Financial news

• Interserve goes into administration after rescue deal rejected

  15-03-2019 19:25 via theguardian.com
  Ownership falls to lenders but company will continue trading and operating public servicesThe government contractor Interserve has gone into administration after its largest shareholder, the US hedge fund Coltrane, led a rebellion against financial rescue plans drawn up by the company’s lenders.About 16,000 small shareholders have lost their investment, with the business sold to hedge funds and banks via a “pre-pack” administration which means Interserve, which employs 45,000 p
  
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• Patisserie Valerie accounts black hole now £94m, says KPMG

  15-03-2019 18:23 via theguardian.com
  Administrators for cafe chain revise deficit as ‘potential fraud’ investigations continueThe black hole in the accounts of the troubled cafe chain Patisserie Valerie was as much as £94m, more than twice previous estimates, according to forensic accountants.The company plunged into administration in January after it was unable to secure new bank finance following the discovery of “potentially fraudulent” accounting irregularities. Continue reading...
  
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• Interserve: a calamity created in the boardroom | Nils Pratley

  15-03-2019 18:15 via theguardian.com
  Another outsourcing company that was making huge profits has gone into administration“I voted for Donald Trump,” said the representative for Coltrane, flippantly, when asked after Interserve’s shareholder meeting how he cast the New York hedge fund’s critical 27% stake in the outsourcing firm. Maybe he did, but in this case he voted against a board-backed rescue deal and helped to send into administration a company employing 45,000 people in the UK. Related: Interserve to
  
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• Bitcoin: The cryptocurrency is on ice as rivals build momentum

  15-03-2019 16:20 via feedproxy.google.com
  BITCOIN’S gentle slide into stagnation has been amplified this week by the rise in popularity of its rivals.
  
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• Philip Green's Arcadia turnaround plan could lead to job losses and store closures

  15-03-2019 15:57 via theguardian.com
  Tycoon is considering using a company voluntary arrangement to rescue groupSir Philip Green is working on a plan to turn around his ailing Arcadia high street empire, which could lead to job losses and store closures.The embattled billionaire is the latest high street business owner to explore a company voluntary arrangement (CVA), a form of insolvency used to jettison unwanted stores and seek reduced rents. Continue reading...
  
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• Sweet justice: Ghent's 'war of the little noses' resolved

  15-03-2019 15:37 via theguardian.com
  Traders’ rivalry about who sells best confectionery was daily feature on city’s GroentemarktIt had become known as the “the war of the little noses” in the Flemish media after the cone-shaped treats known as cuberdons at the centre of the dispute.But an eight-year rivalry between two street stall merchants on Ghent’s Groentemarkt, which regularly descended into abuse, dirty tricks and open brawling, has finally been resolved, a court has heard. Continue reading...
  
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• ‘Paisley from Paisley’ enjoys resurgence with help from Hermès

  15-03-2019 15:28 via theguardian.com
  Fashion partnership aims to reinvent the famous pattern and the town at the same timeThere is a shawl of dove grey silk gauze from the early 1800s, another made up of bright harlequin squares, and a more modern, abstracted design using rich ochre dyes; these are a few of the centuries-long iterations of the world-famous Paisley pattern, each bearing the instantly recognisable teardrop-shaped motif with a curled upper end.Laid out in the temperature-controlled museum store in a former Littlewoods
  
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• Move over, McDonald's: French taco poised for global expansion

  15-03-2019 15:22 via theguardian.com
  Pile-up of meats, fries and cheese sauce has become a fast-food phenomenonAt lunchtime on a street near the Gare du Nord in Paris, queues were forming at a fast-food restaurant. Construction workers jostled with schoolchildren for what has become a business phenomenon: the hefty, cheesy slab of indulgence known as the French taco.France has always had a huge market for takeaways, from kebabs to McDonald’s, and fast food accounts for more than half the nation’s restaurants. Now the ho
  
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• Pound Euro exchange rate: GBP/EUR falls as MPs vote to seek Article 50 Extension

  15-03-2019 14:48 via feedproxy.google.com
  This morning, the pound has slipped against the euro and the pairing is currently trading at an inter-bank rate of €1.170.
  
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• State pension: Rise in the state pension age will be PAINFUL - are you affected?

  15-03-2019 12:34 via feedproxy.google.com
  STATE PENSION will soon give retired Britons an economic boost but for some people the changes made to the scheme will be a painful transition. Are you affected?
  
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• Pound US dollar exchange rate: GBP/USD Slips as UK awaits EU’s permission for Brexit delay

  15-03-2019 11:22 via feedproxy.google.com
  The pound is down against the US dollar today and is currently trading around $1.326. GBP/USD has weakened following last night’s parliamentary vote on an extension to Article 50, which was voted in favour by 413 to 202.
  
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• US SEC sues Volkswagen and ex-CEO over diesel scandal

  15-03-2019 10:15 via theguardian.com
  Carmaker accused of ‘massive fraud’ when selling bonds and cars described as clean dieselThe US Securities and Exchange Commission is suing Volkswagen and its former chief executive, accusing them of defrauding investors by making “deceptive” claims about the environmental impact of its cars.The regulator said that from 2007 until 2015, VW carried out a “massive fraud” when selling securities and half a million cars it described as clean diesel, when executive
  
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• 'I looked like a clown': the truth about shopping on Instagram

  15-03-2019 10:00 via theguardian.com
  The clothes that had been chasing me around my feed for months looked good in the adverts. Would they stand the test of being worn in real life?It started last summer. Clothes adverts flooded my Instagram feed, and it was uncanny. One minute, I’d be envying a friend her Agnès B boiler suit (it has a bumflap, so you don’t have to take it off when you go to the loo: so French); the next, I would be served an ad for a more or less identical boiler suit, except without the flaps,
  
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• Why so few women in the boardroom? Because men won’t listen to them | Christina Patterson

  15-03-2019 09:59 via theguardian.com
  Here’s a deal – we’ll stop the fuss about gender if the other half will just occasionally shut upWasn’t it great? All those lunches! All those parties! All those speeches, saying how great we are and how far we’ve come!Perhaps it was for you. I spent International Women’s Day in the way I spend most days: sitting at home, in front of my computer, looking forward to the odd trip to the kettle. I saw the tweets, and read the articles, but it all felt a bit like
  
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• If we want NHS staff to care for us, we need to care for them | Mark Britnell

  15-03-2019 09:49 via theguardian.com
  Healthcare staff worldwide are quitting due to stress and burnout. But small changes can make a big differenceHealthcare staff in the NHS – and globally – are feeling undervalued, overworked and demoralised. In a survey of 17,000 American doctors, 54% reported low morale. In China physician burnout rates of 66-87% have been reported, while doctors in India and the UK have taken strike action in the past three years. In 2016 a survey of nurses and midwives in Australia found almost a
  
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• The Money Club charged me its £125 annual fee every day

  15-03-2019 07:59 via theguardian.com
  So far it has taken £8,000 by direct debit from my accountI was reading your article about The Money Club debiting its annual subscription charge multiple times with interest. I signed up last July and paid the annual £125 fee. By chance I discovered they’ve been taking this on a daily basis – that’s £1,000 every eight days. Surprisingly, my bank’s software hadn’t stepped in to protect me from unusual transactions and it’s now stopping the di
  
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• Battle for Superdry's soul rages after series of profit warnings

  15-03-2019 07:00 via theguardian.com
  Departed co-founder Julian Dunkerton in bitter fight with management over company’s futureSuperdry used to be one of the hottest fashion labels on the high street, feted by investors for its financial performance, but these days it is the scene of one of the City’s biggest bust-ups as its founders fight an increasingly bitter battle for control with its management.When the firm’s multimillionaire co-founder Julian Dunkerton stepped down a year ago it was said to be a friendly f
  
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• FTSE 350 firms under fire over ‘unacceptable’ lack of female directors

  15-03-2019 01:01 via theguardian.com
  Investor group urges listed firms with only one woman on board to address diversity targetsAn influential investor group has written to more than 60 publicly listed companies with only a single female director, including Domino’s Pizza and JD Sports, raising concerns over a lack of gender diversity and warning of a backlash if progress is stalled.The Investment Association (IA), which represents 250 firms with £7.7tn in assets under management, has joined up with the Hampton-Alexande
  
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