• Keith Hellawell's Sports Direct reign comes to a chaotic end | Nils Pratley

    Nobody expected him to tame Mike Ashley but they did expect him to show he was vaguely in the loopNobody would suggest that chairing a public company in which Mike Ashley is the controlling shareholding is easy, but Keith Hellawell, during his nine years in the hot seat at Sports Direct, managed to make things worse – for himself, for the business, and, in some ways, even for Ashley.The defining episodes of Hellawell’s time have been about Sports Direct’s reputation – ter
  • Lehman collapse: what has happened to the markets since?

    The effect on the FTSE 100 through to pensions, house prices and saversUK wages have not yet recovered to pre-crisis levels, says IFS
    Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy on 15 September 2008, prompting a fall in the FTSE 100 of 4%. It was the beginning of a slump that by Christmas of that year had resulted in 23.4% being wiped off the value of Britain’s top 100 companies. Continue reading...
  • Pound US dollar exchange rate: GBP rises as Juncker reassures on post-Brexit status

    THE pound is trading higher against the US dollar today, hitting a level of $1.303 on the exchange rate. In the bigger picture, this represents something of a recovery for the pound which has broken out of the $1.292 region.
  • Pound euro exchange rate: GBP slips back as Carney agrees to stay on

    The pound is trading against the euro at around €1.123 this morning after sliding from Tuesday’s one-month-high of €1.124. Despite the slip, the pound euro exchange rate is still trending comfortably well above the week’s opening levels of €1.117.
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  • Turning your money green

    MORE than a decade since the start of the financial crisis, growing numbers of people are now thinking about the morality of where they invest their money. Many of us put our money into so-called “sin stocks” such as guns, gambling, tobacco and alcohol, often without realising it.
  • SSE blames price cap and hot weather as it issues profit warning

    Energy firm expects profits in household supply business to be significantly lower in 2019The energy company SSE has issued a profit warning, blaming the looming price cap on the industry’s poor-value default tariffs, the hot weather and higher gas prices.In an unscheduled trading update, the firm, one of the UK’s big six energy suppliers, said adjusted operating profits at its household supply business would be significantly lower next year, if the industry regulator’s propose
  • Many thinking outside the box on funeral bills

    The cost of dying continues to By Harvey Jones rise at a faster pace than inflation and wages, with the average funeral now a punitive £4,271. Funeral costs rose 4.7 per cent in the last year, far higher than the 2.9 per cent increase in salaries in the year to July, placing another burden on families at a difficult time.
  • How to keep taxman’s paws off your donation

    If you are giving to charity then your money will go a lot further if you can get the taxman to go the extra mile as well. This is Remember A Charity Week, which encourages people to leave a donation in their will, but there are other options too.
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  • Do we have the right to say no to a water meter?

    Thames Water is insisting we have one, but I’m not sure if they are compulsoryWe have been receiving letters from Thames Water insisting that we have smart meters fitted that can monitor water usage. I have attached the most recent letter. Could you let me know whether the water meters are compulsory if we can refuse the installation?SB, N London Continue reading...
  • Help-to-save scheme is finally launched

    Estimated 3.5m people on low incomes eligible for accounts earning 50p for every £1 savedThe government will on Wednesday launch its much-delayed help-to-save scheme designed to assist low-paid workers build up savings by giving them 50p for every £1 they save.Championed by the former prime minister David Cameron, help to save was first announced in March 2016. But it largely mirrors Labour’s savings gateway scheme which was scrapped in 2010 by the then chancellor, George Osbor
  • CashEuroNet UK: payday lender faces complaints bill for millions

    Payday lender attracts more annual complaints to ombudsman than WongaThe company behind the payday lenders QuickQuid and Pounds to Pocket faces a potential multimillion-pound bill after consumer complaints against it almost quadrupled in a year.CashEuroNet UK, which is owned by a US company, has become one of Britain’s most complained-about financial firms, attracting 4,692 complaints to the Financial Ombudsman Service during the first six months of 2018. Continue reading...
  • JD Sports applauds its high street ‘theatres’

    THE boss of JD Sports has hailed its stores as “essential” to its success as it shrugged off wider retail gloom with record profits. The retailer, on the verge of promotion to the FTSE 100 after tapping into the growth of sportswear as fashion, is now aiming to crack the American market following its near-£400million acquisition of US chain Finish Line earlier this year.

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