Financial news

• Comcast outbids Rupert Murdoch’s Fox to win control of Sky

  22-09-2018 22:06 via theguardian.com
  US cable giant wins auction with offer of £30bn, ending years of Murdoch controlRupert Murdoch’s control of Sky is likely to end after three decades after his 21st Century Fox company was outbid by US rival Comcast, which offered £30bn to take full control of the British-based broadcaster in a high-stakes auction.The announcement on Saturday that Comcast has emerged on top was made after both companies submitted blind bids in a highly unusual process overseen by the Takeover Pa
  
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• Rotterdam prepared for worst when Britain crashes out of EU

  22-09-2018 17:00 via theguardian.com
  In Rotterdam, everyone assumes the UK will leave the single market and customs union. We went to see how it plans to cope with the upheavalEurope’s largest port, Rotterdam, is counting down to Brexit. “In about 200 days’ time, if nothing else happens… we will need to supervise all the goods coming in and out of the UK market,” says Roel van ’t Veld, Brexit coordinator at the Dutch customs authority.Hard Brexit or soft? Chequers dead or alive? Does “max-
  
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• Petrol price war looms after 3p per litre drop in wholesale costs

  22-09-2018 13:02 via theguardian.com
  Correction in pump prices, currently at four-year high, could be imminentFuel retailers may be about to engage in a price war, the AA has said.A 3p per litre slump in wholesale costs this month suggests pump prices could be about to drop, according to the AA. This would be welcome relief for motorists who are being hit by prices at a four-year high after 11 consecutive weekly increases. Continue reading...
  
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• 'Our house fell apart – but our insurer won't pay the full amount'

  22-09-2018 10:00 via theguardian.com
  A Sussex family has had an eight-year battle to get a full payout over subsidence in their homeA Sussex family has accused Direct Line of “shocking and appalling” treatment following an eight-year battle over a subsidence claim during which time, they say, the property has worsened each year to the point of becoming dangerous.Robert Sherburn first reported cracks in the walls back in 2010, when he and his wife Anna’s first son, Hector was still in nappies. Eight years on, they
  
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• When is the best time to book a hotel room for a good deal?

  22-09-2018 08:00 via theguardian.com
  I made a reservation two months in advance – but now the same rooms are 25% cheaperEvery week a Guardian Money reader submits a question, and it’s up to you to help him or her out – a selection of the best answers will appear in next Saturday’s paper.When is the best time to book a hotel room? I am going to Germany in October and decided to book in August as I thought it would be cheaper. It was quoted at €80 at an apparent 15% discount. The same hotel is now selling
  
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• Voice recognition: is it really as secure as it sounds?

  22-09-2018 08:00 via theguardian.com
  Banks and tax offices are using the technology – but some experts claim it can be dupedWith millions of us accustomed to barking orders at Alexa and Siri, it’s probably not surprising that voice recognition services offered by banks and other organisations are taking off in a big way.It emerged this week that HM Revenue & Customs has so far signed up about 6.7 million people to its voice identification (or “voice ID”) service, while HSBC says it has more than 10,000 p
  
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• I’ll get my pension soon, but I’ll have to keep working to pay off my mortgage'

  22-09-2018 08:00 via theguardian.com
  Richard Bannan, 64, on why his ‘frugal’ lifestyle wouldn’t change even if he won the lotteryI earn £33,000 a year but I still have £55,000 on my mortgage with repayments of £675 a month. I’m about one month off from collecting my pension under the old system, but I’m going to have to work past the retirement age to pay off my mortgage.I bought my council house in south-east London for £26,000 19 years ago and five years later I only had &poun
  
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• 'I had cancer – but my insurer tried to wriggle out of paying'

  22-09-2018 08:00 via theguardian.com
  Sheila Hastings took out critical illness cover, but faced a fight over her £280,000 claimWhen Sheila Hastings* heard just days after her daughter’s wedding that she had an “aggressive” form of kidney cancer and major surgery was inevitable, she was comforted that at least she had a “critical illness” insurance policy taken out with Zurich eight years earlier.These policies are supposed to pay out a lump sum if you are diagnosed with a life-threatening illness
  
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• How did we allow our post offices to become so grotty? | Patrick Collinson

  22-09-2018 08:00 via theguardian.com
  They were once a national institution; now they are crammed into tawdry storesThe long, slow and premature death of the Post Office has been agonising to observe. Never has “death by a thousand cuts” been more apposite than the deliberate destruction of a once-proud service into the shabby shell of a business it is now.The litter-strewn floor of my scruffy and dimly-lit local branch is now squashed behind a Lebara phone merchant. As you join the long queue amid the discarded Coke can
  
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• Just Eat bitten by Uber move

  22-09-2018 05:44 via feedproxy.google.com
  ABOUT £230million was wiped from the value of Just Eat yesterday as investors took fright at the prospect of Uber eating into the burgeoning food delivery market.
  
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• Ministers urged to get tough on minimum wage offenders

  22-09-2018 01:01 via theguardian.com
  Companies were fined only £14m in year when staff were underpaid by £15.6mMinisters have been urged to impose tougher penalties on companies that pay their staff below the minimum wage after it emerged that the government fined companies only £14m in a year when rogue employers underpaid their staff by £15.6m. It is a criminal offence not to pay the minimum wage, and the maximum fine is 200% of every penny underpaid. Firms found in breach must also repay staff all the mon
  
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