover Rentokil Initial with the help of private equity. As part of the acquisition, Jansen would take over as executive chairman. In particular, the corporate dealmaker and his financial supporters would focus on making Rentokil's 2022 purchase of US peer Terminix work. In a second phase, the company would move on to acquiring other US companies in the same sector. - Sunday Times
Thu 18 Jul 2024 07:21
(Sharecast News) - The co-founders of Silicon Valley's most prominent venture capital firm have announced their support for Donald Trump's bid for re-election, and plan to make substantial donations to back him further. Ben Horowitz and Marc Andreessen, the heads of Andreessen Horowitz, commonly known as A16Z, revealed their plans in a sprawling 90-minute podcast, in which they argued that the future of "American innovation" required a Trump victory. - Guardian
Wed 17 Jul 2024 07:17
(Sharecast News) - Local councils will have to adopt mandatory housing targets within months under planning reforms to be unveiled on Wednesday as part of Keir Starmer's first king's speech, which the prime minister says will be focused on economic growth. Starmer will introduce a package of more than 35 bills on Wednesday, the first Labour prime minister to do so in 15 years, as he looks to put the economy at the centre of his first year in office. - Guardian
Tue 16 Jul 2024 07:21
(Sharecast News) - Elon Musk has said he plans to give $45m a month to a Super Pac focused on electing Donald Trump, starting in July, the Wall Street Journal has reported. The tech billionaire, who endorsed Trump two days ago, has already donated what was described as "a sizable amount" to the America Pac, though the actual amount of the donation will not be made public in election filings until 15 July, Bloomberg reported. - Guardian
Mon 15 Jul 2024 07:21
(Sharecast News) - A solar energy project developer linked to Thames Water is to be liquidated and its staff made redundant as the crisis engulfing the debt-laden water supplier puts strain on its complex corporate structure. Trinzic Operations Ltd, which is ultimately owned by Thames's parent company Kemble Water Holdings, is to be voluntarily shut down, the Guardian can reveal. - Guardian
Mon 15 Jul 2024 07:21
(Sharecast News) - A solar energy project developer linked to Thames Water is to be liquidated and its staff made redundant as the crisis engulfing the debt-laden water supplier puts strain on its complex corporate structure. Trinzic Operations Ltd, which is ultimately owned by Thames's parent company Kemble Water Holdings, is to be voluntarily shut down, the Guardian can reveal. - Guardian
Sun 14 Jul 2024 16:51
(Sharecast News) - Football fans have delivered a £3.1bn boost to the British economy over the past four weeks with £405m expected to be spent at pubs and restaurants for Sunday night's final alone. Over 17m Britons are expected to tune in from their local pub, bar or restaurant and splash out a combined £70.5m and another £280.1m at retailers. Tesco, for one, was anticipating sales of more than 1.0m pizzas and 180,000 packs of burgers between Friday and Sunday. - Sunday Telegraph
Sun 14 Jul 2024 12:01
(Sharecast News) - The Financial Mail on Sunday's Midas column tipped shares of LondonMetric to its readers, highlighting its long record of dividend payouts, focus on the fast-growing bits of the economy and "rude" financial health.
Fri 12 Jul 2024 07:10
(Sharecast News) - Labour will miss its target of delivering 1.5m new homes this parliament without an emergency cash injection into the affordable housing sector, providers have warned. Housing associations and councils have written to deputy prime minister, Angela Rayner, saying her promise to deliver "the biggest boost to affordable housing in a generation" will be impossible unless there are urgent interventions to fix the financial pressures providers face. - Guardian
Thu 11 Jul 2024 07:10
(Sharecast News) - Popular trader recommendation websites must vet the firms they advertise and tackle fake reviews under new rules designed to protect households from cowboy builders and tradespeople. Nationally, unscrupulous traders cost homeowners about £1.4bn a year, according to trading standards authorities, a problem that is escalating as demand for home improvements, loft conversions and extensions increases. - Guardian
Wed 10 Jul 2024 07:19
(Sharecast News) - Campaigners for a four-day working week are preparing a new pilot project on flexible working in the hope that the Labour government will be more receptive to changes in how people work. The pilot project has opened to companies to sign up for a November start, with findings to be presented to the government in the summer of 2025. - Guardian
Tue 09 Jul 2024 07:20
(Sharecast News) - Meta has claimed news is not the antidote to misinformation and disinformation spreading on Facebook and Instagram, as the company continues to push back against being forced to pay media companies for news in Australia. Meta announced in March it would not enter into new agreements with media companies to pay for news following the end of contracts signed in 2021 under the Morrison government's news media bargaining code. - Guardian
Mon 08 Jul 2024 07:25
(Sharecast News) - Boeing will plead guilty to a criminal fraud charge stemming from two deadly crashes of 737 Max jetliners, after the government determined the company violated an agreement that had protected it from prosecution for more than three years, the US the government said in court filing late on Sunday. Federal prosecutors gave Boeing the choice this week of entering a guilty plea and paying a fine as part of its sentence, or facing a trial on the felony criminal charge of conspiracy to defraud the US. - Guardian
Sun 07 Jul 2024 11:22
(Sharecast News) - Keir Starmer opted to recall senior ministers from the New Labour government to join his team. The experienced hands being installed as non-political ministers include Douglas Alexander, as trade minister, or Jacqui Smith as education minister. Starmer's approach was reminiscent of Gordon Brown's attempt to build a "government of all the talents". - Guardian
Sun 07 Jul 2024 10:15
(Sharecast News) - Investment specialists are positive on the outlook for shares in the UK in the wake of Labour's victory, the Financial Mail on Sunday's Midas column said.
Fri 05 Jul 2024 06:56
(Sharecast News) - Publicans have called on the Co-op to pull a "disgraceful" TV advert that urges the supermarket's customers to watch the Euro 2024 football tournament at home rather than going to the pub. The Co-op Food ad says it is hard to see the TV screen in the pub and suggests customers instead "stay in" and take advantage of a beer and pizza deal the supermarket is promoting. - Guardian
Thu 04 Jul 2024 07:22
(Sharecast News) - The former chair of the Post Office has expressed "sincere regret" for the state-owned body's failings in the Horizon IT scandal and said it was a mistake not to show a key report on the problem to its board. Tim Parker, who was chair of the Post Office between 2015 and 2022, told a judge-led public inquiry that he felt "deep sympathy" for the Post Office operatives affected by what MPs have described as one of the biggest miscarriages of justice in UK history. - Guardian
Wed 03 Jul 2024 07:21
(Sharecast News) - Average private rents in Great Britain have climbed to record highs, prompting a call for the next government to prioritise measures to help create an extra 120,000 rental properties. Data shows that the typical advertised rent outside London reached a record £1,316 a calendar month in May, the property website Rightmove said. The figure for London was £2,652 a month - almost three times the £894 asked for in north-east England. - Guardian
Tue 02 Jul 2024 07:26
(Sharecast News) - Britain's next government is poised to benefit from easing pressure on household finances after a slowdown in inflation in stores and a fall in fuel prices, but costs remain "too expensive" for many families. Figures from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) show that annual UK shop price inflation cooled last month to 0.2%, down from 0.6% in May - the slowest pace since October 2021 - as retailers cut the prices of many of their key products, including butter and coffee. - Guardian
Mon 01 Jul 2024 07:01
(Sharecast News) - London's investment bankers are expected to rake in bigger bonuses this financial year, as the City begins to recover from a two-year slump in deals caused by surging interest rates. Demand for investment banking services - such as facilitating mergers and acquisitions, advising companies and governments on fundraising, and underwriting new stock and bonds - was hit by a sharp increase in borrowing rates after the pandemic, as central banks acted to tame runaway inflation. Jobs and pay were cut as investment banks sought to reduce costs. - Guardian
Sun 30 Jun 2024 11:40
(Sharecast News) - The Financial Mail on Sunday's Midas column tipped shares of Eco Animal Health to its readers, touting the company's animal drug pipeline.
Sun 30 Jun 2024 10:54
(Sharecast News) - Aviva, one of the ten largest shareholders in Britvic, thinks that Carlsberg needs to raise its takeover offer. During the preceding week, Britvic had let it be known that it had already rebuffed two acquisition offers from the Danish brewer, the highest of which had been for £3.1bn. In particular, Aviva said that Carlsberg was not taking sufficiently into account how Britvic's finances were expected to improve over the next few years. - The Financial Mail on Sunday
Fri 28 Jun 2024 07:28
(Sharecast News) - Tata Steel has told workers it could to cease operations at its steel plant in Port Talbot months earlier than planned because of a strike. The company had been planning to shut down one of the blast furnaces by the end of June and the second one by September. But workers at the south Wales site have been told that Tata plans to cease operations at both furnaces no later than 7 July because of the strike by members of Unite, which starts the following day. - Guardian
Thu 27 Jun 2024 07:17
(Sharecast News) - The UK's current trade deal with the EU is not working and the country must stop "walking on eggshells" around the issue of building closer ties with its biggest trading partner, the director general of the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) is expected to say. At the annual BCC global conference in London on Thursday, Shevaun Haviland will say that the UK must forge closer ties with the EU and the next government should focus on improving trading relations to grow the economy. - Guardian
Wed 26 Jun 2024 07:27
(Sharecast News) - The UK needs a system for recording misuse and malfunctions in artificial intelligence or ministers risk being unaware of alarming incidents involving the technology, according to a report. The next government should create a system for logging incidents involving AI in public services and should consider building a central hub for collating AI-related episodes across the UK, said the Centre for Long-Term Resilience (CLTR), a thinktank. - Guardian
Tue 25 Jun 2024 07:26
(Sharecast News) - EDF, Utilita and British Gas have been named as the worst energy suppliers for customer service, as research shows industry standards have slipped sharply. Citizens Advice said customer service ratings across the industry were among the lowest ever between January and March and average ratings had fallen by 10.5% compared with the same period in 2021. - Guardian
Mon 24 Jun 2024 07:20
(Sharecast News) - The outgoing chair of John Lewis has insisted that the retail group is "back on track" and "more fit for the future" with an improving financial position enabling it to spend money refurbishing Waitrose supermarkets and opening convenience stores. Sharon White, who will retire as chair of the John Lewis Partnership in September, said the upmarket Waitrose brand was "underrepresented in convenience" as it sought new avenues of growth. - Guardian
Sun 23 Jun 2024 19:19
(Sharecast News) - Revolut is aiming for a £32bn at an upcoming share sale. If it succeeds the fintech start-up's valuation would surpass that of NatWest. According to the Financial Times, the firm is looking to sell approximately £395m in order to finance its expansion. - The Financial Mail on Sunday
Sun 23 Jun 2024 12:25
(Sharecast News) - The Financial Mail on Sunday's Midas column told readers who'd invested in Tesco to "hold tight", pointing to the company's economies scale and all the benefits those generated for shareholders.
Fri 21 Jun 2024 07:50
(Sharecast News) - The owner of Royal Mail is facing a near £900m class action claim over accusations it abused its "dominant position" in the market for sending out bulk mail, including bank statements and weekly magazines. International Distribution Services (IDS) has been served with an £878m action by a newly formed company that said it represents an estimated 290,000 customers who claim they were overcharged as a result of Royal Mail's behaviour. - Guardian
Thu 20 Jun 2024 07:22
(Sharecast News) - Labour's plans for ending Britain's long-term economic stagnation have been backed by a group of leading economists, including three Nobel prize winners and a former Bank of England deputy governor. In a boost to the shadow chancellor, Rachel Reeves, the 16 UK and internationally based economists said change was "desperately needed" after the policy mistakes and failures of the past 14 years since the Conservatives took power. - Guardian
Wed 19 Jun 2024 07:23
(Sharecast News) - UK households are expected to rack up extra unsecured debts of more than £1,600 this year, including on loans and credit cards, as the cost of living crisis continues to bite, according to a TUC analysis. The TUC said its analysis showed that unsecured household debt - including loans and credit cards but excluding mortgages and, for this exercise, student loans - was on course to increase by 9.4%, or £1,660, in real terms on average per household this year. - Guardian
Tue 18 Jun 2024 07:24
(Sharecast News) - Investment in the UK has trailed other G7 countries including the US and Germany since the mid-1990s, according to a report that urges Labour and the Conservatives to reverse planned cuts to investment or risk long-term damage to economic growth. The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) thinktank found the UK was bottom of the G7 league for investment in 24 out of the last 30 years, using figures from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). - Guardian
Mon 17 Jun 2024 07:20
(Sharecast News) - The UK's tax authority has not fined a single "enabler" of offshore tax evasion or noncompliance in five years, despite landmark powers to impose huge fines. Tory ministers claimed new laws introduced in 2017 allowed HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) to pursue accountants, lawyers and bankers who facilitate offshore tax evasion would "create a level playing field", with potential fines of several millions of pounds. - Guardian
Sun 16 Jun 2024 20:14
(Sharecast News) - Hargreaves Lansdown's three private equity suitors have until Wednesday to either table a formal bid for the investment platform or walk away. A £4.7bn offer presented in April was rejected. In particular, the bidders have been attracted by the firm's ability to deposit client cash at the Bank of England for a rate of 5.25%, whilst paying just 3% on a cash Isa of up to £10,000. That netted its £269m last year at no risk. - The Financial Mail on Sunday
Sun 16 Jun 2024 11:44
(Sharecast News) - The Financial Mail on Sunday's Midas column labelled shares of Oxford Instruments a "long-term buy".
Fri 14 Jun 2024 07:23
(Sharecast News) - The UK has seen an "explosion" in insecure, low-paid work in the past 14 years, according to a new report. The TUC said its study had found that the number of people in insecure work had reached a record high of 4.1 million. The analysis of official statistics shows the number of people in "precarious" employment - such as zero-hours contracts, low-paid self-employment and casual or seasonal work - increased by nearly 1 million between 2011 and 2023. - Guardian
Thu 13 Jun 2024 07:23
(Sharecast News) - Pensioners and people on disability benefits are the winners from radical changes to the welfare system made by the Tories over the last decade, while working-age families are losing out by thousands of pounds every year, according to a report by the Resolution Foundation. The Conservatives' 14-year overhaul of social security has shifted spending away from children and housing to supporting elderly people, and broken the link between entitlement and need for some of the poorest households in the country, the report says. - Guardian
Wed 12 Jun 2024 07:21
(Sharecast News) - The owner of South West Water has warned that global heating will increase the risk of outbreaks of the parasite that caused diarrhoea and vomiting in south Devon. Pennon Group said that "gradual and significant increasing average and high temperatures" could pose "risks to water quality and water treatment" - including the cryptosporidium parasite - in its annual report, published this week. - Guardian
Tue 11 Jun 2024 07:20
(Sharecast News) - One in three Asda staff have been attacked at work, according to research that included reports of workers being stabbed, punched and threatened with syringes. The poll of almost 1,000 members of GMB, one of the UK's biggest unions, returned stories of delivery drivers being chased by people in cars, while store workers had food thrown at them. More than half (58%) of respondents said they had suffered injury or illness on the job. - Guardian
Mon 10 Jun 2024 06:24
(Sharecast News) - France's president, Emmanuel Macron, has been accused of gambling with French democracy after announcing that he will dissolve parliament and call snap legislative elections in the wake of his allies' crushing defeat to Marine Le Pen's far-right National Rally (RN) in Sunday's European parliament elections. - Guardian
Sun 09 Jun 2024 12:19
(Sharecast News) - Tax increases worth £800 per year for the average household are on the way regardless of who comes out on top in the next general election, the Resolution Foundation says. Measures that have already been announced thus far will raise the tax haul by roughly £23bn by 2028-29. That is because freezing extant tax rates drives higher revenue for the Treasury. None of the two main parties has pledged to do away with a six-year freeze on income tax and national insurance thresholds or the coming spring's reversal of temporary reductions in business rates, fuel duty, stamp duty or land tax. - Guardian
Sun 09 Jun 2024 11:59
(Sharecast News) - The Financial Mail on Sunday's Midas column called attention to silver producer Adriatic Metals, arguing that its shares may "prove rewarding for the adventurous punter".
Fri 07 Jun 2024 07:11
(Sharecast News) - A group of investors in Boohoo are seeking more than £100m in compensation from the online fashion specialist after reports in 2020 alleging its suppliers in Leicester were mistreating workers caused its share price to plummet. Shares in Boohoo dived more than 40% over several days, wiping more than £1.5bn off its valuation, after a 2020 Sunday Times report of labour rights violations at the group's suppliers' factories in Leicester suggested some workers were paid as little as £3.50 an hour, well below the legal minimum wage. - Guardian
Thu 06 Jun 2024 07:23
(Sharecast News) - Shares of Nvidia rallied to record highs on Wednesday, with the artificial-intelligence chipmaker's stock market valuation hitting the $3tn mark and overtaking Apple to become the world's second most valuable company. The chipmaker's stock was up 5.16% at $1,224.40, giving Nvidia a market value of $3.01tn at market close. Apple's market capitalization was at $3.00tn at market close as its stock climbed 0.78%. - Guardian
Wed 05 Jun 2024 07:22
(Sharecast News) - Britain's next government will need to fill a shortfall of up to £33bn in the public finances unless it is prepared to push through a fresh round of severe austerity measures, a thinktank has warned. The Resolution Foundation said the debate between Labour and the Conservatives over the funding of specific pledges was "detached from reality", with election promises based on cuts that would be hard to deliver. - Guardian
Tue 04 Jun 2024 07:16
(Sharecast News) - Consumer spending growth is at its weakest in more than three years as higher council tax bills and the rising cost of broadband and mobile phones eat into household budgets, a report has said. The monthly snapshot of credit and debit card activity from Barclays found an improvement in consumer confidence as a result of falling inflation was not leading to a pickup in spending. - Guardian
Mon 03 Jun 2024 07:23
(Sharecast News) - Union leaders are preparing to ramp up industrial action at two south Wales steelworks, in a further escalation of a row over almost 3,000 job losses that threatens to become a big general election issue. Unite said such moves at the Port Talbot and Llanwern works are planned after the sites' Indian owner, Tata Steel, threatened to cut redundancy pay as a response to members voting for an overtime ban. - Guardian
Sun 02 Jun 2024 18:28
(Sharecast News) - Analysts believe that copper prices might fall sharply if the US central bank starts lowering interest rates. According to analysts at Liberum that is because once prices are brought under control and the Fed starts cutting rates the metal will lose its attractiveness as an inflation hedge. An increasing number of analysts also believe that an increased need for copper on account of the green revolution has already been priced in. - The Financial Mail on Sunday
Sun 02 Jun 2024 18:22
(Sharecast News) - The Financial Mail on Sunday's Midas column touted shares of Raspberry Pi ahead of its upcoming flotation.
Fri 31 May 2024 07:21
(Sharecast News) - The union that represents workers at Royal Mail has called for a new business model for the company that would see workers given a stake in the company and pay tied to growing services and meeting certain social benefits. Dave Ward, the general secretary of the Communications Workers Union (CWU), said that the potential takeover by the Czech billionaire Daniel Křetínský should provide a moment to overhaul how the company is structured, which could mirror that of US-style public benefit corporations. - Guardian
Thu 30 May 2024 07:23
(Sharecast News) - A leading City lobby group is calling on the next government to bring in scams legislation that forces big tech and social media companies to cough up to £40m a year to reimburse customers and fight fraud on their platforms. The demand came in a 'financial services manifesto' released by UK Finance, which represents banks, payments companies and other financial firms. UK Finance and its 300 membershave long complained about having to shoulder the costs of fraud against their customers, despite a surge in the number of scammers targeting consumers through platforms such as Facebook and Google. - Guardian
Wed 29 May 2024 07:17
(Sharecast News) - The next government should force all tradespeople who install home heat pumps, solar panels and insulation to sign up to a mandatory accreditation scheme to counter mistrust in the industry, a leading consumer group is demanding. A report from Which? found that households face "significant anxiety" in choosing tradespeople to fit low-carbon heating systems, such as heat pumps, and insulation after "press stories about poor work and rogue traders". - Guardian
Tue 28 May 2024 07:16
(Sharecast News) - Ofwat is poised to refuse most water companies' requests to ratchet up consumer bills, with some getting as little as half of what they have asked for, the Guardian has learned. The decision from the water watchdog for England and Wales, Ofwat, has been formally delayed until 11 July because of the general election. Its verdict, known as a draft determination, comes amid a growing crisis in the water sector. - Guardian
Sun 26 May 2024 19:45
(Sharecast News) - NatWest may not be selling shares to the public any time soon following the prime minister's decision to call an election on 4 July. The Treasury has said that an offer will not occur during the election period and Labour has not confirmed whether it would revive plans for the sale should it win. The sale had been expected to take place in June. - The Sunday Times
Sun 26 May 2024 18:16
(Sharecast News) - Lucy Tobin at the Sunday Times tipped shares of Moneysupermarket, arguing that the energy sector would recover at some point.
Fri 24 May 2024 07:11
(Sharecast News) - The energy price cap in Great Britain will fall to the equivalent of £1,568,a year this summer after a drop in wholesale gas prices. Set by the energy regulator, Ofgem, the cap reflects the average annual dual-fuel bill for 29m households and takes effect from July until the end of September. The cap, which is set quarterly, will fall £122 in July from its current level of £1,690, easing the pressure on household finances. - Guardian
Thu 23 May 2024 07:22
(Sharecast News) - San Francisco federal courthouse on Thursday as a key witness in his own criminal fraud trial, which began in March. US authorities have charged the former software tycoon with 16 counts of wire fraud, securities fraud and conspiracy relating to his company's acquisition deal with Hewlett-Packard in 2011. If convicted, Lynch faces up to 25 years in prison. He has pleaded not guilty. - Guardian
Wed 22 May 2024 07:25
(Sharecast News) - Ministers have earmarked north Wales as the site of a large-scale nuclear power plant, which is part of plans to resuscitate Britain's nuclear power ambitions. Wylfa on Anglesey (Ynys Môn) has been named as the preferred site for the UK's third major nuclear power plant in a generation, coming after EDF's Hinkley Point C nuclear plant, which is under construction in Somerset, and its Sizewell C nuclear project planned for Suffolk. - Guardian
Tue 21 May 2024 07:23
(Sharecast News) - A Labour government would aim to announce the sites for a series of new towns within a year of taking office, with the promise that homes would be built in them by the end of a first term, Angela Rayner is to say in a speech. Giving more detail to a plan first outlined in Keir Starmer's party conference speech in October, Rayner will tell a housing conference that Labour will strongly support private developers who create high-quality and affordable housing. - Guardian
Mon 20 May 2024 07:21
(Sharecast News) - Post-Brexit border checks will cost UK businesses £470m a year, the government's public spending watchdog has said. Plans to bring in border checks on goods coming from the EU faced "significant issues" including critical shortages of inspectors before their introduction last month, the National Audit Office said in a report. - Guardian
Fri 17 May 2024 07:26
(Sharecast News) - The number of UK bank branches that have shut their doors for good over the last nine years will pass 6,000 on Friday, and by the end of the year the pace of closures may leave 33 parliamentary constituencies - including two in London - without a single branch. The tally is being published by the consumer group Which? as it seeks to make the "avalanche" of closures and the "disastrous" impact they can have on local communities an election battleground. - Guardian
Thu 16 May 2024 07:22
(Sharecast News) - The British digger maker JCB, owned by the billionaire Bamford family, continued to build and supply equipment for the Russian market months after saying it had stopped exports because of Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine, the Guardian can reveal. Russian customs records show that JCB, whose owners are major donors to the Conservative party, continued to make new products available for Russian dealers well after 2 March 2022, when the company publicly stated that it had "voluntarily paused exports" to Russia. - Guardian
Wed 15 May 2024 07:17
(Sharecast News) - Lorries carrying perishable food and plants from the EU are being held for up to 20 hours at the UK's busiest Brexit border post as failures with the government's IT systems delay imports entering Britain. Businesses have described the government's new border control checks as a "disaster" after IT outages led to lorries carrying meat, cheese and cut flowers being held for long periods, reducing the shelf life of their goods and prompting retailers to reject some orders. - Guardian
Tue 14 May 2024 07:10
(Sharecast News) - Tesco is facing criticism from "shocked" charities who say they are struggling to distribute unwanted food to homeless and hungry people after they claim the retailer brought in rules that mean unwanted food can only be collected in the evening. The supermarket group has switched to a new system which asks charities to pick up unwanted food, such as items reaching their best before date, only in the evening when a store is closing rather than the following morning, the charities have claimed. - Guardian
Mon 13 May 2024 07:21
(Sharecast News) - BT has said it is increasingly using artificial intelligence to help it detect and neutralise threats from hackers targeting business customers amid repeated attacks on companies. The £10.5bn group is aiming to build up its business protecting customers from online criminals and has patented technology that uses AI to analyse attack data to allow companies to protect their tech infrastructure. British businesses are routinely facing hacking attempts, and some recent high-profile victims have included including the outsourcer Capita, Royal Mail and British Airways. - Guardian
Fri 10 May 2024 07:17
(Sharecast News) - Members of a steelworkers' union have voted to take industrial action in protest at planned job losses at Tata. The company last month rejected a plan by unions to keep open a blast furnace at the Port Talbot steelworks, ending hopes of avoiding as many as 2,800 job losses. - Guardian
Thu 09 May 2024 07:20
(Sharecast News) - The next government will be forced to hit voters with post-election tax rises and delay net zero investment unless it is prepared to rip up Treasury rules for managing the state finances, a leading thinktank has said. The National Institute for Economic and Social Research (Niesr) called for a radical overhaul of the self-imposed constraints imposed on government borrowing and debt as it warned that persistently weak growth and lower inflation would make hitting the rules more difficult. - Guardian
Wed 08 May 2024 07:24
(Sharecast News) - More than 800,000 people in Europe and the US appear to have been duped into sharing card details and other sensitive personal data with a vast network of fake online designer shops apparently operated from China. An international investigation by the Guardian, Die Zeit and Le Monde gives a rare inside look at the mechanics of what the UK's Chartered Trading Standards Institute has described as one of the largest scams of its kind, with 76,000 fake websites created. - Guardian
Tue 07 May 2024 07:16
(Sharecast News) - Universal Music Group could become the latest company to face an embarrassing shareholder revolt this AGM season, after an influential advisory firm urged investors to reject an "excessive" €139m (£119m) payout for its chief executive, Lucian Grainge. Glass Lewis said it had "severe reservations" about supporting the Dutch-American music company's pay decisions, which included a €92m share-based bonus for its British-born CEO that easily made up for a 51% cut in his salary, to €7.5m. - Guardian
Sun 05 May 2024 14:27
(Sharecast News) - The Sunday Times's Lucy Tobin spied an opportunity in shares of Domino's Pizza.
Sun 05 May 2024 13:51
(Sharecast News) - An aura of mystery continues to linger over whether the biggest of Darktrace's shareholders are prepared to support Thoma Bravo's £4.2bn takeover. Among those is Mike Lynch, who is currently facing trial in the US over fraud claims linked to executive search software outfit Autonomy. Also unclear is the position of the Darktrace Employee Benefit Trust, which owned just under 8% of the company's shares. The trust is managed by Equiniti, which has nothing to do with the decision. - The Financial Mail on Sunday
Fri 03 May 2024 07:25
(Sharecast News) - Paramount Global's share price soared on Thursday following a report that Sony Pictures and Apollo Global Management had made a $26bn offer for the troubled media giant. According to the Wall Street Journal, the offer was made on Wednesday by Sony's chief executive, Tony Vinciquerra, and Aaron Sobel, a partner at Apollo. Paramount's shares rose 12% on the news. - Guardian
Thu 02 May 2024 07:20
(Sharecast News) - Online gamblers who lose £500 or more a month are to face extra checks from August, the regulator has confirmed, as part of a large package of measures aimed at protecting the most vulnerable customers. The extra checks come in from 30 August, and the threshold for qualifying will fall to £150 of online betting losses a month from 28 February next year, the Gambling Commission said. - Guardian
Wed 01 May 2024 07:18
(Sharecast News) - Amazon profits soared once again in the first quarter of 2024, the company announced on Tuesday - the latest in a series of robust earnings reports for the retail giant. The company attributed the boost to artificial intelligence and advertising sales. Amazon reported overall revenue of $143.3bn in the first three months of the year - up 13% from the same period in 2023 and surpassing Wall Street expectations of $142.65bn. The e-commerce giant reported an increase of more than 200% to $15bn, with net income more than tripling to $10.4bn from $3.17bn at the same time in 2023. - Guardian
Tue 30 Apr 2024 07:23
(Sharecast News) - The Federal Communications Commission on Monday fined the largest US wireless carriers nearly $200m for illegally sharing access to customers' location information. The FCC is finalizing fines first proposed in February 2020, including $80m for T-Mobile; $12m for Sprint, which T-Mobile has since acquired; $57m for AT&T, and nearly $47m for Verizon. - Guardian
Mon 29 Apr 2024 07:21
(Sharecast News) - Senior Whitehall officials fear Thames Water's financial collapse could trigger a rise in government borrowing costs not seen since the chaos of the Liz Truss mini-budget, the Guardian can reveal. Such is their concern about the impact on wider borrowing costs for the UK, even beyond utilities and infrastructure, that they believe Thames should be renationalised before the general election. Officials in the Treasury and the UK's Debt Management Office fear that, unless the UK's biggest water company is renationalised as soon as possible, "prolonged uncertainty" about its fate could "damage confidence in UK plc at a sensitive time", with elections in the UK and the US later this year. - Guardian
Sun 28 Apr 2024 18:52
(Sharecast News) - The Sunday Times's Lucy Tobin told her readers to book their profits in Centrica and 'sell'.
Sun 28 Apr 2024 13:20
(Sharecast News) - The heads of the Communication Workers Union have acquiesced to Royal Mail's demand to end six-day-a-week letter deliveries, paving the way for historic cuts to postal services. Royal Mail wants to amend its universal service obligation so that it must only deliver second-class post every other day. Nonetheless, first-class mail would continue to be delivered on Saturday, union sources said. Ofcom has yet to respond to Royal Mail's proposals. - The Sunday Times
Thu 25 Apr 2024 06:44
(Sharecast News) - The UK competition watchdog has stepped up its scrutiny of big tech involvement in artificial intelligence startups, asking for comment on three deals by Microsoft and Amazon. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) announced that it was examining Microsoft's investment in the French firm Mistral and the hiring of the DeepMind co-founder Mustafa Suleyman as head of the US company's new AI division. The watchdog is also scrutinising Amazon's $4bn (£3.2bn) investment in the US AI firm Anthropic. - Guardian
Wed 24 Apr 2024 06:48
(Sharecast News) - UK banks are leaving themselves open to "severe, unexpected losses", by failing to properly measure how exposed they are to the $8tn private equity industry, the Bank of England has warned. In a speech on Tuesday, Rebecca Jackson, a senior executive at the central bank, said there was a "creeping sense of complacency" among lenders, who - despite a boom in loans and financing to the sector - had almost no ability to put together data "or even appreciate its crucial importance". - Guardian
Tue 23 Apr 2024 06:43
(Sharecast News) - P&O Ferries seafarers have been told they will benefit from new French legislation that could double their pay, in what appears to be a significant U-turn by the controversial ferry operator. The move comes more than two years after P&O enraged the UK and French governments by sacking 786 workers and then taking advantage of a legal loophole to hire replacements on pay rates of below the minimum wage. - Guardian
Mon 22 Apr 2024 06:40
(Sharecast News) - A development company that sells off land no longer needed by Thames Water has paid out a £14m dividend despite warnings that it could become engulfed by the water group's financial woes. Accounts filed at Companies House show Kennet Properties paid out a £14.5m dividend in the year to 31 March 2023 despite the difficulties faced by the wider group, which is facing going into administration. - Guardian
Sun 21 Apr 2024 18:10
(Sharecast News) - The Financial Mail on Sunday's Midas column tipped shares of Mitie to its readers, highlighting it shift from facilities management to facilities transformation.
Sun 21 Apr 2024 16:47
(Sharecast News) - Asset manager Redwheel told regulators they should reduce the UK postal service's legal obligations. The move followed a failed buyout attempt by Daniel Kretinsky for International Distributions Services, its parent company. The billionaire investor was said to be evaluating a possible improved bid. The company meanwhile has petitioned Ofcom to let it cut the number of days per week during which it must deliver second-class mail from six to two or three. That would save the company £300m and see it shrink its workforce by 1,000. According to Redwheel, as first reported by the Sunday Times, the enforced costs of its legal obligations left the company "vulnerable to corporate predators". - Guardian
Fri 19 Apr 2024 06:39
(Sharecast News) - "Misleading" and "inconsistent" labels make it hard for shoppers to know where their food comes from, the consumer champion Which? has said, as it found supermarket chains were selling products with "meaningless" statements on their packaging. Retailers must supply the "country of origin" for specific foods including fresh fruit and vegetables, unprocessed meats, fish, wine and olive oil but the rules do not generally apply to processed meat or frozen or processed fruit and vegetables. - Guardian
Sun 14 Apr 2024 14:47
(Sharecast News) - The Financial Mail on Sunday's Midas column labelled shares of PPHE an "attractive long-term buy" citing their valuation.
Sun 14 Apr 2024 13:31
(Sharecast News) - Britons must accept that their country was now involved in the Middle East conflict, Tobias Ellwood said. The former defence minister warned that "nobody was in full control" of the growing conflict as more and more countries were sucked in. Ellwood also said that Tehran's strike had taken the conflict into a "new dangerous territory". - Sunday Telegraph
Fri 12 Apr 2024 07:28
(Sharecast News) - Everton has paid about £30m in interest charges to an opaque lender associated with a tax exile, corporate records suggest. The charges appear to have reached about £438,000 a week, according to the troubled Premier League club's most recent set of accounts, a figure more than three times the reported wages of the Everton and England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford. - Guardian
Thu 11 Apr 2024 07:21
(Sharecast News) - New post-Brexit UK border controls coming into force later this month will cost British businesses £2bn and fuel higher inflation, according to a report warning that UK-EU trade will be damaged as a result. With less than a month before the introduction of new checks on animal and plant products from 30 April, the insurer Allianz Trade said the controls agreed under Boris Johnson's Brexit deal could add 10% to import costs over the first year. - Guardian
Wed 10 Apr 2024 07:20
(Sharecast News) - The government is investing more than £55m in expanding facial recognition systems - including vans that will scan crowded high streets - as part of a renewed crackdown on shoplifting. The scheme was announced alongside plans for tougher punishments for serial or abusive shoplifters in England and Wales, including being forced to wear a tag to ensure they do not revisit the scene of their crime, under a new standalone criminal offence of assaulting a retail worker. - Guardian
Tue 09 Apr 2024 07:31
(Sharecast News) - Rachel Reeves has said an incoming Labour government would launch a £5bn crackdown on tax avoiders to close a gap in its spending plans exposed by Jeremy Hunt scrapping the non-dom regime to finance tax cuts. Warning households and businesses that Labour was prepared to adopt tough measures to tackle tax fraud and non-compliance, Reeves said the funding would be used to pay for free school breakfast clubs and additional NHS appointments. - Guardian
Mon 08 Apr 2024 07:23
(Sharecast News) - US airline regulators have launched an investigation after an engine cowling on a Boeing plane fell off during takeoff and struck the wing flap. The Southwest Airlines flight 3695 rose to about 10,300ft (3,140 metres) before returning safely 25 minutes after takeoff to Denver international airport at about 8.15am local time on Sunday. It was towed to the gate after landing. The Boeing aircraft with 135 passengers and six crew members aboard had been headed to Houston. No one was injured. - Guardian
Sun 07 Apr 2024 14:45
(Sharecast News) - Some of London's biggest investment trusts are looking at the possibility of moving to Switzerland in order to dodge rules that make them overstate how much they charge clients. Under leftover EU rules, UK-listed investment trusts disclose charges that are far higher than what investors pay in reality. The news follows enormous drops in value since 2022, when the rules came into effect, according to data from AJ Bell. - Financial Mail on Sunday
Fri 05 Apr 2024 07:29
(Sharecast News) - The number of households seeking help to deal with court action over their unpaid energy bills has doubled in the last year, according to Citizens Advice. The charity said suppliers were increasingly opting to take their customers to court to recover their energy debts, which could ruin household finances for years. It said the use of legal action to pursue unpaid bills appeared to have increased since the industry regulator, Ofgem, introduced strict restrictions on the forced installation of prepayment meters. - Guardian
Thu 04 Apr 2024 07:29
(Sharecast News) - Delivery app riders pedalling through cities and tailbacks at drive-throughs were familiar signs of Britain's hunger for takeaway food at the peak of the Covid pandemic. Now a study suggests it became an enduring habit. After a boom in orders on Deliveroo, Just Eat and other platforms by locked-down consumers, research by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) suggests the popularity of takeaways, meal deliveries and food-on-the-go bought from retailer such as sandwiches and crisps has remained above pre-pandemic levels after the removal of Covid restrictions. - Guardian
Wed 03 Apr 2024 07:20
(Sharecast News) - A bond issued by Thames Water's parent company has fallen to record lows as the embattled company scrambles to secure its future, and the government signalled it is "ready to step in if necessary". The £400m bond, issued by the water supplier's parent company, Kemble, has slumped to only 14.4p after shareholders indicated that they were unwilling to inject further funds into the heavily indebted utility company. - Guardian
Tue 02 Apr 2024 06:57
(Sharecast News) - The value of Donald Trump's stake in Truth Social fell by more than $1bn on Monday after the social media company revealed it lost $58.2m last year and an auditor disclosed "substantial doubt" over its ability to continue operating. Shares in Trump Media & Technology Group, the owner of Truth Social, dropped 21.5% as investors scrutinized the fundamentals of its business. The former president's vast stake in the firm was worth about $4.88bn on paper after its extraordinary stock market debut last week . After Monday's sell-off, it was valued at about $3.83bn. - The Guardian
Sun 31 Mar 2024 19:06
(Sharecast News) - Investment companies are calling on government to bin the stamp duty on share trading in order to revive the London stock market and the country's economy. The bosses at Abrdn, AJ Bell, Hargreaves Lansdown and Interactive Investor all told The Mail on Sunday that politicians must pledge to ditch the tax. According to Abrdn's Stephen Bird, the levy was unpatriotic and economically destructive. Removing it might be the single biggest boost to UK share ownership, he said. - The Financial Mail on Sunday
Sun 31 Mar 2024 18:56
(Sharecast News) - The Financial Mail on Sunday's Midas column tipped shares of Schroder Real Estate Investment Trust (SREIT) to its readers, predicting that they were set to rally.
Thu 28 Mar 2024 07:26
(Sharecast News) - Millions of households are being urged to submit meter readings to their energy supplier this weekend to ensure they do not overpay when cheaper prices come in on Monday. The consumer champion Martin Lewis is among those urging people to get their phones, pens and notepads out so that they benefit fully from the 12.3% cut to the Ofgem energy price cap, which is altered quarterly. - Guardian
Wed 27 Mar 2024 07:18
(Sharecast News) - Almost 8 million UK jobs could be lost to artificial intelligence in a "jobs apocalypse", according to a report warning that women, younger workers and those on lower wages are at most risk from automation. The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) said that entry level, part-time and administrative jobs were most exposed to being replaced by AI under a "worst-case scenario" for the rollout of new technologies in the next three to five years. - Guardian
Tue 26 Mar 2024 07:26
(Sharecast News) - Are 200,000 jobs really supported by the oil and gas industry in the North Sea? Campaigners and MPs are questioning the longstanding government claim. Ministers have repeatedly used the 200,000 jobs figure as justification for pushing ahead with more fossil fuel developments despite the escalating climate crisis and widespread opposition from scientists and energy experts. - Guardian
Mon 25 Mar 2024 07:21
(Sharecast News) - More than 20 leading social scientists have warned the UK's biggest investment companies and pension funds that allowing US-style executive pay packages could "create a significant risk of higher inequality" and "much worse lower levels of happiness, health and wellbeing across society". The academics said they had decided to speak out as an increasing number of British business leaders and the London Stock Exchange have argued for much higher pay awards to improve the UK's competitiveness. - Guardian
Fri 22 Mar 2024 07:19
(Sharecast News) - Two major UK high street banks have been accused of continuing to finance fossil fuel expansion in the North Sea despite signing a pledge to align their activities with the net zero climate goal. HSBC and NatWest have provided tens of millions in finance to Ithaca Energy, a British oil and gas company that is playing a key role in plans to exploit the controversial Rosebank oilfield north-west of the Shetland Islands. Another high street bank, Lloyds, also provided finance but has since sold down the debt. - Guardian
Thu 21 Mar 2024 07:24
(Sharecast News) - The disgraced former owner of Norton Motorcycles should have served jail time for his role in the multi-million-pound pension fraud, the chair of the Pensions Ombudsman service has told a parliamentary inquiry into the scandal. The comments by Anthony Arter will be viewed by victims as a thinly veiled criticism of a prosecution run by the Pensions Regulator against former Norton boss, Stuart Garner, who was convicted of three pensions offences in 2022 but avoided prison because the regulator did not allege dishonesty. - Guardian
Wed 20 Mar 2024 07:22
(Sharecast News) - Cross-Channel ferry operators will be required to pay their crew at least £9.95 an hour after France implemented a new minimum wage law aimed at preventing the exploitation of seafarers. The move comes two years after P&O Ferries caused outrage on both sides of the Channel by sacking almost 800 workers and replacing them with low-cost crew. - Guardian
Tue 19 Mar 2024 07:23
(Sharecast News) - P&O Ferries, which controversially sacked about 800 workers in 2022, has paid some crew members less than half the UK minimum wage thanks to an ongoing legal loophole the British government promised to close two years ago. Agency workers at the company, which is owned by the Dubai-based DP World, have in some cases been earning about £4.87 an hour - even lower than the £5.15 an hour the company suggested was its lowest pay rate - an analysis of recent payslips conducted by the Guardian and ITV News suggests. - Guardian
Mon 18 Mar 2024 07:18
(Sharecast News) - A record 6.7 million people in Britain are in financial difficulty, a campaign group has claimed, as the cost of living crisis pushes more households into debt. A survey for Debt Justice found that 13% of adults had missed three or more credit or bill payments in the last six months, a figure that rose to 29% among 18- to 24-year-olds and a quarter of 25- to 34-year-olds. - Guardian
Sun 17 Mar 2024 22:57
(Sharecast News) - Nationwide's bid to create the UK's second-largest savings and loans group by taking over Virgin Money may be derailed if its members get a say on whether the deal goes through or not. It would take just 500 Nationwide members depositing £50 each one to convene a special meeting and ask for a vote on the deal. Furthermore, preparations for a vote would keep Nationwide from meeting the 4 April deadline for making a binding offer under Takeover Panel rules. However, the society says that its existing legal advice is that no vote is required. - Financial Mail on Sunday
Fri 15 Mar 2024 07:23
(Sharecast News) - Unilever could face a potential row with shareholders after it emerged that the new boss of the consumer goods company can earn up to €17.4m (£14.9m) this year if he hits maximum targets. Hein Schumacher, who joined the owner of Marmite, Domestos and Dove in June last year, took home €3.9m for his first six months as chief executive. He earned a €1.86m annual bonus on top of his €1.4m in basic pay and benefits, which included €292,492 to help cover his relocation to the UK, according to Unilever's annual report published on Thursday. - Guardian
Thu 14 Mar 2024 07:27
(Sharecast News) - Direct trains could next year connect Wrexham to London, with a new service capitalising on the town's Hollywood-meets-football mini-boom. The train manufacturer Alstom is bidding to set up the Wrexham, Shropshire and Midlands Railway with a promise of cheaper, more comfortable trains straight to London. - Guardian
Wed 13 Mar 2024 07:18
(Sharecast News) - Ministers will publish legislation to quash the convictions of hundreds of post office operators who were prosecuted during the Horizon scandal, marking a significant victory for victims after decades of campaigning. The legislation on Wednesday will automatically overturn convictions of theft, fraud and false accounting that were handed down in connection with Post Office business during that period. It will cover prosecutions brought by the Post Office and the Crown Prosecution Service in England and Wales between 1996 and 2018. - Guardian
Tue 12 Mar 2024 07:27
(Sharecast News) - Thames Water has been accused of "misleading" customers after telling them that just a few pennies in every pound spent on their bills is paid to its lenders. The debt-laded firm is Britain's biggest water company, serving 16 million customers in London and the south-east of England. It has sent a breakdown of its costs in bills to customers, including spending 48p of every pound on infrastructure, 20p on the supply and treatment of water, and 3p to its lenders. - Guardian
Mon 11 Mar 2024 07:25
(Sharecast News) - Thames Water has risked a fresh backlash over its commitment to tackling sewage dumping after it declined to commit funds to a £180m industry-wide initiative to fast-track efforts to reduce pollution in England's waterways. The government said on Monday that the sum would be spent by six companies over the next 12 months to prevent more than 8,000 sewage spills, as water companies attempt to address their woeful record on tackling spills. - Guardian
Fri 08 Mar 2024 07:30
(Sharecast News) - Jeremy Hunt and Rachel Reeves are joined in a "conspiracy of silence" over tens of billions of pounds in tough tax and spending choices, with the next government likely to inherit the toughest outlook for the public finances in 80 years, Britain's leading economics thinktank has warned. The Institute for Fiscal Studies said the chancellor's budget on Wednesday had laid the ground for "staggeringly hard choices" due after the general election for whichever party forms the next government. - Guardian
Thu 07 Mar 2024 07:31
(Sharecast News) - Britain's under-pressure green power industry has received a surprise fillip after a renewables developer pledged to plough £10bn into what would become the largest portfolio of battery storage projects in the country. NatPower, a UK startup that is part of a larger European energy group, is poised to submit planning applications for three "gigaparks", with a further 10 to follow next year. - Guardian
Wed 06 Mar 2024 07:32
(Sharecast News) - Retaining the fuel duty cut in the budget is a regressive policy that benefits the wealthiest in society, who will save £60 a year, while those who earn the least will save just £22, according to analysis. Jeremy Hunt is expected to announce an extension of the 5p cut in fuel duty brought in during 2022, a proposal that has won him plaudits across the rightwing press. - Guardian
Tue 05 Mar 2024 07:28
(Sharecast News) - The UK spends less on low-carbon energy policy than any other major European economy, analysis has shown, despite evidence that such spending could lower household bills and increase economic growth more than the tax cuts the government has planned. Spending on low-carbon measures for the three years from April 2020 to the end of April 2023 was about $33.3bn (£26.2bn) in total for the UK, the lowest out of the top five European economies, according to an analysis by Greenpeace of data from the International Energy Agency. - Guardian
Mon 04 Mar 2024 07:24
(Sharecast News) - Britain's sharp regional divide is on track to deepen with London's economy pulling further ahead despite the government's levelling up promises, according to a report. Ahead of Chancellor Jeremy Hunt's budget on Wednesday, the accountancy firm EY said it was forecasting stronger economic growth in London and the wider south-east of England than for the rest of the country. - Guardian
Sun 03 Mar 2024 15:16
(Sharecast News) - Management consultants can talk the talk, but can they walk the walk?
Sun 03 Mar 2024 15:16
(Sharecast News) - EasyJet founder Sir Stelios Haji.Ioannou has called time on his long-running feud with the "scoundrels" running the carrier. Haji-Ioannou has admitted that his war with easyJet boss Johan Lundgren was motivated by his fear that it would not get through Covid-19. His latest remarks come as the company is preparing to re-enter the ranks of the FTSE 100. They also come after attempts by easyJet to fill the gap in the market left by the collapse of Monarch and Thomas Cook, with Lundgren and chairman Stephen Hester having tried to shift focus towards selling holidays instead of just flights. - The Sunday Times
Fri 01 Mar 2024 07:30
(Sharecast News) - Boeing said on Thursday it had reached a $51m settlement with the US state department for numerous export violations including Chinese employees in China improperly downloading documents related to US Pentagon programs. The state department said from 2013 through 2017 three Chinese employees at Boeing facilities in China downloaded technical data involving programs including the F-18, F-15 and F-22 fighter jets, the E-3 airborne warning and control system, the AH-64 Apache attack helicopter and the AGM84E cruise missile. - Guardian
Thu 29 Feb 2024 07:26
(Sharecast News) - Jeremy Hunt is considering scrapping Britain's non-domiciled tax rules in next week's budget, it has been reported, in a move that would see him poach one of Labour's key fiscal policies. The decision is understood to be on a list of revenue-generating options drawn up for the chancellor and Rishi Sunak after economic estimates left them with less money than expected for tax cuts or spending pledges. - Guardian
Wed 28 Feb 2024 07:30
(Sharecast News) - Customer service levels at HM Revenue and Customs have sunk to an "all-time low", parliament's spending watchdog has said. Users regularly encounter long call-waiting times as the tax department apparently struggles to cope with demand, a report by the cross-party public accounts committee (PAC) has found. As demands on HMRC grow, the authority has not been given the resources needed to staff its phone lines, the report said. - Guardian
Tue 27 Feb 2024 07:23
(Sharecast News) - A top US antitrust watchdog sued to block the country's largest-ever supermarket merger on Monday, alleging the deal would raise prices for millions of shoppers. The Federal Trade Commission argued that Kroger's $24.6bn takeover of rival grocer Albertsons would narrow consumer choice and weaken the quality of products on shelves. - Guardian
Mon 26 Feb 2024 07:26
(Sharecast News) - Peak summer air fares in Europe are likely to rise again this year by up to 10%, according to Ryanair, as problems with aircraft at Boeing and Airbus leave customers scrambling for seats. The increase would come on top of the sharp post-pandemic rise in holiday flight prices last year when pent-up demand met limited capacity in European airlines.- Guardian
Sun 25 Feb 2024 22:15
(Sharecast News) - Rolls-Royce boss Tufan Erginbilgic has set his eyes on the market for the engines that power narrow-body jets. Up until now, the engineer had focused on engines for wide-body jets, like those that keep the Airbus 350 or Boeing 777 in the air. But increased fuel efficiency means that the former are now increasing their range, turning them into a major and growing market that Erginbilgic wants a slice of. In remarks to the Sunday Times, he said that he is now on the look out for a partner to develop narrow-body jet engines. - The Sunday Times
Fri 23 Feb 2024 07:24
(Sharecast News) - The billionaire businessman Mike Ashley has claimed he was the victim of "abuse" by Morgan Stanley amid a high court dispute over the investment bank's decision to impose a near $1bn (£790m) cash demand. Ashley's Frasers Group is taking legal action against the US investment bank Morgan Stanley and Denmark's Saxo Bank over the May 2021 move linked to bets placed on shares in the German retailer Hugo Boss. - Guardian
Thu 22 Feb 2024 07:31
(Sharecast News) - The government is set to impose new limits of as little as £2 a spin for online slot machines, the Guardian understands, in a move that could cost casino companies hundreds of millions of pounds. Ministers have been consulting on imposing a maximum stake for the digital casino-style games since publishing a white paper on gambling reform last year. - Guardian
Wed 21 Feb 2024 07:26
(Sharecast News) - Food businesses sending products to the EU have had to fork out an extra £170m in export costs because of Brexit red tape, with the changes described as being "catastrophic" for some exporters. Data shared with the Guardian shows that in the three years since leaving the single market, exporters of foods of animal origin have had to pay the sums to secure sign-offs by vets before they can send their shipments. - Guardian
Tue 20 Feb 2024 07:44
(Sharecast News) - Union leaders have warned business groups against pushing Keir Starmer to water down Labour's plans to introduce sweeping reforms of workers' rights and a ban on zero-hours contracts. As the Labour leader comes under pressure from industry to scale back its shake-up of employment laws, the Trades Union Congress (TUC) said the plans were "extremely popular" with voters and good for the economy. - Guardian
Mon 19 Feb 2024 07:24
(Sharecast News) - Private firms that lease out trains for Britain's railway have seen their profits treble in a year, with more than £400m paid in dividends, official figures show. The rolling stock companies paid out a total of £409.7m to shareholders and profit margins rose to 41.6% in 2022-23, according to the Office of Rail and Road, as the rest of the railway was told to make swingeing cuts and salaries were frozen. Taxpayer subsidies are still running at twice pre-pandemic levels. - Guardian
Sun 18 Feb 2024 23:26
(Sharecast News) - China's JD.com has been looking at a possible acquisition offer for Currys. Just the day before the electricals retailer had rebuffed an approach by private equity. Exploratory talks between Currys and JD had been held over the preceding weeks. Additional bidders may appear. It was understood that Currys had been contacted by multiple private equity firms on an informal basis over recent months after it was forced to cut its dividend payout. It was but the latest example of a British business being taken out and for some showed that British businesses were being chronically undervalued. - Sunday Telegraph
Sun 18 Feb 2024 23:03
(Sharecast News) - The Sunday Times's Lucy Tobin tipped shares of Victorian Plumbing to her readers, arguing that major investments should begin to pay off in coming months.
Fri 16 Feb 2024 07:18
(Sharecast News) - Housebuilding in London is "grinding to a halt", housing associations have warned the government, with the number of affordable homes being built plummeting by three-quarters in the last 12 months. In a letter to the housing secretary, Michael Gove, the G15, which represents the capital's 11 largest housing associations, said his policies did not go far enough to increase supply and called for an injection of billions of pounds into an affordable homes building programme. - Guardian
Thu 15 Feb 2024 07:22
(Sharecast News) - The Bank of England governor has doused hopes that better-than-expected inflation news last month will accelerate cuts in interest rates, stressing the need for further evidence of wage moderation before Threadneedle Street moves. Appearing before the House of Lords economics committee on Wednesday, Andrew Bailey said it was "encouraging" that inflation had remained unchanged at 4% in January but the previous month's figure for the cost of living had been higher than predicted. - Guardian
Wed 14 Feb 2024 07:17
(Sharecast News) - UK shop workers are facing 1,300 incidents of violence and abuse a day and a battle to control "brazen" acts of shoplifting, as pressure mounts on ministers to intervene to protect retail employees. Retailers saw the number of incidents of racial abuse, sexual harassment, physical assaults and threats with weapons rise 50% last year, while thefts more than doubled to 16.7m incidents, according to the British Retail Consortium (BRC), the trade body which represents most major retailers. - Guardian
Tue 13 Feb 2024 07:18
(Sharecast News) - MPs have warned that a planned fleet of small nuclear reactors are unlikely to contribute to hitting a key target in decarbonising Britain's electricity generation, as the government opened talks to buy a site in Wales for a new power station. The Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) said that ministers' approach to developing factory-built nuclear power plants "lacks clarity" and their role in hitting a goal of moving the grid to clean energy by 2035 was unclear. - Guardian
Mon 12 Feb 2024 07:24
(Sharecast News) - Bosses at Fujitsu have collected about £37m in pay, bonuses and compensation for loss of office since the technology company won the contract to supply the software at the heart of the Post Office Horizon scandal, it has emerged. Accounts going back 25 years reveal the seven-figure sums paid out to executives of the UK division of the Japanese-owned technology company, even as more than 900 people were prosecuted as a result of flaws in the system their company supplied. - Guardian
Sun 11 Feb 2024 19:25
(Sharecast News) - Advent International's Shonnel Malani, who has overseen the dismemberment of Cobham since its purchase in 2019 for £4bn, is preparing the sale of the last bits of the company over the next year or two. Any sale would come amid heightened geopolitical tensions, resulting in a premium for defence assets. Malani also told the Mail on Sunday that Advent may soon have more targets in the UK. - Financial Mail on Sunday
Sun 11 Feb 2024 17:12
(Sharecast News) - The Financial Mail on Sunday's Midas column sounded an upbeat note on shares of React, the cleaning specialist.
Fri 09 Feb 2024 07:26
(Sharecast News) - The former chief executive of Barclays Jes Staley allegedly stayed in contact with Jeffrey Epstein long after joining the UK bank, according to legal documents that reportedly contradict claims he cut ties with the convicted child sex offender and disgraced financier in 2015. Documents from a now-settled lawsuit, seen by Bloomberg News, allegedly suggest that the two men used an unnamed third person, who "acted as an intermediary for messages between Staley and Epstein", to stay in contact after Staley took over as chief executive of Barclays in December 2015. - Guardian
Thu 08 Feb 2024 07:22
(Sharecast News) - Thames Water has been ordered to update its service commitment plan by the regulator Ofwat after a minister said the company's performance in regards to sewage dumping and serving customers was "completely unacceptable". Robbie Moore, the floods minister, said Britain's biggest water supplier was "under no illusions over the scale of the challenge" as MPs heard that Thames had allowed waterways to become polluted and homes to be flooded with sewage. - Guardian
Wed 07 Feb 2024 07:25
(Sharecast News) - The cancellation of the northern leg of HS2 has raised "urgent unanswered questions" and the government does not yet understand how the £67bn high-speed railway will now function, according to a scathing report from parliament's spending watchdog. The remaining London-Birmingham line will be "very poor value for money", the public accounts committee of MPs said, with costs now forecast to significantly outweigh the benefits. - Guardian
Tue 06 Feb 2024 07:19
(Sharecast News) - Ministers need to intervene to boost the secondhand electric vehicle market and allay "uncertainty and concerns" over the health of their batteries, a House of Lords committee has said. Peers on the environment and climate change committee urged the government to step up efforts to encourage electric vehicle adoption amid consumer jitters over the cost of vehicles, the longevity of their batteries and the availability of charging points. - Guardian
Mon 05 Feb 2024 07:21
(Sharecast News) - The Treasury's independent forecaster is to review the axeing of tax-free shopping for tourists, raising the possibility that a decision that leisure companies and retailers have blasted for deterring visitors and losing the UK billions in sales could be reversed. With a change of heart likely to be seen as a shot in the arm for struggling businesses, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) is to examine the costs and benefits associated with Rishi Sunak's 2020 decision to end the retail scheme when he was chancellor of the exchequer. - Guardian
Sun 04 Feb 2024 17:11
(Sharecast News) - The Financial Mail on Sunday's Midas column touted shares of Concurrent Technologies to readers, arguing that the company was in the right spot and at the right time.
Sun 04 Feb 2024 11:12
(Sharecast News) - Zuber Issa, one of the two billionaire brothers at the helm of Asda, has been sounding out potential buyers for his 22.5% stake in the grocer. Instead, Zuber wishes to focus on EG Group, their petrol station empire. Meanwhile, Asda's next phase may include a bid for Boots. According to City sources, it was also possible that Zuber might use the funds raised through a sale to fund the purchase of his brother's stake in EG Group. - The Sunday Telegraph
Fri 02 Feb 2024 07:18
(Sharecast News) - An oil and gas company owned by a major Tory donor, which has been fined for illegal flaring, has been awarded a licence to drill for fossil fuels by the government. This week, the government granted the right to drill for fossil fuels in 24 new licence areas across the North Sea. One of the licences was given to EnQuest Heather, a subsidiary of EnQuest. - Guardian
Thu 01 Feb 2024 07:25
(Sharecast News) - The Czech billionaire whose company takes over running the UK national lottery from Thursday is still in business with the Kremlin-owned gas company Gazprom, nearly two years after promising regulators he would sever ties with Russia. The Gambling Commission awarded Allwyn the lucrative 10-year licence to run the lottery, estimated to be worth up to £100bn in sales, in March 2022. - Guardian
Wed 31 Jan 2024 07:21
(Sharecast News) - Thousands of delicatessens and other specialist food shops have said new border rules that come in from Wednesday are likely to mean reduced choice of products for consumers. The Guild of Fine Food (GFF), which represents 12,000 businesses, has raised fears that European suppliers of specialist foods such as cheeses and meats will stop supplying the UK as a result of the additional red tape for imported goods. - Guardian
Tue 30 Jan 2024 07:27
(Sharecast News) - The UK has fallen to its lowest-ever position in Transparency International's corruption perceptions index, which ranks countries by experts' views of possible corruption in public services. The UK fell from 18th (out of 181 countries) in 2022 to 20th in 2023, its lowest position since the research was revamped in 2012. It means that, according to the research, Britain is seen as more corrupt than Uruguay and Hong Kong. - Guardian
Mon 29 Jan 2024 07:23
(Sharecast News) - Train drivers will keep striking to "raise the profile" of their dispute after half a decade without a pay rise, the Aslef union has warned, before another week of rolling strikes across England. Aslef's general secretary, Mick Whelan, has said he believes that the government will make renewed efforts to see train companies use controversial new anti-strike laws, despite the union forcing a climbdown this time round. - Guardian
Sun 28 Jan 2024 20:25
(Sharecast News) - The Sunday Times's Lucy Tobin tipped shares of Unilever to her readers, arguing that the shares were cheap.
Sun 28 Jan 2024 19:32
(Sharecast News) - The Chancellor is laying the groundwork for the sale of billons of pounds worth of shares in NatWest as soon as June. A contract to a market research company has been awarded to study the public's views, alongside a tender to public relations firms and advertising companies who would work on the marketing campaign. Nevertheless, sources inside the Treasury have played down recent speculation in the City that Jeremy Hunt might announce the decision in his 6 March budget. The sale was expected to be priced at a discount. - The Sunday Times
Fri 26 Jan 2024 07:23
(Sharecast News) - Car owners who pay for their insurance monthly rather than with a one-off lump sum are being charged interest of more than 30%, research has found, in what has been described by campaigners as a "poverty premium". Insurers give customers the choice of paying one annual premium or breaking it up and paying over the course of the year. - Guardian
Thu 25 Jan 2024 07:24
(Sharecast News) - The government has said it intends to launch a second investigation into the Barclay family's complex deal to transfer control of the Telegraph, after its Abu Dhabi-backed consortium partner revealed a last-minute corporate structure change that has raised public interest concerns. The culture secretary, Lucy Frazer, said she was "minded to" issue a new public interest intervention notice (PIIN) to call in the regulators Ofcom and the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to look at RedBird IMI's move to create a new UK holding company to house the Telegraph and its sister magazine, The Spectator, when it takes control of the titles. - Guardian
Wed 24 Jan 2024 07:28
(Sharecast News) - Fake reviews and unavoidable hidden online charges - which cost consumers £2.2bn a year - are to be banned under new laws to force businesses to be more clear with shoppers. Under the new rules, which will become law as part of the digital markets, competition and consumers bill currently progressing through parliament, mandatory fees must be included in the headline price or at the start of the shopping process, including booking fees for cinema and train tickets. - Guardian
Tue 23 Jan 2024 07:20
(Sharecast News) - London is capturing an ever-bigger share of the UK's record service sector exports and government action is needed to ensure other big cities keep pace with the capital, a report says. The Resolution Foundation said London accounted for almost half of the UK's service sector exports, with its share of the total rising from 38% to 46% between 2016 and 2021. - Guardian
Mon 22 Jan 2024 07:16
(Sharecast News) - Homeowners in England and Wales who sold their property in 2023 netted an average profit of £102,000 despite house prices falling last year, according to new data. The data, issued by estate agent Hamptons, shows that while 2023 was challenging for the UK property market, years of strong price growth meant those who sold a home last year typically banked a sizeable profit or had a decent sum to put towards their next purchase. - Guardian
Sun 21 Jan 2024 23:08
(Sharecast News) - Sainsbury's chief Simon Roberts gave his support to the Financial Mail on Sunday's campaign for police to crack down on shoplifters as an epidemic of retail crime sweeps across the country. Roberts also said he backed making abuse or violence against retail staff a specific offence. He also noted that the grocer had been the first to offer all of its 150,00 staff body-worn cameras that can aid support teams at its stores. - The Financial Mail on Sunday
Fri 19 Jan 2024 07:21
(Sharecast News) - Jeremy Hunt has dangled the prospect of big tax cuts in his March budget, in what is seen as one of the last opportunities for the Conservatives to claw back Labour's huge opinion poll lead. In his first public comments on his budget strategy, the chancellor made clear that only unexpected bad news would prevent him from answering the call from Tory MPs for a substantial giveaway before an expected autumn general election. - Guardian
Thu 18 Jan 2024 07:30
(Sharecast News) - The housing market has had some "respite" in recent weeks as activity picked up amid easing mortgage rates after a challenging 2023, according to surveyors. Inquiries from new buyers are approaching a flatter trend, after falling in recent months, according to the December report from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics). - Guardian
Wed 17 Jan 2024 07:34
(Sharecast News) - Drax has received permission from the government to fit carbon capture technology to its wood-burning power plant, in a project that could cost bill-payers more than £40bn. The energy secretary, Claire Coutinho, on Tuesday approved the project to convert two of its biomass units to use the technology. - Guardian
Tue 16 Jan 2024 07:29
(Sharecast News) - Shell's board faces a shareholder rebellion as large investors including the UK's biggest pension scheme prepare to back a climate activist resolution. Twenty-seven investors have agreed to back a resolution filed by the Dutch shareholder activists at Follow This that calls for the oil company to align its medium-term emissions reduction targets with the 2015 Paris agreement. - Guardian
Mon 15 Jan 2024 07:21
(Sharecast News) - UK house prices are on track to beat forecasts of a decline in 2024, a leading estate agent has said, as a mortgage pricing war and expectations of Bank of England interest rate cuts rekindle the property market. After a year of sustained price falls in 2023, the global property consultancy Knight Frank said it was updating its forecast for UK house prices to rise by 3% in 2024, up from an earlier estimate of a 4% drop. - Guardian
Fri 12 Jan 2024 07:22
(Sharecast News) - The former UK boss of Fujitsu, the technology firm whose flawed IT system is at the heart of the Post Office Horizon scandal, received a £2.6m payoff after standing down from the company in 2019, corporate filings suggest. Fujitsu has come under increasing scrutiny during the public inquiry into the Horizon scandal, which led to thousands of people who owned and ran smaller post offices being falsely accused or convicted of theft or fraud between 1999 and 2015. - Guardian
Thu 11 Jan 2024 07:21
(Sharecast News) - Pressure is mounting on the government to review more than £2bn in new contracts awarded to Fujitsu since a court ruling in 2019 found its Horizon IT system caused accounting errors that were blamed on more than 900 post office operators who were then wrongly prosecuted by the Post Office. The Japanese company, which continues to hold the prestigious status of being a key "strategic supplier" making more than £100m annually from government work despite the scandal, has won 101 new contracts worth £2.04bn since the landmark legal ruling. - Guardian
Wed 10 Jan 2024 07:27
(Sharecast News) - MPs have called in bosses from Fujitsu to answer questions in parliament about the company's role in the Post Office scandal. The Commons business and trade select committee has asked the company to take part in an evidence session in a week's time after an ITV drama helped put the miscarriage of justice back in the spotlight. - Guardian
Tue 09 Jan 2024 07:22
(Sharecast News) - Ministers have drawn up urgent plans to clear the names of hundreds of post office operators who were wrongly convicted of theft and fraud in the Horizon IT scandal as the government scrambled to get on the front foot over the major miscarriage of justice. The justice secretary, Alex Chalk, will hold talks with the senior judiciary to confirm how the convictions can be overturned as soon as possible, so victims can have speedier access to millions of pounds of compensation. - Guardian
Sun 07 Jan 2024 13:33
(Sharecast News) - Ashtead is a "steady bet", according to The Sunday Times' Lucy Tobin, who recommends investors to buy shares in the UK-listed international equipment rental company.
Sun 07 Jan 2024 12:59
(Sharecast News) - Multifaceted tech giant Amazon is about to unveil a major investment in one of Britain's biggest wind farms. The company is aiming to power its entire UK operation - from sales warehouses to film studios to cloud computing - using renewable energy by next year. The Mail on Sunday understands that Amazon, which employs about 75,000 people in Britain, plans to later this month announce a deal to buy electricity from the Moray West offshore wind farm. - Mail on Sunday
Fri 05 Jan 2024 07:22
(Sharecast News) - The number of new cars registered in the UK has jumped by nearly 18% but electric vehicle demand is flatlining, prompting the industry to call for a VAT cut to stimulate sales. Annual figures released by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) on Friday show 1.9m new cars were registered last year, well up on the previous year's figure of 1.6m and the highest level since the 2.3m registrations of 2019. - Guardian
Thu 04 Jan 2024 07:21
(Sharecast News) - Several of the world's biggest carmakers lobbied the UK government to try to weaken or delay rules to accelerate electric car sales and cut Britain's carbon emissions. Toyota, Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) and Nissan were among the companies to ask for delays in enforcement of the zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) mandate that obliges them to sell increasing proportions of electric cars or face heavy fines, according to documents seen by the Guardian. - Guardian
Sun 31 Dec 2023 10:21
(Sharecast News) - The Sunday Times and Mail on Sunday have offered their top investment tips for 2024, which includes stocks from a variety of sectors such cruises and market research to metals and real estate.
Sun 31 Dec 2023 10:20
(Sharecast News) - Telecoms giant Three has paid out a record £2 billion dividend to the Hong Kong-listed conglomerate of billionaire Li Ka-shing, as it cashes in on the sale of mobile phone masts across Europe. Hutchison 3G, which trades as Three and has ten million customers and more than 4,500 employees in the UK, paid out the money months before increasing some of its contract prices by 14 per cent. The British company is owned by 95-year-old Li's CK Hutchison Holdings, which has drawn scrutiny in the past for dividends taken from its other UK assets. The latest payout marks the first time that CK Hutchison has taken a dividend from Three, which it launched in the UK market 20 years ago. - The Sunday Times
Sun 24 Dec 2023 11:06
(Sharecast News) - Drug-testing specialist hVivo was one of the top tips for 2023 from The Daily Mail's Midas column, but the paper still reckons there's further to go despite the stock doubling in price over the year.
Sun 24 Dec 2023 10:44
(Sharecast News) - An Israel-affiliated chemical tanker was hit by a drone allegedly launched from Iran in the Indian Ocean on Saturday, the US Department of Defence said. The Liberia-flagged Chem Pluto was struck at around 10am (local time) in the Indian Ocean, nearly 200 nautical miles from India's western coast of Veraval in Gujarat, the Pentagon claimed. It added that the one-way attack drone was launched from Iran. - The Independent
Fri 22 Dec 2023 07:23
(Sharecast News) - Property sales and demand across the UK were almost a fifth higher in the final weeks of 2023 than a year earlier as sentiment improved, according to a survey. The property website Zoopla said new sales agreed were 17% higher in December than this time last year, when higher mortgage rates hit market activity. Demand is up 19%, measured by would-be buyers contacting agents to inquire about and arrange viewings for a specific property listed on Zoopla. An increase in the number of homes for sale is increasing choice and supporting sales, it said. - Guardian
Thu 21 Dec 2023 07:26
(Sharecast News) - The Premier League's pledge to scrap betting adverts on football shirts will not protect children from a "bombardment" of gambling advertising, according to a report by MPs that also raises concerns about the pace of reform to the industry. MPs on the select committee for culture, media and sport criticised the government for failing to take a more "precautionary approach" to gambling promotion, setting out their concerns in a 76-page report published on Thursday. - Guardian
Wed 20 Dec 2023 07:23
(Sharecast News) - Northern political and transport leaders have called on the UK government to urgently review Avanti West Coast's operations amid a renewed surge in intercity rail cancellations and delays. The intervention came as it emerged that morale at the train operating company has plummeted to the point where only 3% of staff say they feel valued, according to an internal Avanti survey seen by the Guardian. - Guardian
Mon 18 Dec 2023 07:23
(Sharecast News) - Retailers are facing a tough new year as weak consumer demand is expected to combine with a barrage of increased costs, including the higher minimum wage. Shoppers are likely to keep their spending on pause during the first months of 2024, according to forecasts published today by the Retail Think Tank, a group of industry experts who analyse the health of the sector, as mounting mortgage and rental costs weigh on consumer confidence. - Guardian
Sun 17 Dec 2023 12:43
(Sharecast News) - The Times' tipster Lucy Tobin recommends investors take a look at housing marketplace Rightmove, playing down fears of competition after US group CoStar took over rival OnTheMarket.com in October.
Sun 17 Dec 2023 12:28
(Sharecast News) - Lord Cameron has joined forces with his German counterpart to call for a "sustainable ceasefire" in the Middle East and warn that "too many civilians have been killed" in the Hamas-Israel conflict. In a marked change of tone by the government which piles pressure on the Israeli government to end the bloodshed, the foreign secretary has united with Annalena Baerbock, the German foreign minister, to demand "a sustainable ceasefire, leading to a sustainable peace". - The Sunday Times
Fri 15 Dec 2023 07:17
(Sharecast News) - Almost 200 homes in London have been sold for £10m in the past year as the super-rich's pandemic-inspired desire for a place in the country wanes compared to their wish for swish bolt-holes in the capital. A total of 175 homes were sold for £10m-plus in the 12 months to November 2023, the highest number for eight-years, according to research by the estate agent Knight Frank. - Guardian
Thu 14 Dec 2023 07:22
(Sharecast News) - Tighter rules are needed to ensure that the imported "used" cooking oil that airlines hope will power cleaner flights is not in fact virgin palm oil, campaigners have warned. About 80% of waste oil is imported to create biofuels that are mostly still used in cars, vans and lorries despite growing demand from aviation. About 60% of those imports come from China. - Guardian
Wed 13 Dec 2023 07:20
(Sharecast News) - Regulators should take action to curb a sharp rise in the price of infant formula, pregnancy campaigners have said, after a UK survey found more than half of women felt anxious about the cost of feeding their babies, with the number who expressed concerned rising by a quarter in two years. The British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) found 65% of mothers were worried about the price of feeding their babies, and the same number said it had a negative impact on their family's finances. A third of women felt it was "better" for babies to be fed the more expensive milk, despite there being no nutritional benefits. - Guardian
Wed 13 Dec 2023 07:20
(Sharecast News) - Regulators should take action to curb a sharp rise in the price of infant formula, pregnancy campaigners have said, after a UK survey found more than half of women felt anxious about the cost of feeding their babies, with the number who expressed concerned rising by a quarter in two years. The British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) found 65% of mothers were worried about the price of feeding their babies, and the same number said it had a negative impact on their family's finances. A third of women felt it was "better" for babies to be fed the more expensive milk, despite there being no nutritional benefits. - Guardian
Tue 12 Dec 2023 07:22
(Sharecast News) - Bank of England concerns over the high level of pay awards are likely to be eased in the coming months as wage settlements fall in response to a tumbling annual inflation rate, a thinktank has said. The Resolution Foundation said recent strong growth in earnings was primarily caused by a sharp increase in the cost of living, with workers trying to prevent their living standards being eroded. - Guardian
Mon 11 Dec 2023 07:24
(Sharecast News) - US multinationals underpaid £5.6bn in tax in the UK last year, HM Revenue & Customs believes, according to a national accountancy firm. The suspected deficit is 14% higher than the figure from the previous year, and would mean US companies now make up nearly half of underpaid tax into British coffers from foreign companies. - Guardian
Sun 10 Dec 2023 12:28
(Sharecast News) - The Times' Lucy Tobin has said that investors should consider investing in AIM-listed soft drinks group Nichols, on the back of its emerging-markets potential.
Sun 10 Dec 2023 12:28
(Sharecast News) - The Times' Lucy Tobin has said that investors should consider investing in AIM-listed soft drinks group Nichols, on the back of its emerging-markets potential.
Sun 10 Dec 2023 12:21
(Sharecast News) - India's stock market is poised to take Hong Kong's spot among the world's largest trading venues, in a rise analysts say attests to investors' optimism about the economic prospects of the world's most populous country. The total market capitalisation of companies listed on the National Stock Exchange of India was $3.7tn as of the end of October, according to the World Federation of Exchanges, a trade association of publicly regulated stock markets, compared with the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong's $3.9tn. - Financial Times
Fri 08 Dec 2023 07:24
(Sharecast News) - Rishi Sunak's "spiteful" new anti-strike laws have created a "galvanising moment" for the UK's trade union movement, the TUC general secretary has said. Speaking before a special congress of union leaders on Saturday about how to respond to the Strikes Act, Paul Nowak promised the TUC would throw its weight behind any worker hit by the new law. - Guardian
Thu 07 Dec 2023 07:23
(Sharecast News) - Profiteering has played a significant role in boosting inflation during 2022, according to a report that calls for a global corporation tax to curb excess profits. Analysis of the financial accounts of many of the UK's biggest businesses found that profits far outpaced increases in costs, helping to push up inflation last year to levels not seen since the early 1980s. - Guardian
Wed 06 Dec 2023 07:29
(Sharecast News) - FBI agents tasked with investigating sanctions-busting have been dispatched to Cyprus as the global crackdown against Russian oligarchs, and the web of enablers who have helped hide their wealth, intensifies. The 24-strong team was expected to start "assisting Cypriot police" with immediate effect after arriving on the eastern Mediterranean island late Sunday. - Guardian
Tue 05 Dec 2023 07:22
(Sharecast News) - Ministers are under pressure to explain the actions of the government and regulators over cybersecurity at Europe's most hazardous nuclear site after a Guardian investigation revealed disturbing vulnerabilities in its networks. The shadow energy secretary, Ed Miliband, called on the government to urgently "provide assurances" about Sellafield, after the Guardian revealed it had been hacked by groups linked to Russia and China. - Guardian
Mon 04 Dec 2023 07:19
(Sharecast News) - The parent company of Thames Water has been warned by its auditors that it could run out of money by April if shareholders do not inject more cash into the debt-laden firm. In accounts signed off in July and published on the Companies House website last week, PricewaterhouseCoopers said there was "material uncertainty" about whether the main company behind the water supplier can continue as a going concern. - Guardian
Sun 03 Dec 2023 14:23
(Sharecast News) - The Mail on Sunday's Midas column has recommended buying shares of UK-listed industrial firms Goodwin and Volex.
Sun 03 Dec 2023 13:26
(Sharecast News) - The owner of betting giant William Hill was the target of a £700 million swoop by gambling tech provider Playtech, The Sunday Times can disclose. FTSE 250 company Playtech made a written indicative approach to acquire William Hill owner 888 Holdings at a price of 156p a share in July, only for it to be rejected as undervaluing the company, according to City sources. - The Sunday Times
Fri 01 Dec 2023 07:23
(Sharecast News) - Another nine days of disruption for rail passengers has begun as train drivers in the Aslef union start an overtime ban and a series of rolling strikes halting services across Britain, in a long-running dispute over pay. Drivers will be taking industrial action at train operating companies (Tocs) contracted to the Department for Transport, striking for 24 hours at each one on different dates between Saturday 2 December and Friday 8 December. The strikes will stop most or all trains at the affected operators in England and also hit some cross-border services to Scotland and Wales. - Guardian
Thu 30 Nov 2023 07:26
(Sharecast News) - More than a quarter of adults in the UK will use buy now, pay later to help with festive spending, research suggests, with the proportion rising to more than half of parents with young children. The survey for Citizens Advice also found 11% of respondents used such credit schemes to pay for groceries, a proportion that rose to 35% for regular BNPL users. - Guardian
Wed 29 Nov 2023 07:20
(Sharecast News) - A Tory MP who accused the gambling regulator of being too "heavy handed" has received more than £8,000 in hospitality and payments from the betting industry this year, including tickets to see Madonna. Craig Whittaker, the MP for Calder Valley in West Yorkshire, criticised the Gambling Commission in an article for the Conservative Home website last week. - Guardian
Tue 28 Nov 2023 07:27
(Sharecast News) - Fast fashion giant Shein has reportedly lodged confidential paperwork with US securities regulators, informing them of an intention to go public in the US. The listing would likely be the largest initial public offering (IPO) in years. - Guardian
Mon 27 Nov 2023 07:26
(Sharecast News) - The Bank of England's reliance on "inadequate" forecasting models and a lack of intellectual diversity within its most senior ranks contributed to inflation sticking at among the highest levels in decades, a Lords report has found. In a report critical of Threadneedle Street, the powerful Lords economic affairs committee said the central bank had made "errors" in its handling of the inflation shock triggered after the Covid pandemic and Russia's invasion of Ukraine. - Guardian
Sun 26 Nov 2023 20:59
(Sharecast News) - The Financial Mail on Sunday's Midas column tipped shares of supply chain specialist Wincanton to readers judging that the business's prospects were "bright" and the shares "cheap".
Sun 26 Nov 2023 20:42
(Sharecast News) - Rolls-Royce chief Tufan Erginbilgic is expected to push for government backing for the company's small modular reactors. The engineer has already received approximately £200m in government funding and has a lead on its domestic and foreign rivals, but Erginbligic is worried that they might catch up. The government's lukewarm attitude may also make potential foreign buyers hesitate. - The Financial Mail on Sunday
Fri 24 Nov 2023 07:24
(Sharecast News) - P&O Cruises and fellow cruise firm Cunard have made provision to fire and rehire more than 900 UK-based crew unless they accept salary cuts and more flexible working arrangements. The affected crew include officers on the British flagship, the luxury ocean liner Queen Mary 2, and nine other ships operated under Carnival UK, which is part of the $18bn-listed Carnival group. - Guardian
Thu 23 Nov 2023 07:27
(Sharecast News) - Households will begin the new year with a 5% increase in energy bills after the regulator raised the price cap to an average of £1,928 a year for the typical gas and electricity bill. Ofgem raised the maximum price that energy suppliers can charge their customers from £1,834 a year for the typical household between October to December, after a rise in global gas market prices after the start of the Israel-Hamas war last month. - Guardian
Wed 22 Nov 2023 07:28
(Sharecast News) - Tax officials are understood to be examining whether David Cameron failed to fully disclose taxable perks such as flights on private planes when he worked for the collapsed lender Greensill Capital, the Guardian can reveal. In particular, officials are said to be looking at a number of flights that took off or landed near his house in Oxfordshire and also in Cornwall, where the foreign secretary has a holiday home. They are also examining an offshore trust that it is understood was created by Greensill to pay him extra benefits. - Guardian
Tue 21 Nov 2023 07:23
(Sharecast News) - Pressure is mounting on Jeremy Hunt to cut taxes in Wednesday's autumn statement due to evidence that almost 4 million UK workers are to be dragged into paying income tax for the first time. In a crunch week for the government, Rishi Sunak fuelled expectations on Monday that his chancellor could use his speech to the Commons to launch personal tax cuts, saying the government could now "look forward" to the future after making progress on the economy. - Guardian
Mon 20 Nov 2023 07:23
(Sharecast News) - Jeremy Hunt has played down the prospect of immediate income tax cuts, pledging not to do anything in this week's autumn statement that will fuel inflation. Although some Conservative backbenchers are eager for measures that would be quickly felt by households, the chancellor on Sunday sought to emphasise the need to promote growth and indicated that tax cuts were "not going to happen overnight". - Guardian
Sun 19 Nov 2023 21:24
(Sharecast News) - The Financial Mail on Sunday's Midas column tipped the Octopus Renewables Infrastructure Trust to readers, pointing out its 7% dividend yield and the current valuation of its shares.
Sun 19 Nov 2023 19:07
(Sharecast News) - The Prime Minister and his Chancellor are mulling last minute reductions to income taxes or the inheritance tax in a bid to boost economic output, as well as their party's odds at the next elections. The tax cuts would be aimed at low and middle income earners with the impact on inflation to be offset by a decrease on welfare payments or other cuts. Postponing a widely anticipated cut to the inheritance tax is also being looked into, as halving the 40% rate has seen accusations of a hand out to the rich in the midst of a cost-of-living crisis being levied against them. - The Sunday Times
Fri 17 Nov 2023 07:21
(Sharecast News) - People from working-class backgrounds employed in professional careers earn £6,000 less compared to those from other backgrounds in the same jobs, findings from the Social Mobility Foundation show, underscoring the UK's "shameful" class pay gap. Professionals from poorer upbringings face an average salary of £45,437 - 12% lower than the £51,728 for people from more affluent origins - in research based on quarterly Labour Force Surveys from 2014 to 2022. - Guardian
Thu 16 Nov 2023 07:22
(Sharecast News) - The Cyprus police force is investigating how an oligarch attempted to transfer a £1bn stake in a public company on the day he was placed under EU sanctions, government insiders have told the Guardian. News of the involvement of the financial crime squad came as the Cypriot government and the European Union responded to revelations that local service providers appear to have played a key role in enabling Russian oligarchs to shield assets from EU sanctions within days of Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. - Guardian
Wed 15 Nov 2023 07:11
(Sharecast News) - Manchester City have announced record-breaking revenue for the 2022-23 financial year. The club confirmed income of £712.8m, outstripping the Premier League record £648.4m reported by Manchester United last month. City's figure is up from £613m and the club almost doubled its profit to £80.4m, from £41.7m, despite a large increase in wages. The 2022-23 season was highly successful for City, who won a Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup treble, boosting finances through commercial and broadcast revenue. - Guardian
Tue 14 Nov 2023 07:21
(Sharecast News) - Ministers have come under further pressure to expand the financial support for Britons struggling with the cost of living crisis, after a committee of MPs found some had "slipped through the safety net". The cross-party work and pensions committee said that support payments designed to help people cope with soaring household bills had proved insufficient to meet the scale of the problem and offered only a "short-term reprieve" for many. - Guardian
Sun 12 Nov 2023 21:00
(Sharecast News) - The Sunday Times's Lucy Tobin recommended investors buy shares of hotel operator PPHE Hotel Group, highlighting its strong brands, strategic partnership with hotel giant Radisson and rising revenues per available room.
Sun 12 Nov 2023 20:09
(Sharecast News) - More claims against banks and individuals operating in the City linked to the so-called Cum-Ex case are likely. The tax fraud scandal - Europe's largest ever - is estimated to have cost German taxpayers alone almost £10bn. Among the lenders being investigated are Barclays, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, BNP and Nomura, together with law firms and auditors. Last week, the Supreme Court ruled that Danish authorities could pursue an alleged £1.4bn Cum-Ex fraud in London. The decision may open the floodgates to to claims from regulators in other European countries. - Financial Mail on Sunday
Fri 10 Nov 2023 07:20
(Sharecast News) - Thames Water has pumped at least 72bn litres of sewage into the River Thames since 2020 - roughly equal to 29,000 Olympic swimming pools - new figures reveal. Water firms have no legal obligation to report the amount of sewage discharged, only the number of hours that it was released. But campaigners argue this data is insufficient as this does not properly quantify how much sewage is in England's rivers. - Guardian
Thu 09 Nov 2023 07:23
(Sharecast News) - Insurers operating in the Lloyd's of London market are the world's biggest underwriters of fossil fuel projects, research has found. Fifty years after the insurance industry first warned about the impact of the climate crisis, it is continuing to contribute to the climate emergency, the Insure Our Future campaign, a global group of 24 NGOs, said in its annual "scorecard" on 30 major insurers and their involvement in fossil fuels. - Guardian
Tue 07 Nov 2023 07:15
(Sharecast News) - Royal Mail is to lose its 360-year-old monopoly on delivering parcels from Post Office branches, after concerns about poor quality of service persuaded the postal service to sign deals with rivals Evri and DPD in the run-up to Christmas. The two couriers would be added to the options available at the counter from later this month, the Post Office said, with customers given a choice for the first time. - Guardian
Mon 06 Nov 2023 07:20
(Sharecast News) - A fashion industry push to reduce the environmental impact of the clothing it sells is being undermined by an ongoing addiction to buying new clothes, with the average Briton buying 28 items every year. Asos and Primark are among the big names signed up to Wrap's voluntary environmental pact, Textiles 2030. - Guardian
Sun 05 Nov 2023 21:40
(Sharecast News) - Midas told readers on Sunday to hold onto their shares of property rental outfit Belvoir Group.
Sun 05 Nov 2023 21:39
(Sharecast News) - The conflict in the Middle East and the resulting humanitarian crisis could trigger a global recession by compounding the challenges that are already facing the precarious world economy. That is the diagnosis of two of the biggest names on Wall Street. Larry Fink, who heads asset manager BlackRock, believes the 7 October Hamas atrocities, the attack on Gaza and the Ukraine invasion mean the world has been pushed to "almost a whole new future". For his part, J.P.Morgan head Jamie Dimon said that: " [...] these geopolitical matters are very serious - arguably the most serious since 1938." - Guardian
Fri 03 Nov 2023 07:22
(Sharecast News) - The ride-share companies Uber and Lyft have agreed to a historic settlement totaling $328m after being accused of withholding wages and benefits, such as mandatory paid sick leave, from drivers. - Guardian
Thu 02 Nov 2023 07:21
(Sharecast News) - Labour has warned that more than half a million homeowners face a surge in mortgage costs before the local elections in England in May, as ministers battle to contain the damage from what is expected to be a long period of high interest rates. With the Bank of England widely expected to hold its key base rate at 5.25% on Thursday, the party released analysis that showed 630,000 more homeowners would be hit by higher borrowing costs before local elections next year. - Guardian
Wed 01 Nov 2023 07:23
(Sharecast News) - WeWork plans to file for bankruptcy as early as next week, a source familiar with the matter said on Tuesday, as the SoftBank Group-backed company struggles with a massive debt pile and hefty losses. - Guardian
Tue 31 Oct 2023 07:27
(Sharecast News) - The Trades Union Congress has accused the Tory government of promoting a "greed is good" culture among bankers, who it said would be able to "cash in on unlimited bonuses" after a cap on payouts was lifted on Tuesday. The TUC said that while ministers had repeatedly called for pay restraint for most workers, they had been "silent over excess in the City". - Guardian
Mon 30 Oct 2023 07:22
(Sharecast News) - The recent rise in interest rates has been blamed for ending Britain's wealth boom and causing total household wealth to plunge by a quarter since the Covid-19 pandemic. A report by the Resolution Foundation, a thinktank, and Abrdn, the asset manager, said the fall was due to a drop in house prices and pension pots, which account for about £4 out of every £5 of total wealth, and played a leading role in rising wealth across the country over the 40 years leading up to the pandemic. - Guardian
Sun 29 Oct 2023 21:30
(Sharecast News) - HSBC boss Noel Quinn has warned that a "global reckoning" may be approaching after debt ballooned in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis and during the Covid pandemic. That is because the world economy's rate of growth is too slow to handle the pace at which government debt is rising. Inflation and the interest rate increases that go with it are hampering the bounce-back following the pandemic. Those higher rates also mean that government's borrowing costs are going up. That is especially true in European countries such as Italy, but also for the UK. - The Sunday Telegraph
Sun 29 Oct 2023 21:01
(Sharecast News) - The Financial Mail on Sunday's Midas column spied long-term potential in Destiny Pharma's shares.
Fri 27 Oct 2023 07:14
(Sharecast News) - Profits almost tripled at Amazon in the latest quarter as consumers continued to spend heavily despite the sharp rise in interest rates. The world's largest retailer forecast that sales would continue to rise at a robust pace for the rest of the year. Growth had been knocked by surging prices and customers returning to bricks-and-mortar stores. - Guardian
Thu 26 Oct 2023 07:20
(Sharecast News) - The former NatWest chief executive breached data protection laws when she spoke to a BBC journalist about the planned closure of Nigel Farage's bank accounts, the UK's information watchdog has ruled. An Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) report seen by the Guardian said that Alison Rose broke rules on two counts: first by revealing that Farage had a banking relationship with its private bank, Coutts; and secondly by providing "misleading information" that led the BBC to believe the bank was closing his accounts for purely commercial reasons, linked to his wealth. - Guardian
Wed 25 Oct 2023 07:21
(Sharecast News) - Scammers were responsible for nearly 1.4m cases of fraud in the UK during the first half of 2023 - the equivalent of one every 12 seconds - with romance scams and ID theft among the fastest growing categories. Overall, criminals stole £580m in the first six months of the year, according to the banking trade association UK Finance, suggesting households are set to lose more than £1bn to fraudsters during 2023. - Guardian
Tue 24 Oct 2023 07:22
(Sharecast News) - Almost £1bn meant to help build Britain's electric vehicle charging network remains unallocated more than three years after it was first announced by Rishi Sunak. Promised in March 2020 before the first Covid lockdown in Sunak's early weeks as Boris Johnson's chancellor, the "rapid charging fund" was meant to support electrical capacity at motorway service stations. It was intended to help fund upgrades to the grid so that more electric cars can be rapidly charged at the same time. - Guardian
Mon 23 Oct 2023 07:19
(Sharecast News) - The influential Tory donors behind the JCB digger empire could be hit with a bill for more than £500m to settle a longrunning investigation by HM Revenue and Customs, the Guardian can reveal. The investigation into Anthony Bamford, a Tory peer, and his brother Mark, the director of a subsidiary of the Conservative party, is understood to span a complex network of offshore tax havens and companies. - Guardian
Sun 22 Oct 2023 17:40
(Sharecast News) - The Financial Mail on Sunday's Midas column recommended investors hold onto their shares in Empiric Student Property.
Sun 22 Oct 2023 17:13
(Sharecast News) - British Steel is planning to let go 2,000 employees amid a push by its Chinese owners to radically overhaul its operations and cut pollution. As many as 2,000 people could be let go as part of the turnaround plans, two people familiar with the company's thinking said, although no final decisions had yet been taken. The cost reductions are understood to be a critical part of plans to convert from blast furnaces to electric ark furnaces, which could unlock over £1bn in fresh funding from its owner, Jingye Group. - The Sunday Times
Fri 20 Oct 2023 07:13
(Sharecast News) - Many more councils in England are at risk of bankruptcy, town hall leaders have warned, as unprecedented financial pressures force local authorities to prepare drastic cuts to services to cope with a collective £4bn deficit. The bleak message, set out in a letter to the chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, said council budgets were "under pressure like never before" because of the rapid deterioration in their finances caused by inflation and soaring demand for social care. - Guardian
Thu 19 Oct 2023 07:21
(Sharecast News) - The Bank of England should be set a 3% inflation target and given powers to crash borrowing costs below zero in response to future economic shocks, a leading thinktank has said. The Resolution Foundation said Britain required a big overhaul of its economic toolkit to avoid decades of rising debt or austerity, and called for reforms at the Bank and the Treasury to get a "bigger bang for each buck". - Guardian
Wed 18 Oct 2023 07:18
(Sharecast News) - Miller & Carter, the steakhouse chain owned by the nationwide pub group Mitchells & Butlers, has been criticised for taking payments from waiting staff worth up to 2% of the sales they serve up, cutting their income during the cost of living crisis. The payments are intended as a way for waiting staff to share tips with chefs and other back of house workers. - Guardian
Tue 17 Oct 2023 07:17
(Sharecast News) - The government has no room for unfunded pre-election tax cuts despite having pushed through a "colossal" £52bn a year stealth raid on household incomes on Rishi Sunak's watch, the Institute for Fiscal Studies has warned. Britain's foremost economics thinktank said the dire state of the public finances meant that attention-grabbing tax cuts risked stoking inflation, leading to higher Bank of England interest rates and a lengthy recession. - Guardian
Mon 16 Oct 2023 07:25
(Sharecast News) - Headline inflation eased again in September, official figures are expected to show this week, while pay growth is slowing. Economists polled by Refinitiv expect the Office for National Statistics (ONS) to say annual inflation fell slightly to 6.5% in September from 6.7% in August. However, that is still well above the Bank of England's 2% target. - Guardian
Fri 13 Oct 2023 07:18
(Sharecast News) - The UK's competition watchdog has cleared Microsoft's $69bn (£54bn) deal to buy Activision Blizzard, the maker of games including Call of Duty and World of Warcraft, in a move that paves the way for both companies to complete the transaction. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) moved to block the megadeal in April, citing concerns that Microsoft - maker of the Xbox gaming console - would dominate the nascent cloud gaming market. - Guardian
Thu 12 Oct 2023 07:22
(Sharecast News) - Rachel Reeves is under pressure to drop Labour's blanket opposition to higher taxes on wealth, amid growing alarm within the party over extreme levels of inequality and the battered state of Britain's public finances. After a conference in Liverpool designed to showcase party unity and economic credibility, trade union leaders and senior figures on the shadow chancellor's left said they would keep "banging the drum" for a Labour government to raise billions of pounds more in tax from the very richest. - Guardian
Thu 12 Oct 2023 07:22
(Sharecast News) - Rachel Reeves is under pressure to drop Labour's blanket opposition to higher taxes on wealth, amid growing alarm within the party over extreme levels of inequality and the battered state of Britain's public finances. After a conference in Liverpool designed to showcase party unity and economic credibility, trade union leaders and senior figures on the shadow chancellor's left said they would keep "banging the drum" for a Labour government to raise billions of pounds more in tax from the very richest. - Guardian
Tue 10 Oct 2023 07:19
(Sharecast News) - The first turbine to be completed in a project to build the world's largest offshore windfarm, in the North Sea, has begun powering British homes and businesses. Developers confirmed on Monday that Dogger Bank, which sits 70 nautical miles off the coast of Yorkshire, started producing power over the weekend as the first of 277 turbines was connected to the electricity grid. - Guardian
Mon 09 Oct 2023 07:24
(Sharecast News) - Britain's manufacturers are urging the chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, to announce a "major MOT" of the UK's "uncompetitive" business tax and regulatory system in his autumn statement next month. Many aspects of the system are "not fit for purpose", the business group Make UK said in a report published in the middle of the political party conference season, and called for major reform as part of an industrial strategy. - Guardian
Sun 08 Oct 2023 12:40
(Sharecast News) - The Sunday Times's Lucy Tobin tipped shares of Smiths Group, pointing to the enginering outfit's business outlook, solid management and valuation to back up her case.
Sun 08 Oct 2023 11:36
(Sharecast News) - Some of Renewi's major shareholders are divided as to whether the recycling company should engage with Australian suitor Macquarie. One major shareholder has told Renewi's board that it should not until Macquarie raised its £636m bid, but another top ten shareholder told The Sunday Times that it should talk to the Australian outfit anyways. Macquarie has until 26 October to make a firm offer. - The Sunday Times
Fri 06 Oct 2023 07:25
(Sharecast News) - Elon Musk is under investigation by the US Securities and Exchange Commission over his $44bn takeover of social media giant Twitter, it was revealed on Thursday. The investigation concerns whether Musk broke federal securities laws in 2022 when he bought stock in Twitter, which he later renamed X, as well as statements and SEC filings he made about the deal. - Guardian
Thu 05 Oct 2023 07:27
(Sharecast News) - Private home rents in Great Britain have increased to their highest point on record after shortages in supply and mortgage rate rises combined to push the cost up by 10% over the past 12 months. The average rent for new properties being put on the market now stands at a record £1,278 per calendar month outside London in the July to September period, according to Rightmove. - Guardian
Wed 04 Oct 2023 07:20
(Sharecast News) - Rail passengers in England face another day without trains on Wednesday as a strike by train drivers halts most services. Members of the Aslef union are on strike for the second time in four days, in a 24-hour walkout timed to coincide with the final day of the Conservative party conference in Manchester. - Guardian
Tue 03 Oct 2023 07:24
(Sharecast News) - Food prices dropped in the UK in September for the first month in almost two years, according to retail industry figures, offering consumers some respite amid the cost of living crisis. The British Retail Consortium (BRC) said price reductions for dairy, margarine, fish and vegetables and fierce supermarket competition helped to bring down the cost of an average food basket by 0.1% compared with the previous month. - Guardian
Mon 02 Oct 2023 07:22
(Sharecast News) - They are the things you didn't know you needed but now can't live without: a fitness tracker, wireless headphones, a fancy "bean-to-cup" coffee maker and, more recently, an air fryer. For women add a flattering jumpsuit and white trainers (but forget the floral midi). So says John Lewis in its latest retail report. The annual exercise usually shines a light on the current year's key products and trends but what's different this time is, after scrutinising buying habits for 10 years, it also identifies "products of the decade". - Guardian
Fri 29 Sep 2023 07:22
(Sharecast News) - UK households are facing an average tax rise of £3,500 a year by the next election, the country's leading economics thinktank has said - the biggest increase over a parliament on records dating back more than 70 years. The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) said that on current forecasts the Conservatives were on track to raise £100bn more annually by 2024 than if taxes as a share of national income had stayed the same as in 2019. - Guardian
Thu 28 Sep 2023 07:16
(Sharecast News) - Embattled Chinese property giant Evergrande has suspended share trading on the Hong Kong stock exchange only a month after it resumed trading after a 17-month suspension. Trading in its two other units - the property services and electric vehicle groups - also stopped at 9am on Thursday, according to notices posted by the stock exchange. - Guardian
Wed 27 Sep 2023 07:20
(Sharecast News) - The number of first-time buyers in the UK has fallen by more than a fifth, while homes in need of renovation are most in demand as buyers look for cheaper properties, in the latest evidence that people are struggling with higher mortgage costs. There were 22% fewer first-time buyers between January and August compared with the same period last year, according to the mortgage lender Halifax. They still accounted for more than half (53%) of all home loans agreed in the first eight months of this year, similar to a year earlier (52%). - Guardian
Tue 26 Sep 2023 07:16
(Sharecast News) - Stress was one of the biggest contributors to a rise in workplace absences over the past year, according to research that found the number of workers taking sick leave has hit a 10-year high The Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development (CIPD) analysed sickness absence and employee health among 918 organisations representing 6.5 million employees, with 76% of respondents reporting they had taken time off due to stress in the past year. - Guardian
Sun 24 Sep 2023 17:39
(Sharecast News) - The Sunday Times's Lucy Tobin recommended shares of fraud prevention software manufacturer GB Group to readers.
Sun 24 Sep 2023 11:57
(Sharecast News) - The Prime Minister is facing enormous push back from senior Tories and captains of industry due to signs that he may walk back on plans for the northern section of the HS2 high speed rail service before the party conference next weekend. Rishi Sunak was expected to meet with the Chancellor on Monday or Tuesday and an announcement was expected to follow by the middle of the week, several sources told the Observer. One source however said that it was not inconceivable that Sunak might yet decide otherwise. - Guardian
Wed 20 Sep 2023 06:45
(Sharecast News) - Rishi Sunak is facing a fresh setback to his target of halving inflation as oil prices hit $95 for the first time this year. The price of Brent crude closed in on $96 per barrel on Tuesday, the highest level since November 2022 as Russia and Saudi Arabia conspire to limit production and push up global costs. Inflation figures published on Wednesday [today] are expected to show the first acceleration in consumer prices since February. Analysts have forecast a 7.1pc rise for August on the year, up from July when consumer price inflation came in at 6.8pc. - Daily Telegraph
Mon 18 Sep 2023 07:21
(Sharecast News) - Residential rents across Britain are rising at their fastest on record as high interest rates shut would-be buyers out of the property market. Monthly rental costs are on average 12 per cent higher than they were this time last year, up £140 to breach £1,300 for the first time, according to the estate agent Hamptons. Separate research from the property website Rightmove suggests that more than a third of homes for sale have had their asking prices reduced as vendors try to drum up demand. - The Times
Sun 17 Sep 2023 22:39
(Sharecast News) - Investors are now backing Labour, dealing a blow to the Prime Minister's efforts to rebuild the Tories reputation for sound money. Two thirds of money managers and traders canvassed by Bloomberg said that the best outcome for markets from the next election would be either a Labour government or a coalition led by Labour.Four fifths of those polled said that confidence in British assets had yet to recover from the mini-Budget crisis under Liz Truss. - The Sunday Telegraph
Fri 15 Sep 2023 07:24
(Sharecast News) - The HS2 high-speed rail line is at risk of further cuts to its route north of Birmingham as the government considers whether it can afford high-cost projects in advance of the autumn budget. The project has been mired in fresh uncertainty after the prime minister's spokesperson refused to guarantee on Thursday it would run to Manchester, after publication of a photographed document suggesting further cuts were under discussion. - Guardian
Thu 14 Sep 2023 07:22
(Sharecast News) - Households could save up to £400 a year on energy bills under a new means-tested scheme to insulate more than 300,000 of Great Britain's draughtiest homes. The government is spending £1bn on grants for homes that have low energy efficiency ratings and are in lower council tax bands. - Guardian
Wed 13 Sep 2023 07:24
(Sharecast News) - Treasury officials are discussing a one-off break from the pensions triple lock that could save £1bn by preventing a bumper 8.5% increase in the state pension next year. The government is considering stripping out public sector bonuses that were awarded to workers to prevent strikes over the summer from the calculation that determines the annual rise in pensions. - Guardian
Tue 12 Sep 2023 07:20
(Sharecast News) - Jeremy Hunt has warned that the high pace of inflation in Britain will prevent pre-election tax cuts this autumn amid signals from the Bank of England that another rate rise to ease cost of living pressures is coming next week. Speaking in India, the chancellor said he would be wary of putting money into the pockets of consumers in his November package because of the danger that it would overstimulate the economy and make it more difficult for Threadneedle Street to bring inflation down. - Guardian
Mon 11 Sep 2023 07:28
(Sharecast News) - BMW will unveil a significant investment in its electric Mini plant in Oxford on Monday, a move that will secure 4,000 jobs and strengthen the UK's electric vehicle supply chain. The investment by the German carmaker is the result of "extensive" engagement with the UK government, according to the business and trade department, and marks a reversal of plans to move electric Mini production abroad to China. - Guardian
Fri 08 Sep 2023 07:19
(Sharecast News) - Maintaining the triple lock on state pensions could add as much as £45bn to the welfare bill by 2050, putting "insurmountable pressure" on the government to increase the minimum retirement age, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies. In a report published ahead of the release next week of official data for earnings growth, which will be used to set the annual increase in pensions, the IFS estimates spending on retirees could rise by a further £2bn from April 2024. - Guardian
Thu 07 Sep 2023 07:24
(Sharecast News) - Google faces a new multibillion-pound lawsuit from UK consumers accusing the company of contributing to cost-of-living price rises. The lawsuit, on behalf of every consumer in the UK, says that Google has stifled competition in the search engine market, which caused prices to rise across the UK economy. - Guardian
Wed 06 Sep 2023 07:22
(Sharecast News) - The UK air traffic system failure that resulted in more than 2,000 flights being cancelled has been blamed on "an extremely rare set of circumstances", as the aviation regulator opened an inquiry into the meltdown that caused chaos for passengers. The Civil Aviation Authority announced its own independent review as it submitted an initial report from Nats, the air traffic control services provider, into the incident to the transport secretary, Mark Harper. - Guardian
Tue 05 Sep 2023 07:26
(Sharecast News) - A rescue deal to save the majority of Wilko's stores has been put at risk as some key suppliers want outstanding debts repaid upfront to guarantee continuing to provide products to the chain. Doug Putman, who engineered a turnaround of HMV in the UK and owns Toys R Us in Canada, has been negotiating a deal to save as many as 300 of Wilko's 400 stores, throwing a lifeline to its more than 12,000 staff. - Guardian
Mon 04 Sep 2023 07:21
(Sharecast News) - About 7,000 businesses are likely to fail every quarter in 2024 as high interest rates cause financial strain and the UK economy enters recession, according to a thinktank. The Centre for Economics and Business Research said debt taken on during the pandemic, higher borrowing costs and the cost of living crisis would drive an increasing number of businesses under, particularly in the retail and hospitality sectors. - Guardian
Sun 03 Sep 2023 14:27
(Sharecast News) - This year's share-price weakness of engineering group Keller represents a good buying opportunity, according to The Sunday Times's Lucy Tobin.
Sun 03 Sep 2023 13:53
(Sharecast News) - Administrators to discount chain Wilko have won the backing of creditors for a rescue deal led by HMV tycoon Doug Putman that could save about 8,000 jobs. PwC is understood to have secured support from the Pension Protection Fund, an industry-backed lifeboat, as well as other creditors, including major landlords and suppliers, for the deal. - The Sunday Times
Fri 01 Sep 2023 07:32
(Sharecast News) - The British defence company BAE Systems is setting up a local entity in Ukraine and has signed deals with its government to help ramp up its supply of weapons and equipment. BAE said it would work directly with Kyiv to explore potential partners for a plan to ultimately produce 105mm light artillery guns in Ukraine and to better understand Ukraine's requirements. - Guardian
Thu 31 Aug 2023 07:26
(Sharecast News) - Airlines have urged reform of compensation rules after the "staggering" revelation that a single wrongly input flight plan to UK air traffic control disrupted hundreds of thousands of passengers' flights. Nats, which controls UK airspace, said "an unusual piece of data" had caused the unprecedented system failure on Monday, which led to more than 1,600 flights being axed and many more delayed. - Guardian
Wed 30 Aug 2023 07:18
(Sharecast News) - The number of UK homes sold this year is expected to fall to the lowest level in more than a decade, as the soaring cost of mortgages puts off homebuyers. House sales reaching completion are expected to fall 21% year-on-year to about 1m in 2023, the lowest level since 2012, according to a report from the property website Zoopla. - Guardian
Tue 29 Aug 2023 07:18
(Sharecast News) - A union representing thousands of workers at Wilko is seeking an urgent meeting with the business secretary after being told by potential rescuers of "difficulties" in engaging with the administrators who will decide upon the stricken retail chain's future. On Monday, the GMB national secretary, Andy Prendergast, wrote to Kemi Badenoch asking her to ensure that PricewaterhouseCoopers considered all bids for the budget retailer where 12,500 jobs were hanging in the balance. - Guardian
Sun 27 Aug 2023 10:27
(Sharecast News) - The recent failed takeover for Wood Group could present a buying opportunity for investors, suggests the Mail on Sunday's Midas column.
Sun 27 Aug 2023 10:27
(Sharecast News) - Wilko's administrators are facing pressure to accept a rescue deal for the ailing budget retailer after a second last-minute white knight bid worth £90m emerged from an Anglo-Canadian private equity firm. [...] Shops are expected to close within weeks, with thousands of job losses unless a buyout can be secured. M2 Capital, a restructuring specialist which owns a string of upmarket hotels around the world under the Como brand and is in the process of buying Michigan-based car parts maker Superior Industries, is understood to have put forward a bid that would keep the entire Wilko chain trading. - The Guardian
Fri 25 Aug 2023 07:22
(Sharecast News) - The US hedge fund and notorious activist investor Elliott Management paid its 124 UK staff a combined £160m last year, after a 10% rise in annual profits. The pay pot is higher than the £137m shared by employees the previous year, and comes after its UK operation, Elliott Advisors UK, reported pre-tax profits up by a tenth to £10m. Turnover for the firm, which made headlines after throwing its hat into the ring to buy Manchester United earlier this year, rose 16% to £225m. - Guardian
Thu 24 Aug 2023 07:08
(Sharecast News) - The majority of Wilko stores are expected to shut with the loss of thousands of jobs after a white knight failed to step forward to rescue the collapsed retailer. The family-owned household and garden products retailer, which has about 400 stores and employs almost 12,500 people, will leave big gaps on high streets after the failure of talks with interested parties forced it to call in administrators this month. - Guardian
Wed 23 Aug 2023 07:10
(Sharecast News) - More than 1,000 partners at the UK division of the "big four" accounting firm PwC will be paid £906,000 this year, a slight fall on last year's record payout as profits fell despite rising revenues. Unaudited accounts released by the company showed that PwC's UK profit fell from £1.5bn to £1.3bn in 2022, although last year's figure was boosted by a £139m gain from the sale of its global mobility business. - Guardian
Tue 22 Aug 2023 07:13
(Sharecast News) - Millions of Britons did not switch on their heating during cold snaps last winter in an attempt to save on their energy bills as the cost of gas and electricity soared. Almost nine in 10 households tried to cut back on their energy usage last winter, while almost half of all British households, or 13m homes, said they did not turn on their heating when it got cold, according to a survey of 4,000 people by the consumer group Which?. - Guardian
Mon 21 Aug 2023 07:08
(Sharecast News) - Airlines that break the law by not helping customers when flights are delayed or cancelled should be fined, consumer rights groups and online travel agents have said. In a letter to the prime minister, Rishi Sunak, the consumer rights group Which? and leading online travel agents called for the aviation regulator to be given more powers to act amid flight cancellations. - Guardian
Mon 21 Aug 2023 07:08
(Sharecast News) - Airlines that break the law by not helping customers when flights are delayed or cancelled should be fined, consumer rights groups and online travel agents have said. In a letter to the prime minister, Rishi Sunak, the consumer rights group Which? and leading online travel agents called for the aviation regulator to be given more powers to act amid flight cancellations. - Guardian
Sun 20 Aug 2023 17:27
(Sharecast News) - The Financial Mail on Sunday's Midas column tipped shares of retirement products specialist, Just Group, to readers, pointing to the likelihood of a period of sustained growth in the business and its boss's track record.
Sun 20 Aug 2023 12:26
(Sharecast News) - Richard Harpin, the home repairs tycoon, will invest £110m of his personal fortune in medium-sized businesses in a bid to save the UK High Street. Last year, Harpin sold HomeServe, the company that he founded in 1993 to Brookfield for over £4bn, netting him and his wife roughly £500m. Harpin says his main goal is not the return on investment, but rather to help get the country and economy going by helping businesses to scale up. He will also bring to the table his 45 years of experience as an entrepreneur. "If you are running a business, you need to focus on things that matter and will make a difference," he argued. "We need to do much more to save our High Streets." - Mail on Sunday
Sun 13 Aug 2023 14:06
(Sharecast News) - America's Geological survey estimates that if even a small fraction of naturally occurring - and clean or so-called 'white' - hydrogen beneath the earth's surface were recovered, that would last for hundreds of years. Among the backers of the hydrogen industry is Bill Gates, who ploughed $90m into Koloma, a company hunting for natural hydrogen along the US's Midcontinental Rift System. White hydrogen has also been discovered in Europe, in France's Lorraine region. Nonetheless, the true potential of the stuff will hinge on the findings from those early projects, says Philip Ball, research fellow at Keele University. - Guardian
Sun 13 Aug 2023 13:28
(Sharecast News) - The Financial Mail on Sunday's Midas column recommended shares of Equipmake to readers, arguing that the ground-breaking business should go far.
Fri 11 Aug 2023 07:08
(Sharecast News) - Joe Biden has called China a "ticking time bomb in many cases" because of its economic challenges, saying the country was in trouble because of weak growth. The US president pointed to the country's high unemployment and ageing workforce, saying: "China is in trouble." "They have got some problems. That's not good, because when bad folks have problems, they do bad things," Biden said at a political fundraiser in Utah on Thursday. He said he did not want to hurt China and wanted a rational relationship with the country.- Guardian
Thu 10 Aug 2023 07:08
(Sharecast News) - Joe Biden on Wednesday signed an executive order that will narrowly prohibit certain US investments in sensitive technology in China and require government notification of funding in other tech sectors. The long-awaited order authorises the US treasury secretary to prohibit or restrict certain US investments in Chinese entities in three sectors: semiconductors and microelectronics, quantum information technologies, and certain artificial intelligence systems. - Guardian
Wed 09 Aug 2023 06:39
(Sharecast News) - The UK economy is suffering from a 1970s-style "British disease" that means inflation will not fall back to the Bank of England's 2 per cent target until after 2027, a think tank has warned. The National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) said the economy had suffered from five years of "lost economic growth", with stubbornly high inflation and semi-permanent government deficits expected in the foreseeable future. Jagjit Chadha, director of the institute, Britain's oldest independent economics think tank, said the country's woes had led to the "re-emergence of the British disease" - a reference to the stagflationary trap of the 1970s, when the term was coined. - The Times
Sun 06 Aug 2023 16:04
(Sharecast News) - The Sunday Times's Lucy Tobin believed that readers should 'buy' shares of Central Asia Metals, the copper miner.
Sun 06 Aug 2023 15:30
(Sharecast News) - Britain needs to invest in key battery technologies in order to avoid becoming dependent on countries like China in the energy transition, the head of the Faraday Institution said. The country required "sovereign capabilities" and its own supply chains, she said. Her remarks followed Tata's announcement that it would construct a £4bn battery gigafactory in Sommerset after securing £500m of subsidies from the government. - Sunday Telegraph
Fri 04 Aug 2023 07:03
(Sharecast News) - Budget homeware chain Wilko was yesterday teetering on the brink of collapse, putting around 12,000 jobs at risk. The retailer, which has around 400 stores, said that it was primed to appoint administrators after struggling to find a financial lifeline. In recent years the High Street has been struggling with painful cost increases, while shoppers' budgets have been restricted by historically high inflation levels. - Daily Mail
Thu 03 Aug 2023 06:59
(Sharecast News) - Drax has been accused of costing consumers more than £600 million after choosing not to run a biomass power plant unit that would have supplied electricity at well below market prices during the energy crisis. Instead it burnt biomass in three other units that were able to cash in on high market prices and also profited by selling some biomass pellets to other companies instead of burning them, an investigation by Bloomberg claimed. - The Times
Wed 02 Aug 2023 07:41
(Sharecast News) - The Bank of England should carry out an interest rate rise of a quarter of a percentage point tomorrow to keep control of stubbornly high inflation, The Times shadow monetary policy committee has argued. An overwhelming majority of the shadow MPC voted by 8-1 in favour of a 25-basis-point increase to the base rate this month, a step down from the rise of half a percentage point that the Bank was forced to carry out in June, when wage growth accelerated more than expected. The Bank rate is 5 per cent at present, the highest level since 2007. - Sunday Times
Tue 01 Aug 2023 07:28
(Sharecast News) - The UK's biggest retailers have reported the first monthly fall in shop prices for two years, as stores tried to tempt in customers with big discounts during July's unseasonably wet weather. The British Retail Consortium (BRC) said its annual shop price inflation rate, compiled with the help of NielsenIQ, had declined to its lowest level of the year, sliding to 7.6% last month from 8.4% in June. - Guardian
Mon 31 Jul 2023 07:23
(Sharecast News) - Banks are closing more than 1,000 accounts every working day, according to new data that has fuelled the growing row over so-called "debanking" and prompted Nigel Farage to call for a royal commission to investigate what he said was a scandal. Hours after the former Ukip leader revealed he was spearheading a website to campaign on behalf of people whose accounts had been shut, data revealed a big jump in the numbers of customers dumped by their bank. - Guardian
Sun 30 Jul 2023 12:44
(Sharecast News) - The Sunday Times's Lucy Tobin's recommendation to readers was to switch out off Wizz Air and into Jet2.
Sun 30 Jul 2023 11:21
(Sharecast News) - Millions of British families are are having to borrow to pay their basic bills and expenses marking a dangerous new phase of the cost of living crisis. And with interest rates set to be hiked again over the coming week, some are warning of a "debt timebomb" among less well off households. Rising rates are in many cases also cutting of access to borrowing. Reports also suggested that struggling single parents were being targeted through social media ads with inappropriate debt repayment schemes. - Guardian
Fri 28 Jul 2023 07:18
(Sharecast News) - That buying a property - any property - in the UK is increasingly the preserve of the rich will come as no surprise to low-income households. But official data shows that the middle classes are increasingly squeezed, with only the cheapest 10% of houses now affordable (no more than five times a household's income according to the Office for National Statistics) to middle-income England. - Guardian
Thu 27 Jul 2023 07:21
(Sharecast News) - Lawyers for the British billionaire Joe Lewis have accused prosecutors of making an "egregious" mistake, as the 86-year-old pleaded not guilty to multiple counts of securities fraud and conspiracy. Lewis, who heads the family that owns Tottenham Hotspur FC, was arraigned on Tuesday in Manhattan federal court with 16 counts of securities fraud and three of conspiracy to commit fraud, which prosecutors called a "brazen" insider trading scheme to enrich his friends, lovers and employees, including two private jet pilots. - Guardian
Wed 26 Jul 2023 07:16
(Sharecast News) - Almost £200bn of tax reliefs handed to businesses and individuals each year should come under greater government scrutiny to prevent fraud and abuse, according to an all-party group of MPs. The Treasury committee said in a report published on Wednesday that "a systematic review" into more than 1,000 tax reliefs was needed after MPs found HM Revenue and Customs did not have the resources to monitor how tax breaks and deductions were used. - Guardian
Tue 25 Jul 2023 07:15
(Sharecast News) - Big pay increases for highly paid workers in London and the south-east have masked real wage cuts across large swathes of the economy and led to a widening in the UK's geographical earnings gap, a leading thinktank has said. A study from the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) found that while workers in some sectors - such as manufacturing, education and hospitality - had fallen in inflation-adjusted terms, there had been significant rises for those employed in the business services sector, the City and IT. - Guardian
Mon 24 Jul 2023 07:30
(Sharecast News) - A coalition representing 1m small businesses is urging the energy regulator to crack down on the rogue energy brokers who rip off firms, charities, care homes and faith groups by piling billions of pounds in hidden commission fees on to bills. The business groups have written to Ofgem demanding it force gas and electricity suppliers to disclose how much they are paying the intermediaries who market deals on their behalf. - Guardian
Fri 21 Jul 2023 06:52
(Sharecast News) - Sweden's state energy company has abandoned work on a multibillion-pound wind farm off the coast of Norfolk because of soaring costs in a blow to Britain's clean energy ambitions. Vattenfall said it was stopping development of the 1.4 gigawatt Norfolk Boreas wind farm, which could have powered about 1.5 million homes, after supply chain problems and inflation increased its costs by up to 40 per cent. - The Times
Thu 20 Jul 2023 07:13
(Sharecast News) - The City regulator has said it has contacted the owner of Coutts bank amid a growing row over its decision to close Nigel Farage's accounts, but told MPs that while lenders cannot discriminate against customers, it is ultimately up to firms to decide who to do business with. It came as the prime minister, the home secretary and the City minister waded in to the growing debate over the rights of lenders to shut or refuse accounts based on concerns over customers' political views. - Guardian
Wed 19 Jul 2023 07:22
(Sharecast News) - The owner of carmaker Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) is expected to announce that it will build an electric car battery gigafactory in the UK, backed with £500m in government funding, in what would be a major boost for the British car industry. Indian conglomerate Tata Group, which owns Jaguar Land Rover, has been locked in negotiations for months to secure state aid for the project, which would aim to produce 40 gigawatt hours (GWh) of batteries a year, enough to power hundreds of thousands of electric cars. - Guardian
Tue 18 Jul 2023 07:11
(Sharecast News) - Tesla Inc's directors will return $735m to the company to settle claims they grossly overpaid themselves in one of the largest shareholder settlements of its kind, according to a Monday filing in a Delaware court. The settlement resolves a 2020 lawsuit by a retirement fund which holds Tesla stock and challenged stock options that were granted to Tesla directors starting in June 2017. - Guardian
Mon 17 Jul 2023 07:09
(Sharecast News) - Betting company logos appear as often as 3,500 times during the course of a televised football match, the majority on pitchside hoardings, prompting renewed scepticism about top-flight clubs' plan to give up front-of-shirt betting ads only. A study led by psychology experts from four universities measured the volume of gambling adverts during 10 matches that took place last season, featuring every Premier League club. - Guardian
Sun 16 Jul 2023 12:33
(Sharecast News) - The Sunday Times's Lucy Tobin told readers that shares of Futura Medical were worth a punt, even if there were no guarantees of a happy ending.
Sun 16 Jul 2023 11:44
(Sharecast News) - Tesco is leaning on its suppliers so that they pass on savings from falling costs so that it can reduce prices more quickly than rivals and thus lead on price cuts. Among other factors, on Thursday Tesco pointed to a halviing in wholesale electricity prices, a 22% reduction in PET packaging and an 84% fall in the cost of freight. Suppliers however said that other costs had continued to rise - not least wages. And in response to prodding by MPs, Asda co-owner, Mohsin Issa, has cautioned that fixed-term contracts meants that three to nine more month would be needed before customers benefitted from falling prices. - The Sunday Times
Fri 14 Jul 2023 07:03
(Sharecast News) - Controversial UK government aspirations to replace gas boilers in some homes with a hydrogen-based alternative are likely to be scrapped, Grant Shapps, the energy minister, has indicated. Shapps said he believed hydrogen would form part of Britain's overall energy mix but predicted it was "less likely" that the gas would be routinely piped into people's homes, amid growing concerns about cost, safety and perpetuating a reliance on fossil fuels. - Guardian
Thu 13 Jul 2023 07:14
(Sharecast News) - Billions of pounds of taxpayer cash spent on one-off cost of living support has proved an expensive and ineffective "sticking plaster" that would have been better used to raise the value of benefits, the Institute for Fiscal Studies has said. Britain's foremost economics thinktank said the government's cost of living payments scheme, introduced by Rishi Sunak while he was chancellor, had cost the exchequer almost £19bn over two years. - Guardian
Wed 12 Jul 2023 07:16
(Sharecast News) - The head of the UK's financial regulator is to warn that banks, investors and insurers will have to ramp up their spending to combat scammers using artificial intelligence to commit fraud. Nikhil Rathi, the chief executive of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), will say that there are risks of "cyber fraud, cyber-attacks and identity fraud increasing in scale and sophistication and effectiveness" as artificial intelligence (AI) becomes more widespread, in a speech in London on Wednesday. - Guardian
Tue 11 Jul 2023 07:14
(Sharecast News) - The main lobby group for the UK gambling industry has been accused of making inaccurate statements relating to the regulation of the £10bn-a-year sector the day before its boss appears before a parliamentary committee. Michael Dugher, the chief executive of the Betting & Gaming Council (BGC), is to be question by MPs on the select committee for culture, media and sport on Tuesday as part of a review of government proposals to improve gambling regulation. - Guardian
Mon 10 Jul 2023 07:18
(Sharecast News) - British businesses are slowing down hiring just as the number of people looking for work rises, according to data that suggested "lingering uncertainty" over the economic outlook. The availability of candidates for new jobs rose in June at the sharpest rate since the height of the UK's coronavirus restrictions in December 2020, according to the latest report on jobs by the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) and KPMG. - Guardian
Sun 09 Jul 2023 23:45
(Sharecast News) - The Financial Mail on Sunday's Midas column tipped shares of electronics manufacturer Solid State to its readers.
Sun 09 Jul 2023 22:41
(Sharecast News) - BT has intensified its preparations to see off a possible takeover bid by its major shareholder Deutsche Telekom. For months now, the telecoms services provider had been working with Robey Warshaw and Goldman Sachs to prepare against such a scenario. Speculation in that regard was reaching a crescendo both in the City and within the sector, due to BT's need to invest £15bn in its new fibre-optic broadband network and multiple potentially destabilising factors. - The Sunday Telegraph
Fri 07 Jul 2023 07:32
(Sharecast News) - Twitter has threatened to sue Meta over its new Threads app, which Mark Zuckerberg has openly billed as a rival, claiming the company has violated Twitter's "intellectual property rights". In a letter to CEO Mark Zuckerberg, first published by the news outlet Semafor, a lawyer for Twitter said the company "has serious concerns that Meta Platforms (Meta) has engaged in systematic, willful and unlawful misappropriation of Twitter's trade secrets and other intellectual property". - Guardian
Thu 06 Jul 2023 07:27
(Sharecast News) - The world's 722 biggest companies collectively are making more than $1tn a year (£780bn) in windfall profits on the back of soaring energy prices and rising interest rates, according to research by development charities. The companies made $1.08tn this way in 2021 and $1.09tn last year, according to analysis of Forbes magazine data by the charities Oxfam and ActionAid. The collective profits were 89% higher than the previous four-year average covering 2017-2020. - Guardian
Wed 05 Jul 2023 07:22
(Sharecast News) - Morrisons is closing a fruit-packing plant in Bradford, putting 450 jobs at risk in the supermarket's home city where it traces its roots back to 1899. The debt-laden supermarket chain, which is battling to save costs after a takeover in October 2021 by the American private equity group Clayton Dubilier & Rice, said it was moving operations from the Cutler Heights area of the West Yorkshire city - its first ever fruit-packing plant - to another plant in Thrapston, Northamptonshire, and a distribution centre in Wakefield in the second part of this year. - Guardian
Tue 04 Jul 2023 07:22
(Sharecast News) - More than half of UK broadband customers have experienced problems with their connections, according to a report that says telecoms providers are adding "insult to injury" after forcing inflation-busting price rises on to their customers. Many of the UK's mobile and telecoms companies have been accused of "greedflation" for pushing through mid-contract price increases of up to 17.3%. - Guardian
Mon 03 Jul 2023 07:19
(Sharecast News) - One of Thames Water's big shareholders has given its backing to the embattled water company, after the surprise departure of its chief executive and crisis talks with the government over its viability. Thames Water, which is buckling under a £14bn debt burden and has embarked on an eight-year turnaround plan, is owned by a series of pension funds and other governments' sovereign wealth funds. The second-biggest shareholder is a UK pension fund for academics, the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS), which holds about 20% and is the first investor to make public its support for the company. - Guardian
Sun 02 Jul 2023 15:18
(Sharecast News) - Google's new quantum computer is capable of instantly making calculations that would take current supercomputers 47 years to complete. Such compouters, proponents argue, will be capable of battling climate change and creating breakthrough drugs. Their ability to break encryption systems now utilised on the other hand makes them a threat to national security. - The Sunday Telegraph
Sun 02 Jul 2023 15:05
(Sharecast News) - The Sunday Times's Lucy Tobin recommended Sainsbury's to readers in anticipation that the recent warm weather that had boosted fashion retailers' toplines likely also benefitted the grocer.
Fri 30 Jun 2023 07:21
(Sharecast News) - The Swiss investment bank UBS is reportedly preparing to cut more than half the 45,000 staff it inherited from the takeover of stricken rival Credit Suisse, in a move that is expected to begin as early as next month. Insiders have indicated that between 30,000 and 35,000 staff are likely to leave the combined organisation this year in three rounds of cuts beginning in July, according to Bloomberg News. - Guardian
Thu 29 Jun 2023 07:23
(Sharecast News) - Brexit has not contributed to labour market shortages in the UK, according to Andrew Bailey, the Bank of England governor. Speaking at a panel with other major central bankers, Bailey said the UK's inflationary problem was partly the result of workers choosing to leave the workforce after the pandemic and not returning. He said the bulk of this labour market shrinkage was caused by factors outside the UK's exit from the European Union, which put a stop to the free movement of labour from the 27-country bloc. - The Times
Wed 28 Jun 2023 07:05
(Sharecast News) - The telecoms regulator has issued a warning to the chief executive of BT over his comments that the group's Openreach network expansion would "end in tears" for rivals and has opened an investigation into its performance. Ofcom said Philip Jansen's comments were of "significant concern" and that it "would be extremely concerned to see similar comments in future and will be keeping this under close review". - The Times
Tue 27 Jun 2023 07:29
(Sharecast News) - The average price of two- and five-year fixed-rate mortgages in the UK has hit its highest level for seven months, putting further pressure on borrowers who are reaching the end of their deals. Data from the financial information firm Moneyfacts showed the cost of a two-year deal for homeowners rising to 6.23% on Monday, up from 6.19% at the end of last week and its highest since last November. Meanwhile, the average cost of a five-year deal rose to 5.86%, from 5.83% on Friday. - Guardian
Mon 26 Jun 2023 10:10
(Sharecast News) - JPMorgan Cazenove downgraded its stance on Lloyds on Monday as it took a look at UK banks.
Mon 26 Jun 2023 07:26
(Sharecast News) - Governments must raise taxes or cut public spending after central banks kept interest rates too low for too long in the face of higher inflation, according to the Bank of International Settlements. Closing the gap between government income and expenditure would "calm inflation", according to the annual report from the Basel-based organisation, which advises 63 central banks covering 95% of global economic output. - Guardian
Sun 25 Jun 2023 18:22
(Sharecast News) - The cost of servicing the government's debt mountain will surpass £500bn over the next five years, due to high inflation and steep interest rates. Interest rate payments on that debt will rise to their highest level as a proportion of economic output since the late 1940s. This year alone, the interest rate bill for an individual household was already £4,000. That has also led to concerns that public spending, including for education and health services, will need to be squeezed in order to balance the books. - The Financial Mail on Sunday
Sun 25 Jun 2023 15:09
(Sharecast News) - The Sunday Times's Lucy Tobin recommended investors buy Ceres Power in anticipation of imminent revenue growth.
Fri 23 Jun 2023 07:27
(Sharecast News) - A fresh round of rail strikes is expected to disrupt national networks during July, after the RMT union announced that 20,000 workers would stage three days of stoppages. The move dashes any hopes of an imminent resolution to a bitter labour dispute that has caused frequent disruption to rail lines across the country throughout 2023. - Guardian
Thu 22 Jun 2023 07:21
(Sharecast News) - The UK's largest dairy cooperative has said there could be further increases in the price of milk and other dairy products if the government does not urgently tackle labour shortages in farming. The lack of workers is fuelling food price inflation, Arla said, warning that without action this could also lead to a crisis in milk production. - Guardian
Wed 21 Jun 2023 07:25
(Sharecast News) - Some of the UK's best known retailers including WH Smith, Marks & Spencer, Argos and LloydsPharmacy are at the head of a list of more than 200 companies collectively fined £7m for failing to pay the legal minimum wage. The businesses were also forced to pay out £4.9m to about 63,000 workers left out of pocket after violations of the rules were uncovered by inspectors at HMRC, varying from breaches related to asking workers to pay for aspects of their uniform to paying the incorrect apprenticeship rate. - Guardian
Tue 20 Jun 2023 07:29
(Sharecast News) - More than half a trillion pounds' worth of underinvestment by government and business over recent decades has left Britain's economy trapped in a growth "doom loop", according to a thinktank. Sounding the alarm as the economy struggles to gain momentum, the Institute for Public Policy Research said the UK risked falling further behind comparable wealthy nations without a sharp turnaround in approach. - Guardian
Mon 19 Jun 2023 07:25
(Sharecast News) - EU exports of electric cars to the UK worth €30bn a year will be put at risk unless the Brexit trade deal is tweaked, representatives of the sector in Brussels have said. Three of the world's biggest car manufacturers have already called on the British government to open talks over new rules that will see 10% tariffs put on exports to the EU, if 45% of an electric vehicle by value does not originate in the EU or the UK. - Guardian
Sun 18 Jun 2023 18:38
(Sharecast News) - Brewers have cut the levels of alcohol in many beers and lagers, saving millions of pounds in tax in the process. But they haven't cut prices for consumers. Food giants and grocers have done the same through stealthy reductions in package sizes and portions. Critics however hold that so-called drinkflation is the more insidious of the two, as bottle and cans stay the same size and hold the same amount of liquid. In the case of Foster's, which is sold by Heineken in the UK, alcohol by volume has been reduced from 4.0% earlier in 2023 to only 3.7%. - Financial Mail on Sunday
Sun 18 Jun 2023 14:51
(Sharecast News) - Neonatal medical machine manufacturer Inspiration Healthcare shares had been on the slide since late 2021 amid distribution issues in China.
Fri 16 Jun 2023 07:17
(Sharecast News) - MPs have urged the government to set out its plans to protect households from high energy bills this winter as they said about 1.7 million people, including some of the most vulnerable groups, had been left waiting too long to receive previous support. The public accounts committee (PAC) said that although schemes were introduced quickly, the government "did not have the bandwidth" to make sure help reached all groups in a timely fashion. - Guardian
Thu 15 Jun 2023 07:21
(Sharecast News) - UK businesses have improved female representation on their boards, research shows, but two-fifths of FTSE 100 firms still do not have a woman in one of their top four executive roles. The proportion of women on the boards of the 585 FTSE all-share listed companies has risen over the past year from 36% to 40%, according to the analysis of Companies House data. - Guardian
Wed 14 Jun 2023 07:21
(Sharecast News) - Amazon has been accused of being "no friend of the small business" after a report discovered evidence that the online marketplace has ramped up fees and advertising costs for sellers. It found that between 2017 and 2022 Amazon had tripled the amount it earned from fees for independent sellers in Europe, including for listings, deliveries and digital support. That growth far outstripped the rise in sales, which doubled over the same period. - Guardian
Tue 13 Jun 2023 07:20
(Sharecast News) - Britain has endured the worst exports record of any member of the G7 besides Japan over the last decade, according to a new analysis that will raise pressure on the government to reconsider its post-Brexit trade deal with the EU. As most of the world's other major seven economies have rebounded from the pandemic, export growth has remained sluggish in the UK at a time when businesses trading with the EU faced extra red tape and costs as a result of the country leaving the bloc. - Guardian
Mon 12 Jun 2023 07:24
(Sharecast News) - Britain will be left with deep scars from the pandemic despite narrowly escaping a second recession within three years and growing signs of an economic pick up, according to new forecasts. A new report by the accountancy firm KPMG has found that the economy has enjoyed a better start to the year than it had thought, and is now expected to grow by 0.3% this year, compared with its previous prediction of an uplift of just 0.1%. - Guardian
Mon 12 Jun 2023 07:24
(Sharecast News) - Britain will be left with deep scars from the pandemic despite narrowly escaping a second recession within three years and growing signs of an economic pick up, according to new forecasts. A new report by the accountancy firm KPMG has found that the economy has enjoyed a better start to the year than it had thought, and is now expected to grow by 0.3% this year, compared with its previous prediction of an uplift of just 0.1%. - Guardian
Sun 11 Jun 2023 14:50
(Sharecast News) - The Sunday Times's Lucy Tobin tipped shares of Greencore to readers.
Sun 11 Jun 2023 14:36
(Sharecast News) - Experts believe that the Bank of England will have to jack up its base rate from 4.5% at present to 5.5% by the end of 2023 in order to tame stubbornly high inflation. It was that prospect that had already resulted in lenders and building societies to raise the cost of fixed-rate mortgages or to pull deals altogether, as HSBC did during the preceding week. Higher rates also have implications for the cost of servicing the country's debts, in turn eliminating the Chancellor's already limited headroom to push through tax cuts before the elections. - The Financial Mail on Sunday
Fri 09 Jun 2023 07:21
(Sharecast News) - HSBC has temporarily withdrawn mortgage deals for new borrowers due to a surge in demand ahead of expected rate rises. The bank said on Thursday it would remove all its "new business" residential and buy-to-let products, with deals becoming available again on Monday. - Guardian
Thu 08 Jun 2023 07:28
(Sharecast News) - Crypto firms must warn customers they should not expect protection if their investment goes wrong and introduce a "cooling off" period for first-time investors, under new rules imposed by the UK financial watchdog. The Financial Conduct Authority said that from 8 October firms promoting crypto products or services would need to carry a clear risk warning in their adverts. - Guardian
Wed 07 Jun 2023 07:23
(Sharecast News) - International air fares are likely to keep climbing from their current highs over the next 10-15 years, with the cost of sustainable fuels expected to drive up ticket prices, according to the global airlines body Iata. Extraordinary demand for travel since the Covid pandemic has led to steep fare rises on many routes, and Iata said consumers could expect to pay more as airlines increase the usage of scarce "greener" jet fuels in response to government mandates to cut aviation's carbon emissions. - Guardian
Tue 06 Jun 2023 07:14
(Sharecast News) - Apple has lifted the lid on the worst kept secret in Silicon Valley and revealed the Vision Pro, a $3,499 VR headset. "With Vision Pro, you're no longer limited by a display. Your surroundings become an infinite canvas," the Apple chief executive, Tim Cook, said. "Vision Pro blends digital content into the space around us. It will introduce us to Spatial Computing." - Guardian
Mon 05 Jun 2023 07:24
(Sharecast News) - Leicester's garment makers have said they are in crisis as a growing number of fast-fashion brands are forcing through discounts, making last-minute cancellations and imposing financial penalties for what suppliers claim are tiny errors. In the east Midlands city - where manufacturers make clothes for a range of brands including Boohoo, Misguided and Frasers Group, the owner of Sports Direct and the online specialist Missguided - hundreds of garment businesses have shut in recent years, local organisations say, and suppliers warn that more are likely to follow. - Guardian
Sun 04 Jun 2023 15:28
(Sharecast News) - Saudi unveiled plans at the weekend to reduce its oil output by 1m barrels per day in a surprise unilateral decision. The move was to take effect from July. The decision came as Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, was due to travel to Saudi Arabia over the following week. It also followed a meeting between members marred by disagreements, although the Russian and UAE energy ministers denied talk of any split with Saudi. OPEC+ meanwhile did agree to prolong the voluntary cuts announced in April until the end of 2024. The cartel and its allies were to meet again in November and plans might change. - The Sunday Telegraph
Sun 04 Jun 2023 15:02
(Sharecast News) - The Financial Mail on Sunday's Midas column told readers that shares of Eden Research should more than quintuple in price as it reaps the fruits of its "huge" progress in recent times.
Fri 02 Jun 2023 07:17
(Sharecast News) - More than 20,000 rail workers in England have begun a 24-hour strike that will cancel half of services on affected lines as part of a long-running dispute with train operators over jobs, pay and conditions. The stoppage by the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) - the second of three by rail unions to hit the network this week - will affect most operators in England and some cross-border services into Scotland and Wales. - Guardian
Thu 01 Jun 2023 07:21
(Sharecast News) - Supermarkets have cut more than 7p a litre from the price of diesel since the UK's competition watchdog warned it would question retail bosses about unnecessarily high forecourt prices, according to the RAC. The motoring group found that the average price of diesel fell by 7.44p a litre, from 151.02p two weeks ago to 143.58p this week, after the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) raised concerns that retailers were making "sustained higher margins" from sales of diesel. - Guardian
Wed 31 May 2023 07:17
(Sharecast News) - British households on prepayment meters face missing out on up to £130m of support for their energy bills if they fail to redeem government vouchers before they expire in a month's time. Under the energy bills support scheme, which runs until 30 June, all households are entitled to discounts of up to £400 on their bills. - Guardian
Tue 30 May 2023 07:22
(Sharecast News) - More prospective house sellers are returning to the UK's property market, pushing agreed home sales to their highest point of the year in May, according to Zoopla, although it warned that the rebound in activity could be knocked by rising mortgage rates. House prices have fallen by 1.3% nationally over the past six months, the property website found, but the speed of price falls has been decreasing as buyer confidence slowly improves. - Guardian
Sun 28 May 2023 22:52
(Sharecast News) - The Sunday Times's Lucy Tobin recommended shares of Bango to readers, telling them that the price had further to run even after their year-to-date surge.
Sun 28 May 2023 21:50
(Sharecast News) - The legislation needed to implement the debt deal agreed between president Joe Biden and House speaker Kevin McCarthy is being urgently worked on so that it can be put to a vote in Congress. Lawmakers were expected to be given the details of the agreement on Sunday with McCarthy aiming for it to be brought to the floor of the House on Wednesday. Biden was nevertheless confident that the deal would pass in Congress. - Guardian
Fri 26 May 2023 07:30
(Sharecast News) - The founders of fast fashion retailer Boohoo.com doubled their pay to about £1m each last year as they were handed hefty bonuses despite missing financial targets. Directors decided that both Carol Kane and Mahmud Kamani deserved bonuses equivalent to their annual basic salary - instead of the 30% they had been due to receive after missing sales and underlying profit targets. - Guardian
Thu 25 May 2023 07:26
(Sharecast News) - Microsoft has filed an appeal against the UK competition watchdog's decision to block its $69bn (£56bn) acquisition of the Call of Duty creator Activision Blizzard. The US tech company confirmed that it had formally lodged an appeal against the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) verdict against the deal last month. Its case will be argued before the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT). - Guardian
Wed 24 May 2023 07:21
(Sharecast News) - Virgin Orbit, the satellite launch company founded by British billionaire Richard Branson, will permanently cease operations, just months after a major mission failure. The California-based firm, which had already filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the United States in early April, has auctioned off its main assets, recovering just over $36m. That figure is barely 1% of the value the company reached in late 2021 on Wall Street, when it was valued at $3.5 billion. - Guardian
Tue 23 May 2023 07:25
(Sharecast News) - Private renters are almost twice as likely to be struggling with problem levels of debt than the general population, with a sharp rise in the numbers in serious financial difficulty since January, research shows. The figures come against a backdrop of private rents in the UK hitting record highs, and days after the government announced a shake-up of the sector to tackle the "injustices" that many tenants are facing. - Guardian
Mon 22 May 2023 07:29
(Sharecast News) - The owner of Ladbrokes, Entain, has been accused of "dishonest" lobbying after it funded an operation mobilising people to complain to their MP about proposals to change gambling laws. The government last month unveiled plans for tighter regulation, including measures it said would make gambling safer but would also reduce revenue for brands such as Coral and PartyCasino, owned by Entain. - Guardian
Sun 21 May 2023 16:06
(Sharecast News) - The Financial Mail on Sunday's Midas column judged shares of British Land and Land Securities were worth holding onto.
Sun 21 May 2023 14:45
(Sharecast News) - The Restaurant Group, owner of the Wagamama chain, is under increasing pressure to break up after TMR Capital proposed last week to management that it sell all its brands save that one. TMR was the fourth activist shareholder to make the case for change. Under the plans presented by TMR, Restaurant group should then focus on expanding the chain before going private via a sale. The clash on strategy comes amid a surge in the cost of ingredients, energy and salaries. - The Sunday Telegraph
Fri 19 May 2023 07:26
(Sharecast News) - The organic vegetable box company Riverford is to become 100% owned by its staff after its founder, Guy Singh-Watson, agreed to sell his remaining 23% stake for almost £10m. Singh-Watson, who sold nearly three-quarters of the company to employees in 2018, will take a £9.8m payment over five years and immediately hand full control to a trust on behalf of its 900 staff who each receive an annual profit share and participate in the running of the business. - Guardian
Thu 18 May 2023 07:21
(Sharecast News) - Water companies have apologised for repeated sewage spills and pledged to invest £10bn this decade in an attempt to quell public anger over pollution in seas and rivers. The companies will triple their existing investment plans to plough funds into the biggest modernisation of sewers "since the Victorian era" to reduce spills of overflowing sewage into England's waterways. - Guardian
Wed 17 May 2023 07:25
(Sharecast News) - Britons have packed away enough possessions to fill Buckingham Palace more than 60 times over as the housing crisis, enduring consumerism and a sentimental reluctance to let go of inanimate objects means self-storage is now on the brink of becoming a £1bn-a-year business. Self-storage units are proving cheaper than renting or buying a bigger home and are springing up alongside new housing developments across the UK, with at least 280 more stores planned between now and 2026 - a more than 10% increase. - Guardian
Tue 16 May 2023 07:20
(Sharecast News) - One in four teachers and one in eight nurses will be higher-rate taxpayers by 2027 as a result of the government's record freeze on income tax allowances and thresholds, according to a leading thinktank. The Institute for Fiscal Studies said better-paid public sector workers will be among the almost 8 million people - one in five of all taxpayers - who will pay income tax at 40% or above as result of the Treasury's attempt to reduce the UK's budget deficit. - Guardian
Mon 15 May 2023 07:27
(Sharecast News) - Record high turnout in a tightly fought election has presented the Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan with the greatest challenge to his leadership in two decades, with signs that the vote was heading for a runoff even as Erdoğan attempted to claim victory before an official vote count had ended. Speaking to a jubilant crowd of supporters, an energised and delighted Erdoğan declared: "The fact that the election results have not yet been finalised does not diminish the fact that our nation's choice is clearly in favour of us." - Guardian
Sun 14 May 2023 20:36
(Sharecast News) - The Sunday Times's Lucy Tobin recommended shares of IG Group to readers, pointing out that the valuation was near historical lows.
Sun 14 May 2023 20:17
(Sharecast News) - Tesco's pension fund lost £9bn in value and fell into a deficit after multiple safe investments went sour. In particular, the fund is heavily exposed to so-called Liability Driven Investments. Those LDIs came unstuck in 2022 following a sharp rise in interest rates that left pension funds nursing heavy losses. Yet the grocer had no plans to pay more into the pension plan with a spokesman saying that the scheme was "in a strong position", "well-funded" and employing a different measure for estimating contributions then it was in fact "in surplus". - The Financial Mail on Sunday
Fri 12 May 2023 07:22
(Sharecast News) - Supermarkets have told ministers that food prices have peaked and will start falling significantly in the coming months. The Treasury held a call with leading supermarkets after Andrew Bailey, governor of the Bank of England, blamed the "very big underlying shock" for stubbornly high inflation. - The Times
Thu 11 May 2023 07:28
(Sharecast News) - Rishi Sunak is at risk of missing his flagship target to halve inflation this year, one of Britain's leading economic forecasters has warned, as households are left thousands of pounds worse off amid the cost of living crisis. Sounding the alarm over the hit to living standards, the National Institute of Economic and Social Research said the soaring price of food and other basic essentials meant inflation was on track to remain persistently high for the rest of this year. - Guardian
Wed 10 May 2023 07:18
(Sharecast News) - The boss of John Lewis will face a confidence vote by staff members on Wednesday as the business considers the option of bringing in outside investment in a change that could threaten the decades-old employee-owned model. Chairman Sharon White is considering radical ways to bring in up to £2bn to help secure the future of the John Lewis Partnership, including diversifying into building flats for rent above shops, after reporting hefty losses from its chain of department stores and Waitrose supermarkets. - Guardian
Tue 09 May 2023 07:17
(Sharecast News) - Consumers are cutting back on purchases amid growing pressure on the Bank of England to tame inflation. Retail sales increased 5.2% on a like-for-like basis in April compared with the same period a year earlier, according to data from the British Retail Consortium and the consultancy KPMG. - Guardian
Fri 05 May 2023 07:10
(Sharecast News) - The UK and US have intervened in the race to develop ever more powerful artificial intelligence technology, as the British competition watchdog launched a review of the sector and the White House advised tech firms of their fundamental responsibility to develop safe products. Regulators are under mounting pressure to intervene, as the emergence of AI-powered language generators such as ChatGPT raises concerns about the potential spread of misinformation, a rise in fraud and the impact on the jobs market, with Elon Musk among nearly 30,000 signatories to a letter published last month urging a pause in significant projects. - Guardian
Thu 04 May 2023 07:20
(Sharecast News) - The chief executive of the London Stock Exchange has called for the bosses of UK companies to be paid more in order to match their counterparts in the US. Julia Hoggett argued that British companies were finding it difficult to attract and retain executives because they offered smaller pay packages than rivals in the US. - Guardian
Wed 03 May 2023 07:21
(Sharecast News) - Energy suppliers will be forced to offer vulnerable households dedicated phone lines in a drive by the regulator Ofgem to improve poor treatment of the most disadvantaged customers. The regulator is planning a crackdown on suppliers' conduct after a slump in customer service during the energy crisis with long call waiting times and difficulty contacting companies. - Guardian
Tue 02 May 2023 07:27
(Sharecast News) - The man often touted as the godfather of AI has quit Google, citing concerns over the flood of fake information, videos and photos online and the possibility for AI to upend the job market. Dr Geoffrey Hinton, who with two of his students at the University of Toronto built a neural net in 2012, quit Google this week, the New York Times reported. Hinton, 75, said he quit to speak freely about the dangers of AI, and in part regrets his contribution to the field. He was brought on by Google a decade ago to help develop the company's AI technology. - Guardian
Sun 30 Apr 2023 15:38
(Sharecast News) - The Financial Mail on Sunday's Midas column recommended investors buy shares of Jersey Oil&Gas
Sun 30 Apr 2023 14:43
(Sharecast News) - The heads of HSBC are facing a major public standoff with those of its shareholders who are keen to break up the lender. Those include its largest shareholder, Chinese insurer Ping An, which has been pushing for a spin off of its lucrative Asian business and which has redoubled its efforts in recent weeks. Ping An is expected to vote for two proposals from a group of angry Hong Kong retail investors calling for a regular strategy review and a higher dividend. - The Financial Mail on Sunday
Fri 28 Apr 2023 07:21
(Sharecast News) - HMV is to return to its former flagship store on London's Oxford Street after a four-year absence. It is expected to reopen towards the end of this year, in time for Christmas. The store was empty for an extended period after the music and entertainment company vacated the site in 2019, before most recently becoming home to one of the many American candy stores that popped up on Oxford Street during the pandemic. - Guardian
Thu 27 Apr 2023 07:23
(Sharecast News) - Britain's poor record on health is costing the economy £43bn a year and cutting the annual incomes of individuals affected by long-term sickness by up to £2,200 a year on average, a report says. With official figures showing more days lost to sickness than at any time since 2004, the Institute for Public Policy Research said improving the country's health was vital both for the economy and to boost the incomes of disadvantaged groups. - Guardian
Wed 26 Apr 2023 07:20
(Sharecast News) - Energy suppliers are hoarding nearly £7bn of customers' money despite a cost of living crisis that has left some households forced to choose between heating and eating. More than 16m UK households are collectively in credit by £6.7bn to their suppliers, with half of those holding balances of more than £200, research from comparison site Uswitch.com has shown. - Guardian
Tue 25 Apr 2023 07:30
(Sharecast News) - The Confederation of British Industry has admitted it failed to "filter out culturally toxic people" from its ranks, leading to "terrible consequences" including allegations of sexual harassment. The CBI president, Brian McBride, said in a letter to its members that the organisation had "made mistakes" and "badly let down" its staff, after a series of revelations in the Guardian about alleged misconduct by employees, including two women who said they were raped. - Guardian
Mon 24 Apr 2023 07:24
(Sharecast News) - Credit Suisse says 61bn Swiss francs ($68bn/£55bn) left the bank in the first quarter, shedding light on the scale of the bank run that caused the 167-year-old institution to crumble and forced its state-engineered rescue. "These outflows have moderated but have not yet reversed as of April 24 2023," Credit Suisse said on Monday. - Guardian
Sun 23 Apr 2023 17:02
(Sharecast News) - The Financial Mail on Sunday's Midas column touted shares of steel group Billington Holdings.
Sun 23 Apr 2023 15:46
(Sharecast News) - Former Bank of England chief economist, Andy Haldane, believes that it is "pretty much nailed on" that inflation will halve over the next six months as energy price increases slow down. But in remarks to Sky News, Haldane cautioned that hikes in Bank Rate had yet to impact borrowing costs for many borrowers, especially those on fixed-rate mortgages. "The effects of the tightening so far haven't been fully felt. That would give me cause for pause. I'd think, hang on, the economy is still on unsteady legs right now. Much of the tightening that has already happened hasn't hit people's bank accounts. Perhaps now is the time to press the pause button and see what happens." - Guardian
Fri 21 Apr 2023 07:23
(Sharecast News) - Forecourt owners in the UK are adding to soaring inflation for consumers by charging many businesses that rely on diesel more than necessary at the pumps, campaigners have claimed. The pump price for diesel is about 10% higher than for petrol, even though the wholesale market price is lower, reigniting concerns that forecourt owners are profiteering at the expense of diesel drivers. - Guardian
Thu 20 Apr 2023 07:22
(Sharecast News) - Meta workers are bracing for thousands of additional layoffs as the embattled social media firm continues to cut costs. A new round of layoffs began on Wednesday, according to a report from CNBC that was confirmed by Meta. The company will cull 4,000 jobs immediately as part of a larger plan to cut 10,000 jobs announced earlier this year, focusing largely on technical roles. - Guardian
Wed 19 Apr 2023 07:19
(Sharecast News) - A trio of telecoms firms have been accused of overcharging hundreds of thousands of landline-only customers by almost £200m, according to research. Economists at Fideres argue that almost 600,000 UK landline-only customers have been charged "excessive" prices since 2009. - Guardian
Tue 18 Apr 2023 06:56
(Sharecast News) - Energy suppliers have agreed to a ban on forcibly installing prepayment meters in the homes of customers over 85 and will make representatives wear body cameras as part of a new code of conduct, the Guardian can reveal. Suppliers have agreed to fresh guidelines for putting in the devices when households have run up energy debt after an outcry over agents using court-approved entry warrants to break in to install them. - Guardian
Mon 17 Apr 2023 07:21
(Sharecast News) - More than 1m small businesses may be paying energy bills significantly above market rates after becoming trapped in long-term contracts fixed when prices reached a historical peak last year. Trade groups representing businesses from metalworkers to convenience stores have joined forces to warn of a "perilous situation". - Guardian
Sun 16 Apr 2023 22:49
(Sharecast News) - The Financial Mail on Sunday's Midas column recommended that readers stick with their shares in Spectral MD and wait and see if the proposed takeover succeeds.
Sun 16 Apr 2023 22:11
(Sharecast News) - The board of Teck Resources is piling on the pressure for the mining group to initiate talks with Glencore over its proposed $23bn (£19bn) takeover offer. Meanwhile, advisory group Glass Lewis has joined ISS in pushing for Teck's shareholders to reject a split that will be submitted to a vote on 26 April. According to Glass Lewis, Glencore's offer was sufficiently compelling to justify pausing the separation and engaging in negotiations. - The Sunday Times
Fri 14 Apr 2023 07:25
(Sharecast News) - The Ministry of Defence has awarded £650m to manufacturers working on its Tempest fighter jet, in the latest sign that the UK is pushing forward with the aim of producing the aircraft by 2035. The companies who will receive the money are led by manufacturer BAE Systems, jet engine maker Rolls-Royce, and the UK arms of Italy's Leonardo and European missile-maker MBDA. - Guardian
Thu 13 Apr 2023 07:27
(Sharecast News) - A legal challenge to the expansion of London's ultra-low emission zone will be heard in the high court later this year, after a judgment permitted councils to proceed. The city's mayor, Sadiq Khan, vowed to press on regardless with plans to extend the Ulez, which he has argued is needed to tackle toxic air that is responsible for thousands of premature deaths a year. - Guardian
Wed 12 Apr 2023 07:22
(Sharecast News) - EY has scrapped plans for a radical breakup of its global operations after internal disputes over the potential structure of the new businesses. The company started laying the groundwork for separating its audit and advisory businesses - under the codename Project Everest - last year, as the big four accounting firms faced mounting criticism about conflicts of interest between the two divisions. - Guardian
Tue 11 Apr 2023 07:17
(Sharecast News) - UK consumers cut back on groceries, clothes shopping and eating out last month but streaming and pay TV subscriptions jumped as cash-conscious viewers switched to nights in. The return of big hit series such as Succession, The Mandalorian and Ted Lasso fuelled a healthy 4.1% increase in spend on digital content and subscriptions in March, the highest year-on-year rise in five months, according to Barclays' regular snapshot of consumer credit and debit card use. - Guardian
Sun 09 Apr 2023 18:05
(Sharecast News) - The Sunday Times's Lucy Tobin told readers to buy shares of game developer tinyBuild.
Sun 09 Apr 2023 13:14
(Sharecast News) - Glencore is being prodded by an influential investor, Bluebell Capital Partners, not to delay letting go of its environmentally damaging coal mining business. The FTSE 100 listed outfit's plan had been to acquire Teck Resources, merge its coal unit with it and to then spinoff and list the combined company on the New York Stock Exchange. After Teck rebuffed its offer, those plans are at risk, but Bluebell is urging Glencore to let go of that business, saying that the remainder of the company would then fetch a higher valuation. - Financial Mail on Sunday
Thu 06 Apr 2023 07:23
(Sharecast News) - Business leaders in the north of England have written to the prime minister, chancellor and energy secretary asking for help to reach net zero. Big names including Drax, Siemens, Peel, Manchester airport, the CBI and all 11 local enterprise partnerships (LEPs) in the north signed a letter urging the government to prioritise green growth in the north - Guardian
Wed 05 Apr 2023 07:22
(Sharecast News) - Revenue officials are not paying enough attention to a new tax on big tech firms' earnings in the UK and are therefore failing to scrutinise potential avoidance, parliament's spending watchdog has warned. While the digital services tax brought in a surprise bumper income in its first year, MPs on the cross-party public accounts committee says this suggests HM Revenue and Customs officials had failed to properly understand its impact. - Guardian
Tue 04 Apr 2023 07:19
(Sharecast News) - Some of the UK's least well-off households could be left more than £200 worse-off on their energy bills this year because of reduced government support, the consumer body Which? has warned. Joining calls made by other campaigners, it said the government urgently needed to introduce a "social tariff" for gas and electricity to protect the most financially vulnerable. - Guardian
Mon 03 Apr 2023 07:22
(Sharecast News) - More than half of UK consumers have cut back on discretional spending since the start of the year, with nearly two-thirds choosing to reduce the amount they spend on eating out, according to research from KPMG. As households grapple with a swath of bill increases and tax hikes coming into effect from the start of this month, the survey of 3,000 consumers also found that 49% plan to spend less on non-essentials now that energy bill support payments have come to an end, while 30% will use their savings to cope. - Guardian
Sun 02 Apr 2023 23:44
(Sharecast News) - The Sunday Times's Lucy Tobin recommended that investors buy shares of Informa.
Sun 02 Apr 2023 22:44
(Sharecast News) - A group of oil producers led by Saudi Arabia will slash their combined production by 1.0m barrels a day. The move by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries was expected to trigger a $10 a barrel jump in oil prices when financial markets reopened on Monday. It was also seen risking a fresh clash with Washington, which had already threatened consequences following previous output reductions in October. Moscow on the other hand was expected to be a beneficiary. Dan Pickering at Pickering Energy said the decision was likely in response worries about demand and the US banking crisis. - The Sunday Telegraph
Fri 31 Mar 2023 07:17
(Sharecast News) - Britain has joined the 11-member strong Asia-Pacific trade bloc that includes Japan and Australia after nearly two years of negotiations. The deal, part of a push to agree worldwide trade deals after Brexit, secures access for British exporters to 500 million people in the 11-member Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). - Guardian
Thu 30 Mar 2023 07:20
(Sharecast News) - People in Britain have more confidence in the EU than the UK parliament, reversing a state of affairs that has lasted for more than 30 years, research reveals. Since the UK voted for Brexit, the proportion of people declaring confidence in parliament has slumped by 10 percentage points to 22% while there has been a seven percentage point rise in confidence in the Brussels-based bloc, to 39%. Confidence in the UK government also fell from 2017 to 2021. - Guardian
Wed 29 Mar 2023 07:24
(Sharecast News) - The bailout of the bust energy supplier Bulb is expected to cost the government billions of pounds less than originally feared because of a sharp fall in wholesale gas prices, according to the National Audit Office. The public spending watchdog said the government may end up spending £246m on saving the supplier, which has 1.5 million customers and was acquired by Octopus Energy late last year. - Guardian
Tue 28 Mar 2023 07:15
(Sharecast News) - Long-running talks between Royal Mail and the Communication Workers Union are on the brink of collapse, with the company's board thought to have threatened to put the loss-making postal service - the regulated UK entity that delivers to every address in the country - into a form of administration if a deal cannot be agreed. A politically explosive move to declare the postal service insolvent is regarded by Royal Mail's board as a last resort but has been raised with the union already. - Guardian
Mon 27 Mar 2023 07:20
(Sharecast News) - The head of the International Monetary Fund has warned that the global economy faces risks to its financial stability because of the turbulence in the banking sector.Kristalina Georgieva, the managing director of the Washington-based lender of last resort, said rising interest rates had put pressure on debts, leading to "stresses" in leading economies, including among lenders. - Guardian
Sun 26 Mar 2023 16:38
(Sharecast News) - The Sunday Times's Lucy Tobin told readers that shares of Airtel Africa were a 'buy', pointing to the telecom group's footprint in Africa and fast-growing money transfer unit.
Sun 26 Mar 2023 13:22
(Sharecast News) - A group of investors in Hong Kong have jostled HSBC into a shareholder vote on its structure and strategy, including a possible spin-off of its Asian unit. The group was led by minority shareholder Ken Lui. Its argument was that the Asian unit was "effectively subsidising" the western business to the detriment of shareholders. It was not clear if Chinese insurer Ping An would back Lui's latest move. For its part, the board told shareholders in a notice sent ahead of its AGM on 5 May that such a spin-off would "significantly dilute" its strategy, result in a material loss of value and lead to lower dividends, The Sunday Times first reported. - Guardian
Fri 24 Mar 2023 07:19
(Sharecast News) - Ten construction firms have been fined a combined £60m by the competition regulator for "illegally colluding" to rig bids for lucrative contracts for projects including Bow Street magistrates court and Selfridges department store. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) found that the companies had acted as a cartel over 19 private and public sector contracts that were worth a total of £150m. - Guardian
Thu 23 Mar 2023 07:22
(Sharecast News) - Britain's biggest banks are under pressure to pass on higher interest rates to savers after figures showing they have made an extra £7bn by refusing to do so, and as they stand to benefit from a tax cut announced by Jeremy Hunt. On the day the Bank of England is expected to announce a further rise in interest rates, the Unite trade union said banks had already made billions of pounds in extra profit from the dramatic rise in borrowing costs. - Guardian
Wed 22 Mar 2023 07:19
(Sharecast News) - The former chief executive of the housebuilder Persimmon who landed one of the biggest bonuses in British corporate history has set up a new venture with his wife. Jeff Fairburn, who was ousted from Persimmon after protests at his bumper £82m bonus in 2018, has set up an investment company with his wife, Jayne, the Guardian can reveal. - Guardian
Tue 21 Mar 2023 07:22
(Sharecast News) - Derby is to be named the new headquarters of Britain's rail network by ministers this week, the Guardian understands. The delayed result of the competition to become the official home of Great British Railways is expected as early as Tuesday, with the Midlands city the frontrunner on a shortlist of six including Birmingham, Crewe, Doncaster, Newcastle and York. - Guardian
Mon 20 Mar 2023 07:35
(Sharecast News) - Plans by loss-making retailer John Lewis to end more than seven decades as a 100% employee-owned business have drawn criticism from an MP and supporters of its mutual ownership model. Sharon White, who chairs the company behind the eponymous department store chain and Waitrose, believes the business could raise up to £2bn in new investment by diluting its mutual model, according to reports. - Guardian
Sun 19 Mar 2023 15:12
(Sharecast News) - Experts at Investec believe that the Bank of England will stand pat on rates when it meets this week due to financial stability concerns triggered by the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and bailouts for Credit Suisse and First Republic Bank. "The degree of conviction in this view is necessarily small when inflation is still in double-digits but stability concerns have suddenly surged," they said. Inflation data out on Wednesday on the other hand was expected to decline to just below 10%, posing a dilemma for Bank. Yet senior Treasury officials think the rate of inflation could halve to roughly 5% over the next few months. Similarly, the Office for Budget Responsibility sees inflation tumbling to 2.9% by the end of 2023. - Financial Mail on Sunday
Fri 17 Mar 2023 07:21
(Sharecast News) - The chief executive of Royal Mail has been accused of "incompetence or cluelessness" by MPs calling on the regulator Ofcom to investigate whether the company broke legal service requirements. Parliament's cross-party business, energy and industrial strategy (BEIS) committee has asked the watchdog to investigate a suspected breach of the universal service obligation (USO), which requires the postal operator to deliver letters nationwide six days a week. - Guardian
Thu 16 Mar 2023 07:22
(Sharecast News) - Autonomous delivery robots will hit the streets of Greater Manchester this week as the Co-op partners with the self-driving logistics company Starship Technologies to bring its six-wheeled bots to a seventh British city. Five years after making their first UK delivery in Milton Keynes, Starship has expanded to cover hundreds of thousands of households across the country, offering services in cities including Cambridge, Leeds and Northampton.. - Guardian
Wed 15 Mar 2023 07:22
(Sharecast News) - The Treasury has performed a U-turn on a planned cut to energy support for households after warnings that it would plunge many thousands more families into poverty. In an announcement on the morning of the chancellor Jeremy Hunt's budget speech, the government confirmed that the energy price guarantee would continue at its current rate, which limits a typical annual household bill to £2,500. It is being extended from April, when it was due to expire, for a further three months until the end of June. - Guardian
Tue 14 Mar 2023 08:31
(Sharecast News) - SVB Financial Group and two top executives have been sued by shareholders over the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, as global stocks continued to suffer on Tuesday despite assurances from US president Joe Biden. The bank's shareholders accuse SVB Financial Group chief executive Greg Becker and chief financial officer Daniel Beck of concealing how rising interest rates would leave its Silicon Valley Bank unit "particularly susceptible" to a bank run. - Guardian
Mon 13 Mar 2023 07:21
(Sharecast News) - Barclays could save itself more than £200m a year after deciding to take a break from paying into its staff pension scheme, despite the fund's assets plummeting by £10bn in 12 months. Barclays last month declared profits of £7bn for 2022, but its "contribution holiday" means the cost of the payments it would normally make towards former employee's retirement benefits will now have to be met by the pension scheme - prompting anger among some ex-staff. - Guardian
Sun 12 Mar 2023 18:11
(Sharecast News) - Silicon Valley Bank's demise does not pose a systemic risk to the UK's financial services sector, Rishi Sunak said on Sunday, even as he committed himself to finding a way to keep hundreds of UK tech outfits from going bust. The US lender was believed to have "several thousand" business customers in the UK, many of which relied on their deposits at SVB to pay staff and suppliers. Ministers' concern was that many of those businesses might go under lest some sort of bail out could be thrashed out, inflicting serious harm on the country's technology sector. The Prime Minister added that the Treasury was working at pace to find a solution that would provide operational liquidity for people's cash flow needs. - The Sunday Times
Fri 10 Mar 2023 07:25
(Sharecast News) - Deloitte's chief executive has launched a thinly veiled criticism of rival EY after its controversial plans to split the business into two were thrown into turmoil. EY initially announced plans for a radical breakup of its global operations last year, that would separate its audit and advisory businesses. - Guardian
Wed 08 Mar 2023 07:20
(Sharecast News) - The RMT union has called off a strike at Network Rail next week, fuelling hopes of a significant breakthrough in the long-running dispute. The union said it was suspending the strike planned for Thursday 16 March and all other industrial action, which was to include an overtime ban, after it received a fresh offer from Network Rail. - Guardian
Tue 07 Mar 2023 07:21
(Sharecast News) - A publicly owned electricity generation firm could save Britons nearly £21bn a year, according to new analysis that bolsters Labour's case to launch a national energy company if the party gains power. Thinktank Common Wealth has calculated that the cost of generating electricity to power homes and businesses could be reduced by £20.8bn or £252 per household a year under state ownership, according to a report seen by the Guardian. - Guardian
Mon 06 Mar 2023 07:24
(Sharecast News) - Campaigners are calling for an end to the "peak fare rip off", where commuters in some parts of the country face far higher mark-ups to travel at busy times. The call came after regulated rail fares in England and Wales jumped by 5.9% on Sunday - the biggest hike in a decade - adding hundreds of pounds to the cost of many annual season tickets despite record levels of poor service. - Guardian
Mon 06 Mar 2023 07:24
(Sharecast News) - Campaigners are calling for an end to the "peak fare rip off", where commuters in some parts of the country face far higher mark-ups to travel at busy times. The call came after regulated rail fares in England and Wales jumped by 5.9% on Sunday - the biggest hike in a decade - adding hundreds of pounds to the cost of many annual season tickets despite record levels of poor service. - Guardian
Sun 05 Mar 2023 17:07
(Sharecast News) - News that Arm has chosen to float on the other side of the Atlantic is stunningly bad news for Britain. The rationale is straightforward, the business can fetch a higher valuation there. So too is the reason for that, even if some might argue otherwise. UK pension funds and insurance companies do not invest in British companies with their holdings currently standing at 1.8% and 2.5%, respectively. In fact, at 56.3%, its foreigners who own the lion's share. Back in 1997, insurance companies owned 23.6% and pension funds probably held a similar proportion back then. And where has the money gone instead, because of regulation and tax changes it had been funneled into gilts and other fixed-interest securities. But according to Credit Suisse, those flows appear set to turn around and head back into equities. - Financial Mail on Sunday
Fri 03 Mar 2023 07:20
(Sharecast News) - More than 3,000 National Express bus drivers in the West Midlands have voted to strike over pay, starting on 16 March, the same day as the next RMT train strike. The Unite union said members voted 96% in favour of industrial action, on a turnout of 72%. The workers will begin "all-out continuous" strike action on Thursday 16 March, the union said, with industrial action to carry on until the dispute is resolved. - Guardian
Thu 02 Mar 2023 07:17
(Sharecast News) - Britain's failed attempt to send satellites into orbit was a "disaster" and MPs are being urged to redirect funding to hospitals, with the country now seen as "toxic" for future launches. Senior figures at the Welsh company Space Forge, which lost a satellite when Virgin Orbit's Start Me Up mission failed to reach orbit, said a "seismic change" was needed for the UK to be appealing for space missions. - Guardian
Wed 01 Mar 2023 07:13
(Sharecast News) - Ministers have warned energy firms that they must pass on the benefits of lower wholesale prices to consumers, amid concern that bills could rise this spring. In a speech on Wednesday, Grant Shapps will tell energy suppliers that reduced wholesale prices must be seen in consumer prices, "no ifs, buts or maybes". In an apparent sign of government concern about the impact of reduced direct support for domestic energy bills, the energy secretary will spell out his message in a speech at the Chatham House thinktank in London. - Guardian
Wed 01 Mar 2023 07:13
(Sharecast News) - Ministers have warned energy firms that they must pass on the benefits of lower wholesale prices to consumers, amid concern that bills could rise this spring. In a speech on Wednesday, Grant Shapps will tell energy suppliers that reduced wholesale prices must be seen in consumer prices, "no ifs, buts or maybes". In an apparent sign of government concern about the impact of reduced direct support for domestic energy bills, the energy secretary will spell out his message in a speech at the Chatham House thinktank in London. - Guardian
Tue 28 Feb 2023 07:23
(Sharecast News) - Jeremy Hunt could offer striking public sector workers a bigger pay rise before his budget next month by cancelling plans for a fuel duty freeze costing £6bn, according to a leading tax and spending watchdog. With waves of fresh strike action planned across the public sector next month, the director of Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), Paul Johnson, said the chancellor faced a "straight choice" between subsidising car driving and helping public sector workers cope with the cost of living crisis. - Guardian
Mon 27 Feb 2023 07:22
(Sharecast News) - The Australia-based company Recharge Industries will take over collapsed battery maker Britishvolt after finalising a deal with administrators late on Sunday in the UK. The agreement revives hopes for the construction of a £3.8bn (A$6.7bn) "gigafactory" in northern England, the backbone of a plan to modernise the British automotive industry and supply the next generation of UK-built electric vehicles. - Guardian
Sun 26 Feb 2023 14:16
(Sharecast News) - Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab has refused to say whether Parliament will vote on the government's new Brexit deal. He did however tell Sky's Sophy Ridge on Sunday programme that "Parliament will find a away to have its say". The plan was expected to be unveiled possibly as early as Monday. "We want to handle this properly and in the right way," he said. I think one thing we've learned with meaningful votes and various other things since 2016 and beyond is that you have to carry Parliament with you, and I'm confident we would be able to." However, as of Sunday, it appeared unlikely that the proposals would satisfy the ERG or DUP. - Sunday Telegraph
Fri 24 Feb 2023 07:11
(Sharecast News) - Rogue landlords are conning the government out of millions of pounds by fraudulently claiming housing benefits for so-called "ghost tenants", it has been revealed. Criminal gangs are among those buying cheap property to convert into housing for vulnerable people, in some cases claiming welfare payments for tenants who do not live there. - Guardian
Thu 23 Feb 2023 07:16
(Sharecast News) - Ministers have moved to level the playing field on energy costs between British manufacturers and their European competitors after years of concerns that domestic firms faced an unfair disadvantage. The "British Industry Supercharger" scheme aims to improve conditions for 300 companies - employing 400,000 workers - in sectors including steel, metals, chemicals and paper manufacturing. - Guardian
Wed 22 Feb 2023 07:21
(Sharecast News) - Wizz Air has been named the worst short-haul airline by UK passengers. Passengers surveyed by consumer group Which? gave the Hungary-based carrier one star out of five for boarding experience, cabin environment and seat comfort. - Guardian
Tue 21 Feb 2023 07:22
(Sharecast News) - Switching between energy suppliers is expected to return later this year after a two-year pause due to lack of competition amid high bills. The energy consultancy Cornwall Insight said on Monday that easing costs later this year would present consumers with the chance to "take back some control" over their bills, as suppliers compete for customers again. - Guardian
Mon 20 Feb 2023 07:17
(Sharecast News) - Nearly 15,000 British retail jobs have already been cut since January in a "brutal start to the year" for the high street. A total of 14,874 retail job losses have been announced by companies so far, according to analysis from the Centre for Retail Research (CRR). - Guardian
Sun 19 Feb 2023 14:45
(Sharecast News) - Rishi Sunak and former Prime Minister Boris Johnson are on a collision course over the former's plans to overhaul the post-Brexit arrangements as pertain to Northern Ireland. It is understood that Johnson is worried that a successful push by Sunak would become an obstacle to the government's ability to rip up some of the Brexit arrangements in the region. Keir Starmer on the other hand told the Observer that his party would support a vote in Parliament on the agreement. - Observer
Fri 17 Feb 2023 07:18
(Sharecast News) - Meta, the parent company of Facebook, has said in a filing that it is increasing its spend on the personal security of chief executive and co-founder Mark Zuckerberg by $4m (£3.3m) to $14m, at a moment when the company has cut thousands of jobs in what Zuckerberg has called the "year of efficiency". Meta's board declared that the 40% increase was "appropriate and necessary under the circumstances" and was in place "to address safety concerns due to specific threats to his safety arising directly as a result of his position as Meta's founder, chairman, and CEO". - Guardian
Thu 16 Feb 2023 07:19
(Sharecast News) - Wilko plans to cut more than 400 jobs, including assistant store managers, retail supervisors, head office managers and call centre workers, in the troubled retailer's latest effort to control costs. The value household and garden products retailer has told staff it plans to reduce hours for team supervisors in 150 of its 401 stores, leading to the equivalent of about 150 full-time equivalent job losses, after a fall in sales. - Guardian
Wed 15 Feb 2023 07:23
(Sharecast News) - Fast-food chain Subway has put itself on the menu - announcing on Tuesday it is exploring a possible sale of its business after 58 years of family control. After years of rapid growth, rising costs and mounting competition from rivals have taken their toll on the company in recent years, but it still has more than 37,000 restaurants in over 100 countries - making it one of the largest chains in the world. - Guardian
Tue 14 Feb 2023 07:14
(Sharecast News) - The US telecoms group chaired by "cable cowboy" John Malone has snapped up a stake in Vodafone in a bet on the UK company's revival - but has ruled out making a takeover bid. Liberty Global, which is an investor in ITV and Virgin Media O2, told investors on Monday it had acquired a 4.92% stake in Vodafone, saying it believed the shares were undervalued. - Guardian
Mon 13 Feb 2023 07:21
(Sharecast News) - Britain's biggest telecoms providers are preparing to launch inflation-busting price increases for broadband and mobile contracts this spring, hitting consumers with a combined bill worth £600m more than if these deals had matched the cost of living. BT, EE, Vodafone, Virgin Media, O2 and TalkTalk are to increase bills for tens of millions of customers under "mid-contract price rises" from April and May. - Guardian
Sun 12 Feb 2023 21:01
(Sharecast News) - A cross-party summit that included both leavers and remainers has been held in high secrecy to address the failings of Brexit in the national interest. Also present were diplomats, defence experts and the heads of the largest businesses and lenders. A source said: "The main thrust of it was that Britain is losing out, that Brexit it not delivering, our economy is in a weak position," said the source. "It was about moving on from leave and remain, and what are the issues we now have to face, and how can we get into the best position in order to have a conversation with the EU about changes to the UK-EU trade and cooperation agreement when that happens?" - Observer
Fri 10 Feb 2023 07:21
(Sharecast News) - Media conglomerate News Corp said on Thursday that it would cut 1,250 jobs after it missed estimates for second-quarter earnings due to weakness in its news and digital real estate businesses. Rising inflation and higher interest rates are forcing companies to curb their ad and marketing spend, denting one of the major sources of revenue for companies such as News Corp, which has major publishing platforms including the Wall Street Journal and New York Post in the US, the Sun and the Times in the UK, and the Australian. - Guardian
Thu 09 Feb 2023 07:21
(Sharecast News) - Twitter users were unable to post instantly on the website for almost an hour, in the latest outage to hit the social media platform since billionaire Elon Musk's $44bn takeover. From around 10pm GMT on Wednesday, users attempting to tweet were informed by the platform they had hit their daily limit - despite many of them reporting having not tweeted at all that day. - Guardian
Wed 08 Feb 2023 07:16
(Sharecast News) - Households in Britain will suffer a hit to their finances of up to £4,000 this year, according to a report warning that the economy could avoid recession but that, for millions, it will not feel like it has. Adding to pressure on Rishi Sunak as the government prepares to scale back its support for energy bills this spring, the National Institute for Economic and Social Research (NIESR) said low and middle-income households were facing the biggest financial hit from the cost of living crisis. - Guardian
Tue 07 Feb 2023 07:21
(Sharecast News) - Consumers could be using a new digital pound as an alternative to cash by the end of the decade under plans being drawn up by the Bank of England and the Treasury. The government is speeding up its response to the rise of privately issued cryptocurrencies and stable coins with a four-month public consultation process on a "Britcoin" starting on Tuesday. - Guardian
Mon 06 Feb 2023 07:15
(Sharecast News) - Return tickets will be scrapped and new digital ticketing introduced under reforms of the British rail system expected to be announced this week. The two-way tickets, which offer a discounted rate, will be replaced by "single-leg pricing" which will mean that the price of two singles will be the same as the current return fare, according to the Telegraph. The idea was trialled by London North East Railway (LNER) in 2020. - Guardian
Sun 05 Feb 2023 15:17
(Sharecast News) - The Financial Conduct Authority has offered to relax rules around so-called "related party transactions" in order to entice microchip designer Arm to float in London. Arm worries that otherwise it may have to report dealings with owner Softbank and any of the Japanese outfit's hundreds of investments as well as having to consult with shareholders each time. Such transaction nevertheless played an important role in failed US companies Enron and Tyco. Critics say the move would dilute the UK's highly regarded standards of corporate governance. - The Sunday Times
Fri 03 Feb 2023 07:14
(Sharecast News) - Netflix has mistakenly launched a set of guidelines for cracking down on password sharing to global users. The streaming service said the guidelines being trialled in Chile, Peru and Costa Rica had been posted accidentally across its help centre pages including in the US on Wednesday, but had since been taken down. - Guardian
Thu 02 Feb 2023 07:14
(Sharecast News) - Households in England and Wales are facing the biggest increase to water bills in almost two decades from April, putting further pressure on budgets already weathering the cost of living crisis. The industry body Water UK said the typical water bill will increase to an average of £448 a year from April, a hike of 7.5%. - Guardian
Wed 01 Feb 2023 07:11
(Sharecast News) - Almost 13,000 offshore companies holding UK property have failed to declare their ultimate owners and may now face fines and a ban on selling their land, the government has said. Martin Callanan, a business minister, praised the introduction of the new register of overseas owners of UK properties, saying it had been "invaluable for tax and revenue services, bringing transparency to opaque offshore trusts often used to obscure assets for tax purposes". - Guardian
Wed 01 Feb 2023 07:11
(Sharecast News) - Almost 13,000 offshore companies holding UK property have failed to declare their ultimate owners and may now face fines and a ban on selling their land, the government has said. Martin Callanan, a business minister, praised the introduction of the new register of overseas owners of UK properties, saying it had been "invaluable for tax and revenue services, bringing transparency to opaque offshore trusts often used to obscure assets for tax purposes". - Guardian
Tue 31 Jan 2023 07:15
(Sharecast News) - As the US legislative battle over TikTok continues to escalate, Shou Zi Chew, the chief executive of the video-sharing app, will make his first appearance before Congress to testify next month. Chew will testify before the House energy and commerce committee on 23 March, Republican representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers confirmed in a statement on Monday, as scrutiny of the Chinese-owned app over data privacy concerns grows. - Guardian
Mon 30 Jan 2023 07:18
(Sharecast News) - The regular dividends that investors receive from owning shares in UK-listed companies soared by 16.5% in 2022, far outstripping wage growth in either the private or public sector. Investors' returns from underlying dividends - excluding volatile one-off payouts - reached £84.8bn during the year, partly owing to a £3.8bn boost from the weakness of the pound, which inflated the figures for dividends paid in dollars. - Guardian
Sun 29 Jan 2023 23:05
(Sharecast News) - Companies' dividend payments jumped by 8% to reach £94.3bn, led by big banks alongside a surge in payouts from oil outfits. share buybacks meanwhile reached 2% of the combined value of UK-listed companies. However, Link Group anticipates that payments will decline by 2.8% in 2023 to reach £91.7bn and believes that the economic backdrop is "decidedly gloomier" than one year ago with higher interest rates set to pressure margins further. - Financial Mail on Sunday
Fri 27 Jan 2023 07:16
(Sharecast News) - One of the UK's fintech darlings, Wise, could face a regulatory investigation after a rival startup accused the money transfer firm of stifling competition. London-headquartered Atlantic Money has written to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to raise concerns over potential conflicts of interest and anti-competitive behaviour after Wise blocked the firm from a swathe of its own price comparison sites. - Guardian
Thu 26 Jan 2023 07:14
(Sharecast News) - The battery startup Britishvolt owed as much as £120m to creditors when it collapsed last week in a major blow to hopes of sustaining the British car industry, it can be revealed. Creditors are expected to recover a very small proportion of the debts, according to a source with knowledge of the matter, although there are understood to be several bids for the company and its assets. EY, a professional services firm, is handling the administration. - Guardian
Wed 25 Jan 2023 07:14
(Sharecast News) - An Australian-based startup, Recharge Industries, has made a nonbinding offer for the collapsed UK battery company Britishvolt that could revive plans to construct a large plant in northern England. The bid was lodged in the UK late on Tuesday, shortly after a cash crunch at Britishvolt sent the company into administration. The collapse has severely dented the country's attempts to modernise its automotive industry and supply the next generation of UK-built electric vehicles. - Guardian
Tue 24 Jan 2023 07:23
(Sharecast News) - The companies running Britain's four remaining steel blastfurnaces have been offered £600m in government support to help fund the switch from coal and invest in lower-emissions technology. The chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, is expected to confirm £300m each for British Steel and Tata Steel in an announcement as soon as this week, although the timing will depend on them accepting the offers. The BBC first reported the government offer to both companies. - Guardian
Mon 23 Jan 2023 06:47
(Sharecast News) - The UK's impending recession could be twice as bad as previously thought, according to leading economic forecasters at the business consultancy EY. Reduced government support, higher taxes and an overall worsening outlook have all led the firm's analysts to conclude that the next three years could be worse than they anticipated three months ago. In October, EY's Item Club had predicted a 0.3% contraction in gross domestic product (GDP) this year, followed by 2.4% growth next year and a 2.3% rise in 2025. But in an updated forecast released on Monday, it said GDP would drop 0.7% this year, followed by growth of 1.9% and 2.2% over the next two years. - Guardian
Sun 22 Jan 2023 19:47
(Sharecast News) - National Grid has called on coal-fired power plants to prepare to supply power on Monday given that temperatures are expected to remain near zero even as wind speeds remain low. The notifications that they should be ready - if needed - were served to three coal units owned by Drax and EdF. The plants had been scheduled to close in September but that decision was pushed back until 2024 due to soaring gas prices in the wake of Russia's war on Ukraine. According to Bloomberg data, UK futures remain at over the twice the level typically seen at this time of the year. - The Sunday Telegraph
Fri 20 Jan 2023 07:18
(Sharecast News) - Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings, the entrepreneur who reshaped the media landscape and led the charge into streaming, announced he is stepping down as co-chief executive of the company on Thursday. Hastings, 62, co-founded the company in 1997 when Netflix delivered its subscribers movies on DVDs sent in the mail, will become chairman. Greg Peters, the company's chief product and chief operating officer, will join Ted Sarandos, chief content officer, as a co-chief executive. Sarandos was elevated to co-CEO in July 2020. - Guardian
Thu 19 Jan 2023 07:20
(Sharecast News) - Prices for package holidays and flights to popular destinations have soared in the last year, according to research. A week-long trip to Greece costs about 30% more than it did last year, with holidays in Italy, Spain and Turkey up by a fifth or more. The sobering figures, from the consumer group Which?, could cause a rethink for those planning to escape the cost of living pressure with a holiday getaway.- Guardian
Wed 18 Jan 2023 07:22
(Sharecast News) - Germany will avoid a recession this year, Chancellor Olaf Scholz has insisted, despite the energy crisis which has ravaged its economy. Mr Scholz said that new liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals on the Baltic and North Sea coasts would help cushion the blow from the energy crisis on Germany's crucial manufacturing sector. - Guardian
Tue 17 Jan 2023 07:20
(Sharecast News) - Jeremy Hunt is facing calls for a "social energy tariff" providing cheaper gas and electricity for low income households to be introduced when government support ends next year. In an open letter to the chancellor, 95 charities and non-profit organisations have urged the government to move quickly to legislate for a change in energy bills for "those in greatest need to ensure they are able to live in their homes comfortably". - Guardian
Mon 16 Jan 2023 07:17
(Sharecast News) - Leading energy suppliers have stopped reclaiming debts from some prepayment meter customers amid calls for an industry moratorium on clawing back money owed through the devices. The Guardian understands that ScottishPower, which has nearly five million customers, has stopped recovering outstanding debts from people who have been moved on to prepayment meters in recent weeks. - Guardian
Fri 13 Jan 2023 07:20
(Sharecast News) - Royal Mail has been hit by a ransomware attack by a criminal group, which has threatened to publish the stolen information online. The postal service has received a ransom note purporting to be from LockBit, a hacker group widely thought to have close links to Russia. Royal Mail revealed that it had been hit by a "cyber incident" on Wednesday, and said it was unable to send parcels or letters abroad. The company asked customers to refrain from submitting new items for international delivery, although domestic services and imports were unaffected. - Guardian
Thu 12 Jan 2023 07:18
(Sharecast News) - Ministers are being urged to stop the forced installation of prepayment meters after revelations that 3.2 million people - the equivalent of one person every 10 seconds - were left with cold and dark homes last year as they ran out of credit. As energy prices surged this winter, suppliers have stepped up the use of court warrants to force their way into homes to install prepayment meters, with some magistrates approving hundreds of applications at a time. For homes with smart meters, the change can be made remotely without even needing a warrant. - Guardian
Wed 11 Jan 2023 07:21
(Sharecast News) - Lidl, Zara's owner Inditex, H&M and Next have been accused of paying garment suppliers in Bangladesh during the pandemic less than the cost of production, leaving factories struggling to pay the country's legal minimum wage. In a survey of 1,000 factories in the country producing clothes for UK retailers, 19% of Lidl's suppliers made the claim, as did 11% of Inditex's, 9% of H&M's and 8% of Next's. - Guardian
Tue 10 Jan 2023 07:22
(Sharecast News) - Businesses will receive reduced support for their energy bills from the end of March as the Treasury attempts to cut the cost of compensating for soaring gas and electricity prices, the UK government has confirmed. James Cartlidge, the exchequer secretary to the Treasury, said on Monday that the government would provide £5.5bn of "transitional support" for businesses over 12 months from 1 April 2023. - Guardian
Mon 09 Jan 2023 07:23
(Sharecast News) - Almost two-thirds of manufacturers in Britain fear blackouts this winter amid the fallout from the energy crisis, according to an industry survey, as concerns grow about government plans to cut financial support for businesses. As the chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, prepares to announce a sharp reduction in industry support, the trade body Make UK said the impact from sky-high energy costs on manufacturers showed no sign of abating. - Guardian
Fri 06 Jan 2023 07:22
(Sharecast News) - Pressure is mounting on petrol station owners to slash fuel prices after accusations of not passing on falling wholesale costs to drivers. The average price of petrol in the UK fell by 8p a litre in December to 151p and diesel by 9p to 174p, according to the RAC. But the motoring group accused retailers, including the largest supermarkets, of not cutting prices quickly or significantly enough compared with the falls in wholesale costs. - Guardian
Thu 05 Jan 2023 07:09
(Sharecast News) - The bosses of Britain's biggest companies will have made more money in 2023 by Thursday afternoon than the average UK worker will earn in the entire year, according to analysis of vast pay gaps amid strike action and the cost of living crisis. The High Pay Centre, a thinktank that campaigns for fairer pay for workers, said that by 2pm on the third working day of the year, a FTSE 100 chief executive will have been paid more on an hourly basis than a UK worker's annual salary, based on median average remuneration figures for both groups. - Guardian
Wed 04 Jan 2023 07:45
(Sharecast News) - Food prices rose by a record 13.3 per cent in December, increasing fears that inflation may not fall as sharply in 2023 as central bankers and economists hope. The war in Ukraine led to sustained rises in the cost of animal feed, fertiliser and energy that squeezed supplies as demand rose, according to the latest monthly shop prices index published by the British Retail Consortium and NielsenIQ. It is the highest level recorded since the index began in 2005. - The Times
Tue 03 Jan 2023 07:46
(Sharecast News) - A generation of passengers will be put off travelling by train for good because of industrial action, ministers fear, as Britain enters the worst week of rail disruption for 30 years. Millions of people have been advised to avoid using the railways as the country faces five days of industrial action, effectively delaying the return to offices by a week as an estimated 80,000 trains are cancelled. - The Times
Sun 25 Dec 2022 17:58
(Sharecast News) - AJ Bell believes that dividend payments by FTSE 100 companies will hit a record £85.8bn in 2023, for an 8% increase in comparison to 2022 and far above the £61.8bn low plumbed during Covid-19. According to analysts cited by the broker, that was in spite of estimates for slower profit growth, which was expected to come to a halt in 2024. In fact, dividends of £90.9bn were projected for 2024. Nonetheless, just 20 names would account would account for 72% of the total in 2022 with Shell, Glencore, Rio Tinto and British American Tobacco at the top of the leaderboard for payouts. - Financial Mail on Sunday
Thu 22 Dec 2022 07:24
(Sharecast News) - Rishi Sunak is under growing pressure to offer more help to older workers who have fallen out of the workforce due to ill health, as official figures show a sharp increase in the rates of long-term sickness in every region of the UK except London. Highlighting deep regional divisions, figures from the Office for National Statistics show economic inactivity due to long-term sickness has increased most among 50 to 64-year-olds outside the capital since the Covid pandemic. - Guardian
Wed 21 Dec 2022 07:21
(Sharecast News) - The troubled online beauty retailer THG faces more pain after a leading credit insurer reduced cover to its suppliers. The Guardian can reveal that Allianz Trade, one of the UK's largest credit insurers, cut back cover for suppliers to the beauty-to-nutrition retailer, formerly known as the Hut Group, in recent weeks. - Guardian
Tue 20 Dec 2022 07:19
(Sharecast News) - MPs have called for a ban on forced installations of prepayment meters amid fears that elderly and vulnerable people are being effectively cut off from heating and power supplies. Prepayment meters (PPM) are under the spotlight as thousands of warrants allowing forced installations are being issued while households struggle with a rise in the cost of energy. - Guardian
Mon 19 Dec 2022 07:12
(Sharecast News) - Elon Musk has asked Twitter users whether he should step down as the head of the company, promising to abide by the results of his poll. Musk assumed the role of CEO at the end of October after firing a host of senior executives and dissolving its board of directors. Within minutes of posting the poll, more than one million people had voted. - Guardian
Sun 18 Dec 2022 23:44
(Sharecast News) - Strikes by Border Force were threatening the first restriction free Christmas in over three years for millions of passengers. More than 1,000 members of the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union were due to strike from Friday. People arriving in the UK might be made to wait in queues at passport controls for over two hours. Contingency plans also contemplated the possibility that they might be held on jets in order to avoid overcrowding in arrival halls. - The Sunday Times
Fri 16 Dec 2022 07:25
(Sharecast News) - Tax dodging and non-compliance during the pandemic cost the government £9bn, Whitehall's spending watchdog has found. The loss to the public purse came as HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) moved thousands of tax compliance staff to Covid support schemes, reducing its capacity to investigate people and businesses not paying the right amount, according to the National Audit Office. - Guardian
Thu 15 Dec 2022 07:01
(Sharecast News) - Goldman Sachs bankers are reportedly at risk of having their bonus pool slashed by up to 40%, in what could be the lender's largest cut to payouts since the 2008 financial crisis. The bank is still in the process of deciding the size of its bonus pools for 2022, but the prospective cut could mean its 3,000 investment bankers endure the most significant drop in variable pay among their peers, according to the Financial Times, which first reported the news. - Guardian
Wed 14 Dec 2022 07:16
(Sharecast News) - The price of a fresh turkey centrepiece for Christmas dinner has increased by as much as 45% because of shortages caused by the bird flu outbreak, which has wiped out 1.6 million of the birds in the UK. Not only are prices up but the choice of fresh turkey is more limited in the major supermarkets, with the number of whole bird and crown options falling by about a third this year. - Guardian
Tue 13 Dec 2022 07:41
(Sharecast News) - Shoppers tearing their hair out in the search for Christmas presents online amid strike-hit parcel deliveries have been urged to try a low-tech solution: their local high street. With a quarter of annual toy sales rung up in December, the boss of The Entertainer toy chain told the Guardian it had been forced to extend its delivery window to up to seven days and drop its next-day offer due to the holdups. - Guardian
Mon 12 Dec 2022 07:15
(Sharecast News) - Twitter is relaunching its subscription service on Monday, offering users verified status for $8 (£6.50) a month or $11 a month on their iPhone. The move follows a botched revamp of the service last month that resulted in a host of impersonator accounts appearing on the platform as some users took advantage of the chance to launch bogus "verified" accounts for major companies and public figures. - Guardian
Sun 11 Dec 2022 20:35
(Sharecast News) - Power prices hit a record high due to a combination of a cold snap and a dearth of wind. Power prices in the UK for a day ahead hit a record £675 per megawatt hour on the Epex Spot Exchange on Sunday as the country was blanketed with snow and temperatures fell below zero. At the peak hours between five and six o'clock power costs surged to £2,586 per megawatt hour. Furthermore, National Grid forecast that power demand would peak at nearly 46,700 megawatts on Monday, versus 43,000 MW on Sunday. Energy supply from wind meanwhile fell to about 5% of the country's demands on Sunday, against an average of 28.5% over 2022. - The Sunday Telegraph
Fri 09 Dec 2022 07:26
(Sharecast News) - A "permanent" strike at the factory that makes Jacob's Cream Crackers and Twiglets has come to an end after biscuit bosses crumbled and upped a pay deal for workers. More than 750 of about 800 workers returned to work at the brand's factory in Aintree on Thursday having won a 6.5% pay increase, backdated to January, with a £500 bonus payment on top and a further £250 bonus to follow in January next year. - Guardian
Thu 08 Dec 2022 07:16
(Sharecast News) - Britain's biggest business group has urged ministers to quickly decide which industries will receive energy support from next spring as hundreds of companies brace for their bills to more than double. The Confederation of British Industry called on the government to urgently set out details of how it plans to extend the energy bill relief scheme for firms with large bills beyond March 2023. The scheme, which discounts the wholesale cost of energy for all companies, charities and public sector organisations, was introduced in October to replicate the support offered to households in cushioning the shock from rapidly rising energy bills. - Guardian
Wed 07 Dec 2022 07:21
(Sharecast News) - The chancellor will urge the UK's largest banks to do all they can to support those struggling to pay their mortgage during the cost-of-living crisis when he holds his first talks with chief executives on Wednesday. Jeremy Hunt will host a roundtable with heads of major mortgage lenders, including Debbie Crosbie of Nationwide, HSBC UK's Ian Stuart and NatWest's Alison Rose to discuss the impact of rising interest rates and living costs on customers. - Guardian
Tue 06 Dec 2022 07:22
(Sharecast News) - Hopes of a deal to avert severe Christmas rail disruption were dashed on Monday night when the RMT union announced additional strike dates and rebuffed a pay offer from Network Rail just before the industry's deadline. The union said it would put the offer to members in an electronic referendum this week but recommend that they reject it. It affirmed that two 48-hour strikes that will stop much of the railway next week would go ahead either way. - Guardian
Mon 05 Dec 2022 07:14
(Sharecast News) - The RMT has rejected an offer from rail employers aimed at heading off more strikes. The Rail Delivery Group (RDG) offered the union a pay rise of 8% over two years with a guarantee of no compulsory redundancies to April 2024, in an attempt to resolve a long-running dispute over jobs, pay and conditions. The RMT's general secretary, Mick Lynch, said: "We have rejected this offer as it does not meet any of our criteria for securing a settlement on long-term job security, a decent pay rise and protecting working conditions. - Guardian
Sun 04 Dec 2022 11:39
(Sharecast News) - The founder of property website Rightmove, Harry Hill, is nervous about a potentially deep recession, which he believes could see transactions and house prices fall by double figures with the latter possibly down by 20%. With monthly mortgage repayments set to double next year, many mortgage holders may opt to sell. However, Hill also pointed out the housing market's brilliant run over recent years, such that most property values are well above the acquisition price. Hill has been mooted by activist investor Adam Smith as an ideal candidate to replace Purplebricks chairman Paul Pindar. - The Financial Mail on Sunday
Fri 02 Dec 2022 07:19
(Sharecast News) - UK farmers are receiving negligible profits for many items as food prices rise and supermarkets boast record takings. An average block of cheese or loaf of bread produces less than a penny for farmers, and fruit producers do not fare much better, making just 3p from each kilo of apples. - Guardian
Thu 01 Dec 2022 07:22
(Sharecast News) - More than 7 million people who no longer qualify for energy support from next spring face years in fuel poverty if average heat and light bills remain at £3,000, according to a report calling for more targeted help. In his November budget the chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, announced that the government's energy price guarantee (EPG) would rise from April to £3,000 a year for the typical home, and the £400 help paid to all households this winter - regardless of income - would not be repeated. - Guardian
Wed 30 Nov 2022 07:18
(Sharecast News) - Labour has called on ministers to claw back £12m in dividends paid by Avanti West Coast to its shareholders last year, when it was subsidised by £343m by the taxpayer. Figures released by the rail watchdog on Tuesday showed that Avanti paid out £12m in 2021-22 from management and performance fees. - Guardian
Tue 29 Nov 2022 07:17
(Sharecast News) - UK retailers have launched a barrage of discounts to try to clear stock after a month of falling sales as soaring inflation and bills hit households' budgets and a warm autumn reduced demand for coats and boots. On Monday, New Look was offering a 50% discount off all products, Asos up to 80% off almost all lines and Boohoo 30% off everything, with many other fashion retailers - including Marks & Spencer, River Island and Matalan - offering between 20% and 30% cuts. - Guardian
Mon 28 Nov 2022 07:12
(Sharecast News) - Amazon's UK tax bill jump could jump by £29m next year as a result of changes to business rates that are scheduled to hit warehouses and online retailers the hardest. The online retailer is likely to be among firms facing big tax rises following the chancellor's autumn statement, according to analysis from the real estate adviser Altus Group. - Guardian
Sun 27 Nov 2022 21:30
(Sharecast News) - Protests against the government's zero-Covid strategy are spreading from Shanghai to other Chinese cities such as Guangzhou, Wuhan and Xi'an. Videos of the protests on social media, including some showing clashes with police and people chanting anti-government slogans, were taken down. In Urumqi, most of the city had been under lockdown for over three months, although lockdowns were lifted in some neighbourhoods on Saturday. China reported 39,506 cases of Covid-9 on Sunday, a record level, but small when compared to the levels recorded at the height of the pandemic in the West. - The Sunday Times
Fri 25 Nov 2022 07:18
(Sharecast News) - Demand for rental homes across the UK has jumped by nearly a quarter in a year, research has found, piling more pressure on an oversubscribed market and pushing record private rents even higher. The number of people enquiring about homes to rent is up 23% on this time last year, according to the property website Rightmove, driven in part by some would-be buyers putting their plans on hold in the hope that mortgage rates will drop in the new year. - Guardian
Thu 24 Nov 2022 07:17
(Sharecast News) - The energy regulator Ofgem has said its price cap will reach £4,279 from January - but households will be shielded by the government's emergency intervention to keep a lid on bills. Ofgem said the cap, which is adjusted every quarter, will increase by £730 for the three months from the start of next year. However, the government's energy price guarantee (EPG) will limit typical household bills to £2,500. Analysts had expected the cap to sit at about £4,200. - Guardian
Wed 23 Nov 2022 07:17
(Sharecast News) - The Glazer family has announced it is "commencing a process to explore strategic alternatives" for Manchester United, potentially bringing an end to its 17-year ownership of the club. On the day it was also confirmed that Cristiano Ronaldo had left Old Trafford by mutual consent, a statement from United on Tuesday night revealed plans to identify new investment that could lead to a potential sale. The club said the process led by their American owners will consider a number of options "including new investment into the club, a sale, or other transactions involving the company". - Guardian
Tue 22 Nov 2022 07:23
(Sharecast News) - Penguin Random House, the world's largest book publisher, and rival Simon & Schuster have scrapped a $2.2bn deal to merge, Penguin's owner said in a statement on Monday. Bertelsmann, a German media group which owns Penguin, initially said it would appeal a US judge's decision that said its purchase of Simon & Schuster would be illegal because it would hit authors' pay. - Guardian
Mon 21 Nov 2022 07:19
(Sharecast News) - The companies responsible for bringing electricity to UK homes have been accused of "rampant profiteering" by a leading union that is calling for the energy regulator to cap their earnings. Sharon Graham, general secretary of Unite, has written to Ofgem to ask it to clamp down on "excessive" profits generated by regional electricity distribution network operators (DNOs), which raked in £15.8bn in profits last year and have paid out £3.6bn in dividends between 2017 and 2021. - Guardian
Fri 18 Nov 2022 07:16
(Sharecast News) - Royal Mail workers will stage six more days of strike action in December, including on Christmas Eve, as part of the latest walkouts to affect the postal service. Members of the Communication Workers Union (CWU) at the service will go on strike on 9, 11, 14, 15, 23 and 24 December. - Guardian
Thu 17 Nov 2022 07:30
(Sharecast News) - The British government has blocked the takeover of the UK's largest producer of semiconductors by a Chinese-owned manufacturer, citing "a risk to national security". The business department's decision on Wednesday comes more than a year after semiconductor company Nexperia first announced that it had taken control of Newport Wafer Fab in south Wales in July 2021, in a £63m deal. - Guardian
Wed 16 Nov 2022 07:09
(Sharecast News) - Energy suppliers have been accused of profiteering by charging "horrendous and financially crippling rates" to care homes facing huge bills this winter. The chief executive of Care England, the largest body representing independent providers of adult care, has accused gas suppliers of being "unduly onerous" in their practices. - Guardian
Tue 15 Nov 2022 07:16
(Sharecast News) - Water companies could be forced to pay their customers hundreds of millions in fines due to sewage pollution, a leading firm specialising in corporate wrongdoing has said. Fideres LLP, which has conducted investigations into issues ranging from Covid test prices to cryptocurrency scams, is now setting its sights on England's water companies. - Guardian
Mon 14 Nov 2022 07:20
(Sharecast News) - Britain's foremost business lobby group has urged Jeremy Hunt to use this week's autumn statement to shake up immigration rules to support companies struggling with chronic staff shortages and a looming recession. The head of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) said urgent action was required from the chancellor on Thursday to bolster the economy, including "tough political choices" to allow more overseas workers in Britain as employers struggle with a desperate lack of staff. - Guardian
Sun 13 Nov 2022 19:22
(Sharecast News) - The Chancellor will most likely not include business rates relief in his autumn statement this week. Insiders in the government have signalled that Jeremy Hunt will not give into calls to delay the uprating of business rates nor to extend relief from the tax. They are set to rise in line with consumer prices which as of September had jumped by 10.1% year-on-year. Business rates are also expected to be revalued in order to reflect changes in the rental market. According to the Confederation of British Industry, that could saddle the retail sector with increases of as much as 25% over the next two years. - The Sunday Times
Fri 11 Nov 2022 07:14
(Sharecast News) - As Elon Musk's ownership of Twitter entered its third week, and following mass layoffs, the billionaire laid bare a delicate financial future for the social media platform, amid an exodus of top privacy and security executives. Yoel Roth, the head of safety and integrity who had been deputized to publicly address concerns advertisers and users had about the platform, is reportedly the latest to leave the company. - Guardian
Thu 10 Nov 2022 07:19
(Sharecast News) - Rishi Sunak's government has been warned that Britain's creaking public services will require at least £43bn a year in additional funding just to "stand still" amid the fallout from soaring inflation. The Trades Union Congress said next week's autumn statement needed to protect both public services and workers' pay from the highest rates of inflation since the early 1980s to avoid a further collapse in the quality of support for health, social care, education, justice, and the environment. - Guardian
Thu 10 Nov 2022 07:19
(Sharecast News) - Rishi Sunak's government has been warned that Britain's creaking public services will require at least £43bn a year in additional funding just to "stand still" amid the fallout from soaring inflation. The Trades Union Congress said next week's autumn statement needed to protect both public services and workers' pay from the highest rates of inflation since the early 1980s to avoid a further collapse in the quality of support for health, social care, education, justice, and the environment. - Guardian
Wed 09 Nov 2022 07:16
(Sharecast News) - Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg confirmed to executives that the company will begin laying off employees on Wednesday morning, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday. Zuckerberg addressed hundreds of executives at the company on Tuesday morning, foreshadowing large cuts. He mentioned recruiting and business teams as groups that would see layoffs, according to the WSJ, adding an internal announcement of the company's layoff plans is expected around 6am eastern time on Wednesday. - Guardian
Tue 08 Nov 2022 07:04
(Sharecast News) - Germany is keen to talk to Britain about a solidarity pact that would allow Europe's largest consumers of natural gas to bail each other out if an extreme cold snap were to create shortages this winter, German officials have said. Such an agreement could be mutually beneficial for both London and Berlin, the German civil servant in charge of rationing in the case of a supply crisis told the Guardian in an interview. - Guardian
Mon 07 Nov 2022 07:21
(Sharecast News) - More than 138,000 residential and commercial properties in England and Wales are owned by offshore companies, with holdings in London worth a combined £55bn, according to research shared with the Guardian. The findings come as the government begins a crackdown to dismantle the secrecy that surrounds offshore property ownership, which it says has been used by "corrupt elites laundering money through UK property". - Guardian
Sun 06 Nov 2022 23:20
(Sharecast News) - The key points of the autumn statement must be submitted to the Office for Budget Responsibility by Monday morning. The Guardian understands that the Chancellor will set out tax increases and spending reductions totalling £60bn with cuts of at least £35bn. Decisions were also expected within days on whether to raise benefits in line with inflation and as regards changes to the pensions triple lock. Among the Chancellor's concerns is ensuring that the Treasury has enough 'headroom' to deal with other economic shocks and that its plans are credible to financial markets. - Guardian
Fri 04 Nov 2022 07:22
(Sharecast News) - The owner of the Scotsman and Yorkshire Post has revealed it is plotting a surprise takeover of much larger rival Reach, the parent company of the Mirror and Express titles and hundreds of regional newspapers including the Manchester Evening News. National World, which is listed on the London Stock Exchange and run by the former boss of the Mirror newspaper group David Montgomery, has said that it is in the early stages of a potential offer for Reach. - Guardian
Thu 03 Nov 2022 07:09
(Sharecast News) - Drivers experienced a "severe shock" after the price of diesel shot up in October amid the fallout from the Opec+ oil cartel's decision to cut production, the RAC has said. The price of diesel rose by 10p a litre to 190.5p on average - the third worst monthly increase on record, behind previous increases this year, data from the motoring group showed. - Guardian
Wed 02 Nov 2022 07:18
(Sharecast News) - Elon Musk has indicated that a verified account on Twitter in the future could cost $8 a month, despite facing a user backlash over proposals to charge for the feature. The new owner of Twitter described the current system for allocating blue check marks - which verify a user as a trustworthy source - as "bullshit" in a Twitter post to his more than 110 million followers on Tuesday. - Guardian
Tue 01 Nov 2022 07:18
(Sharecast News) - The chief executive of National Grid has warned of an "exponential increase" in customers seeking help with their energy bills as the company created a £50m emergency support fund. John Pettigrew said the UK electricity network operator's fund will be used this winter and next to make donations to bodies providing support for vulnerable households and advice on energy efficiency measures to lower bills long term. - Guardian
Mon 31 Oct 2022 07:12
(Sharecast News) - Nearly 2 million public sector workers could be close to quitting over poor pay, their representatives have warned, leaving the UK's public services facing a looming crisis. The Trades Union Congress (TUC) said the efforts of millions of key workers got the UK through the worst of the Covid pandemic, but now those same workers were facing another year of "pay misery" at the hands of the government - while the cost of living continues to soar. - Guardian
Sun 30 Oct 2022 10:54
(Sharecast News) - The Financial Mail on Sunday's Midas column touted shares of Hercules Site Services to its readers, highlighting its fast growth and "robust" long-term outlook.
Sun 30 Oct 2022 10:24
(Sharecast News) - Two high-ranking sources near to the new Prime Minister and Chancellor gave short shrift to the idea that a new tax might be levied on lenders. Indeed, during his time as Chancellor, Rishi Sunak had looked at ways to bolster the City after Brexit, whereas bankers have been warning Jeremy Hunt that a tax raid would only hamstring such plans. Furthermore, government sources expect that Hunt will lower the current eight per cent tax surcharge on banks' earnings to three per cent, as had also been planned by Sunak, while raising corporation tax from 19 per cent to 25 per cent for a total levy on banks of 28 per cent. - The Sunday Times
Fri 28 Oct 2022 07:20
(Sharecast News) - A Norway-style windfall tax on energy companies could raise £33.3bn extra by 2027, plugging a hole in government finances and helping keep energy bills low, analysis has found. The new chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, is looking at extending the "sunset clause" in the energy profits levy by two years beyond 2025 as a result of the booming profits fossil fuel companies have been recording owing to the war in Ukraine. - Guardian
Thu 27 Oct 2022 07:18
(Sharecast News) - Shares of Meta plummeted on Wednesday after the company announced mixed results in its third-quarter earnings report, alongside billion-dollar losses in the division devoted to its ambitious "metaverse" project. The Facebook parent company beat analyst predictions for revenue but offered a weak forecast for the upcoming quarter. It posted $27.7bn in revenue for the third quarter, higher than the $27.4bn predicted but 4% less than the same period last year. Its earnings a share, which accounts for expenses, was $1.64 - lower than the $1.89 predicted. - Guardian
Wed 26 Oct 2022 07:16
(Sharecast News) - Alphabet revenue fell below analysts' expectations in the third quarter, it announced on Tuesday, as it continues to battle an industry-wide tech slowdown. The company reported a third quarter revenue of $69bn, up 6% from last year but lower than analyst estimates of $70.9bn. Like many tech and social media firms, Alphabet is struggling to compete with TikTok amid a broader economic downturn. - Guardian
Tue 25 Oct 2022 07:19
(Sharecast News) - The UK's City watchdog is to examine how to regulate "big tech" companies such as Apple, Google and Amazon over fears they could harm competition in Britain's financial services sector. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said that big tech companies could provide innovations in financial services and drive down costs, but also expressed concerns that they could build dominant positions leading to the "potential exploitation of market power", according to analysis published on Tuesday. - Guardian
Mon 24 Oct 2022 07:17
(Sharecast News) - Online fashion retailer Asos is poised to confirm that the billionaire retailer Mike Ashley has built up a stake of more than 5% in the company. Asos's statement to investors could come as soon as Monday morning, before the London Stock Exchange reopens after the weekend. - Guardian
Sun 23 Oct 2022 15:14
(Sharecast News) - The Financial Mail on Sunday's Midas column told readers to 'buy' shares of Literacy Capital, arguing that they should gain ground, "despite the choppy economic climate".
Sun 23 Oct 2022 13:41
(Sharecast News) - Rishi Sunak has confirmed he is in the running for the leadership of the Tory party, having failed to reach a deal with Boris Johnson overnight. The former Chancellor, who had won the backing of 130 Tory MPs, said: "The UK is a great country but we face a profound economic crisis. The choice our party makes now will decide whether the next generation of British people will have more opportunities than the last. That's why I am standing to be your prime minister and the leader of the conservative party. I want to fix our economy, unite our party and deliver for our country." - The Sunday Times
Fri 21 Oct 2022 07:13
(Sharecast News) - Elon Musk told prospective investors that he plans to eliminate nearly 75% of Twitter's staff as part of his deal to take over the social media company, the Washington Post reported on Thursday. Job cuts are expected in the coming months no matter who owns the company, according to the report, which cited interviews and documents. - Guardian
Thu 20 Oct 2022 07:14
(Sharecast News) - Trade from the UK to the EU is down 16% on the levels anticipated had Brexit not happened, a new report has found. Meanwhile trade from the EU to the UK has dropped even further, by 20%, relative to a scenario in which Brexit had not occurred, according to research published on Wednesday by the Economic and Social Research Institute. - Guardian
Wed 19 Oct 2022 07:17
(Sharecast News) - Fracking caused an earthquake every day at the UK's only active site at Preston New Road in Lancashire, analysis has found. Between 2018 and 2019, the site near Blackpool was responsible for 192 earthquakes over the course of 182 days , according to analysis of House of Commons Library data by the Liberal Democrats. - Guardian
Tue 18 Oct 2022 07:15
(Sharecast News) - The business secretary, Jacob Rees-Mogg, has opened talks with Britain's steelmakers amid concerns that thousands of jobs could be lost from the struggling industry. The government confirmed on Monday it had entered discussions with Tata Steel, owner of the UK's largest steelworks in Port Talbot, south Wales, and Jingye Group, which bought British Steel out of insolvency in 2020. - Guardian
Mon 17 Oct 2022 07:08
(Sharecast News) - The UK is likely to enter a deeper recession than previously expected next year, while interest rates and inflation will be lower than forecast, according to revised analysis from Goldman Sachs. The US investment bank downgraded its outlook for Britain, in analysis released on Sunday, forecasting the UK economy would shrink by 1% next year, down from its previous estimate for a 0.4% contraction. - Guardian
Sun 16 Oct 2022 18:32
(Sharecast News) - The Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, may consider a windfall tax on banks that could raise as much as £90bn. Hunt has indicated that all options to balance the books are under review and he urgently needs to restore the UK's credibility. Just during the previous week, Bank of England deputy governor, Paul Tucker, urged the government to study the possibility of reducing the interest paid on some of the deposits of lenders with the bank. The potential savings from such a move could amount to £60-90bn. - Financial Mail on Sunday
Fri 14 Oct 2022 07:15
(Sharecast News) - Elon Musk is under a federal investigation related to his $44bn takeover of Twitter, the social media company has said in a court filing made public on Thursday. While the filing said he was under investigation, it did not say what the focus was, or which federal authorities were investigating. - Guardian
Thu 13 Oct 2022 07:18
(Sharecast News) - Homeowners will struggle to make mortgage repayments and repossessions will rise next year as soaring interest rates and falling prices mark the end of the UK's 13-year housing market boom, according to a sobering report from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS). The number of inquiries from potential homebuyers fell for a fifth month in a row in September, while sales fell to the lowest level since May 2020 when the housing market all but ground to a halt during the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic, it said. - Guardian
Wed 12 Oct 2022 07:17
(Sharecast News) - Renewable power companies will have their revenues capped in England and Wales, after the government bowed to pressure to clamp down on runaway profits. The announcement late on Tuesday night provoked immediate accusations that Downing Street had performed "another screeching U-turn" - having previously rejected calls to impose a windfall tax on power giants. - Guardian
Tue 11 Oct 2022 07:20
(Sharecast News) - Kwasi Kwarteng will need to find £60bn of savings by 2026 to fill the gap left by unfunded tax cuts and the costs of extra borrowing triggered by a panicked reaction on international money markets to the chancellor's "mini-budget", according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies. The UK will also struggle to hit the chancellor's 2.5% growth target, with economic forecasts by the investment bank Citigroup that the IFS uses to underpin its analysis showing the UK will struggle to grow at more than 0.8% on average over the next five years. - Guardian
Mon 10 Oct 2022 07:10
(Sharecast News) - Amazon is investing more than €1bn (£880m) to add thousands more electric lorries, vans and cargo bikes to its sprawling fleet of delivery vehicles across Europe over the next five years. The online retailer said it would invest £300m in the UK, where it plans to have as many as 700 electric HGVs by 2025, up from just five today, and more than triple its fleet of electric vans to 10,000 across the continent. - Guardian
Sun 09 Oct 2022 13:45
(Sharecast News) - The UK's biggest lenders may be facing a huge windfall tax as the Chancellor casts about for ways to calm financial markets, City sources said. The target may be some of the interest payments due to be paid on the hundreds of billions of pounds in deposits placed with the Bank of England, through what is known as 'tiering', mainly to the likes of Lloyds, NatWest and HSBC. That might net the Treasury approximately £10bn, at a cost of a fifth of major UK lenders' annual profits, according to estimates from Numis. Nonetheless, the Treasury itself has played down the possibility of a shift towards tiering as it "risks damaging the UK's fiscal credibility". - The Financial Mail on Sunday
Fri 07 Oct 2022 07:13
(Sharecast News) - Britain's economy is expected to take until 2024 to recover to pre-Covid levels amid a slowdown for hiring and business investment, as households and businesses struggle with soaring costs. Business leaders have said that there has been a significant decline of key economic indicators in recent weeks, with confidence among company bosses over the growth outlook collapsing to the lowest level since the depths of the Covid crisis. - Guardian
Thu 06 Oct 2022 07:14
(Sharecast News) - Millions of households are facing a "stealth" tax raid under Liz Truss's government despite her promise to support workers through the cost-of-living crisis by lowering their tax bills, Britain's leading economic thinktank said on Wednesday. The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has calculated that for every £1 given to workers by cutting headline tax rates, £2 was being taken away through a freeze on the level at which people begin paying tax on their earnings. - Guardian
Wed 05 Oct 2022 07:07
(Sharecast News) - Liz Truss's intervention to freeze energy prices for households for two years is expected to cost the government £89bn, according to the first major costing of the policy by the sector's leading consultancy. The analysis from Cornwall Insight, seen exclusively by the Guardian, shows the prime minister's plan to tackle the cost of living crisis could cost as much as £140bn in a worst-case scenario. - Guardian
Tue 04 Oct 2022 07:17
(Sharecast News) - British shoppers are expected to spend £4.4bn less on non-essentials - a fall of 22% - in the run-up to Christmas as a surge in the cost of living puts a squeeze on their spare cash. Almost 60% of shoppers expect to cut back on non-food spending in the so-called "golden quarter", or last three months of the year when most retailers book the majority of profits, according to research by Retail Economics with retail technology firm Metapack. - Guardian
Mon 03 Oct 2022 07:28
(Sharecast News) - The Pensions Regulator has for the first time been drafted into high-level emergency talks led by the Treasury and Bank of England as they examine measures to calm financial markets in the wake of the meltdown which followed Kwasi Kwarteng's mini-budget. The watchdog, which oversees the £1.5tn pension sector, is understood to have been summoned into closed-door meetings of the Authorities' Response Framework (ARF), which are triggered when an "incident or threat" could cause major disruption to financial services in the UK. - Guardian
Sun 02 Oct 2022 16:23
(Sharecast News) - Jingye Group, the Chinese outfit that brought British Steel out of insolvency in 2020, has told ministers that its two blast furnaces would not be viable unless financial support from taxpayers was forthcoming. In remarks to Sky News, insiders said the company may need "hundreds of millions of pounds" in order to keep the company's blast furnaces in Scunthorpe, north Lincolnshire, operational. It remained nevertheless unclear whether the rescue package would take the form of a grant or loan. - Sunday Telegraph
Fri 30 Sep 2022 07:13
(Sharecast News) - Partners at Deloitte in the UK and Switzerland will receive an average income of more than £1m each for the second year in a row, after the accountancy firm enjoyed another successful year. Each partner will receive an average distributable profit of £1,058,000 in the year to the end of May, about 33 times the UK's average annual pay. This is the first time the sum has exceeded £1m and is an increase of about 24% compared with the same period the year before. - Guardian
Thu 29 Sep 2022 07:08
(Sharecast News) - The bookmaker Betfred has been fined nearly £2.9m for failings in its social responsibility and money-laundering controls, after accepting tens of thousands of pounds from gamblers without performing adequate safety checks. One customer was allowed to lose £70,000 over a 10-hour period just a day after opening their account, the Gambling Commission said. - Guardian
Wed 28 Sep 2022 07:12
(Sharecast News) - The International Monetary Fund has launched a stinging attack on the UK's tax-cutting plans and called on Liz Truss's government to reconsider them to prevent stoking inequality. In rare public criticism of a leading global economy, the Washington-based fund said Kwasi Kwarteng's mini-budget risked undermining the efforts of the Bank of England to tackle rampant inflation amid the cost of living emergency. - Guardian
Tue 27 Sep 2022 07:18
(Sharecast News) - Bankers could rake in bumper bonuses from a "wave of bids" by overseas buyers for UK businesses made temptingly cheaper as a result of the plunge in the pound against the dollar. A fresh frenzy of merger and acquisition activity would mean a ramp-up in payouts for City dealmakers. Sterling fell by nearly 5% at one point on Monday to $1.0327, its lowest since Britain went decimal in 1971. The currency has fallen by more than a fifth against the dollar this year. - Guardian
Mon 26 Sep 2022 07:11
(Sharecast News) - The number of people visiting UK shops this Christmas could remain almost a fifth below pre-pandemic levels as shoppers struggle with the cost of living crisis, according to forecasts. Retail footfall in December is expected to be 18% lower than the same month in 2019, said Springboard, a retail data company. - Guardian
Fri 23 Sep 2022 07:24
(Sharecast News) - Boeing and its former chief executive have settled an investigation by the US's top financial regulator into allegedly misleading statements the planemaker and its then boss made about its 737 Max jets, involved in two deadly crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia. Boeing will pay $200m to settle charges that it misled investors and the former Boeing chief Dennis Muilenburg has agreed to pay $1m. - Guardian
Thu 22 Sep 2022 07:20
(Sharecast News) - Britain's mounting debts will be unsustainable if the government presses ahead with sweeping tax cuts in a mini-budget on Friday, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies thinktank. Fuelling concerns that the UK's precarious financial position will spark a run on the pound, the chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng, is expected to reverse an increase in national insurance payments and cut corporation tax at a cost to the Treasury of £30bn. - Guardian
Wed 21 Sep 2022 07:25
(Sharecast News) - Jacob Rees-Mogg is expected to announce a cap on energy prices for businesses that would cut the rates they pay by up to half this winter. The business secretary will outline support on Wednesday for companies, charities and public sector organisations for six months from 1 October, after Liz Truss said they would receive equivalent help to households whose costs are being capped. - Guardian
Tue 20 Sep 2022 07:14
(Sharecast News) - Business investment in the UK fell to the lowest rate in the G7 group of wealthy nations despite corporation tax cuts, the government has been warned, as ministers prepare £30bn of giveaways targeted at companies and higher-income workers. The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) said a "race to the bottom" on the headline tax rate on company profits had failed to boost investment and economic growth in Britain over the past 15 years. - Guardian
Sun 18 Sep 2022 19:01
(Sharecast News) - Australian investment outfit Macquarie is studying a possible £1bn bid for PD Ports, the logistics empire that includes the strike-plagued Felixstowe port in the south or Teesport in the northeast. An auction by PD 's owner, Canadian private equity firm Brookfield, was cancelled in November following a legal spat with the South Tees Development Corporation, which owns the land around Teesport. Bids at the auction had reached around £1.3bn but the economic backdrop and performance of PD Ports had worsened since then. Originally, PD Ports had sought a sale price of £2.0bn. - The Sunday Times
Fri 16 Sep 2022 07:32
(Sharecast News) - Fresh fears have been raised about the health of the global economy after the World Bank warned that efforts to tackle inflation could cause a global recession. Central banks from the US Federal Reserve to the Bank of England are racing to raise interest rates to try to bring surging prices in the economy under control. The annual rate of inflation in the UK is hovering at close to a 40-year high and rate-setters at the Bank of England are widely expected to raise borrowing costs further when they meet next week. - The Times
Thu 15 Sep 2022 07:25
(Sharecast News) - California is suing Amazon, accusing the company of violating the state's antitrust laws by stifling competition and engaging in practices that push sellers to maintain higher prices on products on other sites. The 84-page lawsuit filed on Wednesday in San Francisco superior court mirrors another complaint filed last year by the District of Columbia, which was dismissed by a district judge earlier this year and is now going through an appeals process. - Guardian
Wed 14 Sep 2022 07:22
(Sharecast News) - US freight railroad workers are close to striking over claims that grueling schedules and poor working conditions have been driving employees out of the industry over the past several years. Heated negotiations over a new union contract between railroad corporations and 150,000-member-strong labor unions have been ongoing for nearly three years. A "cooling off" period imposed by the Biden administration after it issued recommendations to settle the dispute ends on Friday. If no deal is reached, unions are threatening industrial action - the first since 1992 - and workers say they will quit an industry already facing staff shortages. - Guardian
Tue 13 Sep 2022 07:19
(Sharecast News) - The UK's largest banks will be tested on their ability to withstand a rise in defaults linked to sky-high energy prices, as part of the Bank of England's delayed health check of the financial industry. The Guardian understands that Threadneedle Street has crafted a new crisis scenario that will feature a deep economic recession, punctuated by soaring energy bills that could make it harder for some borrowers - particularly businesses - to afford loan repayments. - Guardian
Mon 12 Sep 2022 07:14
(Sharecast News) - Britain's biggest housebuilders privately lobbied for the government to ditch rules requiring electric car chargers to be installed in every new home in England, documents have revealed. The FTSE 100 construction firms Barratt Developments, Berkeley Group and Taylor Wimpey were among the companies who argued against the policy in responses to an official consultation seen by the Guardian. The "blatant lobbying efforts" were criticised by Transport & Environment, a campaign group. - Guardian
Sun 11 Sep 2022 23:26
(Sharecast News) - Industry sources are warning that the energy sector needs to know the details of the new Prime Ministers' plans to support businesses in order for them to take effect during the next winter. The government has indicated that a more complete plan for businesses will be announced as soon as possible. In another development, Centrica chief executive officer, Chris O'Shea, voiced support for using contracts for difference for long-term electricity prices as part of efforts to ensure lower prices for consumers over the years ahead. - The Sunday Telegraph
Fri 09 Sep 2022 07:22
(Sharecast News) - Southern Water is threatening to use debt collection agencies against customers involved in a payment boycott in protest against continuing raw sewage discharges. The water company, which was given the lowest one star rating for performance by the Environment Agency, has informed boycotters that it will be using bailiffs if they continue to hold back bill payments. - Guardian
Fri 09 Sep 2022 07:22
(Sharecast News) - Southern Water is threatening to use debt collection agencies against customers involved in a payment boycott in protest against continuing raw sewage discharges. The water company, which was given the lowest one star rating for performance by the Environment Agency, has informed boycotters that it will be using bailiffs if they continue to hold back bill payments. - Guardian
Thu 08 Sep 2022 07:19
(Sharecast News) - The UK advertising watchdog has launched an investigation into whether telecoms companies are misleading consumers about inflation-busting bill increases when promoting deals in their marketing campaigns. Telecoms companies make billions of pounds annually by instituting price rises to mobile and broadband bills midway through contract periods - increases that will add to the biggest squeeze on the cost of living facing households in generations. - Guardian
Wed 07 Sep 2022 07:13
(Sharecast News) - It is an award-winning pioneer in the fast-growing cybersecurity industry, boasting veterans of the spy community and the British political establishment on its payroll. It is also the subject of admiring glances from a deep-pocketed US private equity house pondering a takeover that could lead to payouts worth £200m for its management team. But there are clouds hanging over Darktrace, in the shape of analysts' criticism of its business model and concerns about its workplace culture, not to mention an escalating legal battle over a multi-billion pound fraud. - Guardian
Wed 07 Sep 2022 07:13
(Sharecast News) - It is an award-winning pioneer in the fast-growing cybersecurity industry, boasting veterans of the spy community and the British political establishment on its payroll. It is also the subject of admiring glances from a deep-pocketed US private equity house pondering a takeover that could lead to payouts worth £200m for its management team. But there are clouds hanging over Darktrace, in the shape of analysts' criticism of its business model and concerns about its workplace culture, not to mention an escalating legal battle over a multi-billion pound fraud. - Guardian
Tue 06 Sep 2022 07:14
(Sharecast News) - Dressed in overalls with "leave it in the ground" scrawled on their backs, climate protesters shovelled coal over the side of a goods train bound for the Drax power station in 2008. It is now 14 years on from the train "hijack" and government officials are considering their own raid on the North Yorkshire power station - this time on the company's finances. - Guardian
Tue 06 Sep 2022 07:14
(Sharecast News) - Dressed in overalls with "leave it in the ground" scrawled on their backs, climate protesters shovelled coal over the side of a goods train bound for the Drax power station in 2008. It is now 14 years on from the train "hijack" and government officials are considering their own raid on the North Yorkshire power station - this time on the company's finances. - Guardian
Mon 05 Sep 2022 07:22
(Sharecast News) - Analysts are expecting gas prices to surge to record highs this week after Russia shut down a key pipeline to Europe. At the same time, a growing number of UK manufacturers have said they are already cutting production or making job cuts as a direct result of "out of control" energy bills. - Guardian
Sun 04 Sep 2022 17:14
(Sharecast News) - The Financial Mail on Sunday's Midas recommended to readers that they 'buy' shares in Volex, the power cable manufacturer led by Nat Rothschild.
Sun 04 Sep 2022 16:57
(Sharecast News) - Lizz Truss declined in an interview with BBC One to rule out freezing energy bills in some form if she were elected, vowing to take action within a week if she were. Truss, who is widely expected to come out on top in the Tory leadership contest, vowed she would reveal her plans to ease the pain from soaring energy prices and expanding energy supply within seven days after entering Number 10. A plan to restart economic growth through tax cuts would be forthcoming within a month from assuming office. Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer, has proposed keeping the cap in place throughout the winter, putting the cost to the Treasury at £29bn. - The Sunday Telegraph
Fri 02 Sep 2022 07:20
(Sharecast News) - The Treasury is working on a menu of options to counter Britain's cost of living crisis in readiness for an emergency mini-budget due to take place within two weeks if Liz Truss replaces Boris Johnson as prime minister. With opinion polls and bookmakers' odds showing Truss the clear favourite to move into 10 Downing Street next week, officials are drawing up plans that would allow the new government to move quickly over bills and longer-term reforms of the energy market. - Guardian
Thu 01 Sep 2022 07:22
(Sharecast News) - Households in Britain will see their spending power cut by an average £3,000 by the end of next year unless the new government acts to counter the biggest drop in living standards in at least a century, research has indicated. Adding to pressure on Boris Johnson's successor as prime minister to tackle a worsening cost of living crisis, the Resolution Foundation thinktank said soaring energy bills would cut household incomes by 10% and push an extra 3 million people into poverty. - Guardian
Wed 31 Aug 2022 07:17
(Sharecast News) - The rapidly rising price of food including milk, margarine and crisps pushed August shop price inflation to the highest levels since 2008 as the war in Ukraine raised costs for farmers. Prices in shops rose by 5.1%, a big increase from 4.4% in July, as food producers passed on increases in the cost of fertiliser, wheat and vegetable oils, large amounts of which are produced in Ukraine and Russia, according to data from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and market research firm NielsenIQ. - Guardian
Tue 30 Aug 2022 07:16
(Sharecast News) - Thousands of pubs face closure without urgent government support to soften the blow from soaring energy bills, the beer industry has said, putting jobs at risk in a sector still battling to recover from the Covid pandemic. The bosses of companies owning almost half of the UK's 47,000 pubs said tenants were already giving notice because they could not cope with energy bills, which are due to rise more than fivefold in some cases. - Guardian
Sun 28 Aug 2022 18:34
(Sharecast News) - The frontrunner for the Tory leadership is mulling a five percentage point across the board reduction to value added tax. The measure could save families £1,300 a year. According to the Sunday Telegraph, Liz Truss, had discussed the possibility with advisers but a final decision would not be taken until after the end of Conservative leadership contest on 5 September. An estimate by the Institute for Fiscal Studies had put the cost of a five point reduction in VAT at £3.2bn per month and £38bn per year. - Guardian
Fri 26 Aug 2022 07:21
(Sharecast News) - Elon Musk may get access to Twitter data used in a 2021 audit of active users but other information the billionaire seeks in a bid to end his $44bn deal to buy the company were rejected as "absurdly broad", a judge said on Thursday. Twitter must turn over data from the 9,000 accounts sampled in the fourth quarter as part of its process to estimate the number of spam accounts. - Guardian
Thu 25 Aug 2022 07:19
(Sharecast News) - Physical and financial harm will be caused to millions of vulnerable families unless the government takes action to avert a winter catastrophe by cutting energy bills, leading economists have warned. In the run-up to the announcement of the new energy price cap tomorrow the Resolution Foundation thinktank said radical policies such as price freezes, solidarity taxes or lower social tariffs were needed to prevent the cost of living crisis worsening. - Guardian
Wed 24 Aug 2022 07:05
(Sharecast News) - The minimum wage should be increased to £15 an hour as soon as possible to help millions of low-paid workers struggling amid the cost of living crisis, the TUC has said. In a move that opens a fresh policy gap between unions and Keir Starmer's Labour party, the TUC has thrown its weight behind calls for a more ambitious legal floor on pay rates. The union body said the government needed to draw up plans to get wages rising as workers suffer the biggest hit to living standards on record. - Guardian
Tue 23 Aug 2022 07:08
(Sharecast News) - British Airways has announced another round of cancellations, axing 10,000 flights to and from Heathrow until the end of March next year as it adapts to the persistent staff shortages that have hit aviation. The carrier's decision to shrink its short-haul timetable by 8% comes after the London airport extended the summer's 100,000 daily cap on passenger numbers by another six weeks until the end of October and asked airlines to sell fewer flights. - Guardian
Tue 23 Aug 2022 07:08
(Sharecast News) - British Airways has announced another round of cancellations, axing 10,000 flights to and from Heathrow until the end of March next year as it adapts to the persistent staff shortages that have hit aviation. The carrier's decision to shrink its short-haul timetable by 8% comes after the London airport extended the summer's 100,000 daily cap on passenger numbers by another six weeks until the end of October and asked airlines to sell fewer flights. - Guardian
Mon 22 Aug 2022 07:12
(Sharecast News) - Chief executives of the UK's 100 biggest companies have seen their pay jump by 39% to an average of £3.4m, according to research by the High Pay Centre thinktank and the Trades Union Congress (TUC). The median average pay of CEOs of companies in the FTSE 100 index rose to £3.4m in 2021, compared with £2.5m in 2020 during the height of the coronavirus pandemic when many bosses took a voluntary pay cut as they placed millions of employees on furlough. CEO pay has also surpassed the £3.25m median recorded in 2019, before the pandemic. - Guardian
Sun 21 Aug 2022 16:40
(Sharecast News) - The Financial Mail on Sunday's Midas column recommended readers 'buy' shares of Phoenix Group, highlighting how it appeared to be on a path to strong growth and higher dividends.
Sun 21 Aug 2022 16:40
(Sharecast News) - The Chancellor is examining the options that it has at its disposal for bailing out businesses that might otherwise go bust next winter due to sky-high electricity prices. Government sources said Nadhim Zahawi believed that repurposing Covid schemes to help businesses should be among those options. Other options on the table include grants for small and medium-sized enterprises, as well as VAT and business rates holidays. Another source however said supports for SME's would be dependant on the next Prime Minister's appetite for increased borrowing. - The Sunday Times
Fri 19 Aug 2022 07:07
(Sharecast News) - The annual bonuses paid to water company executives rose by 20% in 2021, despite most of the firms failing to meet sewage pollution targets. Figures show on average executives received £100,000 in one-off payments on top of their salaries, during a period in which foul water was being pumped for 2.7m hours into England's rivers and swimming spots. - Guardian
Thu 18 Aug 2022 06:50
(Sharecast News) - More than 23 million people in the UK used virtually no cash last year, while notes and coins will account for just 6% of payments within a decade, a report predicts. The findings, from the banking body UK Finance, are likely to prompt concern that millions of people could be left behind as the shift to a cashless society accelerates. - Guardian
Wed 17 Aug 2022 06:55
(Sharecast News) - The executive overseeing construction of London's "super sewer" under the Thames has been awarded bonuses that doubled his pay to nearly £1m despite delays and cost over-runs on the flagship project. With executive pay in the water industry already under scrutiny, Tideway has revealed it paid its chief executive, Andy Mitchell, a total package of £928,000 for the year to 31 March 2022, up 7.5% from £863,000 a year earlier. - Guardian
Tue 16 Aug 2022 07:22
(Sharecast News) - Water company bosses should be stripped of their multimillion-pound bonuses until they fix leaks and build reservoirs, politicians and campaigners have said as the country is gripped by drought. With parts of England the driest they have been since records began - after five months of below-average rainfall - some homes have run out of water, rivers have turned dry and farmers are facing crop failures. Many are outraged at the companies for failing to invest in reservoirs, fix leaks and stop sewage pollution from their pipes. - Guardian
Mon 15 Aug 2022 07:25
(Sharecast News) - Amazon could be off the hook for tax in the UK for at least two more years after benefiting from reliefs brought in by Rishi Sunak during the pandemic, a report suggests. The research from the Fair Tax Foundation indicates that the US tech company claimed more than £800m in capital allowances - business expenses that can be offset against profits - in 2021, £500m more than in 2020. - Guardian
Sun 14 Aug 2022 17:36
(Sharecast News) - The Financial Mail on Sunday's Midas column recommended investors book some profits on Clarkson following the shares' nearly ten-fold rise under the stewardship of chief executive officer Andi Case.
Sun 14 Aug 2022 16:01
(Sharecast News) - Scottish Power and Eon have called for a special fund to be created that would allow customers' bills to be frozen for two years and to spread the cost of the natural gas price crisis over ten years or more. According to Scottish Power boss, Keith Anderson, "unprecedented times call for unprecedented action". UK families on default energy tariffs are staring at a surge in their annual bills from £1,971 to around £3,582 from 1 October when the new price cap set by Ofgem - and which is due to be announced on 26 August - is due to go into effect. The proposed 'deficit fund' would be backed by a government guarantee, allowing it to borrow billions from lenders such as Barclays, who had expressed interest in a prior similar proposal. - The Sunday Times
Fri 12 Aug 2022 07:24
(Sharecast News) - Ministers have been warned that energy bills will cost more than two month's wages next year unless new help is given to households, as the chancellor, Nadhim Zahawi, told firms they must invest their "extraordinary" profits or face the threat of further taxation. The TUC ramped up calls for the government to cancel the October energy price cap rise, saying the cost of living crisis this winter was an "emergency of pandemic scale". - Guardian
Thu 11 Aug 2022 07:28
(Sharecast News) - Walt Disney edged past Netflix with a total of 221 million streaming subscribers at the end of the most recent quarter and announced it will launch a Disney+ option with advertising this December. In the just-ended quarter, Disney+ added 14.4 million Disney+ customers, beating the consensus of 10 million expected by analysts polled by FactSet, as it released Star Wars series Obi-Wan Kenobi and Marvel's Ms Marvel. - Guardian
Wed 10 Aug 2022 07:32
(Sharecast News) - Elon Musk has sold $6.9bn (£5.7bn) worth of shares in Tesla after admitting that he could need the funds if he loses a legal battle with Twitter and is forced to buy the social media platform. The Tesla CEO walked away from a $44bn deal to buy Twitter in July but the company has launched a lawsuit demanding that he complete the deal. A trial will take place in Delaware in October. - Guardian
Tue 09 Aug 2022 07:25
(Sharecast News) - July could be the "lull before the storm" for retailers and consumers after the heatwave boosted sales of summer clothing, picnic treats and electric fans despite the intensifying cost of living crisis, experts have warned. Figures from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) revealed a 2.3% sales rise last month compared with a 6.4% rise the year before. The latest BRC-KPMG sales monitor found the sales growth was largely caused by inflation, which is at more than 9%, and masked a larger drop in the number of items sold. - Guardian
Mon 08 Aug 2022 07:31
(Sharecast News) - City workers received double-digit wage rises while people on the lowest incomes were paid annual increases of just 1% in the last year, according to a study that illustrates the ability of better-paid workers to protect themselves from the cost of living crisis. The CEBR (Centre for Economics and Business Research) said workers in the banking and insurance sector had secured inflation-busting increases together with lawyers, accountants and professional services staff, mainly among those working in London's financial district. - Guardian
Sun 07 Aug 2022 17:57
(Sharecast News) - Investors in Judges Scientific should hold on to a "decent" amount of their shares in the company, even if they may be tempted to take some profits now at 8,500.0p, the Financial Mail on Sunday's Midas column said.
Sun 07 Aug 2022 15:32
(Sharecast News) - The Bank of England has blamed, not without reason, Vladimir Putin's murderous invasion of Ukraine and the attendant energy price shock for much of the current spike in prices. Yet any chief executive worthy of the job should be preparing against the risk of another shock, that brought on from Western disengagement from China. The price stability of the last 30 years was in large measure the result of the disinflation resulting from technology and globalisation. The West in effect traded its economic resilience for cheap prices and the supposed efficiencies of 'just-in-time' global supply chains. - The Sunday Telegraph
Fri 05 Aug 2022 07:23
(Sharecast News) - British taxpayers are now shareholders in a further 65 companies because of a government rescue funding scheme set up during the Covid crisis - including a medical cannabis firm, a video game studio and a chain of bars offering activities like ping pong. A list published by the government's development bank reveals an eclectic range of firms that have received convertible loans as part of the Future Fund. - Guardian
Thu 04 Aug 2022 07:18
(Sharecast News) - Almost 6 million UK households are struggling to pay their mobile, landline and broadband bills, with the cost of living squeeze forcing many to cut back on essentials such as food and clothes, cancel or change a service, or miss payments to stay connected. A report from the consumer group Which? estimates that 5.7 million households have experienced at least one "affordability issue" in April, as cash-strapped homes struggle to cope with soaring bills and other costs. - Guardian
Wed 03 Aug 2022 07:18
(Sharecast News) - Petrol prices at the pumps are not falling fast enough and in line with wholesale price drops, according to the RAC. Over the last eight weeks, the average price paid for unleaded by drivers across the UK has only dropped by 9p a litre- all of which came off in July - despite wholesale petrol prices falling by 20p in the same time period. - Guardian
Tue 02 Aug 2022 07:24
(Sharecast News) - The daily gas production of Russia's Gazprom dropped in July to its lowest level since 2008, figures suggest, amid continued fears that Moscow could cause an energy crisis in Europe by shutting off the supply. The state-owned energy firm pumped 774 million cubic metres a day last month - 14% less than in June - according to analysis by Bloomberg of data released on Monday. - Guardian
Mon 01 Aug 2022 07:09
(Sharecast News) - Thousands of BT and Openreach workers will go on strike again on Monday in a dispute over pay. Members of the Communication Workers Union (CWU), including call centre workers and engineers, will hold a 24-hour strike, after similar action on Friday. The union will mount picket lines outside company offices across the UK and is asking people to bring food, which it will deliver to local food banks. - Guardian
Sun 31 Jul 2022 20:35
(Sharecast News) - Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky, issued a warning at the weekend that the war with Russia might halve Ukraine's harvest. Even so, Zelensky sounded a confident note, arguing that alternative ways were being found for grains to be delivered. John Rich, the Australian chairman of MHP, Ukraine's biggest agricultural produce company, was much more cautious. Rich also contradicted remarks from Lloyd's of London's boss during the previous week that the insurance market would underwrite the dangerous sea transit of millions of tonnes of grain through mine-laden waters. - Sunday Telegraph
Fri 29 Jul 2022 07:50
(Sharecast News) - Ben Wallace has endorsed Liz Truss for the Tory leadership and said she is the "only candidate" with the experience to lead the nation from day one in the job. Writing in The Times, the defence secretary said that he was backing Truss because she is "straight and means what she says". "Liz Truss is a winner not because she's a slick salesperson but because she is authentic," he adds. - The Times
Thu 28 Jul 2022 07:17
(Sharecast News) - Britain's exporters have seen their overseas trade stagnate over the past year despite strong growth in domestic demand for their products and booming export markets, according to a survey. The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) said that a survey of 2,600 exporters found a quarter had suffered a fall in exports and another 46% reported no change. - Guardian
Wed 27 Jul 2022 07:18
(Sharecast News) - The railways will again grind to a halt on Wednesday as workers strike over pay, job security and working conditions. The latest talks to avert the action failed last week, a month since three days of industrial action in June. The strikes involve more than 40,000 workers at Network Rail, 14 train companies, and members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT). - Guardian
Tue 26 Jul 2022 07:19
(Sharecast News) - Millions of people will be plunged into "unmanageable" debt this winter unless the government comes up with more support for those struggling to pay their energy bills, MPs have warned. - Guardian
Mon 25 Jul 2022 07:18
(Sharecast News) - More than two in five airport workers are considering quitting, research suggests, which could escalate delays already seen at terminals due to low staffing numbers. A survey of 1,700 workers by the UK jobs site CV-Library found reasons for wanting to leave the industry included wanting better pay and less stress. However, only 5% of respondents blamed the current situation at UK airports, where there have been long delays in recent months. - Guardian
Sun 24 Jul 2022 16:46
(Sharecast News) - The consultancy unit of EY think that consumer price inflation could hit 15% over the next winter. The prediction is a worst case scenario from the economists at EY-Parthenon, premised on President Putin blocking natural gas supplies to Europe, soaring food prices and inflation expectations becoming embedded amongst the population. Inflation in the UK hit a 40-year high in June, rising at an annual pace of 9.4%, and candidate for Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, has described the cost of living as the "number one challenge we face". - Sunday Times
Fri 22 Jul 2022 07:19
(Sharecast News) - Starling Bank has reported its first annual profit thanks to a surge in lending, though executives played down the impact that a controversial boom in Covid loans had on its path to profit. The chief executive and founder, Anne Boden, said the latest set of earnings were a "landmark" for the eight-year-old digital bank. Starling, which is backed by investors including Goldman Sachs and Austrian billionaire Harald McPike, swung to an inaugural annual profit of £32m for the year to March, from a loss of nearly £14m over the previous 12 months. - Guardian
Thu 21 Jul 2022 07:18
(Sharecast News) - Tesla's second quarter of 2022 came to a shaky end as the electric carmaker reported a drop in profit after it struggled to meet demand due to a shutdown of its Shanghai factory and production challenges at new plants. The company also sold 75% of its bitcoin holdings, leading to a slide in the cryptocurrency price. Tesla's second-quarter profit fell 32% from record levels in the first quarter, with the company reporting a $2.26bn net profit on Wednesday. - Guardian
Wed 20 Jul 2022 07:18
(Sharecast News) - Netflix reported better-than-expected earnings on Tuesday, seeing a smaller exodus of viewers than originally forecast even as the platform struggles to maintain its meteoric pandemic growth. Though Netflix reported its second straight quarterly drop in subscriber growth, and lost 1 million viewers in the second quarter of 2022, that number was lower than the 2 million it had projected in its previous report. Shares were up 10% in after-hours trading. - Guardian
Tue 19 Jul 2022 07:23
(Sharecast News) - Motorists can expect reductions of about £1.50 a tank after fuel prices dropped from record highs seen in recent months. According to the AA motoring group, average pump prices for petrol have fallen since the start of the month, when prices were 191.53p a litre for petrol and 199.07p a litre for diesel. - Guardian
Mon 18 Jul 2022 07:14
(Sharecast News) - Loot boxes in video games will not be banned in the UK, despite a government consultation finding evidence of a "consistent" association between the features and problem gambling. Loot boxes have attracted comparison with gambling because they allow players to spend money to unlock in-game rewards, such as special characters, weapons or outfits, without knowing what they will get. - Guardian
Fri 15 Jul 2022 07:32
(Sharecast News) - As the cost of living crisis builds up UK shoppers are slashing their budgets in almost all areas. But there is a notable exception - the money spent on clothing is above pre-pandemic levels, the return of weddings, holidays and socialising fuelling a boom in "revenge spending" or buying those treats missed over months of pandemic lockdowns. Shoppers are forking out almost a fifth more on clothing than last year, research from Kantar for the Guardian has found, taking the value 1% ahead of the 2019 figure. - Guardian
Thu 14 Jul 2022 07:30
(Sharecast News) - The cryptocurrency lender Celsius Network has announced it has filed for bankruptcy. Crypto lending has tumbled in the recent months following a crash in cryptocurrency prices and the collapse of major token TerraUSD in May. Celsius had paused withdrawals and transfers between accounts last month, blaming extreme market conditions. State securities regulators in New Jersey, Texas and Washington had stepped in to investigate the crypto lender's decision. - Guardian
Wed 13 Jul 2022 07:37
(Sharecast News) - Russia and Ukraine are set to hold their first talks with UN and Turkish officials aimed at breaking a months-long impasse over grain exports.
Wed 13 Jul 2022 07:37
(Sharecast News) - Russia and Ukraine are set to hold their first talks with UN and Turkish officials aimed at breaking a months-long impasse over grain exports.
Tue 12 Jul 2022 07:31
(Sharecast News) - Ministers have approved controversial plans to allow agency workers to replace striking workers, voting through the regulations on Monday night by 289 votes to 202. While the business minister, Jane Hunt, said the change, which was accelerated as a result of the ongoing rail strikes, was needed to remove the "outdated blanket ban" on using agency workers to cover official industrial action, critics say the measure is akin to a "scab charter". - Guardian
Mon 11 Jul 2022 07:29
(Sharecast News) - Elon Musk could be forced by a US court to complete his $44bn takeover of Twitter, according to legal experts, despite pulling the plug on the transaction. The Tesla chief executive told Twitter on Friday that he is terminating the deal, citing concerns over the number of spam accounts on the social media platform. Twitter's chairman, Bret Taylor, responded with a tweet stating that the company intended to "pursue legal action to enforce the merger agreement". - Guardian
Sun 10 Jul 2022 13:49
(Sharecast News) - The man brought in to turn around outsourcer Capita's fortunes sounded a far more chipper note in an interview. Since late 2017, the company has sold off large chunks of the business, while trying to position itself as a technology outfit in areas such as artificial intelligence and running chatbots for firms such as O2. Staff levels have been slashed from 73,000 to 52,000 and debt brought down to a level that is easier to manage. But the key change has been in the firm's corporate culture, according to Lewis. It now emphasises client relationships. Lewis also sounded a positive note on the outlook for the share price, predicting that it would be back at its pre-rights issue level in the next year or two. - Financial Mail on Sunday
Sun 10 Jul 2022 12:29
(Sharecast News) - The Financial Mail on Sunday's Midas column recommended readers buy shares of Serabi Gold, telling them that production was recovering and that profits were set to soar.
Fri 08 Jul 2022 07:24
(Sharecast News) - What price happiness? The answer might be £3,360 a year. The average UK worker would take a 10.5% pay cut to work for an employer where staff enjoy "above average" levels of happiness, a study has shown. The research, which examined 23 million jobseekers across the UK, US and Canada, comes amid a growing push for companies and governments to quantify the costs and benefits of wellbeing alongside cash measures of economic output. - Guardian
Thu 07 Jul 2022 07:12
(Sharecast News) - The value of food exports to the EU dropped by £2.4bn in the first 15 months after Brexit, according to analysis of HMRC data. However, overall exports, which were hit by the double whammy of Brexit red tape as well as decreased demand in hospitality due to the pandemic in 2021, recovered in the first three months of this year, the figures show. Data tracking exports since 1 January 2021, when the Brexit transition year ended, show UK food exports dropped by 19% to £10.4bn in the 15 months to 31 March 2022. - Guardian
Wed 06 Jul 2022 07:32
(Sharecast News) - More than 2m households have missed a bill payment every month this year as people struggle to keep their heads above water in a "relentless cost of living crisis", according to new research from consumer group Which?. In June an estimated 2.1m households missed or defaulted on at least one mortgage, rent, loan, credit card or bill, according to the consumer champion's monthly insight tracker. This figure has been above 2 million every month so far this year, it said. - Guardian
Tue 05 Jul 2022 07:46
(Sharecast News) - Customer service complaints have hit their highest level on record and are costing British businesses more than £9bn a month in lost staff time, research has found. As firms struggle to cope with global supply issues and a staffing crisis, the Institute of Customer Service found more consumers were experiencing service issues than at any point since its customer satisfaction index began in 2008. - Guardian
Mon 04 Jul 2022 07:42
(Sharecast News) - Truss told MPs last week she was supportive of the idea that the government could seize frozen Russian assets in the UK and redistribute them to victims of Russia's war in Ukraine. She said: "I am supportive of the concept. We are looking at it very closely. The Canadians have in fact just passed legislation This is an issue that we are working on jointly with the Home Office and the Treasury, but I certainly agree with the concept. We just need to get the specifics of it right." - Guardian
Sun 03 Jul 2022 16:49
(Sharecast News) - Rolls Royce failed to sell its Spanish unit ITP last week as planned, although Spanish regulators are expected to sign off on the transaction in the next few weeks. The engineer's proposed £1.5bn sale of the unit to US private equity outfit, Bain Capital, is a "crucial" part of its recovery plan. Holding up the deal is the Spanish government's desire to bring local investors on board. Talks between officials in Madrid and Bain are ongoing. The delays come even as Rolls Royce is facing a leadership vacuum due to the impending exit of its chief executive officer. - Financial Mail on Sunday
Fri 01 Jul 2022 07:43
(Sharecast News) - Customer service standards have fallen to record lows at energy companies, with suppliers Utilita and Ovo Energy among the worst offenders, according to a new report. Customers have had to wait longer for their calls to be answered and have regularly been unable to get hold of their supplier, research by Citizens Advice has found. - Guardian
Thu 30 Jun 2022 07:30
(Sharecast News) - Ministers' plans for reforming Britain's gambling laws were in disarray on Wednesday as a rift emerged at the top of the Conservative party over whether to ban football shirt sponsorship and impose a levy to fund addiction services. Multiple sources said the process of putting the finishing touches to a white paper on gambling reform had driven a wedge between departments and senior MPs, with the publication deadline just weeks away. - Guardian
Wed 29 Jun 2022 08:45
(Sharecast News) - EU countries clinched deals on proposed laws to combat the climate crisis in the early hours of Wednesday, backing a 2035 phase-out of new fossil-fuel car sales and a multibillion-euro fund to shield poorer citizens from the costs of carbon dioxide emissions. After more than 16 hours of negotiations, environment ministers from the 27 member states agreed their joint positions on five laws, part of a broader package of measures to slash planet-heating emissions this decade. - Guardian
Tue 28 Jun 2022 07:40
(Sharecast News) - The UK's biggest mobile and broadband companies have agreed a plan to help customers struggling to pay bills amid the cost of living crisis, including moves to allow switching to cheaper deals without paying a penalty. The package was agreed at a summit at Downing Street, co-chaired by the culture secretary, Nadine Dorries, and the cost of living business tsar, David Buttress, and attended by the top executives of the country's biggest telecoms firms, including BT, Virgin Media O2, Vodafone, Three, Sky and TalkTalk. - Guardian
Mon 27 Jun 2022 07:38
(Sharecast News) - The Queen's bank, Coutts & Co, and the Coal Pensions Board have joined a group of investors backing a resolution calling for Sainsbury's to pay the independently set living wage for all staff and contracted workers. The vote at the UK's second-largest supermarket's annual shareholder meeting on 7 July will be the first on a resolution committing a UK company board to pay the living wage. ShareAction, the responsible investment campaign group, said the resolution would be a "litmus test for investors' social commitments amid the cost-of-living crisis". - Guardian
Fri 24 Jun 2022 07:39
(Sharecast News) - A Cheshire chemicals factory is to start capturing carbon dioxide on an industrial scale from energy generation in what is described as the UK's first major use of the emissions-reduction technology. Tata Chemicals Europe (TCE) hopes to capture 40,000 tonnes of the greenhouse gas per year, reducing its annual emissions by 10% and providing it with a supply of high-purity carbon dioxide that could be used in products ranging from glass and washing detergents to pharmaceuticals and food. - Guardian
Thu 23 Jun 2022 07:27
(Sharecast News) - Almost a third of shoppers who use buy now, pay later credit say repayments on the loans have become "unmanageable", with the cost of living crisis pushing them into a debt spiral, new research has found. Consumers are spending more via the controversial form of credit, with shoppers who use BNPL now paying off an average of 4.8 purchases - almost double the 2.6 purchases in February, the research found. The average BNPL user's outstanding balance currently stands at £254.` - Guardian
Wed 22 Jun 2022 07:31
(Sharecast News) - Annual pay growth stalled at 4% in May, leaving most workers with a rise in earnings worth less than half the 9% increase in prices. Figures from XpertHR, a pay and personnel data publisher, said employer pay deals for the three months to May failed to increase on April's median 4%, undermining concerns that workers would push for inflation-busting rises in earnings that could start a wage-price spiral. - Guardian
Tue 21 Jun 2022 08:14
(Sharecast News) - The energy price cap could reach nearly £3,000 in the Britain at the beginning of October, with the planned increase possibly being more than £1,000 according to a new forecast. It is expected to rise to £2,980.63 for the next period, which runs between October and December, after another spike in wholesale demand prices last week. - Guardian
Mon 20 Jun 2022 07:32
(Sharecast News) - House prices in Great Britain hit a record high in June but are likely to start falling during the next few months as five interest rate rises and a worsening cost of living crisis finally start to put the brakes on the property market's record-breaking run, according to Rightmove. The property website said asking prices hit a record for a fifth consecutive month in June, rising by 0.3% - or £1,113 - to reach £368,614. However, this was the smallest monthly increase since January, with the site saying: "The exceptional pace of the market is easing a little." - Guardian
Sun 19 Jun 2022 11:35
(Sharecast News) - The Prime Minister called on the West's leaders to steel themselves for a prolonged war in Ukraine, saying that if not they risked the "greatest victory for aggression in Europe since the Second World War". He also pushed Britain's allies to hold their nerve and make sure that Kyiv had the "strategic endurance to survive and eventually prevail." According to Boris Johnson, the price of a rushed settlement in Ukraine would not be worth paying. "Imagine for a moment that Vladimir Putin's visions of glory were to come true. [...] What if no one was willing to lift a finger as he annexed this conquered territory and its fearful people into a greater Russia? Would this bring peace? Would the world be safer? Would you be safer?" - Sunday Times
Sun 19 Jun 2022 10:45
(Sharecast News) - The Sunday Times's Lucy Tobin told readers that shares of business recovery specialist, Begbies Traynor, are a 'buy' given the outlook for a rise in corporate insolvencies.
Fri 17 Jun 2022 07:32
(Sharecast News) - Gatwick airport will reduce its summer capacity to ward off potential chaos, after dozens of last-minute cancellations wrecked the travel plans of holidaymakers over the platinum jubilee and half-term holiday. London's second busiest airport will limit the number of daily take-offs and landings to 850 in August - about 50 more than the average in early June, but more than 10% below its pre-pandemic maximum. - Guardian
Thu 16 Jun 2022 07:39
(Sharecast News) - Labour has launched a review of business startup funding driven by a group of industry leaders including the former Goldman Sachs chief economist and Conservative Treasury minister Jim O'Neill as it attempts to improve its credentials with business. Announcing the review amid concern over the strength of the British economy, Rachel Reeves, the shadow chancellor, said Labour wanted to make Britain the best place in the world to start and grow a business. - Guardian
Wed 15 Jun 2022 07:32
(Sharecast News) - Global fossil fuel company BP has bought 40.5% of a renewable energy hub in the Pilbara, billed as having potential to become one of the biggest suppliers of green hydrogen in the world. The company will also operate the Asian Renewable Energy Hub, which has plans to generate up to 26GW of wind and solar energy - about a third of the electricity generated in Australia today. - Guardian
Tue 14 Jun 2022 07:30
(Sharecast News) - Victims of one of Britain's biggest banking frauds will each be offered £3m compensation packages, according to a source familiar with the proposed deal expected to be announced later this week. Halifax Bank of Scotland (HBOS) - which is now part of Lloyds Banking Group - was involved in a major fraud at its Reading branch in the early 2000s. - Guardian
Mon 13 Jun 2022 07:33
(Sharecast News) - More than half of the Leicester garment workers involved in a new study say they are paid below the minimum wage and receive no holiday pay, almost two years on from revelations about poor standards in the city's factories. The study was commissioned by a new body, the Garment and Textile Workers Trust, which is funded by online fashion retailer Boohoo, as part of efforts to clean up its act after revelations about poor practice in the group's Leicester supply chain. - Guardian
Sun 12 Jun 2022 18:16
(Sharecast News) - Kwasi Kwarteng, the Business Secretary, may be set to stop billionaire Patrick Drahi from taking over BT through new national security laws and from building up his stake in telecommunications group. Government may also block Drahi from taking a seat on the board. The current ban under takeover rules on any attempt by the investor to launch a bid is set to expire over the coming week. The Government has until the beginning of July to decide whether it wishes to act or not. - The Financial Mail on Sunday
Sun 12 Jun 2022 17:47
(Sharecast News) - The Financial Mail on Sunday's Midas column tipped shares of Auction Technology Group to readers, saying they offered "clear, long-term potential".
Fri 10 Jun 2022 07:34
(Sharecast News) - Rishi Sunak has been accused of wasting £11bn of taxpayers' money by paying too much in interest servicing the government's debt. The National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) said the losses were the result of the chancellor's failure to insure against interest rate rises on £900bn of reserves created through the quantitative easing (QE) programme. - Guardian
Thu 09 Jun 2022 07:35
(Sharecast News) - More than 420,000 British gamblers lose at least £2,000 a year, according to a major report that warns losses on the most addictive products are "strongly skewed" towards deprived areas. The report lays bare the punishing losses incurred by the heaviest gamblers and raises "concern" at the low level of intervention by gambling companies to prevent them suffering harm. - Guardian
Wed 08 Jun 2022 07:35
(Sharecast News) - Chinese fashion behemoth Shein might be the organisation least expected to win applause at an international conference on fashion sustainability, but that's what happened at this week's global fashion summit in Copenhagen. The industry's largest forum for sustainable progress saw the ultra-fast fashion brand praised for making a donation of $15m (£12m) over three years to a charity working at Kantamanto in Accra, the world's largest secondhand clothing market. - Guardian
Tue 07 Jun 2022 07:40
(Sharecast News) - Concerns have been raised over the City's influence on Westminster, after a report found financial firms and individuals tied to the sector donated £15m to political parties and gave £2m to MPs during the pandemic. The campaign group Positive Money tallied the gifts, expenses and donations handed to MPs, peers and their parties, as well as the value of income from politicians' second jobs, saying it contributed to finance's "oversized influence" on policymaking. - Guardian
Mon 06 Jun 2022 07:27
(Sharecast News) - UK holidaymakers have faced yet more travel chaos as easyJet cancelled another 80 flights on Sunday, Eurostar trains experienced further delays, and roads began to clog up with drivers returning from half-term and jubilee weekend breaks. Tens of thousands of British travellers are estimated to be stranded at airports across Europe after close to 200 flight cancellations over the weekend. - Guardian
Sun 05 Jun 2022 23:04
(Sharecast News) - The White House appears set to allow Iran and Venezuela to export more oil in response to fuel shortages in the West. With that aim in mind, the US may allow Italy's Eni and Spain's Repsol to send Venezuelan oil to Europe possibly by as soon as in the following month. According to an executive from oil trader Vitol, the Biden administration may also permit Tehran to export its oil even if the country does not provide more assurances regarding its nuclear programme. - The Sunday Telegraph
Wed 01 Jun 2022 07:35
(Sharecast News) - The International Air Transport Association (Iata) has blamed the half-term gridlock besetting UK airports on a problem with getting clearances for new staff, saying the time taken to approve recruits has more than tripled. Willie Walsh, director general of Iata, said it was now taking as long as three months to get security badges for new employees in the UK, compared with three to four weeks previously, meaning potential staff were seeking out other jobs. - Guardian
Tue 31 May 2022 07:29
(Sharecast News) - Missguided, the online fashion specialist, has called in administrators after failing to secure a rescue bid. Administrators from Teneo were appointed on Monday after the company was issued with a winding-up petition by clothing suppliers who are owed millions of pounds. About 140 jobs are thought to be at risk with one source saying more than 80 people had immediately been made redundant. - Guardian
Mon 30 May 2022 07:36
(Sharecast News) - Three-quarters of small and medium-sized companies are worried about the long-term impact the cost of living crisis, soaring energy bills and rising inflation will have on their business, a survey has found. Just over half (51%) of SMEs said they were concerned that rocketing prices would dent consumer spending, in response to Barclays' SME Barometer, a quarterly survey of business sentiment conducted for the bank. - Guardian
Sun 29 May 2022 18:07
(Sharecast News) - Ted Baker's suitor from the other side of the Pond could step away from its bid for the fashion group. Authentic Brands had been negotiating an acquisition for £1.50 a share. Jut last week Ted Baker had said it was in talks with a 'preferred counter-party'. But now the US group is said to be studying deals elsewhere and the talks will in any case likely take several weeks. Other UK deals were a possibility although the US market remained its main focus. - Financial Mail on Sunday
Fri 27 May 2022 07:28
(Sharecast News) - BP has said it will review its investments in the North Sea after the government unveiled a windfall tax on oil and gas operators. The chancellor, Rishi Sunak, laid out plans on Thursday for a 25% tax increase to taxes on North Sea energy companies, in a move that is expected to raise £5bn. A sunset clause in the legislation means that Sunak's "energy profits levy" will only be phased out when oil and gas prices return to historically more normal levels or by December 2025. - Guardian
Thu 26 May 2022 07:41
(Sharecast News) - Elon Musk has secured additional funding to purchase Twitter, according to financial filings made public on Wednesday, moving the billionaire closer to completing the high-profile deal. The Tesla CEO said in the regulatory filings he has increased his personal funding of the purchase from $27.3bn to $33.5bn and secured an additional $6.25bn in equity financing, reducing the amount of debt the entrepreneur would take on in the $44bn purchase. - Guardian
Wed 25 May 2022 07:33
(Sharecast News) - An international deal that would force the world's biggest multinational companies to pay a fair share of tax has been delayed until 2024 amid fresh wrangling over the painstakingly negotiated agreement. Mathias Cormann, the secretary-general of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), told the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, that there were "difficult discussions" taking place that meant the deal could not come into force in 2023, as previously hoped. - Guardian
Tue 24 May 2022 07:24
(Sharecast News) - Washington DC's attorney general has sued Mark Zuckerberg, seeking to hold the Facebook co-founder personally responsible for his alleged role in allowing the political consultancy Cambridge Analytica to harvest the personal data of millions of Americans during the 2016 election cycle. The suit, filed in the capital by the District of Columbia attorney general, Karl Racine, alleges that Zuckerberg directly participated in policies that allowed Cambridge Analytica to gather the personal data of US voters without their knowledge in an attempt to help Donald Trump's election campaign. - Guardian
Mon 23 May 2022 07:28
(Sharecast News) - HSBC has suspended a senior banker after he referred to climate crisis warnings as "unsubstantiated" and "shrill" during a conference speech that has since been denounced by the lender's chief executive. Stuart Kirk, who has been HSBC's head of responsible investing since last July, will remain suspended until the bank completes an internal investigation into the matter. - Guardian
Sun 22 May 2022 23:41
(Sharecast News) - The Barclay family has revived plans to list its e-commerce empire, The Very Group, during the middle of next year following a decision to postpone its plans in 2021 due to the worsening in market conditions. Very Group generated sales of £2.3bn in 2021 for pre-tax profits of £81.7m, making it one of the UK's largest retailers. The company had been on the auction block in 2017 but plans for a sale were jettisoned after potential private equity buyers balked at the £3bn price tag. - The Sunday Times
Fri 20 May 2022 07:39
(Sharecast News) - The cost of decommissioning the UK's seven ageing nuclear power stations has nearly doubled to £23.5bn and is likely to rise further, the public accounts committee has said. The soaring costs of safely decommissioning the advanced gas-cooled reactors (AGRs), including Dungeness B, Hunstanton B and Hinkley B, are being loaded on to the taxpayer, their report said. - Guardian
Thu 19 May 2022 07:34
(Sharecast News) - Unions have called on the government to take urgent action to fix a "whopping pensions gap", as research showed women working in many industries have half the retirement savings of men. The TUC said Thursday was "gender pensions gap day", when female pensioners in Great Britain start getting paid after effectively going four and a half months without retirement income. - Guardian
Wed 18 May 2022 07:30
(Sharecast News) - The business department's handling of Covid support schemes left an "open goal" to fraudsters and embezzlers that has added "billions to taxpayer woes", parliament's spending watchdog has found. In its review of the annual report of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) said it recognised that the government offered crucial support to businesses at the height of the pandemic. - Guardian
Tue 17 May 2022 07:33
(Sharecast News) - Pressure on the government to help those hardest hit by Britain's cost of living crisis has intensified after the head of one of the country's leading employers' groups said immediate support was a "moral imperative". Tony Danker, the director-general of the CBI, said Rishi Sunak should step in to provide assistance to households skipping meals as a result of rising food and fuel bills. - Guardian
Mon 16 May 2022 13:01
(Sharecast News) - Administrators for the collapsed rent-to-own firm BrightHouse, which specialised in loans for big-ticket items such as fridges and sofas, have warned they will not have enough money to compensate thousands of customers who were left with unaffordable debts. The latest report from the accountants Grant Thornton, which is managing the administration, shows a plan to set aside £600,000 for payouts to customers who may have been mis-sold expensive loans by BrightHouse has been scrapped. - Guardian
Sun 15 May 2022 15:02
(Sharecast News) - State-controlled Emirates Telecommunications Group has amassed a 9.8% stake in Vodafone. However, Etisalat, as the Abu Dhabi telecoms operator is know, has said it has no intention of making a takeover bid nor is it "seeking to exert control or influence". That statement in effect bars it from being able table a bid for six months. Be that as it may, Enders analyst., Karen Egan, believes that the move adds to the pressure on Vodafone boss, Nick Read, to accelerate his restructuring plans. The company, which is due to present results on Tuesday, was already facing calls from some of its main shareholders to slim its operations and boost returns. - The Financial Times on Sunday
Fri 13 May 2022 07:34
(Sharecast News) - Twitter announced the departure of two top leaders in a major shakeup that comes as billionaire Elon Musk is working to close a $44bn deal to acquire the company. In an email to employees on Thursday, chief executive Parag Agrawal said Twitter's leaders for consumer product and revenue will leave the company. Agrawal said the company was temporarily pausing hiring, and would review all existing job offers to determine whether any "should be pulled back". - Guardian
Thu 12 May 2022 07:29
(Sharecast News) - Client meetings and emails could be picked up alongside a pint of milk and a box of eggs under a new deal between Tesco and flexible office operator IWG. From later this month, the owner of office operator Regus is to test out a 3,800 sq ft flexible working area within Tesco's New Malden supermarket, with room for 12 private desks, 30 co-working spaces and a meeting room. - Guardian
Wed 11 May 2022 07:32
(Sharecast News) - More than 250,000 households will "slide into destitution" next year, taking the total number in extreme poverty to around 1.2m, unless the government acts to help the poorest families hit by the energy price shock, according to the National Institute for Economic & Social Research (NIESR). More than 1.5m households will see the rise in food and energy bills outstrip their disposable income, forcing them to rely on savings or extra borrowing to make up the shortfall, said the thinktank, which blamed welfare spending cuts since the Brexit vote in 2016 for leaving millions of families in a vulnerable financial position. - Guardian
Tue 10 May 2022 07:30
(Sharecast News) - Drivers are scrambling to buy secondhand electric cars, more than doubling sales in the past year as demand for zero-emission vehicles surges. Figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) show that the number of transactions for electric cars increased from 6,600 in the first three months of 2021 to almost 14,600 in the first quarter of this year, an increase of 120%. - Guardian
Mon 09 May 2022 07:27
(Sharecast News) - Barclays has avoided nearly £2bn in tax via a lucrative arrangement in Luxembourg that allowed it to pay less than 1% on profits in the tax haven for more than a decade. A Guardian analysis of Barclays' tax bills shows it is still benefiting from a controversial decision in 2009, in which it booked profits from the $15.2bn sale of a fund management business in Luxembourg rather than in the UK where it is headquartered. - Guardian
Fri 06 May 2022 07:32
(Sharecast News) - A new tech watchdog will be given the power to impose multibillion-pound fines on major firms such as Google and Facebook if they breach rules designed to protect consumers and businesses. The Digital Markets Unit (DMU) will protect small businesses from predatory practices and will give consumers greater control over how their data is used, the government said. - Guardian
Thu 05 May 2022 07:31
(Sharecast News) - The UK's biggest electricity distribution business has agreed to pay £14.9m after its support for vulnerable customers during power cuts was deemed "totally unacceptable". The energy regulator said National Grid's Western Power Distribution (WPD) did not provide proper support to 1.7 million customers during the outages. An Ofgem investigation, launched in 2020, found that WPD had failed customers in a number of areas including not carrying out criminal record checks for all staff visiting customers' homes. - Guardian
Wed 04 May 2022 07:30
(Sharecast News) - Cuts to rail funding could lead to more serious rail accidents as well as fewer, more crowded trains, unions have said. A TUC report said passenger safety will be compromised should Network Rail press ahead with reductions to its maintenance workforce to save £100m a year. About 2,500 jobs are expected to go and the TUC said it would be impossible to make such cuts without putting passengers at risk. It warned that the Treasury was also demanding cuts from train operators that would disrupt services and leave fewer trains running, leaving commuters "packed like sardines". - Guardian
Tue 03 May 2022 07:30
(Sharecast News) - Six in 10 people think company bosses should be prevented from earning more than 10 times the average paid to employees, according to polling shared exclusively with the Guardian. A poll for the High Pay Centre, a thinktank that campaigns for fairer pay for workers, found that 63% of Britons said chief executives should be paid no more than 10 times the earnings of lower- or mid-ranking employees. - Guardian
Sun 01 May 2022 18:26
(Sharecast News) - The Prime Minister is planning to give approximately 2.5 million Britons the right to buy the homes that they currently rent from housing associations. Boris Johnson ordered that planning start during the past fortnight, convinced that it would help "generation rent". Connected to the above, officials are also pursuing an idea by which tens of billions of pounds used by government to finance housing benefits would be funneled into helping recipients get mortgages. Details of the policy have surfaced ahead of what may be bruising local election results for Conservatives on Thursday. - Sunday Telegraph
Fri 29 Apr 2022 07:21
(Sharecast News) - Ministers have formally signalled the death of the licence fee after deciding to overhaul the BBC's 100-year-old funding model. In the first big update to British broadcasting laws for nearly 20 years, the government said it would set out a timetable for a review of the licence fee over the coming months, during which alternatives would be considered. - The Times
Thu 28 Apr 2022 07:22
(Sharecast News) - The private company behind the Passport Office's contact centre has been ordered to hire more staff to ease "unacceptable" delays. Teleperformance, the French-owned multinational that is responsible for call handling, has been "urgently tasked to add additional staff" by the Home Office, which is trying to avert a summer of chaos. - The Times
Wed 27 Apr 2022 07:18
(Sharecast News) - Suitcases filled with cash from taxpayer-backed Covid loans were seized at the border as people tried to smuggle them out of the country, a Times investigation reveals today. Border force officials have stopped people at airports across Britain "carrying large amounts of money suspected from coronavirus bounce-back loans", a Home Office source said. - The Times
Tue 26 Apr 2022 07:19
(Sharecast News) - Elon Musk's takeover of Twitter offers shareholders the "best path forward", its chairman declared last night after bowing to the billionaire's $44 billion bid. The social media group dropped its resistance and approved the Tesla chief executive's initial offer of $54.20 per share. - The Times
Mon 25 Apr 2022 07:23
(Sharecast News) - Emmanuel Macron won a resounding victory against Marine Le Pen in the presidential run-off, becoming the first French modern head of state to secure re-election while holding executive power. Macron, 44, won with 58.5 percent of the vote against Le Pen's 41.5 per cent after an aggressive second-round campaign in which he cast the leader of the National Rally as a far-right threat to democracy and European security. - The Times
Mon 25 Apr 2022 00:05
(Sharecast News) - Relations between Twitter and and Elon Musk may be thawing if reports that the former is taking a fresh look at the technology magnate's £33bn takeover offer is anything to go by. According to the Wall Street Journal, the two sides were set to meet on Sunday to discuss the deal and Twitter's board was now said to be "more receptive to a deal". - Sunday Telegraph
Fri 22 Apr 2022 07:17
Friday newspaper round-up: Partygate, consumer confidence, Shanghai lockdown, Twitter, Brexit checks
(Sharecast News) - Boris Johnson was forced to submit to a third investigation over lockdown parties yesterday after facing a "revolt" by junior ministers who threatened to resign rather than back him. The Times understands that at least six members of the government told whips they could not support a Downing Street plan that would have put off a decision on holding a parliamentary investigation into the events. - The Times
Thu 21 Apr 2022 07:27
(Sharecast News) - More than 40,000 railway workers are to be balloted in a dispute over jobs and pay that a union says could result in Britain's biggest rail strike in modern history. The National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) said staff would be asked to vote on strike action over Network Rail's plans to cut at least 2,500 maintenance jobs as part of a £2bn reduction in spending on the network. - Guardian
Wed 20 Apr 2022 07:31
(Sharecast News) - A few weeks after a short-lived £1.7 billion bid to take over the rival Oxford Instruments, Spectris, the FTSE 250 precision engineering group, has sold off a large part of its own business for £400 million. The chief executive has made it clear, though, that it could revive an Oxford Instruments deal. - The Times
Sun 17 Apr 2022 17:10
(Sharecast News) - Elon Musk has begun discussions with possible partners for a bid on Twitter after the iconic social media outfit put in place a so-called 'poison pill' in an attempt to thwart a mooted £33bn takeover. That stratagem was preceded by Twitter's rejection of an offer from Musk last Friday worth $54.20 a share. The pill would be activated should Musk take his own stake over the 15% threshold. - Sunday Times
Sun 17 Apr 2022 17:10
(Sharecast News) - The Financial Mail on Sunday's Midas column recommended shares of Impact Healthcare, as 'a long-term buy', touting the company's long-term growth prospects, dividend yield of over 5.0% and management's attention to detail which they surmised was paying off.
Thu 14 Apr 2022 07:31
(Sharecast News) - Holidaymakers trying to get away for the Easter weekend have been warned they are likely to face disruption whether travelling by air, rail, road or sea. Staff sickness and a shortage of workers have already caused multiple days of chaos for air passengers, with carriers cancelling dozens of flights at short notice, while ferry operators have struggled to meet demand as P&O Ferries services remain suspended. - Guardian
Wed 13 Apr 2022 07:28
(Sharecast News) - A Twitter shareholder is suing Elon Musk for failing to disclose that he had bought a substantial stake in the company, affecting share prices. The Tesla CEO revealed on 4 April that he had acquired a 9.2% stake in Twitter. Shares in the social media company soared, as investors viewed the move as a vote of confidence from the richest man in the world. - Guardian
Tue 12 Apr 2022 07:25
(Sharecast News) - More than a quarter of a billion people around the world could be pushed into extreme poverty this year amid a surge in global food prices after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the ongoing impact of Covid and rising global inequality, Oxfam has warned. Highlighting the knock-on impact of the war for the poorest people around the globe, the aid charity said two decades of progress were in danger of being reversed as the conflict pushes up prices on wholesale markets, disrupts harvests and impedes exports of vital commodities. - Guardian
Mon 11 Apr 2022 07:27
(Sharecast News) - Elon Musk, Twitter's biggest shareholder, has decided not to join the social media company's board, its chief executive Parag Agrawal has said. Musk, who disclosed a 9.2% stake in Twitter just a few days ago, was offered a board seat and his appointment was to become effective on Saturday. But Agrawal posted on Twitter that Musk had declined the offer. "Elon shared that same morning that he will no longer be joining the board," Agrawal said on Sunday. - Guardian
Sun 10 Apr 2022 23:28
(Sharecast News) - Stock market listings have taken a big hit as a result of the war in Ukraine and the jump in energy prices. Over the first quarter of 2022, 19 firms have debuted on the London Stock Exchange, five more than in the corresponding period of the year before. But they raised just £397m, against £5.6bn in the first quarter of 2021, some 14 times more. Globally, listings halved during the same period to reach just 321 for £41.8bn in funds raised and EY expects the weakness to stretch into the second quarter. - The Financial Mail on Sunday
Fri 08 Apr 2022 07:28
(Sharecast News) - The Dubai-based owner of P&O Ferries has lost its status as a formal partner in one of the government's biggest freeport projects, after widespread public anger over the firing without notice of 800 workers last month. Ministers have confirmed that DP World, the Emirati logistics giant behind P&O, no longer had a central role as a "partner" in the Solent freeport after the resignation of its UK commercial director from the scheme's board last week. - Guardian
Thu 07 Apr 2022 07:25
(Sharecast News) - Boris Johnson is to put nuclear energy at the heart of the UK's new energy strategy, but ministers have refused to set targets for onshore wind and vowed to continue the exploitation of North Sea oil and gas. Amid deep divisions among senior Conservatives, the strategy will enrage environmentalists, who say the government's plans are in defiance of its own net-zero targets and neglect alternative measures that experts say would provide much quicker relief from high energy bills. - Guardian
Wed 06 Apr 2022 07:28
(Sharecast News) - Twitter has confirmed it has working on an edit button, but denied the idea came after the company's new largest shareholder, Elon Musk, held a poll on it. For years, editing a tweet already published has been a sought after feature on the site, to correct typos or embarrassing mistakes. Currently people work around it by deleting and reposting the tweet. - Guardian
Tue 05 Apr 2022 07:39
(Sharecast News) - Morrisons has warned its profits are likely to take a significant hit this year as the cost of living crisis and disruption due to the war in Ukraine weigh on the grocery market. The UK's fourth largest supermarket chain said "developments in the geopolitical environment" and "ongoing and increasing inflationary pressure" since the beginning of February were hitting consumer sentiment and spending. - Guardian
Mon 04 Apr 2022 07:41
(Sharecast News) - Britain's strategic heavy industries have warned they risk being left high and dry by a lack of support in the government's upcoming energy strategy, warning that failure to follow European countries' measures to reduce gas and electricity costs will put UK businesses at risk. The government is expected to outline long-awaited proposals this week for a once-in-a-generation drive to invest in nuclear power and possibly more onshore wind and solar power, as well as approving continued North Sea oil and gas exploration. - Guardian
Mon 04 Apr 2022 00:37
(Sharecast News) - Britons' confidence in their finances plumbed to its lowest level since the start of the Covid-19 lockdown, the results of a survey conducted by PwC showed. Worries about higher prices and the cost of living dragged the index down to -20, against a reading of +8 one year before and of -26 at the beginning of the pandemic. Across all age groups, consumers were planning to rein in spending on eating out, clothes and holiday trips, even as they braced for higher spending on groceries. - Sunday Times
Fri 01 Apr 2022 07:42
(Sharecast News) - More UK businesses are preparing to raise prices than at any time since the 1980s, heaping further pressure on hard-pressed consumers amid recent increases in gas, electricity and petrol prices. The British Chambers of Commerce said its latest quarterly survey found almost two-thirds of firms expected to raise prices over the next three months, the highest since the survey began in 1989.m - Guardian
Thu 31 Mar 2022 07:29
(Sharecast News) - Almost 500 "ghost flights" a month departed from the UK between October and December 2021, data has revealed. The information, obtained through a freedom of information request by the Guardian, shows Heathrow, Aberdeen, Manchester, Stansted and Norwich were the top five airports for such flights during the period. - Guardian
Wed 30 Mar 2022 07:40
(Sharecast News) - Competition investigators raided the offices of outsourcer Mitie and are examining the emails of senior staff, after the Home Office raised concerns about suspected anti-competitive behaviour, the Guardian understands. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is examining the relationship between Mitie and US firm PAE, who operate a joint venture for the Ministry of Defence but were also competing to run Home Office immigration removal centres, at Derwentside, in Coutry Durham, and Heathrow. - Guardian
Tue 29 Mar 2022 07:25
(Sharecast News) - Books, stationery, phone chargers, toys and exam study guides are the latest items to be ferried to customers on fast-track delivery bikes via a partnership between WH Smith and Deliveroo. The high street retailer will offer 600 products for delivery in as little as 20 minutes, joining similar services offered by supermarkets, pharmacies and takeaways. - Guardian
Mon 28 Mar 2022 07:15
(Sharecast News) - Grant Shapps is writing to the chief executive of P&O Ferries urging him to announce a U-turn on the decision to sack 800 workers without notice, as unions pledged to "ratchet up the fight" after a weekend of protests. The transport secretary is expected to present a package of legislation on Wednesday to close loopholes and ensure ferry companies running regular services to and from the British Isles pay their crew the UK minimum wage. - Guardian
Sun 27 Mar 2022 19:59
(Sharecast News) - The White House clarified comments from Joe Biden who earlier had called for Russian President Vladimir Putin's ouster. In a speech delivered in Poland, Biden said: ""For God's sake, this man cannot remain in power." A spokesman for the White soon after stated that US leader was not talking about 'regime change'. "The president's point was that Putin cannot be allowed to exercise power over his neighbours or the region," the spokesman explained. - The Sunday Times
Sun 27 Mar 2022 10:38
(Sharecast News) - The Sunday Times's Lucy Tobin tipped shares of neuroscience outfit Cambridge Cognition Holdings to readers.
Fri 25 Mar 2022 07:27
(Sharecast News) - The UK government has set a new target to increase the number of electric car chargers more than ten times to 300,000 by 2030 after heavy criticism that the rollout of public infrastructure is too slow to match rapid growth in sales. The Department for Transport (DfT) said it would invest an extra £450m to do so, alongside hefty sums of private capital. Sales of new cars and vans with petrol and diesel engines will be banned from 2030. - Guardian
Thu 24 Mar 2022 07:36
(Sharecast News) - Some food bank users are declining items such as potatoes as they cannot afford the energy to boil them, the boss of the supermarket Iceland has said, as the soaring cost of living pushes vulnerable groups to the financial brink. Richard Walker, who says the 1,000-stores in the budget chain are in the "poorest communities in the UK", also called on the government to help businesses that are being forced to increase prices significantly as their own costs dramatically increase. - Guardian
Wed 23 Mar 2022 07:24
(Sharecast News) - Rishi Sunak will promise "security" to cash-strapped families as he announces a fresh package of measures to tackle the cost of living crisis on Wednesday, but will continue to underline the importance of fixing the public finances. The chancellor has been under intense pressure to take action to help households with the rocketing cost of fuel and other essentials. The financial expert Martin Lewis told MPs on Tuesday that many households are facing a "fiscal punch in the face" when the energy price cap rises next month. - Guardian
Tue 22 Mar 2022 07:27
(Sharecast News) - Boris Johnson has told nuclear industry bosses that the government wants the UK to get 25% of its electricity from nuclear power, in a move that would signal a significant shift in the country's energy mix. Johnson on Monday met executives from major nuclear utilities and technology companies including the UK's Rolls-Royce, France's EDF, and the US's Westinghouse and Bechtel to discuss ways of helping to speed up the development of new nuclear power stations. - Guardian
Mon 21 Mar 2022 07:31
(Sharecast News) - The average price tag on a home in Great Britain has topped £350,000 for the first time, according to Rightmove. Typical asking prices hit £354,564 in March, up 1.7% or £5,760 compared with February, the property website said. It was the biggest monthly rise for this time of year in 18 years, and pushed the annual rate of growth in asking prices to 10.4%. - Guardian
Sun 20 Mar 2022 19:30
(Sharecast News) - German finance minister, Christian Lindner, is calling for a fresh push in the wake of the invasion of Ukraine to put in place a trade deal between the European Union and the US. The last attempt, known as the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), was put to rest in 2016, during the Trump administration. In remarks made to Handelsblatt, Lindner said the conflict had made clear how important it is to foster free trade with partners who share the same values. He was speaking ahead of a planned visit to a NATO summit by US President Joe Biden later in March. - Sunday Telegraph
Sun 20 Mar 2022 19:23
(Sharecast News) - The Financial Mail on Sunday's Midas column told readers to hold onto their shares of MP Evans, the producer of sustainable Indonesian palm oil.
Fri 18 Mar 2022 07:32
(Sharecast News) - Thousands of steelworkers were the victims of pension regulation failures that left some with losses of up to £489,000, an official report has found, prompting accusations that the UK financial watchdog was "asleep at the wheel". The National Audit Office's findings relate to a 2017 scandal involving members of the British Steel pension scheme, many of whom were persuaded to transfer their retirement savings by advisers who then pocketed huge fees. - Guardian
Thu 17 Mar 2022 07:28
(Sharecast News) - Nearly 90% of former Debenhams stores remain empty almost a year after the department store closed its doors for the last time, in a sign of the challenge to reinvent high streets across the country. The empty shops are among nearly 8,000 outlets left empty last year, according to a report by the high street analysts Local Data Company (LDC), as Covid lockdowns accelerated the shift towards shopping online and pummelled city centres. - Guardian
Wed 16 Mar 2022 07:27
(Sharecast News) - HSBC is to shut a further 69 branches, on top of the 82 it axed last year, claiming the pandemic has accelerated the shift to digital banking. It is the latest in a line of banks to announce it is reducing its network in response to changing customer habits. Consumer organisation Which? said the number of closures during the last few years was "alarming" and that millions of people were not yet ready or able to go fully digital. - Guardian
Tue 15 Mar 2022 07:23
(Sharecast News) - Petrol could soar to £2.50 a litre, while diesel could hit £3 and may even be rationed, experts told MPs on Monday, as they warned that Russia's invasion of Ukraine spells worsening pain for consumers. In testimony to the Treasury select committee, leading economics and energy analysts also called on the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, to subsidise lower-income households to cope with soaring home energy bills, amid a broader cost of living crisis. - Guardian
Mon 14 Mar 2022 07:28
(Sharecast News) - A Russian default on its debts after western sanctions over its invasion of Ukraine is no longer "improbable", but would not trigger a global financial crisis, the head of the International Monetary Fund said on Sunday. The Washington-based fund's managing director, Kristalina Georgieva, said the sanctions imposed by the United States and other nations were already having a "severe" impact on the Russian economy and would trigger a deep recession there this year. The war in Ukraine will also drive up food and energy prices, leading to hunger in Africa, she added. - Guardian
Sun 13 Mar 2022 13:50
(Sharecast News) - The UK needs to massively expand wind farms across the country in order to safeguard national security, the business secretary has said, as the government considers sweeping changes to planning laws in order to improve energy independence. Against that backdrop, the Prime Minister will unveil a radical new "energy strategy" within a fortnight in order to make sure that that UK can get all the energy that it needs from a combination of renewables and nuclear. - Guardian
Sun 13 Mar 2022 13:50
(Sharecast News) - The Financial Mail on Sunday's Midas column recommended shares of five companies to readers, pointing out that history proved that the best time to buy shares was often when everyone else was running scared.
Fri 11 Mar 2022 07:28
(Sharecast News) - Russia has drawn up plans to seize the assets of western companies leaving the country as the Kremlin pushes back against sweeping sanctions and the exodus of international businesses since its invasion of Ukraine. Announcing the move after a string of global firms said they would suspend operations in Russia this week, including McDonald's, Coca-Cola and Pepsi, the country's economic ministry said it could take temporary control of departing businesses where foreign ownership exceeds 25%. - Guardian
Thu 10 Mar 2022 07:20
(Sharecast News) - Members of the Democratic-controlled House judiciary committee have referred Amazon to the Department of Justice, alleging "potentially criminal conduct" by the company and some of its senior executives. In a letter to the attorney general, Merrick Garland, lawmakers claim that Amazon had engaged in a "pattern and practice of misleading conduct that suggests" it was acting to influence the committee's investigation into online market competition. - Guardian
Wed 09 Mar 2022 07:28
(Sharecast News) - Sadiq Khan has called on ministers to grant him powers to freeze private rents in London, amid a push by Labour over cost of living issues which also saw the party reiterate its call for the scrapping of the planned increase in national insurance contributions. The mayor has previously called on the government to allow him to put in place rent controls in London as a way to ease fast-rising costs, but has been rebuffed by ministers. - Guardian
Tue 08 Mar 2022 07:28
(Sharecast News) - UK household incomes are on course to collapse by the most since the mid-1970s after Russia's invasion of Ukraine sent energy prices soaring to new highs, a thinktank has said. The Resolution Foundation said the dramatic increase in global oil and gas prices was forecast to push UK inflation above 8% this spring, causing average incomes across Britain to fall by 4% in the coming financial year - a hit worth £1,000 per household, the biggest annual decline since 1975. - Guardian
Mon 07 Mar 2022 07:32
(Sharecast News) -
Burberry has become the latest luxury brand to temporarily shut its stores in Russia following Moscow's invasion of its neighbour Ukraine, after similar moves in recent days by Louis Vuitton, Hermès, Kering, Chanel and Prada. The British fashion brand has three stores in the country, including one run by a franchisee and one in Moscow's famous Red Square. It had already announced last week that it had halted deliveries to the outlets but confirmed this weekend that it was shutting them for the time being. - Guardian
Sun 06 Mar 2022 17:12
(Sharecast News) - Chinese policymakers are targeting the slowest rate of growth for their economy this year since 1991 in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. At the opening of the National People's Congress, Premier Li Keqiang said the government's target for GDP growth in 2022 had been set at 5.5% and promised to increase fiscal spending, including on defence. For their part, private economists anticipate that the People's Bank of China will cut interest rates, even as western countries do the opposite in order to brake price growth. Nevertheless, Beijing's target is higher than the International Monetary Fund's own for growth of 4.8%. - The Sunday Times
Sun 06 Mar 2022 13:00
(Sharecast News) - The Financial Mail on Sunday's Midas column told readers to 'buy' shares of Defence outfit Chemring, arguing that the tide was turning for the sector as a whole due to heightened geopolitical tensions.
Fri 04 Mar 2022 07:31
(Sharecast News) - Britain's economic growth will halve this year as a result of soaring inflation, hefty tax rises and the destabilising shock from the war in Ukraine, a leading business lobby group has warned. In the first major forecast of the UK economy since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) said it expected an inflation rate of 8% to cut disposable incomes in 2022, putting the brakes on the recovery from the pandemic. - Guardian
Thu 03 Mar 2022 07:28
(Sharecast News) - The UK-based Russian billionaire oligarchs Mikhail Fridman and Petr Aven have had their shares in the $22bn (£17bn) conglomerate LetterOne, which owns Holland & Barrett, "frozen", days after they were hit with EU sanctions following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. LetterOne, which is just under 50% owned by Fridman and Aven, announced on Wednesday night that the men had "ceased to have any involvement with the company" and that it had frozen their shares. - Guardian
Wed 02 Mar 2022 07:32
(Sharecast News) - The government's long-delayed register of offshore owners of UK property will fail to tackle corruption unless multiple loopholes in the draft legislation are closed, experts have warned. On Monday, the government announced it would introduce a "register of overseas entities" requiring anonymous foreign owners of UK property to publicly declare their true identities as part of its draft Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) bill. - Guardian
Tue 01 Mar 2022 07:25
(Sharecast News) - Rishi Sunak is facing renewed pressure from business leaders to delay a planned £12bn rise in national insurance, amid warnings over soaring costs for companies and households as the Russian invasion of Ukraine drives up inflation. The manufacturing trade body Make UK, which represents 20,000 firms of all sizes across the country, said the tax hike planned for April should be pushed back until the UK economy is in a stronger position. It warned the government that pressing ahead would risk firms slamming the brakes on recruitment and putting the economic recovery from Covid at risk. - Guardian
Mon 28 Feb 2022 07:33
(Sharecast News) - The EU has announced it will ban the Russian state-backed channels RT and Sputnik in an unprecedented move against the Kremlin media machine. The European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, said: "Russia Today and Sputnik, as well as their subsidiaries, will no longer be able to spread their lies to justify Putin's war and to sow division in our union. So we are developing tools to ban their toxic and harmful disinformation in Europe." - Guardian
Fri 25 Feb 2022 07:29
(Sharecast News) - The US Securities and Exchange Commission has reportedly opened an investigation into whether recent stock sales by Tesla CEO Elon Musk and his brother Kimbal Musk violated insider trading rules. The SEC inquiry - first reported by the Wall Street Journal on Thursday - was sparked in part by the Tesla CEO's own tweets. - Guardian
Thu 24 Feb 2022 07:23
(Sharecast News) - The chancellor, Rishi Sunak, will say he wants to cut taxes "sustainably" and downgrade the role played by the state as an engine of growth, in a landmark speech that aims to quell concern among Tory backbenchers about the tax burden rising to its highest level in 70 years. Spelling out a personal philosophy on Thursday in his first major speech since Downing Street scandals opened the door for a change of leadership at the top of the Conservative party, Sunak will say only a market economy, driven by private sector spending, will create the dynamism needed to maintain sustainable growth. - Guardian
Wed 23 Feb 2022 07:30
(Sharecast News) - UK petrol prices are poised to hit a record 150p a litre later this week after the worsening tension in Ukraine added fresh pressure to the cost of living crisis facing households. Crude oil prices reached more than $99 a barrel at one point on Tuesday in response to Vladimir Putin's decision to recognise the independence of two breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine. Prices later slipped back after markets viewed the west's initial sanctions response as weak. - Guardian
Tue 22 Feb 2022 07:25
(Sharecast News) - Sanjeev Gupta's GFG Alliance metals empire has launched an action in London's high court in a last-ditch attempt to reclaim a prized aluminium smelter in northern France from a US private equity fund. Two GFG Alliance companies have filed a legal claim against a fund controlled by American Industrial Partners (AIP), which has run the smelter in Dunkerque since October after gaining approval from the French government. - Guardian
Mon 21 Feb 2022 07:28
(Sharecast News) - Asking prices for homes coming on to the market in Britain rose by a record 2.3% in February, according to the property website Rightmove. The listing site said it was the biggest monthly increase in the 20 years it has kept records and meant the average advertised cost of a home was up by £7,785, to £348,804. Over the past 12 months, asking prices have gone up by 9.5%. - Guardian
Sun 20 Feb 2022 22:05
(Sharecast News) - Britain is prepared to reject Canadian beef treated with hormones, dealing a setback for the trade talks, which had been due to formally start in April. One Whitehall source said there was "very little room to move" on food standards and that it would be extremely difficult to climb down on the issue. Trade officials confirmed that food standards would be a "red line" during the negotiations. - Sunday Telegraph
Sun 20 Feb 2022 21:34
(Sharecast News) - The Sunday Times's Sabah Meddings told readers to buy shares of Mirriad, arguing that trends in advertising were going the company's way.
Fri 18 Feb 2022 07:35
(Sharecast News) - The UK competition watchdog is teaming up with its counterparts in the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand in a drive to detect and investigate collusion between suppliers or shipping groups to hike prices. The Competition and Markets Authority said it was linking up with its fellow agencies in other "five eyes" nations after receiving "multiple complaints" from businesses about supply chains, where, for example, fees for shipping have soared by up to 10 times compared with pre-pandemic levels in the past two years. The CMA said that despite the complaints it was yet to find evidence of potential breaches of the law. - Guardian
Thu 17 Feb 2022 07:25
(Sharecast News) - The Post Office and the government need to speed up compensation payments to workers who were victims of the Horizon IT scandal, according to a report by an influential group of MPs. MPs from parliament's Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) committee have expressed concerns about the time taken to make settlements to former Post Office operators who were wrongfully convicted as a result of errors in the company's computer accounting system. - Guardian
Wed 16 Feb 2022 07:32
(Sharecast News) - A promotion by the fast-fashion retailer Boohoo that used "sexually suggestive" images of a model in an oversized T-shirt and thong-style bikini bottoms has been banned by the UK advertising watchdog for objectifying and sexualising women. The online retailer used several images of the model, including a shot taken from the rear of her kneeling and another of her sitting with her legs apart, which prompted a complaint to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) that the promotion was offensive, harmful and irresponsible. - Guardian
Tue 15 Feb 2022 07:24
(Sharecast News) - NatWest has become the first bank in 2022 to announce it will close some of its outlets as customers shun branches for mobile banking. The high street lender will shut 32 branches across its NatWest and Royal Bank of Scotland brands in England and Wales over the next year. - Guardian
Mon 14 Feb 2022 07:25
(Sharecast News) - British employers are expecting to award pay rises of 3% in 2022, the highest in at least a decade, though well below the rate of inflation, as they try to recruit and retain workers, according to a new survey of businesses. The expected pay rise comes amid persistent signs of a tight labour market, with almost two-thirds of employers expecting to have difficulties filling job vacancies in the coming six months, according to a survey of more than 1,000 recruitment and human resources workers by YouGov for the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD). - Guardian
Fri 11 Feb 2022 07:34
(Sharecast News) -
HM Revenue & Customs has been accused by an influential group of MPs of "ignorance and inaction" on recouping £6bn of fraudulent Covid-19 support payments, drawing an angry backlash from the tax authority. The public accounts committee (PAC), which monitors state spending, issued a litany of criticisms of HMRC, warning that money surrendered to fraudsters would ultimately add to the cost of living crisis engulfing Britain. - Guardian
Thu 10 Feb 2022 07:28
(Sharecast News) - Wealth taxes will be needed to fund a £76bn a year increase in government spending by the end of the decade, caused by an ageing population and more expensive healthcare, a thinktank has said. The Resolution Foundation said the UK was on course to see the size of the state match that of Germany by 2030, and warned new methods of raising money to pay for higher spending would be needed. - Guardian
Wed 09 Feb 2022 07:35
(Sharecast News) - Almost a third of bus services in England could be axed within weeks if the government does not make "critical decisions" to extend emergency funding, bus operators have warned. Bus services were supported by grants during the pandemic when customers were advised to avoid unnecessary travel, but funding is due to expire on 5 April, with passenger numbers still only about 70% of pre-pandemic levels. - Guardian
Tue 08 Feb 2022 07:27
(Sharecast News) - Thousands of homes could soon be paid to halve their electricity usage for a couple of hours daily when the UK's power demand is high under a new scheme to help reduce energy bills and create a zero carbon power supply system. From next week the trial by Octopus Energy and National Grid's electricity system operator will offer the household supplier's customers the chance to earn money by cutting their power use by between 40% and 60% below normal levels during a set two-hour period. - Guardian
Mon 07 Feb 2022 07:27
(Sharecast News) - Investment in financial tech firms in the UK grew sevenfold last year to $37.3bn (£27.5bn), according to KPMG, with London attracting more fintech funding than the rest of Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) put together. The investment total was boosted by 601 deals that were finalised in the UK in 2021, the financial services firm said, up from 470 the year before. - Guardian
Fri 04 Feb 2022 07:31
(Sharecast News) - Motorists will have to pay by the mile to make up a £35bn tax shortfall that will arise from the shift to electric vehicles, MPs have warned, calling on the government to act urgently to bring in a national road pricing scheme. The cross-party Commons transport select committee said it saw "no viable alternative" to road pricing and work should start immediately on creating a replacement for fuel duty before it dwindled away with the transition. - Guardian
Thu 03 Feb 2022 07:26
(Sharecast News) - The Treasury is scrambling to complete 11th-hour plans capable of softening a national cost of living crisis, including a £200 rebate on energy bills and more help for the poorest households. No 10 and the Treasury have been under pressure from Tory MPs to act as millions of households brace for a record hike in energy bills from April, and the prospect of rising mortgage rates and tax increases. - Guardian
Wed 02 Feb 2022 07:25
(Sharecast News) - The government has been warned by an influential group of MPs to urgently tackle a "fraud epidemic" across Britain, amid concerns about the increasing financial toll on consumers and taxpayers from economic crime. The Commons Treasury committee said ministers needed to bring in fresh laws and beef up resources for fighting fraud after a dramatic surge in scams during the coronavirus pandemic. - Guardian
Tue 01 Feb 2022 07:28
(Sharecast News) - Treasury officials have quietly introduced a new "super tax" to deter energy company owners from cashing out lucrative contracts for gas bought in advance before leaving their supply business to go under. The government quickly pushed through the new laws late last week to counter industry concerns that Stephen Fitzpatrick, the founder of Ovo Energy, could use his almost two-thirds stake in the company to liquidate its long-term gas contracts and exit the supply market with a hefty profit. - Guardian
Mon 31 Jan 2022 07:27
(Sharecast News) - Boris Johnson has announced plans for legislation to make it easier to rip up EU regulations and protections, amid criticism from Conservative MPs that the government has not taken sufficient advantage of Brexit. The plans claim to cut £1bn in red tape expenses for businesses, but Johnson gave no firm details on which regulations are intended to be repealed or enhanced, instead stating five principles that would be applied, including the value of sovereignty and creating new markets. - Guardian
Fri 28 Jan 2022 07:33
(Sharecast News) - Denise Coates, head of gambling empire Bet365, was Britain's biggest taxpayer last year, according to the Sunday Times Tax List.The Coates family paid an estimated £481.7m, topping the annual ranking of billionaires' tax payments for the third consecutive year. While the family's tax payment was down from £573m in 2020, it was still almost £200m more that paid by hedge fund manager Chris Rokos in second-place with a £300m payment to the exchequer. - Guardian
Thu 27 Jan 2022 07:31
(Sharecast News) - The lowest number of cars rolled out of British factories last year since 1956, as the industry warned that rising energy costs and further shortages of computer chips will plague its recovery. Car production slumped across the UK and the world in 2020 as the coronavirus pandemic swept across the globe, but many in the industry had expected a rapid improvement. Instead, the disruption triggered a global shortage of semiconductor chips, leading to an even worse 2021. - Guardian
Wed 26 Jan 2022 07:31
(Sharecast News) - At least 100,000 "ghost flights" could be flown across Europe this winter because of EU airport slot usage rules, according to analysis by Greenpeace. The deserted, unnecessary or unprofitable flights are intended to allow airlines to keep their takeoff and landing runway rights in major airports, but they could also generate up to 2.1 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions - or as much as 1.4 million average petrol or diesel cars emit in a year - Greenpeace says. - Guardian
Tue 25 Jan 2022 07:31
(Sharecast News) - Mark Zuckerberg has announced his social media empire is building what he claims is the world's fastest artificial intelligence supercomputer as part of plans to build a virtual metaverse. The Facebook founder said in a blogpost that the metaverse, a concept that blends the physical and digital world via virtual and augmented reality, will require "enormous" computing power. The AI supercomputer, dubbed AI Research SuperCluster (RSC) by Zuckerberg's Meta business, is already the fifth fastest in the world, the company said. - Guardian
Mon 24 Jan 2022 07:32
(Sharecast News) - Britain's biggest cities have lost almost a year's worth of sales during the coronavirus pandemic as lockdowns and a lack of office workers and tourists caused a collapse in consumer spending. As offices have started to reopen following the relaxation of plan B restrictions, the Centre for Cities said Covid-19 had "levelled down" historically more prosperous high street destinations. - Guardian
Thu 20 Jan 2022 07:32
(Sharecast News) - An extraordinary battle pitting New York multimillionaires against their billionaire neighbours is expected to reach fever pitch on Thursday when local politicians in the Hamptons vote on proposals to close an airport in the super-rich enclave. The East Hampton town board is expected to vote in favour of a plan to "deactivate" the local airport that buzzes with helicopters and private jets ferrying the uber-wealthy from Manhattan to their luxury beach houses. - Guardian
Wed 19 Jan 2022 07:33
(Sharecast News) - Unilever has been warned that buying GlaxoSmithKline's consumer products arm is likely to substantially swell its debt pile and could trigger a "multi-notch downgrade" to its credit rating. Ratings agency Fitch said Unilever would not be able to keep hold of its current A rating with a stable outlook beyond 2024-2025, and would be cut to BBB, if it were to acquire GSK's consumer products division or another large business. - Guardian
Tue 18 Jan 2022 07:20
(Sharecast News) - Soaring energy bills could eat up more than half of some UK households' incomes, a leading poverty charity has said, amid warnings that vulnerable people will be left unable to eat regularly or could even be at risk of death from the cold. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) said that while households across the board faced bill increases of 40% to 47% from April, there would be huge variations in the ability of families to cope. - Guardian
Mon 17 Jan 2022 07:25
(Sharecast News) - The number of households suffering from "fuel stress" - those spending at least 10% of their family budgets on energy bills - is set to treble to 6.3m overnight when the new energy price cap comes in on 1 April, according to a leading research group. Fuel stress will no longer be confined to the poorest households, according to a study by the Resolution Foundation. Low- and middle-income families will also find it hard to cope as they spend a far greater share of their family budget on these essentials than higher earners. - Guardian
Fri 14 Jan 2022 07:27
(Sharecast News) - The global surge in demand for energy could spark another three years of market volatility and record power plant pollution unless countries make major changes to how they generate electricity, the world's energy watchdog has warned. The International Energy Agency recorded the steepest ever increase in electricity demand last year, which triggered blackouts in major economies and led to historic energy price highs and record emissions. - Guardian
Thu 13 Jan 2022 07:28
(Sharecast News) - Ovo Energy is moving to cut a quarter of its entire workforce in an attempt to cut costs amid the growing industry crisis. The UK's third-biggest supplier of gas and electricity is expected to announce the loss of 1,700 roles out of 6,200 as part of a voluntary redundancy scheme as soon as Thursday. Gas market prices last month reached an all-time high of £4.50 per therm, about nine times higher than this time last year. - Guardian
Wed 12 Jan 2022 07:26
(Sharecast News) - UK households have suffered the sharpest fall in the amount of cash they have available to spend for almost eight years, amid a worsening cost of living crisis driven by high inflation and rising energy bills. According to a report by the insurer Scottish Widows, increasing living costs at the end of last year hit people's pockets and led to the steepest decline in cash availability since the start of 2014. - Guardian
Mon 10 Jan 2022 07:26
(Sharecast News) - Manufacturers have warned that Brexit will add to soaring costs facing British industry, amid concerns that customs delays and red tape will rank among the biggest challenges for firms this year. ake UK, the industry body representing 20,000 manufacturing firms of all sizes from across the country, said that while optimism among its members had grown, it was being undermined by the after-effects of the UK's departure from the EU. - Guardian
Fri 07 Jan 2022 07:44
(Sharecast News) - Boris Johnson should bar Bain & Company from lucrative government contracts in light of a judicial commission's findings about the management consultancy's "despicable" role in state corruption in South Africa, Peter Hain has said. In a letter shared with the Guardian, the former Labour minister and anti-apartheid campaigner urged Johnson to "immediately freeze all government contracts with Bain" and to advise all public bodies to do the same. - Guardian
Thu 06 Jan 2022 07:30
(Sharecast News) - Britain's economic recovery stalled before the arrival of the Omicron variant of Covid and the dampening effect of the government's plan B restrictions on consumer spending in the Christmas shopping period, a wide-ranging company survey has found. Businesses blamed spiralling inflation and shortages of imported goods for a decline in sales in the fourth quarter, which meant that an expansion during the spring and summer ground to a halt. - Guardian
Wed 05 Jan 2022 07:28
(Sharecast News) - European gas prices have risen by more than 30% on Tuesday, adding to mounting concerns about the cost of heating a home, as supplies that usually come into Europe from Siberia continued to flow eastwards for the 15th day in a row. The Kremlin has repeatedly denied using Russia's vast gas resources to turn the screw on Europe, after gas coming through the Yamal-Europe pipeline reversed direction three days before Christmas. - Guardian
Tue 04 Jan 2022 07:19
(Sharecast News) - Apple became the first US company to be valued at over $3tn on Monday as the tech company continued its phenomenal share price growth, tripling in value in under four years. A pandemic-era surge in tech stocks has driven the major US tech companies to new highs, pulling US stock markets with them. Apple became the world's first trillion dollar company in August 2018, passed $2tn in 2020 and hit its new high as trading began after the holidays and its shares passed $182.80 a piece before dipping lower to end the day valued at over $2.9tn. - Guardian
Fri 31 Dec 2021 07:35
(Sharecast News) - The viability of thousands of small businesses is at risk as escalating energy costs take their toll on companies just as they try to recover from Covid restrictions, according to a stark warning from their federation. Small businesses, which employ almost 13 million people in the UK, are expected to feel the brunt of crippling energy costs in the coming weeks as firms begin to strike new fixed-term deals amid record high energy market prices across Europe. - Guardian
Thu 30 Dec 2021 07:34
(Sharecast News) - A £350 million private equity-backed project to prevent the closure of GlaxoSmithKline's manufacturing plant in Ulverston has "fallen over". Tony Mallin, executive chairman of Star Capital, the London-based private equity firm, said the venture had been thwarted by the "lack of a long-term contract commitment" from the government. "This was not high up on their priority list at the moment and all the focus is on vaccines," he said. - The Times
Fri 24 Dec 2021 07:33
(Sharecast News) - The family owners of Selfridges have sold out to a Thai retailer and an Austrian property company for an estimated £4bn ($5.36bn) in a deal which sees the return of the luxury department store's former boss Vittorio Radice. Thailand's Central Group and Austrian real estate company Signa Holding already jointly own major department stores in Italy, Germany and Denmark via a division run by Radice, who left Selfridges in 2002, the year before Canada's Weston family bought it for £628m. - Guardian
Thu 23 Dec 2021 07:32
(Sharecast News) - Nurses, care home staff and police officers working on Christmas Day will be thousands of pounds worse off than they were a decade ago as a result of wages failing to keep pace with prices, Trades Union Congress analysis has shown. Urging the government to raise the minimum wage to £10 an hour, the TUC said the key workers expected to keep Britain going on 25 December had taken real pay cuts since 2010. - Guardian
Wed 22 Dec 2021 07:30
(Sharecast News) - Rishi Sunak has been accused of failing to do enough to help embattled hospitality businesses through the Omicron wave after refusing to bring back furlough for the hardest-hit firms. Succumbing to intense pressure to offer financial support amid a collapse in pre-Christmas trade for pubs, restaurants and hotels, the chancellor announced a £1bn bailout package on Tuesday consisting of business grants and help with sick pay. - Guardian
Tue 21 Dec 2021 07:28
(Sharecast News) - Major retailers are having to offload Christmas trees for £1 or less after shoppers shied away from UK high streets and retail centres in the last weekend before Christmas. B&Q has cut the price of its fresh trees - some costing £49 or more - to £1 or less at stores around the country. One shopper posted a picture on social media of trees priced as little as 10p in Abingdon, Oxfordshire. - Guardian
Mon 20 Dec 2021 07:32
(Sharecast News) - City firms are likely to revive plans to shift staff to the EU once Covid-related travel restrictions ease next year, a financial sector report has said, as the number contemplating such moves continues to rise. Of the 222 largest UK financial services firms monitored by accountancy firm EY since the 2016 referendum, 97 of them (44%) have confirmed they are relocating staff or operations to the continent, or are considering it - up from 41% in January 2020. - Guardian
Fri 17 Dec 2021 07:21
(Sharecast News) - Poor service from suppliers of PCR travel tests is "an issue of national significance", and regulators are not doing enough to police hundreds of new businesses that have moved into the market, the former competition boss Andrew Tyrie has said. In an interview with the Guardian, Lord Tyrie, who was chairman of the Competition and Markets Authority until last year, called for a clean up of the list of PCR test providers published on the government website, which many travellers consult before buying a kit. - Guardian
Thu 16 Dec 2021 07:27
(Sharecast News) - Efforts by the British and French drugmakers GSK and Sanofi Pasteur to produce a Covid-19 vaccine have suffered a further setback, with final clinical data on the jab and a potential launch delayed until next year as they struggle to find enough uninfected people to test it on. The two vaccine specialists announced positive preliminary results from a trial that showed the vaccine raised antibody levels against Covid by nine to 43 times when given as a single booster shot in people who had already received doses of AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, Moderna or Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines, for all age groups. - Guardian
Wed 15 Dec 2021 07:32
(Sharecast News) - Farmers have accused the government of failing to listen to their warnings over the future of domestic food production, after concerns ministers would not increase the number of seasonal worker visas next year. The criticism came at a summit convened by the National Farmers' Union (NFU) and attended by the environment minister, George Eustice, where food producers, processors and retailers urged government to fix supply chains to ensure food security. - Guardian
Tue 14 Dec 2021 07:25
(Sharecast News) - Pubs and restaurants predict that Christmas cancellations made following the introduction of measures to limit the spread of the Omicron variant of Covid-19 in England will cut their festive takings by 40%. While hospitality venues have not yet been forced to reimpose measures such as social distancing or mandatory mask-wearing, industry leaders said tougher restrictions had already caused irreparable damage to trade, especially in city centres. - Guardian
Fri 10 Dec 2021 07:37
(Sharecast News) - Energy companies face deepening scrutiny over their response to Storm Arwen after the opening of an official investigation into their handling of the crisis, which left almost a million homes without power for up to 12 days. The government's review into the "unacceptable" power cuts, which followed the storm, aims to identify any issues with the resilience of the electricity network companies worst affected, and how they communicated with households after of the outages. - Guardian
Thu 09 Dec 2021 07:26
(Sharecast News) - The government is facing growing pressure to relaunch furlough and other emergency financial support schemes after imposing working from home orders in England because of the rapid spread of the Omicron variant of coronavirus. Business leaders and unions warned that failure to provide assistance to companies and their workers in the hardest-hit sectors of the economy risked squandering progress made since the easing of pandemic restrictions earlier this autumn. - Guardian
Wed 08 Dec 2021 07:23
(Sharecast News) - Trading in shares of embattled Chinese developer Kaisa Group Holdings have been suspended on the Hong Kong stock exchange, prompting fresh nerves about the financial stability of the country's massive property sector. The suspension on Wednesday comes after Kaisa was reportedly unlikely to meet a dollar bond repayment of $400m (£301m) by the deadline of Tuesday night in the US, Reuters said, citing a source with direct knowledge of the matter. - Guardian
Tue 07 Dec 2021 07:21
(Sharecast News) - China's politburo has signalled measures to kickstart the faltering economy as the crisis gripping the country's debt-laden property sector continued to blight prospects for growth. President Xi Jinping's senior leadership committee rubber-stamped a plan from the central bank on Monday for more targeted lending to businesses and outlined support for the housing market. - Guardian
Fri 03 Dec 2021 07:36
(Sharecast News) - The $75bn takeover of Cambridge-based chip designer Arm by its rival Nvidia is in jeopardy after US regulators followed the UK and Europe in moving to block "the largest semiconductor chip merger in history". The Federal Trade Commission has sued to stop the takeover of Arm, which has ballooned in value from $40bn to $75bn since the offer was made last September due to a stock market surge in the chip sector, as seemingly almost insurmountable opposition now mounts after regulator action in Europe and the UK. - Guardian
Thu 02 Dec 2021 07:31
(Sharecast News) - A Teesside factory that makes Covid-19 vaccines has received a £400m injection from its Japanese owners, the largest single investment in UK pharmaceutical manufacturing in decades. The biotechnology arm of the Japanese conglomerate Fujifilm, which is better known for its photography heritage, said the package would more than double its Billingham site's development and manufacturing capability, creating the largest biopharmaceutical factory with several different technologies in the UK. - Guardian
Wed 01 Dec 2021 07:18
(Sharecast News) - It has been another record year for renewable energy, despite the Covid-19 pandemic and rising costs for raw materials around the world, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). About 290GW of new renewable energy generation capacity, mostly in the form of wind turbines and solar panels, has been installed around the world this year, beating the previous record last year. On current trends, renewable energy generating capacity will exceed that of fossil fuels and nuclear energy combined by 2026. - Guardian
Tue 30 Nov 2021 07:31
(Sharecast News) - Volumes of goods shipped directly from Ireland to the EU on new Brexit-busting ferry routes have rocketed by 50% in the past six months as exporters seek to avoid travelling across land through Great Britain, according to official data. Figures published by the Irish Maritime Development Office (IMDO) show significant traffic diverted away from the traditional routes between Dublin and Britain to some of 32 new ferry services direct to ports such as Le Havre, Cherbourg and Dunkirk in France and Zeebrugge in Belgium. - Guardian
Mon 29 Nov 2021 07:35
(Sharecast News) - Britain's manufacturers are facing a "perfect storm" crisis of rapidly rising costs and towering debts that many fear could push them over the brink, according to a new survey. The leading industry trade body on Monday urged the government to introduce payment holidays on loans, warning that thousands of firms faced a "tipping point" that could make their business models unviable. - Guardian
Fri 26 Nov 2021 07:34
(Sharecast News) - StubHub has been accused of failing to disclose when customers are buying tickets from professional touts, in breach of a legal undertaking given to the consumer watchdog. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) requires sites such as Viagogo and StubHub to let customers know when tickets are being sold by professional ticket traders, who dominate resale listings for gigs and other events, leading to fans paying massively inflated prices. - Guardian
Thu 25 Nov 2021 07:34
(Sharecast News) - The government has begun to count the cost of Bulb Energy's collapse as many begin to wonder whether it is a fair price to pay for policymakers' failure to spot a looming market breakdown. The life-support scheme set up to allow Bulb to keep supplying gas and electricity to its 1.7 million customers through the winter months could cost taxpayers up to £1.7bn according to a court application to hand the company to a special administrator. - Guardian
Wed 24 Nov 2021 07:38
(Sharecast News) - The insurer LV= will be taken over by a company based offshore in Jersey if members agree to deal orchestrated by US private equity firm Bain Capital that would see it lose its historic mutual status. Bain has established a Jersey-based company called BCC Blake Bidco Ltd to carry out the takeover, according to correspondence between an independent expert and Gareth Thomas, a Labour MP and shadow minister of international trade. - Guardian
Mon 22 Nov 2021 07:24
(Sharecast News) - The owner of John Lewis and Waitrose will on Monday launch a £1m fund that will channel cash into projects with the potential to end the high street's "throwaway" culture. The John Lewis Partnership is inviting academics, charities and start-ups that have ideas with the potential to reduce the environmental impact of the food, clothing and gadgets we buy, to pitch for a share of the money. The fund is aimed at identifying "innovators" that are challenging the industry's outdated "make ... use ... throw away" model. - Guardian
Fri 19 Nov 2021 07:26
(Sharecast News) - Sanjeev Gupta's GFG Alliance has sold two aluminium parts factories after Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) stepped in to secure a vital part of its supply chain. Evtec, an automotive supplier based in Coventry, will take over Liberty Aluminium Technologies casting plants in Coventry and Kidderminster in the West Midlands, saving 170 jobs. However, GFG is closing a site in Witham, Essex, with the loss of 64 jobs. - Guardian
Thu 18 Nov 2021 07:27
(Sharecast News) - Ranjit Singh Boparan, the owner of East Anglian turkey producer Bernard Matthews, said the first workers would arrive in the next few days as it prepared for the busy festive season. Boparan said: "With just a few weeks to go until Christmas, it is very good news to be able to report that here we are in mid-November, and we're well on the way to plugging the job gaps for the massive volume increases we get during this time of year. - Guardian
Wed 17 Nov 2021 07:22
(Sharecast News) - JPMorgan has sued Tesla for $162.2m, accusing Elon Musk's electric car company of "flagrantly" breaching a 2014 contract relating to stock trading options that Tesla sold to the bank. The options, or warrants, give the holder the right to buy a company's stock at a set "strike" price and date. The suit, filed in a Manhattan federal court, centres on a dispute over how JPMorgan repriced its Tesla warrants as a result of Musk's notorious 2018 tweet that he was considering taking the carmaker private. - Guardian
Tue 16 Nov 2021 07:18
(Sharecast News) - Countries are losing almost half a trillion dollars through tax abuse by multinationals and the super-rich, enough to fully vaccinate the global population against Covid-19 three times over, a report has said. Research by tax campaigners found that estimated losses had risen from $427bn last year to $483bn (£359bn) in 2021, with the UK alone responsible for almost 40% of the total. - Guardian
Mon 15 Nov 2021 07:38
(Sharecast News) - Weak EU vehicle emissions targets could allow Europe's biggest carmakers to produce millions more petrol and diesel cars than necessary up to 2030 in a "wasted decade" for cutting carbon pollution, according to a report. Analysis of car industry sales plans for electric vehicles shared exclusively with the Guardian by Transport and Environment (T&E), a thinktank and campaign group, showed that manufacturers could hit their 2030 EU carbon emissions targets with four years to spare. - Guardian
Fri 12 Nov 2021 07:29
(Sharecast News) - Graduates from poorer backgrounds earn half as much as their more privileged peers in their first job after university because they put themselves forward for fewer roles and lack the family connections and financial support to hunt for top jobs, a survey has shown. The survey of 5,000 graduates suggested that those whose parents held professional roles, including chief executives, doctors and teachers, earned an average of £23,457 in their first job after university, compared with just £11,595 among those whose parents held technical, manual or service jobs. After university, poorer graduates applied for an average of six jobs compared with nine for their wealthier peers, the figures showed. - Guardian
Thu 11 Nov 2021 07:29
(Sharecast News) - Elon Musk has sold about $5bn in shares amounting to roughly 3% of his Tesla holdings, the billionaire reported in filings on Wednesday, just days after he polled Twitter users about selling 10% of his stake. About $4bn worth of the sale - 3.6m shares - could be considered as counting towards his 10% pledge on Twitter. Another $1.1bn worth, amounting to 934,000 shares, was sold under an options arrangement to acquire nearly 2.2m shares that was already in train before the poll. - Guardian
Wed 10 Nov 2021 07:32
(Sharecast News) - Britain's employers are offering bonuses of up to £2,000 to recruit Christmas workers amid fears over staff shortages disrupting the festive season. Research from the jobs website Adzuna showed there are currently 26,307 seasonal job vacancies ahead of the pivotal Christmas shopping period, almost double the 13,668 at the same point a year ago.- Guardian
Tue 09 Nov 2021 07:35
(Sharecast News) - Rolls-Royce will move ahead with a multibillion pound plan to roll out a new breed of mini nuclear reactors after securing more than £450m from the government and investors. The engineering firm will set up a venture focused on developing small modular nuclear reactors, or SMRs, in partnership with investors BNF Resources and the US generator Exelon Generation with a joint investment of £195m to fund the plans over the next three years. - Guardian
Mon 08 Nov 2021 07:30
(Sharecast News) - British businesses' output has fallen for the sixth month in a row amid a supply chain crisis, energy price rises and a shortages of workers, according to a closely watched survey of big employers. UK business output hit its lowest level since March during the last national coronavirus lockdown, according to the accountancy firm BDO. Its measure fell from 105.23 points in September to 103.35 points in October. - Guardian
Fri 05 Nov 2021 07:32
(Sharecast News) - The metals tycoon Sanjeev Gupta should be investigated for potential breaches of his duties as a company director, according to a scathing report by MPs that said his leadership threatened the future viability of Liberty Steel. Liberty Steel has lurched through eight months of crisis after the March collapse of its key financial backer, Greensill Capital, triggered an ongoing attempt to find new lenders. - Guardian
Thu 04 Nov 2021 07:21
(Sharecast News) - ExxonMobil and Chevron are the world's most obstructive organisations when it comes to governments setting climate policies, according to research into the "prolific and highly sophisticated" lobbying ploys used by the fossil fuel industry. The biggest US oil companies, as well as American Petroleum Institute, a lobby group, were found to be the worst offenders in a global report by lobbying experts at the thinktank InfluenceMap. It concluded that companies were manipulating governments to take "incredibly dangerous paths" in their approach to climate action. - Guardian
Tue 02 Nov 2021 07:25
(Sharecast News) - French Connection shareholders have backed the £29m takeover of the fashion brand led by a Newcastle-based businessman, putting the company back into private hands for the first time since 1983. The new owners are expected to take over on 8 November. The 75-year-old chair and chief executive, Stephen Marks, who co-founded the chain in 1972 and owns nearly 42% of the company, is to receive about £12m for his stake in the business. - Guardian
Mon 01 Nov 2021 07:24
(Sharecast News) - The construction equipment maker JCB has signed a multibillion-pound deal to import and supply hydrogen produced using renewable energy. As the Cop26 climate conference got under way in Glasgow, the company announced a deal with Australia's Fortescue Future Industries (FFI) that will allow it to start selling "green" gas through a specialist division, Ryze Hydrogen, from early next year. - Guardian
Fri 29 Oct 2021 07:34
(Sharecast News) - Homeowners face the biggest rise in mortgage costs since the financial crisis, with the amount of interest they pay set to jump by 13% in 2023, data from the government's independent forecasting unit suggests. Politicians and analysts seized on a table "buried" in a report published by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) alongside the budget, which stated that mortgage interest payments were set for their biggest rise since at least 2008. - Guardian
Thu 28 Oct 2021 07:24
(Sharecast News) - The impact of Brexit on the UK economy will be worse than that caused by the pandemic, according to the chairman of the UK fiscal watchdog. Richard Hughes said the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) had assumed leaving the EU would "reduce our long run GDP by around 4%", adding in comments to the BBC: "We think that the effect of the pandemic will reduce that (GDP) output by a further 2%." - Guardian
Wed 27 Oct 2021 07:26
(Sharecast News) - Google parent Alphabet continued big tech's profitable march through earnings season, reporting third-quarter results that exceeded Wall Street's expectations and a near doubling in profits as advertisers chased the consumer shift to online. Alphabet's revenue rose 41% to $65.12bn over the last three months, its largest revenue figure in 14 years. It posted a profit of over $21bn, nearly three times the figure it reported before the pandemic. - Guardian
Tue 26 Oct 2021 07:22
(Sharecast News) - The haulage industry has urged Boris Johnson to step up "lacklustre" efforts to tackle a shortage of 100,000 HGV drivers, telling him to act now on supply chains or face a Christmas crisis. Bosses of multiple trade bodies and businesses in the trucking and food industries have written to the prime minister saying not enough had been done to resolve the crisis and urging him to intervene personally. - Guardian
Mon 25 Oct 2021 07:23
(Sharecast News) - The government is to launch a £1.4bn fund to attract more overseas investment into the UK economy, particularly in sectors such as life sciences and electric vehicle production. In his budget announcement on Wednesday, the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, will also announce plans to lure highly skilled foreign workers and amend regulations to make it easier for international companies to relocate to the UK. - Guardian
Fri 22 Oct 2021 07:19
(Sharecast News) - The troubled property company China Evergrande Group has come up with the money to pay a $83.5m bond interest payment that it missed in September, according to reports. The company, which has debts of around $305bn, wired the $83.5m payment and noteholders will receive it before Saturday, China's state-backed newspaper Securities Times said on Friday, citing relevant channels, according to Bloomberg. - Guardian
Thu 21 Oct 2021 07:45
(Sharecast News) - Further coronavirus restrictions will be needed if people do not have a booster jab and get serious about facemasks, the health secretary said yesterday as he predicted cases could reach 100,000 a day. Sajid Javid insisted that "life is not back to normal" and urged people to take precautions such as meeting outdoors and regular lateral flow testing. - The Times
Wed 20 Oct 2021 07:30
(Sharecast News) - The rescue of embattled Chinese property company Evergrande appears to have stalled, leaving the developer on the brink of default and threatening to unleash contagion through the country's giant real estate sector, home prices and the economy. The problems enveloping Evergrande, which has eyewatering total debts of $305bn, have hung over global financial markets in recent weeks and helped curb China's post-pandemic recovery. - Guardian
Tue 19 Oct 2021 07:25
(Sharecast News) - Ministers have unveiled plans for £5,000 grants to allow people to install home heat pumps and other low-carbon boiler replacements as part of a wider heat and buildings strategy that some campaigners warned lacked sufficient ambition and funding. Labour also condemned the plans as "more of Boris Johnson's hot air", without sufficient substance.- Guardian
Mon 18 Oct 2021 07:26
(Sharecast News) - Ford has announced it will invest £230m in a Merseyside transmission factory to upgrade it to make parts for electric vehicles, in a significant fillip for northern England's automotive industry. The US carmaker's investment will help maintain about 500 jobs at the plant in Halewood, Knowsley, which currently makes transmission systems for petrol and diesel vehicles. Ford will receive UK government support worth about £30m, according to a source with knowledge of negotiations. - Guardian
Fri 15 Oct 2021 07:30
(Sharecast News) - The government has stepped in to counter a spiralling crisis on pig farms by allowing butchers to enter the UK on temporary visas, in the latest reversal of post-Brexit immigration policy. Butchers in abattoirs and meat processing plants dealing with pigs will be allowed to come to work in Britain for six months, the environment secretary, George Eustice, announced on Thursday evening. He said 800 butchers were needed to meet staffing shortages and get the situation under control. - Guardian
Thu 14 Oct 2021 07:30
(Sharecast News) - The owner of the UK's biggest poultry supplier has warned that the cost of chicken is expected to rise by more than 10%, adding that food in Britain is "too cheap." In a strongly worded intervention, Ranjit Singh Boparan, the owner of Bernard Matthews and 2 Sisters Food Group, called for a "reset" on pricing to reflect the true cost of producing food. "How can it be right that a whole chicken costs less than a pint of beer? You're looking at a different world where the shopper pays more," he said on Wednesday. - Guardian
Wed 13 Oct 2021 07:31
(Sharecast News) - Apple may slash the number of iPhone 13s it will make this year by up to 10m because of a shortage of computer chips amid a worldwide supply chain crunch that led the White House to warn that "there will be things that people can't get" at Christmas. Apple was expected to produce 90m units of the new iPhone models this year but has told its manufacturers that the number would be lower because chip suppliers including Broadcom and Texas Instruments were struggling to deliver components, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday. - Guardian
Tue 12 Oct 2021 07:33
(Sharecast News) - Rish Sunak is poised to usher in cuts worth £2bn for government departments tasked with meeting the Tories' flagship "levelling up" agenda, despite planning for the biggest tax raid in a generation. The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) said the chancellor was on track to lift the UK's tax burden to the highest sustained level in peacetime with a package of manifesto-busting tax increases at this month's budget and spending review. - Guardian
Mon 11 Oct 2021 07:26
(Sharecast News) - The owner of Liberty Steel has pledged to restart its plants in Rotherham and Stocksbridge in South Yorkshire this month, saving the "substantial majority" of 1,000 jobs, by pumping £50m in cash into the business. The move comes after Sanjeev Gupta's conglomerate, GFG Alliance, said it had refinanced debts at its Australian steel and mining business. - Guardian
Fri 08 Oct 2021 07:33
(Sharecast News) - The risk of power cuts to factories and homes this winter has increased, the National Grid warned, as the business secretary prepared for a crunch meeting with industry bosses concerned the energy crisis may force them to scale back production. The price of gas and electricity has soared in recent weeks, leading to the collapse of multiple energy suppliers and prompting warnings of higher costs for consumers, factory shutdowns and increased pollution as plants switch to dirtier but cheaper fuels. - Guardian
Thu 07 Oct 2021 08:19
(Sharecast News) - Britain's top-listed businesses have made further progress on gender targets but still have too few women in senior leadership positions, a report has found. The research, by Cranfield School of Management, found the proportion of women on FTSE 100 boards was at an all-time high, but concluded there still were not enough female chairs, chief executives and chief financial officers. - Guardian
Wed 06 Oct 2021 07:25
(Sharecast News) - Nearly two-thirds of UK manufacturers expect to raise their prices in the run-up to Christmas after being hit by mounting cost pressures, a leading employers' group has said. The British Chambers of Commerce said inflation expectations had risen to their highest since its records began at the end of the 1980s, with 62% of industrial firms planning price hikes over the next three months. - Guardian
Tue 05 Oct 2021 07:31
(Sharecast News) - The UK fuel crisis could run another week, fuel retailers have warned, as military tanker drivers took to the roads to relieve pressure on petrol stations. One in five forecourts in London and the south-east of England were still out of fuel on Monday, according to the Petrol Retailers Association, compared with just 8% across the rest of the country, where the shortage appears to be almost over. - Guardian
Mon 04 Oct 2021 07:34
(Sharecast News) - Staff shortages are rippling out from the haulage, farming and hospitality sectors to almost all parts of the economy, putting "severe pressure" on medium-sized business across the UK, a new survey has warned. More than a quarter of the 500 firms polled said the lack of staff was putting pressure on their ability to operate at normal levels, with reduced stock - due to the resulting supply chain disruption - hurting their business. - Guardian
Thu 30 Sep 2021 07:28
(Sharecast News) - Airline, shipping and trucking bosses have joined union leaders in calling for governments around the world to ease coronavirus restrictions on transport workers to help avoid a Christmas supply chain crisis. Industry representatives from around the world issued a joint call on Wednesday for coordinated action from national governments to simplify border restrictions. - Guardian
Wed 29 Sep 2021 07:30
(Sharecast News) - Britain's supply chain strain could last until after Christmas, Boris Johnson has admitted as he urged motorists to stop panic-buying fuel by insisting supplies were "improving" - despite thousands of forecourts remaining dry. The prime minister intervened after being accused by Labour of "reducing the country to chaos" with car queues continuing to build up and fights breaking out at petrol stations, while teachers and hospital workers were left unable to get to work. - Guardian
Tue 28 Sep 2021 07:28
(Sharecast News) - The billionaire chief executive of the money transfer provider Wise has been fined hundreds of thousands of pounds by HMRC for deliberately defaulting on his taxes, The Telegraph can reveal. Kristo Kaarmann, the Estonian co-founder of Wise, was charged £365,651 for a deliberate default during the 2017/18 tax year on a £720,495 tax bill. - Telegraph
Mon 27 Sep 2021 07:29
(Sharecast News) - Hundreds of soldiers could be scrambled to deliver fuel to petrol stations running dry across the country due to panic buying and a shortage of drivers under an emergency plan expected to be considered by Boris Johnson on Monday. The prime minister will gather senior members of the cabinet to scrutinise "Operation Escalin" after BP admitted that a third of its petrol stations had run out of the main two grades of fuel, while the Petrol Retailers Association (PRA), which represents almost 5,500 independent outlets, said 50% to 90% of its members had reported running out. It predicted that the rest would soon follow. - Guardian
Fri 24 Sep 2021 07:28
(Sharecast News) - Undisclosed companies are analysing facial data collected by the NHS app, which is used by more than 16 million English citizens, prompting fresh concern about the role of outsourcing to private businesses in the service. Data security experts have previously criticised the lack of transparency around a contract with the NHS held by iProov, whose facial verification software is used to perform automated ID checks on people signing up for the NHS app. - Guardian
Thu 23 Sep 2021 07:26
(Sharecast News) - GSK's chief executive, Emma Walmsley, has come under pressure from a second activist hedge fund, Bluebell Capital Partners, which has taken a stake in the drugmaker to push for change at the top, including demanding that she reapply for her job. The London-based Bluebell Capital Partners has joined the US hedge fund Elliott Management on the pharmaceutical giant's shareholder roster, with a stake reported to be worth £10m. With £100m assets under management, Bluebell is a much smaller firm than Elliott, which snapped up an undisclosed stake in April. But the two-year-old UK firm has already made waves by unseating the chief executive of the French consumer goods group Danone earlier this year. - Guardian
Tue 21 Sep 2021 07:24
(Sharecast News) - The chief executive of Universal Music has said the hotly anticipated €40bn flotation of the world's largest record company this week does not mark the peak of the streaming-led recovery of the music industry, with billions of dollars of growth yet to come from a new wave of digital listening on devices such a smart speakers, connected cars and services such as TikTok. Sir Lucian Grainge, who stands to make a transaction bonus of at least $170m when the label behind artists such as Taylor Swift and Justin Bieber goes public in Amsterdam on Tuesday, said the listing provided the opportunity to build Universal into the "next generation music company". - Guardian
Mon 20 Sep 2021 07:31
(Sharecast News) - Kwasi Kwarteng, the business secretary, will hold an emergency summit with gas industry chiefs on Monday morning in an effort to contain the fallout caused by soaring market prices on consumers and businesses. Mid-level suppliers will be placed into administration if they fall into trouble this winter in an attempt to protect consumers from costlier bills, he revealed on Sunday, after spending a frantic weekend thrashing out contingencies for Britain's looming gas crisis. - Guardian
Thu 16 Sep 2021 07:21
(Sharecast News) - There are signs outside almost every pub, restaurant and hotel dotting Torquay's harbour: Staff wanted. "It's been packed solid busy, you can't get a table anywhere," said Brett Powis, owner of three hotels in the area including the Riviera and Lincombe Hall. For the hotelier, staff shortages made it harder to take full advantage of the busiest summertime boom in the Devon resort for decades. - Guardian
Wed 15 Sep 2021 07:22
(Sharecast News) - The NHS app is collecting and storing facial verification data from UK citizens in a process which has fuelled concerns about transparency and accountability. The data collection is taking place under a contract with a company linked to Tory donors called iProov, awarded by NHS Digital in 2019, which has yet to be published on the government website. - Guardian
Tue 14 Sep 2021 07:20
(Sharecast News) - Property giant China Evergrande Group has said that it cannot sell properties and other assets fast enough to service its massive $300bn debts, and that its cashflow was under "tremendous pressure". Only hours after angry investors besieged its Shenzhen headquarters and the company denied it was set for bankruptcy, Evergrande issued a statement to the Hong Kong stock exchange saying that a significant drop in sales would continue this month, which was likely to further deteriorate its liquidity and cash flow. - Guardian
Mon 13 Sep 2021 07:20
(Sharecast News) - The activist investor calling for a shake-up at Rolls-Royce has upped its stake in WH Smith but insisted it iswas supportive of management at the struggling high street chain. Causeway Capital Management is the retailer's biggest shareholder and owns 9% after buying shares in the wake of a recent profit alert. Analysts suggested the California-based investor was betting on a recovery in international travel rather than agitating for change. - Guardian
Fri 10 Sep 2021 07:35
(Sharecast News) - Ikea is poised to buy Topshop's former flagship store on London's Oxford Street, once the jewel in Sir Philip Green's retail empire, for an estimated £385m, creating a new London home for the Swedish furniture brand. The deal to buy the long leasehold on the building, which includes the now-vacant 100,000 sq ft Topshop outlet as well as a Nike Town store and a shop for footwear brand Vans, is expected to complete the sell off of the assets of Green's Arcadia Group empire which collapsed into administration in November last year. - Guardian
Thu 09 Sep 2021 07:28
(Sharecast News) - Boeing's board of directors must face a lawsuit from the planemaker's shareholders over two fatal crashes of its 737 Max aircraft, which killed 346 people in less than six months, a US judge has ruled. Delaware judge vice-chancellor Morgan Zurn found that the company had ignored "red flags" about the safety of the new aircraft and its anti-stall system, which the board "should have heeded but instead ignored", following the crash of Lion Air flight 610 in October 2018. - Guardian
Wed 08 Sep 2021 07:31
(Sharecast News) - Business groups reacted with dismay to the government's national insurance hike and surcharge on dividend income to boost health and social care spending from next April, calling it a tax on jobs and a blow to the economic recovery. The British Chamber of Commerce (BCC) said the extra financial burden from higher tax charges ignored the damage suffered by thousands of small businesses over the last 18 months. - Guardian
Tue 07 Sep 2021 07:24
(Sharecast News) - Business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng has ordered a national security review of a takeover by a Chinese academic of a small Welsh manufacturer of graphene - the thinnest and lightest "supermaterial" known. In a rare move, Kwarteng instructed the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to review the planned takeover of Perpetuus Group by Taurus International or any companies associated with Dr Zhongfu Zhou. - Guardian
Mon 06 Sep 2021 07:26
(Sharecast News) - The labour crisis could last for up to two years, Britain's leading business lobby group has warned, as it called for ministers to take action on visas for foreign workers and stop "waiting for shortages to solve themselves". Amid the most severe labour crunch since the 1970s, the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) launched a broadside against the government, saying the UK's economic recovery from the winter lockdown was being undermined by a lack of skills in key positions, with mounting risks that the problem would continue for some time. - Guardian
Fri 03 Sep 2021 07:29
(Sharecast News) - The government is being urged to "get a handle" on the supply chain crisis, as the chair of a cross-party commission created to scrutinise the UK's post-Brexit trade deals said ministers need to act now to avoid empty shelves in the run-up to Christmas. "Red tape and labour shortages from Brexit have exacerbated problems that are being acutely felt across production, processing, manufacturing, retail and of course logistics," said Aodhán Connolly, who chaired an extraordinary session of the UK Trade and Business Commission, a group of cross-party MPs and business representatives set up as an independent adviser to government in April. - Guardian
Thu 02 Sep 2021 07:16
(Sharecast News) - Household energy bills are to rise after prices on the UK's wholesale electricity market soared to a record high last month, furthering concerns about more families being pushed into fuel poverty this winter. The electricity market price passed the £100 a megawatt-hour mark last month for the first time since the market was formed in 1990, according to analysis by Imperial College London. - Guardian
Wed 01 Sep 2021 07:34
(Sharecast News) - The furlough scheme should be extended to protect workers in industries that continue to be damaged by the pandemic, business groups and unions have said as the job subsidy programme that has supported more than 11 million employees entered its final month. Aviation industry workers and staff at Britain's airports should be allowed to remain on furlough until next year when travel restrictions are likely to be lifted and the airline industry returns to normal, they said. - Guardian
Fri 27 Aug 2021 07:22
(Sharecast News) - Warrington council lent the billionaire owner of The Hut Group (THG) £151m after the online retailer's £5bn market listing. The Cheshire local authority extended a £200m loan facility to a company controlled by Matt Moulding in October, one of the largest council loans on record, from which it has taken three drawdowns totalling more than £151m. - Guardian
Thu 26 Aug 2021 07:32
(Sharecast News) - The incoming 31-year-old boss of Sports Direct owner Frasers Group could be handed shares worth more than £100m if he more than doubles its share price. The company, which also owns the House of Fraser department stores and the designer fashion chain Flannels, revealed the bumper potential payout on Wednesday night, weeks after it announced that Michael Murray would be taking over from his future father-in-law, Mike Ashley, next spring. - Guardian
Wed 25 Aug 2021 07:25
(Sharecast News) - The takeaway company Just Eat is planning to open a customer service site in north-east England, which will employ 1,500 people as it brings jobs back from India and Bulgaria. The business said that it would invest £100m in the region over the next five years, with staff working partly from home and partly from its new Sunderland-based office. - Guardian
Fri 20 Aug 2021 07:30
(Sharecast News) - The Federal Trade Commission on Thursday refiled its antitrust case against Facebook, arguing the company holds monopoly power in social networking and renewing the fight to rein in big tech. The agency also dismissed a request from Facebook that its chair, Lina Khan, step aside in the case because of her criticism of them in the past. - Guardian
Thu 19 Aug 2021 07:31
(Sharecast News) - The annual pay of FTSE 100 chief executives fell during the pandemic but still equates to what a key worker would earn in a lifetime, according to a report that highlights the UK's wage divide and the taxpayer support that has kept some companies afloat. The bosses of companies in the blue-chip share index were paid £2.69m on average in 2020, the High Pay Centre said, with vaccine-maker AstraZeneca's chief executive, Pascal Soriot, taking top spot thanks to a £15.45m deal. - Guardian
Wed 18 Aug 2021 07:21
(Sharecast News) - Rishi Sunak has come under further pressure to suspend the state pension triple lock after wage figures showed that the chancellor is on course to pay pensioners a rise of more than 8% next year. Sunak is understood to be considering telling Britain's 12 million state pension claimants that the pandemic has artificially inflated the official wages figures and a new formula is needed to calculate the rise in the basic state pension for next year.- Guardian
Tue 17 Aug 2021 07:31
(Sharecast News) - The government is coming under growing criticism for taking a "weak" stance on overseas takeovers of UK businesses, amid the sale of two London-listed defence contractors to US-backed buyers worth almost £9bn. Labour and the former City minister Paul Myners said serious questions were being raised by the sale of Ultra Electronics, a defence firm that supported coalition forces in Afghanistan, and Meggitt, a Coventry-based supplier of wheels and brakes for fighter jets used by the Royal Air Force. - Guardian
Mon 16 Aug 2021 07:32
(Sharecast News) - Ticket resale websites such as Viagogo and StubHub could be shut down or hit with large fines if they are found to break consumer protection rules, under proposals by the competition regulator to stop "unscrupulous" touts ripping off fans. In a landmark intervention that comes as the live events industry recovers from Covid-19 restrictions, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said existing laws were too weak. - Guardian
Thu 12 Aug 2021 07:32
(Sharecast News) - The TUC is urging the government to abandon plans to scrap the furlough scheme at the end of next month and instead build on the wage subsidy experiment to create a permanent short-time working scheme. Plans drawn up by the TUC would protect workers against recessions, a new wave of the pandemic or the transition to a green economy by having 80% of their wages guaranteed by the state. - Guardian
Wed 11 Aug 2021 07:30
(Sharecast News) - The new low-cost long-haul Norwegian airline Norse Atlantic Airways has announced plans to fly between Europe and the US from early 2022, as it aims to fill the gap in budget transatlantic air travel left by Norwegian's departure from long-haul routes. Norse, which was formed in March by Norwegian airline industry veterans, will initially fly from Oslo, London and Paris to New York, Los Angeles and Fort Lauderdale. - Guardian
Tue 10 Aug 2021 07:19
(Sharecast News) - David Cameron made about $10m (£7m) from Greensill Capital before the finance firm he lobbied on behalf of collapsed, according to the BBC. Panorama said it had obtained documents showing the former prime minister received the sum from cashing in shares he held in the company worth $4.5m (about £3.3m) in 2019, in addition to an annual salary of $1m (£720,000). - Guardian
Mon 09 Aug 2021 07:29
(Sharecast News) - A letter to Boris Johnson sent a fortnight ago by James Ramsbotham called on the prime minister to save the north-east from the "damage being done to our economy" by Brexit and urged him to give it his "most urgent and personal attention". Two weeks later, it remains unanswered. Ramsbotham is the chief executive of the North East England Chamber of Commerce and speaks for thousands of businesses caught by the red tape and extra costs of complying with EU rules. In a recent survey, 38% of members said sales to Europe had fallen since January. - Guardian
Fri 06 Aug 2021 07:20
(Sharecast News) - The battered live events sector, from summer music festivals to business conferences and boat shows, has finally been promised a Covid cancellation insurance scheme. Campaigners have long been pleading for insurance support to help the sector get back on its feet, because commercial insurers have not provided cover for Covid-related cancellations. While welcomed, the announcement comes far too late for a string of festivals and events that have already been abandoned. - Guardian
Thu 05 Aug 2021 07:36
(Sharecast News) - Uber is regaining much of the momentum it lost during the pandemic, announcing on Wednesday that its ride-hailing services saw a 105% increase and that revenue had more than doubled from this time last year. Revenue for the company's most recent financial quarter totaled $3.93bn, beating analysts' expectations and signaling an emergence from the dismal conditions at the same point last year when the pandemic was keeping most people at home. - Guardian
Wed 04 Aug 2021 07:27
(Sharecast News) - Reusing and repairing household goods, from washing machines to phones, and recycling throwaway consumer items such as plastic bottles, could create hundreds of thousands of green jobs across the UK, a thinktank has found. The UK creates thousands of tonnes of unnecessary waste each year, some of which is still exported, because of a failure to value resources and invest in the infrastructure needed to re-purpose manufactured goods. - Guardian
Tue 03 Aug 2021 07:21
(Sharecast News) - Gaps on supermarket shelves are likely to continue for several months unless the government does more to tackle the labour crisis hitting haulage firms, suppliers have warned. Logistics and hauliers' organisations said August would be a pinch point in the shortage as workers take summer breaks, while firms offering bonuses and sign-on fees to recruit drivers were not helping matters. - Guardian
Mon 02 Aug 2021 07:27
(Sharecast News) - Employers are offering signing-on fees of up to £10,000 to tempt "gold dust" applicants as more than 1.1m jobs in the UK remain unfilled, with the pingdemic worsening a shortage of workers caused by Brexit and a lack of skills. Care home operator HC One is offering a £10,000 "welcome bonus" on two jobs for registered night nurses, both in Scotland, as private health care providers battle with a shortage of workers partly caused by EU citizens returning home. - Guardian
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