Financial news

• Crest Nicholson to pay bonuses despite shareholder revolt

  23-03-2017 22:27 via theguardian.com
  
  Firm still plans to pay top executives hundreds of thousands despite profit growth target being cut by more than half
  Shareholders in Crest Nicholson, one of the largest housebuilders in Britain, have voted against a pay deal for the company’s directors because of concerns that the performance targets were too easy.The rebellion means Crest Nicholson is the first major company this year to see investors reject its remuneration report, which is a major embarrassment.Continue reading...
  
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• What next for Next? Decline, if it comes, should still be profitable | Nils Pratley

  23-03-2017 21:22 via theguardian.com
  
  Despite a near-halving in retailer’s stock market value over 16 months, are its current troubles really severe?Panic over for Next shareholders? It’s too soon to sound the all-clear since a steeper decline in profits than last year’s 4% fall to £790m is very possible this time. Chief executive Lord Wolfson also has a longer list of grumbles than usual: inflation, currencies, the squeeze on real incomes and consumers’ new love of entertainment over “stuff&rdquo
  
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• MEP welcomes monitoring of moves to win UK financial business - Irish Times

  23-03-2017 21:09
  
  Irish Times
  MEP welcomes monitoring of moves to win UK financial business
  Irish Times
  Fine Gael MEP Brian Hayes has welcomed comments from the head of the Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM) that Frankfurt will closely monitor moves by national regulators who seek to win business from financial firms looking to relocate activities from ...
  
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• Latrobe Valley paper plant sounds alarm over Indonesian dumping

  23-03-2017 20:49 via theguardian.com
  
  Maryvale’s Australian Paper, the only copy paper manufacturer in the country, urges government to hold firm on tariffs to keep out subsidised importsAustralia’s only copy paper manufacturer, one of the largest remaining employers in Gippsland’s Latrobe Valley, is concerned free trade negotiations with Indonesia could frustrate moves to impose anti-dumping tariffs.The Anti-Dumping Commission filed its report on paper imports to the federal government on Friday, after a 10-month
  
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• 1,100 Jones Bootmaker jobs at risk as private equity deal collapses

  23-03-2017 20:39 via theguardian.com
  
  Shoe retailer expected to call in administrators days after rival BrantanoJones Bootmaker is expected to call in administrators on Friday in a move that will put more than 1,100 jobs at risk.The shoe retailer, which employs 1,145 people, has nearly 100 stores and a handful of concessions in department stores. It is understood to be close to going under after a deal with a private equity firm collapsed.Continue reading...
  
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• RBS and NatWest to close 158 branches as customers go digital

  23-03-2017 19:05 via theguardian.com
  
  Up to 362 jobs could go, prompting union to accuse bank of turning its back on loyal communitiesRoyal Bank of Scotland is axing 158 branches, most of them NatWest outlets, with the loss of up to 362 jobs. The group, which is 73% taxpayer-owned, blamed the move on customers spurning the traditional branch counter service in favour of doing their banking on the internet and mobile phones.Continue reading...
  
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• UPDATE 1-French financial markets watchdog wants special access rules for UK - Reuters

  23-03-2017 17:35
  
  UPDATE 1-French financial markets watchdog wants special access rules for UK
  Reuters
  LONDON, March 23 The European Union's system for granting market access to banks from outside the bloc will not work for a financial centre as big as Britain's, a top European regulator said on Thursday. Gerard Rameix, chairman of France's AMF markets ...en meer »
  
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• French financial markets watchdog wants special access rules for UK - Reuters UK

  23-03-2017 17:29
  
  Reuters UK
  French financial markets watchdog wants special access rules for UK
  Reuters UK
  Gerard Rameix, Secretary General of the Autorite des marches financiers (AMF), France's market regulatory authority, poses in front of the building which used to house the Bourse (stock market) in Paris November 6, 2008. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier (FRANCE).en meer »
  
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• How Brexit will impact the UK financial sector - economia

  23-03-2017 17:04
  How Brexit will impact the UK financial sector
  economia
  Absent the unanimous agreement of all EU member states, the UK will leave the EU exactly two years later, and the UK and its financial service sector will become a “third country” under EU financial services legislation. Brexit secretary David Davis is ...en meer »
  
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• UK retail sales surge as consumers shrug off Brexit fears - as it happened

  23-03-2017 16:12 via theguardian.com
  
  Retail sales rose by a stronger-than-expected 1.4% in February as UK consumers took Brexit and rising inflation in their stridePound rises against the dollar and as retail sales surgeGlobal markets stabilise as investors await crucial US healthcare vote3.12pm GMTMarkets on both sides of the Atlantic are trading slightly higher as investors await developments on the Republicans’ crucial healthcare bill - which may or may not be put to the vote today.Stronger-than-expected data in the UK and
  
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• London now 'cheaper to live than New York and Tokyo', plus Viagogo snubs MPs

  23-03-2017 15:25 via theguardian.com
  
  Also, average house costs 7.6 times annual salary, part-time workers face five-fold NICs increase and for sale: Pierre Cardin’s bubble palace Hello and welcome to this week’s Money Talks – a roundup of the week’s biggest stories and some things you may have missed. Continue reading...
  
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• New 'super' trade body to be named UK Finance - Financial Reporter

  23-03-2017 15:12
  
  Financial Reporter
  New 'super' trade body to be named UK Finance
  Financial Reporter
  The new trade body, which merges six existing associations, has been named UK Finance - Representing UK Finance and Banking, by unanimous decision from its interim Main Board. UK Finance will integrate the remits, skills and capabilities of six trade ...en meer »
  
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• YouTube and Google boycott spreads to US as AT&T and Verizon pull ads

  23-03-2017 15:07 via theguardian.com
  
  Major phone networks express concern over video sharing site and parent company’s inability to guarantee money won’t flow to extremismThe growing advertiser boycott of YouTube has reached the US, with AT&T, Johnson & Johnson, Verizon and Enterprise all halting adverts on the site, as well as Google’s wider ad networks, over the video-sharing site’s inability to guarantee promotional messages won’t appear alongside extremist content.Some of the new members of
  
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• Brexit could damage UK's fight against corruption, says OECD

  23-03-2017 13:18 via theguardian.com
  
  Business pressure to weaken bribery laws and government’s inability to focus on non-Brexit issues are also concerns, says groupBrexit could damage the UK’s efforts to tackle corruption and give multinationals leverage over the British government in bribery cases, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development has warned.Business pressure to weaken bribery laws and an inability by the government to focus on non-Brexit issues are both risks associated with leaving the Europ
  
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• UK retail sales shrug off Brexit fears with February rise

  23-03-2017 11:37 via theguardian.com
  
  Recovery after slump in December and January is not enough to reverse slide in three-month trend, says ONSBritain’s retailers received a respite from a two-month losing streak when spending in high street stores and online bounced back in February.The Office for National Statistics said retail sales volumes were up by 1.4% on January and 3.7% higher than in February 2016. Continue reading...
  
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• No EU trade deal is better than a bad deal? Don’t bet on it, Theresa May | Jonathan Portes

  23-03-2017 10:30 via theguardian.com
  
  She talks blithely of ‘taking back control’. But this Brexit prime minister is about to find out just how painful divorce always is after a 40-year marriageIt’s not the beginning of the end (of Brexit) – but it’s definitely the end of the beginning. Despite the fixation in the UK on the precise date and legal niceties of the article 50 process, the most important event of the weeks to come will not be the notification itself but the EU response to it, and the politi
  
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• Are you being replaced? How to deal with maternity discrimination

  23-03-2017 10:05 via theguardian.com
  
  Love it or loathe it, BBC drama The Replacement addressed the job insecurity many women on maternity leave face, here’s how to cope if you feel forced outThe BBC’s recent maternity leave thriller The Replacement drew in millions of viewers, culminating with a dramatic and polarising finale last week. The wider issues around job insecurity during maternity leave, sadly, are a less entertaining reality for thousands of women in the UK.
  Maternity and pregnancy discrimination has signifi
  
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• Next admits mistakes as profits fall for first time in eight years

  23-03-2017 09:58 via theguardian.com
  
  Retailer says failure to stock wardrobe staples compounded already tough trading conditions
  The retailer Next has said a failure to stock enough wardrobe staples had contributed to its first drop in annual profits for eight years.Last year the retailer sped up the way it puts together its clothing ranges to compete better with rivals such as Zara, H&M and Primark, which take weeks rather than months to take clothes from the design stage to the stores. Continue reading...
  
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• Boss of British Gas owner gets 40% pay rise as millions live in fuel poverty

  23-03-2017 08:02 via theguardian.com
  
  Centrica chief Iain Conn’s package leaps to £4.15m – enough to pay heating and lighting bills for nearly 4,000 customersThe boss of British Gas’s parent company was handed a pay increase of nearly 40% last year, a raise Labour attacked as “astronomical” and a “kick in the teeth” for millions of families living in fuel poverty.Centrica chief executive Iain Conn’s remuneration jumped from £3.02m in 2015 to £4.15m in 2016, enough to
  
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• The tax I pay should be for peace, not war | Mark Rylance

  23-03-2017 08:01 via theguardian.com
  
  I have the right not to kill during military conflict. So why am I forced to pay for others to do so on my behalf?A young man I know joined the armed forces to fight in Afghanistan because he wanted to have an experience that money couldn’t buy. He is not an ardent patriot or believer in any particular cause. He just wanted a unique experience in his life; to have done something difficult, something money cannot buy.I wanted to talk to this brave young man; ask him if he was prepared to ki
  
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• Opodo charges for its own mistakes

  23-03-2017 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  What’s in a name change? Much inconvenience and unfair fines Opodo, the online travel agency, is a familiar name in my inbox, but the complaints this past month are striking in their similarity.Customers who booked flights via the website have found that their surname has been entered twice on the confirmation, and Opodo wants a hefty sum to amend it.Continue reading...
  
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• Do I need to fill out a tax return if I buy to let without a mortgage?

  23-03-2017 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  I can afford only to rent in the area where I work, so I plan to buy a house for cash elsewhere to let to my sisterQ I have a query regarding home-owning and was hoping you could help. I have rented for my whole life and have never taken out a mortgage or owned a home. I am required to stay in my rented house for my job. However, I am now in a position to buy a house in a much cheaper area for cash, which I could rent to my sister. As I won’t be taking out a mortgage, am I still required t
  
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• Counting clicks ... a beginner's guide to mastering Google Analytics

  23-03-2017 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  The freemium tool can provide a wealth of insight into how visitors interact with your website, but many entrepreneurs are not making the most of itHow do people find your website? How long do they stay? What is the user experience like on different devices? If you can’t answer these three questions with confidence, it’s time to start using an analytics tool or get to know the one you do use a little better. Continue reading...
  
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• State pension age must rise again, says report

  23-03-2017 07:11 via theguardian.com
  
  Those aged around 40 should expect to work at least until the age of 68, with the future of the triple-lock also thrown into doubtMillions of people in their late 30s and early 40s look set to have to work for an extra year after an official review recommended pushing up the state pension age (SPA) more quickly than previously planned.
  The independent report said the SPA should rise to 68 by 2039 instead of 2046. It also recommended that the state pension “triple lock” is withdrawn i
  
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