Financial news

• Reckitt Benckiser needs to wean itself off a dud pay model | Nils Pratley

  28-03-2018 20:44
  When a scheme for calculating exec pay can’t stand the lightest brush with common sense, it’s time for changeShed no tears for Rakesh Kapoor, the chief executive of Reckitt Benckiser who has had £11.2m deducted from his 2017 pay package. He still earned £12.5m, owns shares in the Dettol-to-Durex firm worth £40m and this year is chasing a £22.7m maximum jackpot. He’ll get along fine. No need for a Nurofen.Reckitt has too often over the years found itself
  
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• Bottle and can deposit return scheme could cost £1bn, say UK retailers

  28-03-2018 17:31
  Major supermarkets express support for government’s plan but key issues, including who would pay for it, remain unclear
  The UK retail industry has warned it could cost £1bn to implement the government’s plan to charge deposits on drinks cans and bottles.Britain’s biggest supermarkets signalled a willingness to work with the environment secretary, Michael Gove, on the scheme, which would result in consumers in England getting the deposit back if they returned the empty dri
  
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• FACTBOX – UK financial services jobs post-Brexit - Cyprus Mail

  28-03-2018 17:06
  Cyprus Mail
  FACTBOX – UK financial services jobs post-Brexit
  Cyprus Mail
  Around 5,000 finance jobs will be shifted out of Britain or created overseas by March 2019 because of Brexit, half the number forecast six months ago, according to a Reuters survey of firms employing the bulk of workers in international finance ...
  Europe's costly financial shake-up may yet benefit a post-Brexit UKTelegraph.co.uk
  Brexit Effect: Fewer UK Financial Services Jobs Expected to Shift to EU, Says ...Insuran
  
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• High street sales feel chill from 'beast from the east'

  28-03-2018 17:04
  Department stores and furniture retailers among those most affected by snow, says CBIHigh street sales slumped at the fastest rate for early spring in at least five years, as freezing conditions caused by the “beast from the east” sweeping in from Siberia kept people away from the shops. The CBI’s survey found a sharp decline in sales volumes triggered by the poor weather, with 40% of retailers reporting that sales volumes were down in March compared with the same month a year
  
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• Shire jumps on possible offer from Japan's Takeda, markets nervous after tech shakeout - as it happened

  28-03-2018 15:53
  US economy grows more strongly than expectedUK retail sales fallTesla and Facebook lead US tech fallsShire could face £35bn takeover bid from Japan 2.50pm BST It was another volatile session for stock markets. After Tuesday’s slump on Wall Street, driven predominantly by sharp declines in technology stocks, European markets opened mostly lower. 2.39pm BST Back with Shire, and Ketan Patel at EdenTree Investment Management says it could be a key moment if a deal goes ahead:If a bid doe
  
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• English households face biggest council tax rises in 14 years

  28-03-2018 14:30
  Average 5.1% increase on band D properties comes despite local authorities cutting servicesHouseholds will be hit with the steepest council tax rise in 14 years from April, with the average household in England paying £81 more at a time when most local authorities are driving though big cuts to services. Related: Scrap 'highly regressive' council tax, says thinktankContinue reading...
  
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• Shire's shares surge as Japan's Takeda considers bid

  28-03-2018 13:06
  UK-listed drugmaker, known for ADHD treatment Adderall, is valued at more than £30bnShares in the UK-listed drugmaker Shire surged after Japan’s biggest pharmaceutical company, Takeda Pharmaceutical, said it was considering making a takeover approach.
  Shire’s shares jumped as much as 33% to £38.79 on the news, and later traded 17% higher at £36, valuing the company at £32.8bn. Takeda’s market value is about £29bn, around the same as Shire’s a
  
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• High street sales feel chill from the 'beast from the east'

  28-03-2018 13:01
  Department stores and furniture retailers among those most affected by snow, says CBIHigh street sales slumped at the fastest rate for early spring in at least five years, as freezing conditions caused by the “beast from the east” sweeping in from Siberia kept people away from the shops. The CBI’s survey found a sharp decline in sales volumes triggered by the poor weather, with 40% of retailers reporting that sales volumes were down in March compared with the same month a year
  
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• U.K. Retail Woes Send Stores Into Financial Distress, BOE Warns ... - Bloomberg

  28-03-2018 12:50
  Bloomberg
  U.K. Retail Woes Send Stores Into Financial Distress, BOE Warns ...
  Bloomberg
  Signs of pain on the U.K. high street grew in the first quarter, according to a report by the Bank of England's network of agents. Weak consumer spending means there is now “some evidence of financial distress in retail and leisure,” the central bank ...en meer »
  
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• Sky Bet fined £1m for failing to protect vulnerable customers

  28-03-2018 11:57
  People who asked to be barred from betting were able to open new accounts, says regulatorOnline gambling firm Sky Bet has been fined £1m for allowing hundreds of potentially vulnerable people to keep betting after they asked to be barred from doing so, while sending promotional material to 50,000 more.Industry regulator the Gambling Commission said Sky Bet was guilty of failings in its self-exclusion tools, which are meant to help people who fear they have a gambling problem lock themselve
  
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• Outrageous £206,000 water bill blunder took 10 days to sort

  28-03-2018 08:33
  Thames Water said it would ‘look into it’ … and I only knew about it because my bank alerted meThames Water has sent me a bill for £206,209.91 for six months’ usage. This was for a three-bedroom flat that I occupy mostly alone. I pay by direct debit and didn’t realise until I received notice from my bank. Now I’ve been told it will take up to 10 days for them to look into it. MK, Oxford Continue reading...
  
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• Melrose’s GKN pledges read like Greg Clark invented them to look bold | Nils Pratley

  28-03-2018 08:12
  The takeover firm merely vowed to do things it would have done anyway after the minister’s interventionGreg Clark is awake after all. The business secretary has declared – about eight weeks after he could have acted – that it would be a fine thing if we knew more about how Melrose would manage GKN if its £8bn bid succeeds.The result is five legally binding commitments from Melrose and one voluntary offer – a pledge to keep GKN’s aerospace division, the most se
  
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• Meet Britain’s Willy Wonkas: the ideas factory that could save UK industry | Aditya Chakrabortty

  28-03-2018 07:00
  Small-scale creators are vital to our economy, but the government gives them no help. Instead of giving up, they are going it alone. The latest article in our new economics series meets the people behind Green Lab in London• Listen to Aditya Chakrabortty talking about game-changing economic models on The Alternatives podcastIn 1985, one of the world’s greatest scientists rang the alarm. After a career in biology, Edward O Wilson was convinced that Earth was being stripped of
  
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• Rio Tinto sells its last Australian coalmine for $2.25bn

  28-03-2018 06:15
  The sale of the Kestrel mine makes Rio now the only major global company with no coal assets Rio Tinto has sold its remaining coalmine in Australia for $US2.25bn, making good on a pledge to exit the fuel.As the Australian resources minister, Matt Canavan, launched a taskforce to boost the coal industry, the deal leaves Rio as the only major global mining company to have no coal assets, the Royal Bank of Canada said. Continue reading...
  
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