Financial news

• Brexit clouds gather over Chelsea flower show as sponsorship wilts

  19-05-2017 19:57
  
  This year there will be just eight show gardens – down from 18 – as several major sponsors withdraw from London event The number of major show gardens may have been pruned back heavily as some key sponsors have pulled out, but the Chelsea flower show’s gala opening night on Monday remains one of the prime events of the London social calendar.This year there will be just eight show gardens – down from at least 14 last year as some long-term supporters including the Daily T
  
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• Alisher Usmanov fails with £1bn bid to buy out Stan Kroenke at Arsenal

  19-05-2017 19:11
  
  • Usmanov owns 30% of Arsenal and Kroenke 67%
  • Russian billionaire has said he would spend big at ArsenalAlisher Usmanov has made a $1.3bn (£1bn) bid for near total control of Arsenal. The Russian billionaire, who holds a 30% stake in the club, indicated to Stan Kroenke, the majority shareholder, he was willing to pay the sum to buy him out. The approach, made last month, values Arsenal at $2bn.Yet Kroenke, who owns 67%, after gradually building up his holding since 2007, is unw
  
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• US stocks CHAOS: Investors ditch almost $9 billion of equities as political turmoil builds

  19-05-2017 18:35 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  INVESTORS ditched almost $9 billion of US equities as political turmoil in Washington built up in the past week, Bank of America Merrill Lynch figures showed.
  
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• Thanks for entering

  19-05-2017 18:13
  
  Thank you for your entry into the Guardian Sustainable Business Awards 2017Thank you for completing your application for the Guardian Sustainable Business Awards 2017.We will be in touch in September 2017 if you have been shortlisted. Continue reading...
  
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• Let’s move to Rothbury, Northumberland: ‘It’s pretty near perfect’

  19-05-2017 17:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Fortified farmhouses, wild countryside, model country pubs and shopkeepers who know their customers: what’s not to like?What’s going for it? Oh Cragside! If you haven’t been, drop what you’re doing right now. Stop reading this. Put down your Shreddies. And the smartphone. To the train station with you. What a place: Cragside was built on the outskirts of remote Rothbury by William Armstrong, a Victorian multimillionaire arms manufacturer, scientist and ship-builder, using
  
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• Marlboro maker accused of using branded tins to sidestep plain packaging rules

  19-05-2017 16:53
  
  Tobacco firm Philip Morris has distributed containers the same size as 10-packs of cigarettes – which are about to be bannedThe maker of Marlboro cigarettes has been accused of trying to sidestep new UK laws on plain packaging by rolling out durable tins that look just like ordinary cigarette packets.Philip Morris, one of the world’s largest tobacco companies, came under fire from MPs and anti-smoking campaigners on the eve of the biggest change in tobacco regulation since the smokin
  
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• Best bank accounts for FREE money: How to switch and earn £250

  19-05-2017 16:52 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  SAVERS can beat inflation and low interest rates by simply switching current account to bag perks worth hundreds of pounds.
  
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• HSBC voice recognition system breached by customer's twin

  19-05-2017 16:31
  
  BBC Click reporter Dan Simmons said his non-identical twin brother was able to fool system and gain access to accountHSBC’s voice recognition ID system used by half a million customers for secure access to their bank accounts has been breached by a customer’s twin mimicking his voice.When it was launched last year HSBC’s head of retail banking claimed the new system was secure, insisting that “just like your fingerprint, your voice print is unique”. Continue reading
  
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• Ex-RBS boss Fred Goodwin returns to spotlight in £520m court battle

  19-05-2017 15:42
  
  Controversial banker will be forced to publicly account for bank’s £45bn bailout in case brought by 9,000 shareholdersFor eight years, Britain’s most vilified banker has kept a low profile. But next week in London’s high court a £520m legal case will force Fred Goodwin into the limelight.Thousands of shareholders in Royal Bank of Scotland are accusing the institution’s former chief executive – along with three former board colleagues and the bank itself
  
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• Winter fuel allowance: What the Tory Manifesto pledge REALLY means for you

  19-05-2017 15:29 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  MILLIONS of middle-class and wealthy pensioners face losing up to £300 as part of Conservative plans to means-test the Winter Fuel Allowance, if Theresa May wins the election, as expected.
  
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• Sterling's fall buoys UK manufacturers as export orders rise

  19-05-2017 15:17
  
  CBI finds orders at highest level since December 2013 but analysts say few firms are investing and dearer imports may force higher selling prices soonUK factories have cashed in on the sharp fall in the pound since the Brexit vote, with export orders at the joint highest level in three and a half years.The stronger than expected findings from a survey by the CBI, the UK business trade body, suggest manufacturers had a decent start to the second quarter, boosting hopes that the sector will help p
  
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• Sports Direct recruiter Transline sold to rival Russell Taylor Group

  19-05-2017 15:06
  
  Firm embroiled in fallout from Guardian investigation into treatment of workers fell into administration after losing clients Transline, the controversial employment agency, has been bought out by rival Russell Taylor Group after falling into administration.The agency, which supplies workers to Sports Direct’s warehouse in Shirebrook, got into financial difficulties after losing several clients, including Amazon and Asos, in recent months. Continue reading...
  
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• Greece passes austerity measures, as markets recover from Trump slump - as it happened

  19-05-2017 15:03
  
  UK factory orders at highest level since 2015Moody’s maintains stable rating on PortugalOil bubbles up on hopes of extension to output dealGreek parliament backs pension cuts and tax hikes 2.03pm BSTTime for a quick round-up.Ahead of Monday’s eurogroup meeting, Greek MPs have passed a series of new austerity measures introduced to help release the latest tranche of bailout funds from the country’s creditors. While the forthcoming get together of finance ministers is likely to b
  
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• What $110m for a Basquiat painting tells us about the art market

  19-05-2017 13:24
  
  High prices for famous 20th-century artworks driven by wealthy collectors from the US, Russia and the Middle EastA painting by Jean-Michel Basquiat has sold for a record $110.5m (£85m) at an auction in New York, in the latest display of the art market’s attraction to super-rich speculators and art lovers.The sale of Untitled sets a new high for a work by a US artist and is the first work of art created since 1980 to sell for more than $100m. It lags behind the most expensive painting
  
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• German business leaders urge Tories to rethink plan to leave single market

  19-05-2017 13:09
  
  Head of employers’ federation says integrity of single market more important than making good business with BritainGerman industrialists have warned that British hopes of their support in Brexit negotiations are misplaced and could backfire with dangerous consequences for international trade.
  Business leaders in Europe’s biggest economy are instead calling on Conservatives to rethink their commitment to leaving the single market, even though the party has doubled down on this promise
  
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• Peppa Pig owner makes splash by announcing 117 new episodes

  19-05-2017 12:33
  
  Entertainment One plans to expand hit children’s series to a total of 381 shows as it lines up new licensing dealsPeppa Pig’s quest for world dominance moved a step closer after Entertainment One revealed plans to make another 117 episodes of the hit cartoon.Production is under way on the new episodes, which are expected to be aired globally from spring 2019, securing the future of a show which has been wildly popular with young children for more than a decade. Continue reading...
  
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• 'It makes us forget our pain': parkour in Syria – in pictures

  19-05-2017 12:19
  
  A group of Syrian teenagers have been practising parkour in the rebel-held town of Inkhil, amid the damaged buildings and rubble. They say it helps distract them from the atmosphere of war Continue reading...
  
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• POUND LIVE: Pound rises again after shock fall from 7-month high

  19-05-2017 09:32 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  THE pound jumped back against the dollar on Friday morning following a sharp fall from a seven-month high.
  
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• State pension triple-lock AXED: Everything you need to know about Tory pension policy

  19-05-2017 08:47 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  A GUARANTEE that the state pension will rise by at least 2.5 per cent a year is to be dropped by the Conservatives the election manifesto has revealed.
  
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• Stricter cigarette packaging rules come into force in UK

  19-05-2017 08:43
  
  Cigarettes to be sold in standardised green packaging bearing graphic warnings of dangers of smoking from this weekendCigarettes must be sold in standardised green packaging bearing graphic warnings of the dangers of smoking from this weekend, as rules designed to prevent young people taking up the habit come into full effect in the UK. All packs must contain at least 20 cigarettes to make sure they are big enough for health warnings to cover 65% of the front and back, with the brand name restri
  
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• Remote air traffic control preparing for takeoff at London City airport

  19-05-2017 08:07
  
  High-definition cameras to replace staff in new east London tower with live pictures relayed to site in HampshireManned air traffic control towers, a reassuring fixture at airports since the dawn of civil aviation nearly a century ago, could soon be made obsolete by technological advances allowing arrivals and departures to be monitored from miles away using live streams of high-definition video.
  A 50-metre control tower is being built at London City airport but it will be populated by a suite o
  
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• National Grid boss says Labour plan will stall green energy drive

  19-05-2017 08:05
  
  John Pettigrew claims switch to public ownership will disrupt transition to cleaner forms of energy
  Labour’s plan to take the National Grid back into public ownership would harm the UK’s switch to green energy, the grid’s chief executive has said. John Pettigrew said renationalisation was “the last thing the industry needs” as it invests to accommodate more wind and solar power on the UK’s power grids.“Clearly, on nationalisation, we do not think it is a
  
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• Working from home has become stressful – should I call it quits?

  19-05-2017 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Changes in my company mean I no longer have any work-life balance
  Twice a week we publish problems that will feature in a forthcoming Dear Jeremy advice column in the Saturday Guardian so that readers can offer their own advice and suggestions. We then print the best of your comments alongside Jeremy’s own insights.Six years ago I moved from an office-based job to work for a big IT company. Since the role involved a lot of travel to meet customers, we agreed that I would be home-based. I d
  
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• Seeing red when Delta Air debited me twice for plane tickets

  19-05-2017 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  I could have ended up overdrawn with HSBC as airline took £2,094 instead of £1,047I bought return flights with Delta Air to the US for my boyfriend and myself . The £1,047 cost was debited from my credit card within 24 hours. Four days later I discovered the available balance on my current account had decreased by a further £1,047. My bank, HSBC, explained that this was a pending transaction to Delta Air, despite the fact that the fare had already left my account. Delta s
  
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• Party manifestos: what politicians are promising SMEs

  19-05-2017 08:00
  
  Small businesses are a big focus in this election. Here’s a guide to the pledges being made by Labour, the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats The small business vote is always a key target for Britain’s politicians, and it is no surprise to find all three main parties heaping praise on the nation’s entrepreneurs in their manifestos. Here are the highlights.Related: General election 2017: May says 'there's no Mayism', only 'solid Conservatism' at manifesto launch – po
  
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• A woodland idyll in the Wye valley – in pictures

  19-05-2017 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  This four-bedroom house in an area of outstanding natural beauty has an industrial pastContinue reading...
  
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• Price rises caused by Brexit a big worry for UK consumers, survey finds

  19-05-2017 06:53 via theguardian.com
  
  Four out of five fear rising expense of household essentials such as food, drink and clothing, according to Mintel reportBritish consumers are bracing themselves for an expensive and uncertain post-Brexit future, with four out of five fearing price rises on household essentials such as food, drink and clothing, a survey has revealed.Eighty-three percent of Britons admit they are concerned about price hikes in goods and services, while 59% are most worried about the soaring cost of groceries, acc
  
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• Pound v US dollar: GBP/USD mounts recovery after 'flash crash'

  19-05-2017 01:00 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  THE pound rallied against the US dollar this morning, rising back over $1.30 as Sterling recovered from a "flash crash".
  
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• Pound v Australian dollar: GBP/AUD unable to rebound from mysterious flash crash

  19-05-2017 01:00 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  THE GBP/AUD exchange rate is currently fluctuating around AU$1.745 after a small but mysterious 'flash crash' undid sterling advances.
  
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