Financial news

• Royal Mail to donate £60,000 to charity after breaking stamp price cap

  22-02-2019 18:58 via theguardian.com
  Ofcom capped second-class stamp price at 60p until 1 April, but stamps will cost 61p from 25 MarchRoyal Mail is to donate £60,000 to charity after it was found by regulator Ofcom to have increased the price of second-class stamps beyond the permitted level of 60p.The postal service company, privatised via a much-criticised stock market floatation in 2013, said on Friday it would increase the price of a first-class stamp by 3p to 70p and a second-class stamp by 3p to 61p. Continue reading..
  
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• Campaigners condemn closure of Rolls-Royce bribery inquiry

  22-02-2019 18:56
  SFO shuts down investigation into which executives were responsible for paymentsAnti-corruption campaigners have criticised prosecutors for closing a long-running investigation into the payment of multimillion-pound bribes by Rolls-Royce.The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) announced on Friday that it had shut down its investigation to establish which senior executives were responsible for paying huge bribes to secure export contracts for Rolls-Royce, without charging anyone. Continue reading...
  
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• Kraft Heinz share plunge loses Warren Buffett $4bn in one day

  22-02-2019 17:48
  Shares in the food and beverage giant fell nearly 25% in Friday trading, Berkshire Hathaway has been particularly hard hitShares in the food and beverage giant Kraft Heinz fell nearly 25% in Friday trading, a day after the company wrote down by $15.4bn the value of its Kraft and Oscar Mayer brands.The company, which has disclosed that in October it received a subpoena from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), has been battling pressure on the value of its brands since it came into exist
  
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• Let’s move to Cromer, Norfolk: a very 1902 kind of place

  22-02-2019 17:29 via theguardian.com
  The crab, the pier, the fishermen’s cottages… but it’s a long way from anywhere but NorfolkWhat’s going for it? Cromer is a very 1902 kind of place. One half expects to see a non-ironic mutton-chop or a waxed moustache in the queue at Morrisons, or Arthur Conan Doyle (awfully keen on Cromer) filling up his Prius at the petrol station. By the late 19th century, Cromer and its neighbours Overstrand and East Runton were hot, hot, hot, baby. Overstrand was called “vill
  
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• This weekend will be make or break for Bitcoin

  22-02-2019 15:26 via feedproxy.google.com
  Bitcoin and its crypto cousins are heading into the weekend on a knife edge. A much-celebrated rally, which saw bitcoin enjoy a rare sustained spell of green arrows on the market, was briefly curtailed as its potential to break above $4,000 was repeatedly knocked back.
  
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• From corpses to cannabis farms: the six strangest Rightmove listings of all time

  22-02-2019 15:05 via theguardian.com
  A person asleep in the master bedroom, the house covered in offensive graffiti, an owner’s obsession with the colour purple - the property website never fails to baffle and bewitchAn end-of-terrace Northampton home recently listed on Rightmove is full of perfectly judged personal touches. Letters spell out the name “Anaya” in the lounge, there’s a charming toy kitchen nestled inside the actual kitchen and, in the master bedroom, someone is still asleep. Or at least someon
  
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• Doorstep lender Provident Financial receives £1.3bn takeover bid

  22-02-2019 14:49 via theguardian.com
  Move by smaller rival Non-Standard Finance has backing of key shareholderProvident Financial, the doorstep lender that charges interest rates of 535%, has received a surprise £1.3bn takeover bid from a smaller rival led by its former chief executive.The unsolicited bid for the “Provvy” from Non-Standard Finance (NSF), run by John van Kuffeler, has the backing of the key shareholder Neil Woodford and others who own more than 50% of the company’s shares. Continue reading...
  
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• Just how ethical is ethical investment?

  22-02-2019 14:41 via theguardian.com
  Many investment indices claim to list only environmentally sound companiesSupposedly environmental stock market indices used to help investors allocate hundreds of billions of pounds in investments include some of the world’s biggest contributors to fossil fuel pollution.Index providers including FTSE Russell, MSCI, S&P Dow Jones Indices and Stoxx all run indices that take into account environmental, social and corporate governance concerns known as ESG. Continue reading...
  
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• UK driving licences will not be valid in Ireland under no-deal Brexit

  22-02-2019 14:26 via theguardian.com
  British licence holders living in Ireland would need to get Irish licences before 29 MarchIreland will no longer recognise the UK driving licences of people living in Ireland in the event of a no-deal Brexit.The Road Safety Authority of Ireland, a state agency, said this week a mutual recognition agreement would end and that holders of British licences would need to swap them for Irish licences before the UK is due to leave the EU on 29 March. Continue reading...
  
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• The class pay gap: why it pays to be privileged – podcast

  22-02-2019 13:00
  Within Britain’s elite occupations, the advantages of class are still mistaken for talentRead the text version hereContinue reading...
  
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• Pound euro exchange rate: GBP/EUR falls on Brexit deadlock German economy avoids recession

  22-02-2019 12:49 via feedproxy.google.com
  The pound is down against the euro today and is currently trading in the region of €1.148. GBP/EUR fell today as the Brexit deadlock continues. The euro, meanwhile, was little affected as Germany’s growth data matched initial estimates. On a quarterly basis GDP came in at 0 percent.
  
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• Pound US Dollar exchange rate: Pound slips as Theresa May faces new rebellion

  22-02-2019 11:57 via feedproxy.google.com
  This morning the pound US dollar exchange rate has slipped slightly, and the GBP/USD pairing is currently trading at around $1.302. As the March 1 deadline for US/China trade talks creeps closer, US President Donald Trump is scheduled to meet Vice-Premier Liu He today.
  
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• How to have a cosy Sunday: shakshuka, flowers and Beyoncé

  22-02-2019 11:02 via theguardian.com
  I’m obsessively looking for any remnant of spring and summer to warm my spirit as I wait for the clocks to go forward againA friend of mine once joked that winter is so miserable, we collectively repress how bleak it is every year. Then, when the mercury drops, we’re somehow shocked that the sun is setting at 4pm, our monthly budgets are desperately contorting themselves around Christmas obligations, and we’re spending 20-30 minutes every weekday morning in silent negotiations
  
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• The art of watchmaking – in pictures

  22-02-2019 08:00
  A master watchmaker and an antiquarian horologist at their family-run workshop in the heart of the Jewellery Quarter in Birmingham Continue reading...
  
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• Exclusions that are part and parcel of Hermes’s T&Cs

  22-02-2019 08:00 via theguardian.com
  It won’t pay up although I had insurance for a lost pair of ‘glass’ binoculars (which were plastic)Hermes is refusing to pay compensation after losing a £169 pair of binoculars. It says that under its terms and conditions, they are excluded because they are made of glass – even though I insured them to the value of £120. I can understand withholding a payout for breakage of glass but not if they were lost. In any case, they have a plastic lens! SM, LondonHerme
  
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• The City may thrive despite Brexit, but the rest of us won’t | Simon Jenkins

  22-02-2019 07:00
  With a ‘free port’ deal negotiated behind closed doors, the financial sector will be fine. Meanwhile, others face ruinAn iron law of modern British government says that whatever London wants, London gets. On Monday, with no fuss or publicity, the Bank of England and a group of City interests reached an apparently boring deal in Paris with the European Security and Markets Authority. It follows a similar deal with the European commission last December. Both state, in effect, that, as
  
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