Financial news

• Interserve's government-backed waste into energy effort stinks | Phillip Inman

  10-12-2018 20:21
  Untested incinerator tech uses about half the power generated to clean emissions it producesInterserve is best known as a Carillion-style outsourcing firm with a string of government contracts, but its woes are much more to do with it joining a government-sponsored effort to build almost useless infrastructure.The infrastructure in question is the network of energy from waste (EFW) plants dotted about the country. As successors to bog-standard incinerators they are supposed to be efficient, but
  
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• Co-founder takes a swipe at Superdry business model

  10-12-2018 20:02
  Julian Dunkerton steps up campaign to return to fashion retailer he quit this yearThe Superdry co-founder Julian Dunkerton has stepped up his campaign to return to the fashion retailer by voicing his concerns over the company’s direction in a City stockbroker note.In an unusual intervention, Dunkerton criticised the firm’s business model in comments to the Liberum analyst Wayne Brown, a former head of investor relations at Superdry. The retail entrepreneur states in the Liberum note
  
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• Inflation bites wealthy Britons as price rises hit luxury goods

  10-12-2018 19:52
  Fine wines, oysters and fancy restaurants up by 5.9% in past year, says Queen’s bankThe wealthiest Britons are experiencing inflation at twice the rate of the rest of the UK population as the prices of goods and services favoured by the richest 1% – oysters, fine wines, Michelin star restaurants and elite private schools – are rising much faster than more middle of the road products.Coutts, the private bank which only accepts customers with more than £1m in investable ass
  
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• Pound falls to lowest in almost two years amid Brexit uncertainty

  10-12-2018 19:24
  Sterling slumps to below $1.26 after Theresa May postpones vote on her Brexit planThe pound has dropped to its lowest level for almost two years amid the growing risks to the British economy from political paralysis over Brexit and on a no-deal scenario.Theresa May’s decision to delay the parliamentary vote on her Brexit plan to avoid an embarrassing defeat for the government sent sterling tumbling by more than 1.3% against the dollar and by almost 1% against the euro on the foreign exchan
  
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• Gambler's victims to sue bookmakers where he spent stolen cash

  10-12-2018 17:48
  Claims totalling £1.5m against William Hill and Paddy Power for allegedly failing obligationsTwo of the UK’s largest bookmakers are facing compensation claims worth £1.5m over allegations that they allowed a gambling addict to bet hundreds of thousands of pounds in stolen cash.Betting shop records seen by the Guardian show that the addict, who has asked for his name to be withheld, staked £650,000 in two William Hill shops over six months, losing £150,000. Continue
  
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• Delayed Crossrail could cost almost £3bn more than planned

  10-12-2018 17:44
  Fresh bailout for London’s new rail line, which is further delayed until at least 2020Crossrail could now cost almost £3bn more than budgeted, and the opening of the rail line across London is set to be further delayed until at least 2020.A fresh bailout announced on Monday by the mayor, Sadiq Khan, and the Department for Transport (DfT), includes loans of up to £2.05bn to London. It means the final bill for Crossrail could reach £17.6bn, instead of the £14.8bn it w
  
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• Tycoon Vijay Mallya can be extradited to India, UK judge rules

  10-12-2018 15:05
  UB Group chair wanted in home country over debts incurred by defunct airlineVijay Mallya, the multimillionaire former owner of the Force India Formula One team and self-proclaimed “King of the Good Times”, can be extradited to India to face allegations of fraud.Mallya, 62, chairman of the Indian brewery giant UB Group, is wanted in his home country in relation to £1bn of unpaid debts incurred by his now-defunct Kingfisher Airline. Mallya, who was once known as the “Branso
  
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• Global super-rich bought 153 homes for at least £20m each in past year

  10-12-2018 15:02
  Highest number of sales in Hong Kong as London’s ultra-prime housing market slips amid Brexit concernsMore than 150 homes around the world changed hands for more than £20m ($25m) each in the past year, as the “relentless creation of private wealth” fuelled the global ultra-prime housing market.The world’s richest people spent a combined £5.2bn ($6.6bn) on 153 properties that each sold for more than £20m in the year to end of August 2018, according to res
  
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• UK’s nuclear plans in doubt after report Welsh plant may be axed

  10-12-2018 13:26
  Hitachi’s £16bn Wylfa station on Anglesey is next proposed project after Hinkley Point CFresh doubts have been raised over prospects for the UK’s new nuclear power programme after a report that Hitachi is considering axing plans for a plant in Wales.The Japanese conglomerate’s mooted 2.9GW nuclear power station on Anglesey is next in line in the UK’s nuclear plans after EDF Energy’s 3.2GW Hinkley Point C scheme in Somerset. Continue reading...
  
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• Bitcoin news: MP wants to pay council tax in bitcoin

  10-12-2018 12:38 via feedproxy.google.com
  You could soon be paying your council tax with bitcoin, according to one MP. Eddie Hughes, MP for Walsall North, says the prospect of making payments to local authorities and utility providers one day could – and should – be a possibility.
  
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• Cryptocurrencies are like lottery tickets that might pay off in future | Kenneth Rogoff

  10-12-2018 12:11
  The likes of bitcoin may well be worthless – but there’s a chance they will be valuable somedayWith the price of bitcoin down 80% from its peak a year ago, and the larger cryptocurrency market in systemic collapse, has “peak crypto” come and gone? Perhaps, but don’t expect to see true believers lining up to have their cryptocurrency tattoos removed just yet.At a recent conference I attended, the overwhelming sentiment was that market capitalisation of cryptocurrenci
  
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• Pound Euro exchange rate: Sterling struggles after ECJ ruling and poor industrial results

  10-12-2018 12:08 via feedproxy.google.com
  This morning, the pound is struggling following a ruling by the European Court of Justice and a slew of negative UK data, and is currently trading at a rate of €1.115. This morning saw the release of a ruling from the European Court of Justice which decided that the UK could “cancel Brexit” without the permission of the other member states.
  
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• Pound US dollar exchange rate: GBP/USD stalls ahead of key Brexit vote

  10-12-2018 11:49 via feedproxy.google.com
  The GBP/USD exchange rate is currently trading at $1.272, virtually unchanged from this morning’s opening rate, but having fluctuated in a range of around half a cent during the Asian session.
  
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• Outsourcing firm Interserve's shares dive despite rescue plan

  10-12-2018 09:49
  The government rejects comparisons between company and former rival CarillionThe crisis surrounding the outsourcing firm Interserve intensified on Monday after its shares lost more than 50% of their value, as the government contractor battles to negotiate its second rescue deal this year.The heavily indebted group, which has thousands of government contracts such as cleaning hospitals and serving school meals, said the rescue plan would mean substantial losses for shareholders as the banks and o
  
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• Mayor Sadiq Khan to look at imposing rent controls in London

  10-12-2018 08:00 via theguardian.com
  Exclusive: Arguments in favour of capping rent inflation ‘overwhelming’, Khan tells MPThe mayor of London has hinted that he is considering introducing rent controls across the capital in a radical overhaul of private rental laws.Sadiq Khan told an MP that London needed to adopt a “strategic approach to rent stabilisation and control”, since the arguments in favour of capping rent inflation are becoming “overwhelming”. Continue reading...
  
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• It’s a sticky situation trying to gift books

  10-12-2018 08:00
  Peeling off the price sticker damaged the cover but I can’t get a refundI removed the barcode/price stickers from two hardback books published by Pan Macmillan as they are Christmas gifts. But they tore the covers and left a sticky residue. I cannot reasonably be expected to send these these as gifts now. The books cost nearly £20 from The Guardian Bookshop but it says the stickers are applied by the publishers and not meant to be removed. It would not issue a refund or a replacement
  
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• Can I refuse to allow a letting agent to take photos of my flat?

  10-12-2018 08:00
  I’m not comfortable having photos of my home and possessions on the internetQ I currently live in a rented flat but I am buying a house. I have given notice to my letting agent and my tenancy is due to end in a month. The letting agent wants to come to my flat and take photos of it so they can put these photos on the internet and market the property. I am not comfortable with photos of my home and possessions being published on the internet. Can I refuse their request?I moved into the flat
  
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• 'It's a movement': how the Barefoot Investor changed what's in our wallets

  10-12-2018 03:17 via theguardian.com
  Scott Pape subverted traditional publishing and his money guides became bestsellers. Now he’s helping kids fill their piggy banksWhen do you know someone’s made the leap from being a run-of-the-mill financial adviser to changing the culture of an entire country?Perhaps it’s when you go out for dinner with friends and when the bill comes, half the table chuck in those Orange ING debit cards with the word “splurge” written on them in texta. Or perhaps the critical mom
  
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• Expand 'commonhold' ownership system, government urged

  10-12-2018 01:01 via theguardian.com
  Law Commission backs move that would offer alternative to landlord-controlled leaseholdsThe rarely used “commonhold” system of home ownership should be expanded as an alternative to landlord-controlled leaseholds which are increasingly resented, the Law Commission is recommending.In a public consultation launched on Monday, the government’s official adviser on law reform is calling for commonhold to become widely available because it permits anyone to own a freehold flat withou
  
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• City investors call on listed companies to pay living wage

  10-12-2018 01:01 via theguardian.com
  Share Action campaign group has written to firms including Balfour Beatty and Vodafone A group of City investors with assets worth more than £180bn has written to listed firms including Vodafone, Balfour Beatty and Severn Trent urging them to pay all employees a living wage.The chief executives of the utilities firms Severn Trent and United Utilities, homeware retailer Dunelm Group and telecoms firm Vodafone have received letters saying that paying the living wage to all staff and key cont
  
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