Financial news

• RBS shareholders take battle over cash call to high court

  21-05-2017 16:21
  
  Case will see disgraced former boss Fred Goodwin forced to defend accusations investors were misled into buying sharesA £520m case is scheduled to begin in the high court on Monday that will scrutinise the months leading up to Royal Bank of Scotland’s £45bn bailout at the height of the financial crisis.Along with other directors, the disgraced former RBS chief executive Fred Goodwin will be forced to defend accusations that investors were misled into buying shares in the Edinbu
  
  Read more

• Growth slump as rising prices slowed consumer spending, figures to show

  21-05-2017 16:14
  
  Economists expect Office for National Statistics to confirm that first quarter growth fell to 0.3% from 0.7%Consumers failed to propel the UK economy in the first quarter as rising prices dampened appetite for spending, official figures will show this week.City economists believe the Office for National Statistics will confirm on Thursday that economic growth more than halved to 0.3% in the first three months of the year from 0.7% in the previous quarter. Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• War Machine: let battle commence in Netflix assault on cinema

  21-05-2017 16:00
  
  It has already seized prime-time TV territory. Now Netflix has cinema in its crosshairs – with War Machine, a big-budget battle movie starring Brad Pitt. Director David Michôd outlines the plan Related: War Machine review – Brad Pitt goes over the top in Afghan war satire Netflix’s new feature film is a big deal in many ways. Called War Machine, it combines the star power of Brad Pitt and the indie credibility of David Michôd, the director of Animal Kingdom. It boas
  
  Read more

• Church of England made stunning 17% return on investments in 2016

  21-05-2017 15:08 via theguardian.com
  
  Church Commissioners, which manages investable C of E assets worth £7.9bn, says it has been promoting ethical investingThe case for profitable ethical investing has been bolstered by the Church Commissioners for England, as the fund announced divine returns on its financial portfolio for 2016. Related: Church of England sells investments fearing market slowdownContinue reading...
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Shell shareholders to vote for new climate change goals

  21-05-2017 12:38
  
  Investors including the Church of England and activists will send signal to Anglo-Dutch company’s board at AGM this weekShell shareholders including the Church of England, European pension funds and Dutch activists will send a signal to the board of the Anglo-Dutch company this week by voting for it to set new climate change goals.The challenge comes from a Dutch group of retail investors, who have tabled a resolution for Shell’s annual general meeting on Tuesday, asking the company
  
  Read more

• Charging ahead: Welsh battery scheme may aid growth of green energy

  21-05-2017 12:21
  
  One of the UK’s largest battery storage schemes, built next to a windfarm, will offer vital services to the National GridNestling alongside rows of conifers and wind turbines in a Welsh valley, a pioneering project will materialise this summer that could prove a blueprint for unlocking Britain’s renewable energy potential.The Upper Afan Valley near Swansea is already home to the biggest windfarm in England and Wales, but in July work will begin there on one of the UK’s largest
  
  Read more

• Marks & Spencer to report slump in clothing sales after short-lived boost

  21-05-2017 12:16
  
  Disappointing clothing sales will be revealed on Wednesday alongside sharp fall in annual profits despite Christmas bumpMarks & Spencer will report a fresh slump in clothing sales on Wednesday after a revival at Christmas proved short-lived.The disappointing finish to the year will be revealed alongside a sharp fall in annual profits. Hopes that M&S chief executive Steve Rowe had come up with a winning formula for the UK’s biggest clothing retailer were raised after it recorded its
  
  Read more

• Forget Brexit, the real challenge is creating enough wealth for an ageing population

  21-05-2017 11:58
  
  In or out of the EU, the focus should be on be boosting skills and productivity in the north to match those in the south-eastRoll the clock back a year and Britain was in the middle of the EU referendum battle. The remain side was warning about the economic consequences of Brexit; the leave side was extolling the benefits of taking back control. Leave won decisively but narrowly enough to give the remainers hope that the public would rethink its decision.The general election campaign has exposed
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Election campaigning to briefly pause in memory of murdered MP Jo Cox

  21-05-2017 11:22 via theguardian.com
  
  Politicians from all parties, including Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn, will take one-hour break to remember Labour MPPoliticians will take a one-hour break from election campaigning to remember Jo Cox, the Labour MP who was murdered by a far-right extremist during the EU referendum campaign last year.Candidates from all parties have been asked to choose an hour on Sunday in which to honour Cox and recognise that people have more in common than they have have differences, a message from her maide
  
  Read more

• Brexit and the coming food crisis: ‘If you can’t feed a country, you haven’t got a country’

  21-05-2017 09:00
  
  Britain’s food production depends on seasonal migrant labour from the EU. What will happen to those workers after Brexit? And how will it change the industry?On 24 June last year, the few hundred residents of a temporary village, hidden from view in the middle of a West Sussex soft fruit farm, received letters. They were signed by David Kay, the managing director of the Hall Hunter Partnership, a business that grows 10% of the UK’s strawberries, 19% of its raspberries and a whacking
  
  Read more

• Australia leads fight to save Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact

  21-05-2017 08:06
  
  Talks in Hanoi are focused on salvaging the free trade deal agreed between 12 nations before Donald Trump pulled the US outAustralia is leading the charge to save the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade deal thrown into doubt by Donald Trump’s decision to pull America out of the pact.As fears rumble of a new global era of protectionism, Asia Pacific trade ministers gathered in Vietnam on Sunday with Australia, Japan and New Zealand at the forefront of efforts to save the dea
  
  Read more

• Who needs a door handle on a freezer? It’s a ‘cosmetic’ item, says Zanussi

  21-05-2017 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  It cracked, then broke, but the company refuses to repair itTwo years ago I purchased a Zanussi freezer from my local John Lewis. It  is still working well, except the door handle recently developed a crack in the middle and has now broken completely. I wrote to Zanussi hoping for a replacement because this appears to have been caused by a manufacturing fault. I was astonished to hear back that the handle is considered a “cosmetic” item. I had expected an excuse about
  
  Read more

• From tax to Brexit, the Tories will do anything to stay in power

  21-05-2017 08:00
  
  Nothing – not even policies for which Labour was excoriated two years ago – is too much to swallow for a party, and a leader, determined to rise above the frayJeremy Corbyn may score badly with the wider public, but for as long as I can remember the press have given even the most admired Labour leaders a hard time during election campaigns. A recent exception was Tony Blair, who – for a time – achieved rock star status with the media.Many reports have suggested that when
  
  Read more

• Ebay accused of failing its sellers as fraudulent buyers manipulate the system

  21-05-2017 07:59 via theguardian.com
  
  A website built on the premise that most people are honest is struggling. Now at last there is a promise of more protection, as Anna Tims reportsLast November Clive Rose* sold two handmade Japanese swords on eBay, worth a total of £1,940. The buyer, once he had received them, demanded that the cost of the more expensive sword be slashed. Rose refused to haggle and asked for the items to be returned and a refund issued.Eventually a box arrived. “We couldn’t open it until we had
  
  Read more

• Car loans, low rates, second mortgages: all the ingredients for a new credit crunch

  21-05-2017 07:59
  
  The relentless rise in consumer borrowing is starting to cause real concern in the financial services industry. And with good reasonA credit crunch is brewing and when it happens, the UK is going to get hurt. That is the message emerging from senior executives in the financial services industry, who do not think Britain has changed that much since the 2008 credit disaster and the devastating crash that followed. Three developments lie at the heart of this disturbing analysis: spectacular growth
  
  Read more

Follow @financialnwsUK on Twitter!