Financial news

• Sales of dry sherry soar as hipster generation drives revival

  23-11-2017 20:46 via theguardian.com
  Popularity of premium varieties arrests long-term decline thanks to cocktails and tapas restaurants, says Majestic WineSales of dry sherry have soared by a quarter, popularised by the growing number of tapas restaurants and sherry bars, according to Majestic Wine. The revival in demand for drier, premium, varieties such as fino and manzanilla this year is thought to have arrested a long-term decline in sales of the fortified wine caused by the dwindling popularity of cream and sweet sherries suc
  
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• Brexit has created a political climate no budget can fix | Martin Kettle

  23-11-2017 20:43 via theguardian.com
  Philip Hammond’s efforts are mostly futile. Old party loyalties are now torn and the Tories and Labour are in denialFormer chancellor Ken Clarke writes in his memoirs that in British political history there is nothing so dead and forgotten as old budgets. That must be reassuring news for Philip Hammond. The current chancellor’s sticking plasters this week are best understood as a far from glorious 21st-century application of Harold Macmillan’s advice to Tory chancellors that &l
  
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• Black Friday fever: high street retailers pin hopes on discount splurge

  23-11-2017 20:42
  Promotional race as shops try to boost flagging sales sees first entry by Next Shoppers are expected to go on a £2.5bn spending spree in the next 24 hours as Black Friday discount fever sweeps UK high streets. Friday promises to be a nail biting one for retailers who see the US inspired discount day as a litmus test ahead of the key Christmas trading period.The high-street clothing bellwether Next, which traditionally refuses to offer pre-Christmas discounts, is entering the Black Friday f
  
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• UK faces two decades of no earnings growth, IFS warns

  23-11-2017 20:23
  Thinktank says budget shows Brexit uncertainty and loss of productivity could put wages below their 2008 level in 2022Britain’s leading financial thinktank has warned workers to expect an unprecedented two lost decades of earnings growth and many more years of austerity as a result of the marked slowdown in the economy announced in Philip Hammond’s budget.The Institute for Fiscal Studies said in its traditional post-budget analysis that new forecasts slashing productivity, earnings a
  
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• UK faces two decades of no earnings growth and more austerity, says IFS

  23-11-2017 20:23 via theguardian.com
  Thinktank’s budget analysis says forecasts for lower productivity, earnings and growth until 2022 were ‘pretty grim reading’Britain’s leading financial thinktank has warned workers to expect an unprecedented two lost decades of earnings growth and many more years of austerity as a result of the marked slowdown in the economy announced in Philip Hammond’s budget.The Institute for Fiscal Studies said in its traditional post-budget analysis that forecasts slashing prod
  
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• Age of austerity isn't over yet, says IFS budget analysis

  23-11-2017 20:12 via theguardian.com
  Mainly grim news from thinktank, painting a picture of doom and gloom including predictions of a £35bn deficit in 2019-20Seven years after George Osborne ushered in a tough new age of spending cuts and deficit reduction, the Institute for Fiscal Studies had a grim message for the long-suffering British public yesterday: the age of austerity is not over. The IFS is to the budget what the pundits are to Match of the Day. It pores over the highlights, dissects why things have gone wrong (and
  
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• Ryanair crew told to sell more perfume and scratchcards or face action

  23-11-2017 20:04 via theguardian.com
  Recruitment firms warn staff not selling enough merchandise on flights to up their game or risk ‘disciplinary proceedings’ Ryanair cabin crew have been told they could face “disciplinary proceedings” and have their working hours forcibly changed unless they sell more perfume and scratchcards.The Irish airline has previously denied pressuring staff to hit specific sales targets, after it emerged they were encouraged to sell products in return for bonuses. Continue reading.
  
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• Just Eat poised to enter FTSE 100 after value soars past Sainsbury's

  23-11-2017 19:27 via theguardian.com
  Takeaway website in line to join blue-chip index in quarterly review as more and more Britons shun cookingJust Eat is on course to enter the FTSE 100 after its stock market value rose higher than Sainsbury’s.The takeaway website has soared in value since making its stock market debut in 2014, with the company now worth £5.6bn after gobbling up smaller rivals including Hungryhouse and SkipTheDishes. Continue reading...
  
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• Centrica shares suffer biggest one-day fall as British Gas loses 823,000 accounts

  23-11-2017 19:25
  Rise in electricity prices in September contributes to exodus of nearly 6% of customers between July and OctoberShares in British Gas’s owner, Centrica, have had their their biggest fall in a single day after the company shed 823,000 customers in four months and warned earnings this year would be below expectations.The UK’s biggest energy supplier said it lost nearly 6% of its customer accounts between July and October, with 150,000 of those heading for the door after the company rai
  
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• We gave May clear evidence of tax avoidance. Why won’t she act? | Nick Hopkins

  23-11-2017 19:05 via theguardian.com
  The Paradise Papers revealed immoral and unfair practice on an industrial scale – yet ministers seem reluctant to have a parliamentary or public inquiryIn the three weeks since the unveiling of the Paradise Papers, the government has clung to familiar arguments. These arguments have not been to do with the Panama Papers – the forerunner investigation into tax havens and offshore empires that the Guardian published last year. Instead, the echoes have come from another remarkable, thou
  
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• Harrods begins £200m redesign to appeal to wealthy Asian shoppers

  23-11-2017 19:01 via theguardian.com
  Three-year refurbishment will help tailor store to shoppers from China and south-east AsiaHarrods has begun the biggest redevelopment in the department store’s 170-year history to increase its appeal to wealthy overseas shoppers flocking to Britain to exploit the weak pound. The boss of Harrods, which is owned by Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund, said £200m will be spent redeveloping all of the shop’s one million sq ft of retail space over the next three years. The famous ex
  
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• Number crushing: economists give Hammond's budget the big thumbs down | John Crace

  23-11-2017 18:49 via theguardian.com
  In a dark room in central London, the Institute for Fiscal Studies pores over the figures behind Wednesday’s budget and finds little actually thereCall it the revenge of the geeks. On every other day of the year, politicians feel free to play fast and loose with the figures. Anything to massage them towards their own ends. But having stayed up all night going through Treasury forecasts, the day after the budget belongs to the experts. This is when they get to have their say on the governme
  
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• Google clamps down on ticket resale sites

  23-11-2017 17:45
  Search giant unveils restrictions against secondary ticketing sites such as Viagogo and StubHub including new controls on paid search Google will impose tough new restrictions on ticket resale companies to prevent music and theatre fans needlessly paying above face value on websites such as Viagogo and StubHub.In a move celebrated by fans’ campaign groups, ticket resale companies will be barred from claiming to be an “official” source of tickets in Google results when they are
  
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• It’s called effective altruism – but is it really the best way to do good? | Loose canon | Giles Fraser

  23-11-2017 17:34
  The reduction of morality to a data-driven calculation has proved especially attractive in an age where Stem disciples make so much of the cultural runningGiving to charity goes up at Christmas time. Many of us, secretly repulsed by our gluttonous orgy of collective servitude to next February’s landfill delivery, yearn for a better use for our money. Bombarded by advertisements, sometimes a thought peeps though the fog of amplified desire: what if we used our money to do some good in the w
  
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• Budget 2017: austerity continues – Politics Weekly podcast

  23-11-2017 17:27 via theguardian.com
  Heather Stewart is joined by Larry Elliott, Sonia Sodha and Robert Colvile to discuss the second budget of the year. Plus we hear from Robert Chote – the man responsible for the drastic downward revision to Britain’s economic growth forecasts – and the Resolution Foundation’s Matthew WhittakerIt was billed as a “make or break budget” for the under-fire chancellor, so Philip Hammond put on a brave face and offered up tax cuts to first-time buyers, a bit more mo
  
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• EU officials say UK Brexit stance chaotic in leaked document - Financial Post

  23-11-2017 13:24
  Financial Post
  EU officials say UK Brexit stance chaotic in leaked document
  Financial Post
  An anti Brexit, pro European Union campaigner waves flags near Parliament in London, Wednesday, Nov. 22, 2017. Britain's Treasury chief has little room to maneuver Wednesday as he reveals his spending plans to a nation bracing for the shock of Brexit.en meer »
  
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• The ‘millennial railcard’ shows the utter disdain the Tories hold us in | Ellie Mae O’Hagan

  23-11-2017 11:57
  Young people face a perfect storm of unaffordable housing, spiralling debt and job insecurity. Slightly cheaper off-peak rail travel doesn’t begin to address thatWednesday was budget day: that time of year when the chancellor moves money around ostensibly to manage the economy, when really it’s to give us all a reason to vote their party back into power come the next election.And it is with that in mind that we turn to the millennial railcard, one of the measures heavily trailed in t
  
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• Thames Water to shut Cayman Islands subsidiaries under new chairman

  23-11-2017 11:40 via theguardian.com
  UK’s largest water company, which has not paid corporation tax in the UK for the last 10 years, to review business Thames Water has appointed the former SSE boss Ian Marchant as chairman to spearhead a review of the business, including closing the company’s controversial Cayman Islands subsidiaries.
  Britain’s biggest water and wastewater services company, which has not paid corporation tax in the UK for the past 10 years, said there was no tax advantage from its two Cayman subs
  
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• Philip Hammond: stamp duty axe is incentive to save house deposit

  23-11-2017 10:39
  Chancellor says criticism that his flagship policy will merely raise house prices overlooks his plan to build more homesPhilip Hammond has defended his flagship housing policy against criticism it will raise house prices and said that abolishing stamp duty for first-time buyers would create an incentive to save a deposit.The chancellor said the policy, which abolished the stamp duty on homes under £300,000 for first-time buyers, would help a million people get on the housing ladder.Continu
  
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• How the OBR quickly spoiled Hammond's housing help lines

  23-11-2017 08:00
  The new stamp duty threshold doesn’t look so good outside London and as for the £44bn worth of measures? That’s actually £15bn ... spread over five years The excitement over the chancellor’s modest surprise – the abolition of stamp duty for first-time buyers purchasing properties worth up to £300,000 – lasted about five minutes. The Office for Budget Responsibility quickly pointed out that this supposed giveaway will increase house prices. The winn
  
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• Heathrow refuses to refund me for pod parking problems

  23-11-2017 08:00
  I had to use a shuttle bus, which took longer and was inferior to the premium service I had bookedThree months ago I arrived at Heathrow to discover the pod parking I had pre-booked was not working. Instead of being transferred to the terminal by a pod I had to take a bus, which took longer and dropped me further away from departures. I emailed the company to ask for a refund of the difference between the pod parking and long-stay parking. This was refused and two subsequent letters to the chief
  
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• Hammond to borrow extra £90bn after lower productivity forecast

  23-11-2017 08:00 via theguardian.com
  OBR warns chancellor faces long period of sluggish wages growth that will dent tax receipts and increase borrowingPhilip Hammond must borrow an extra £90bn over the next five years after the Treasury’s independent forecaster downgraded productivity growth.The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) warned that the chancellor faced a long period of lower than expected wages growth that would dent tax receipts and push up borrowing. The cumulative effect over the life of the parliament
  
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• Higher rate UK taxpayers gain most in budget changes

  23-11-2017 07:00
  Rise in personal tax allowance benefits higher ratepayers by £340 a year with basic rate band £70 better off and universal credit recipients better by just 50p per week Higher rate taxpayers will be £340 a year better off after budget changes to income tax, but lower earners will gain just £70 and those on universal credit just 50p a week, as the chancellor rejected accusations that the well-off do not pay enough tax.The personal allowance – that part of your pay no
  
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• Shake-up in advertising of broadband speeds after consumer backlash

  23-11-2017 01:01 via theguardian.com
  From May, UK providers only allowed to advertise average speed of service rather than rarely achieved ‘up to’ speedBroadband providers will only be allowed to advertise the average speed of their service rather than a top speed only available to a handful of households after a dramatic shake-up of the rules by the advertising regulator.The crackdown on misleading claims means companies can only advertise download speeds that are available to at least 50% of customers at peak time. At
  
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• Completion of London's Thameslink rail project delayed until December 2019

  23-11-2017 01:01 via theguardian.com
  Promise of 24 Thameslink trains running through central London each hour will not be fulfilled until another £900m of work is carried outThe £7.5bn Thameslink project designed to run trains automatically through central London every two and a half minutes will now not be completed until the end of the decade. Related: UK's biggest rail franchise to be broken upContinue reading...
  
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• Car production rises as exports make up for falling UK demand

  23-11-2017 01:01 via theguardian.com
  Just over 157,000 cars produced in October, 3.5% more than same time last year, as exports rise by 5% and domestic demand falls 2.9%Car production increased last month as rising exports made up for falling demand in the UK, new figures reveal.
  Just over 157,000 cars rolled off production lines in October, 3.5% more than the same month last year, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT). Continue reading...
  
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