Financial news

• Cineworld bosses to meet union over living wage dispute

  18-05-2017 20:36
  
  Meeting agreed after Picturehouse staff approached chairman at AGM following recent strike action by cinema workers Cineworld has agreed to meet union representatives to try to resolve a long-running dispute over pay and conditions at its Picturehouse chain.Staff at the Ritzy in Brixton and five other Picturehouse cinemas have gone on strike in recent months, disrupting the London film festival in October, in their battle to secure the independently calculated living wage and better sick pay for
  
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• Mothercare looks to almost halve number of UK stores

  18-05-2017 20:10
  
  Retailer will also no longer sell clothes for children aged over four, as it reduces its 152 shops by up to 70 storesMothercare is to almost halve the size of its UK chain and stop selling clothes for older children as it tries to carve out a profitable future on the high street.Mark Newton-Jones, Mothercare chief executive, said it would look to close up to 70 of its 152 UK stores as it adapts to a digital age where 41% of sales are rung up online.Continue reading...
  
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• British shoppers go on spring spree – but the outlook may be chillier | Larry Elliott

  18-05-2017 20:00
  
  High street sales have beaten predictions, but that doesn’t mean the economy is a sunny picture of healthBritain went on a spending spree in April. The shops were full of punters. Online retailers coined it in. Spring brought with it an end to the winter consumer spending blues.That at least is what the official figures suggest. The Office for National Statistics reported that the volume of retail sales rose by 2.3% last month, smashing City expectations. It was enough, in combination with
  
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• Tories receive £50,000 from man questioned by Serious Fraud Office

  18-05-2017 16:12
  
  Ayman Asfari, whose wife matched his donation, was interviewed in bribery and money-laundering investigation• General election 2017 - latest updatesTheresa May’s election campaign has received a £50,000 donation from a Syrian-born businessman who was recently interviewed by the Serious Fraud Office, according to official data.Ayman Asfari, the chief executive of the oil services group Petrofac, gave the money to the Tories just days before the Guardian disclosed that he was rece
  
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• Score the best mortgage deals, plus the facts about the pensions triple lock

  18-05-2017 15:48 via theguardian.com
  
  Also, why leasehold is now the No 1 concern for homeowners, and our Consumer Champions do battle with John Lewis and Vodaphone
  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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• May's manifesto is birth of third way Conservatism

  18-05-2017 15:15
  
  Talk of rejecting ‘untrammelled’ free markets will have some Tories scratching their heads, but this is the manifesto of a leader planning for long-term powerThe Conservatives have taken great pleasure in depicting Labour’s manifesto as a throwback to the 1970s. Their own document also has echoes of the decade of oil shocks and rampant inflation. Theresa May plans to be the most interventionist Tory prime minister since Ted Heath, all the way down to the proposal to modernise t
  
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• All work and no pay: creative industries freelancers are exploited

  18-05-2017 15:00
  
  Freelancers working in the creative industries lose an estimated £5,394 each a year through working for free. A freelance filmmaker says it’s time to stop businesses exploiting contractorsWhen I was starting out as a freelance filmmaker and photographer I committed one of the biggest crimes in the freelance world: I offered to work for commercial companies for free in exchange for exposure and experience. There was some logic to it. I had no skills or experience and so I didn’t
  
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• UK financial advisers give suitable advice, don't all reveal costs - watchdog - euronews

  18-05-2017 14:46
  
  euronews
  UK financial advisers give suitable advice, don't all reveal costs - watchdog
  euronews
  LONDON (Reuters) – More than 90 percent of UK financial advisers give suitable advice to retail customers, Britain's financial watchdog said on Thursday but added that a large minority did not comply with rules on disclosing costs. Advisers provided ...en meer »
  
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• $6.40 an hour for nine years: how I got stuck in a career as a Walmart employee

  18-05-2017 13:00
  
  I believed that I would only be working at Walmart for a few months. I was wrong, but staying for so long taught me valuable life lessons“You don’t know shit!” is a hard lesson to swallow, but it was one of the first things I learned when I started my nine-year career as a sales and inventory control associate at a Walmart in Laramie, Wyoming.When I was hired by the company at $6.40 an hour, I believed I would only be working there for a few months before I landed a cool gig at
  
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• What's the best way to release equity for home improvements?

  18-05-2017 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  I don’t have a mortgage and need some cash for new windows and doors
  Q I would like to know more about equity release. I am a homeowner with no mortgage on my house. I cleared my mortgage back in 2013 when my endowment policy reached maturity.I would like to make some changes to my home, including installing PVC windows and external doors, as well as having a bit of landscaping done. I am approaching my 64th birthday and live alone, and hope to release some of the equity in my home. Can yo
  
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• Trying to cancel a Vodafone account hit my chances of getting a mortgage

  18-05-2017 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  I discovered it had been recording a default against my credit rating every month since 2014Vodafone’s failure to close my account properly has affected my chances of getting a mortgage. About three years ago I requested, by phone, that my account be closed and was assured it had been done. I then received a monthly bill for £15 and was told there was this one final billing period after my cancellation. I paid up and was again told it was closed. Then came another £15 along wit
  
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