Financial news

• Persimmon's new homebuyers' 'retention' at least shows willing

  21-03-2019 20:49 via theguardian.com
  It’s obviously an attempt at a reputation fix, but it’s still a sound principle for Help to BuyPersimmon described it as a homebuyer’s “retention”, but could have called it the Jeff Fairburn memorial clause. Buyers of Persimmon houses will be able to withhold 1.5% of the purchase price, or £3,600 on average, until the builder has fixed any faults. It is an eye-catching gesture designed to combat Persimmon’s reputation for corporate greed, as embodied by
  
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• Giraffe and Ed's Easy Diner owner to shut a third of its restaurants

  21-03-2019 20:16 via theguardian.com
  Creditors approve rescue deal that will close 27 UK sites and put 340 jobs at riskThe owner of Giraffe and Ed’s Easy Diner is to close a third of its restaurants, putting 340 jobs at risk, after creditors approved a rescue deal.Six Ed’s sites, including those in Bromley and Mayfair in London, and 21 Giraffe restaurants, including ones in Aberdeen, Basingstoke, Norwich, Reading and Bluewater shopping centre in Kent, are to close in the next few months. Continue reading...
  
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• Half of new cars receive poor security rating over vulnerability to thefts

  21-03-2019 19:28 via theguardian.com
  Investigators found the keyless entry systems can be easily bypassed by thievesHalf of the new cars launched this year have been given a poor security rating after investigators found their keyless entry systems could easily be bypassed by thieves, who use relay equipment to hijack the car’s entry code from the victim’s home.Thatcham Research, which tests cars on behalf of car insurers, said the 2019 models of Ford Mondeo, Hyundai Nexo, Kia ProCeed, Lexus UX, Porsche Macan and Toyota
  
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• Hammond boosted by consumer spending and higher tax receipts

  21-03-2019 18:46 via theguardian.com
  Shoppers ‘ignore Brexit’, while record employment levels contribute to £1bn deficit cutPhilip Hammond has received a twin boost after the latest official figures showed consumers ignoring the threat of a no-deal Brexit to carry on spending, and higher tax receipts leading to a fresh fall in the government’s budget deficit.Data from the Office for National Statistics showed retail sales – goods bought in shops or online – were up 0.4% in February, confounding C
  
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• Debenhams wins time in fight against Mike Ashley coup attempt

  21-03-2019 18:27 via theguardian.com
  Clerical error gives board until 9 May to convince shareholders to back turnaround planDebenhams’ board has won more time to rally shareholders and sort out its finances ahead of a coup attempt by Mike Ashley, after a clerical error by Sports Direct.A shareholder meeting at which Ashley wanted to oust all but one Debenhams director and install himself as chief executive has been delayed by up to two weeks, after Sports Direct was forced to reissue its requisition notice calling the meeting
  
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• Next profits fall but boss says Brexit not affecting spending

  21-03-2019 17:52 via theguardian.com
  Profits at retail chain’s stores slump by more than a fifth but online arm reports growth UK retail sales up despite Brexit uncertaintyThe chief executive of Next has said trading had not been affected by Brexit as consumers were “numb” to a political soap opera that had not hurt their own finances yet.The comments by Simon Wolfson, a Conservative peer and prominent Vote Leave supporter, came as Next reported a third year of falling profits on the back of a marked deterioration
  
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• Scammers stole £1.2bn from British bank customers in 2018

  21-03-2019 17:06 via theguardian.com
  Year on year figure up by 25%, and firms must reimburse victims, says UK FinanceScammers stole £1.2bn from UK bank customers in 2018, according to official data, with a surprise near-500% leap in counterfeit cheque fraud, indicating some criminals are resorting to old-school techniques.The headline fraud figure is up almost a quarter on 2017, when the total was £968m. There was a 50% leap, to £354m, in the amount lost to scams where people are duped into authorising a payment t
  
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• Gold price SOARS to THREE-WEEK HIGH as investors flock to precious metal

  21-03-2019 16:28 via feedproxy.google.com
  GOLD prices soared to a three-week high today as investors bought up the precious metal after the US Federal Reserve abandoned projections for any rate rises this year.
  
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• CBI and TUC bosses warn UK faces national emergency over Brexit

  21-03-2019 15:50 via theguardian.com
  Industry group and union body join forces to demand Theresa May changes approachBritain’s foremost business lobby group and trade union body have joined forces to demand Theresa May urgently changes her approach to Brexit, warning the country now faces a national emergency.Writing a joint letter to the prime minister, the heads of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) and Trades Union Congress (TUC) said a plan B needed to be drawn up as quickly as possible to avoid a no-deal departu
  
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• UK's top toilet roll supplier stockpiling in case of no-deal Brexit

  21-03-2019 13:43 via theguardian.com
  German firm Wepa stores 3.5m toilet and kitchen rolls in UK in bid to avoid customs delaysOne of the UK’s biggest suppliers of toilet and kitchen roll has been stockpiling about 3.5m rolls in UK warehouses in preparation for a no-deal Brexit.The German firm Wepa said it had been storing an extra 600 tonnes of toilet and kitchen roll in the last three to four months to safeguard supplies in Britain, in case the UK crashes out of the EU without an agreement on 29 March. Continue reading...
  
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• From cancelled flights to lost data: your rights and the regulators that can help

  21-03-2019 12:48 via theguardian.com
  The UK is home to some of the best consumer protection bodies in the world, yet public awareness of them is relatively low. Here’s what you need to know if complaints fall on deaf ears and all seems lostWhether it’s online fraud, a cancelled flight, or a bankrupt bank, a lot can go wrong for consumers in the UK today. A report by Which? found Brits lost an estimated £14.8bn through scams and e-commerce issues alone each year, spending 1.2bn hours dealing with such problems.But
  
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• Pension BOOST for MILLIONS: New scheme to INCREASE retirement pots launched TODAY

  21-03-2019 12:18 via feedproxy.google.com
  A NEW type of pension scheme which could benefit the retirement income of millions of people has been rubber-stamped by Work and Pensions Secretary Amber Rudd today.
  
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• Shoppers increase spending despite Brexit uncertainty

  21-03-2019 12:12 via theguardian.com
  UK retail sales rose 0.4% in February, although food stores recorded big drop, says ONSNext profits fall but boss says Brexit not affecting spendingBritish consumers appear to have shrugged off mounting fears over Brexit by raising their spending in February, as unseasonably warm weather tempted shoppers to the high street.The Office for National Statistics said sales volumes rose by 0.4% last month compared to January, confounding City economists’ expectations for sales to fall by the sam
  
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• Seven ways to relieve your financial stress

  21-03-2019 11:15 via theguardian.com
  Money is the primary cause of stress for one in five Britons, but could that change? We asked the experts to share their thoughts on how best to resolve money worriesWhether balancing the household budget is becoming more of a juggling act, or you currently live in what could be described as a comfortable situation, it’s likely everyone will experience some level of financial stress during their lifetime. It costs the UK economy an estimated £121bn each year in lost productivity, and
  
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• Money dysmorphia: why I can't let myself have nice things

  21-03-2019 11:00 via theguardian.com
  I worry that if I actually let myself accept that I have money now, it will be even more of a shock if poverty does comeThere is a $400 red silk jacket hanging in my wardrobe that makes me feel so uncomfortable that I have zipped it away in a blue $3 garment bag. It is something unaffordable that I have somehow afforded, and looking at it disgusts me.I bought the jacket last year while I was back in London. I had a TV appearance the next day and wanted to wear something “nice” &ndash
  
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• Persimmon homebuyers can withhold money until faults fixed

  21-03-2019 10:26 via theguardian.com
  Contracts will state that 1.5% of property value can be held back until problems resolvedOne of Britain’s biggest housebuilders has responded to criticism about the quality of its homes by allowing homebuyers to withhold an average of £3,600 per home until all faults are fixed.Persimmon has come under fire for paying out £500m in bonuses to 150 executives and making an annual profit of £1.1bn on the back of the government’s help to buy scheme, while doing little to
  
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• England's running out of water – and privatisation is to blame | Sondhya Gupta

  21-03-2019 09:00 via theguardian.com
  Within 25 years the country faces a devastating water shortage. Nationalisation can turn the tideThere’s no mistake that the UK is living in uncertain times. We all anxiously await the fate of Brexit and how the changes will impact our economy, our industries, our friends. But there exists an even graver threat to our daily existence – we are on course to run short of water in 25 years. And it is our economic structures and big corporations that are to blame. The demands of populatio
  
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• Is Carpetright wrong over the right to claim compensation?

  21-03-2019 08:00 via theguardian.com
  As a zero-hours contractor I had to take days off for carpet fitting appointments that were missedI contracted Carpetright to carpet my new home. Fitters arrived last September and carpeted the bedrooms and landing adequately, but did a poor job on the stairs. The Croydon store organised two further appointments in November to inspect the stairs and give a quote for the lounge. The first appointment was missed without explanation and I had to contact the store twice more to chase. Two more dates
  
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• We’re working like it’s 1975, but the jobs boom isn’t all it seems. Here’s why | Larry Elliott

  21-03-2019 07:00 via theguardian.com
  Unemployment figures are at a historic low but there are also bleaker parallels with the 1970sBritain’s recent jobs record has been remarkable. The economy is chugging along but the last time the unemployment rate was as low as it is today was in the winter of 1974-75. Harold Wilson was prime minister, Derby County were on course to win the old first division, David Bowie was about to release Young Americans.Back then things were about to take a turn for the worse. Prices were rising fast,
  
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• The depressing truth about female creativity and the pram in the hallway | Fiona Sturges

  21-03-2019 07:00 via theguardian.com
  Sweeping the subject of working mothers under the carpet only implies there isn’t a problemThere are times in every parent’s life when, however much they try to avoid it, the professional and the domestic messily collide. It happened to me a few years ago when, during a teachers’ training day, I took my seven-year-old with me to interview Joan Collins over lunch. Collins was delighted at her presence and ordered her a giant bowl of ice-cream. However, halfway through the conver
  
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• How to move a masterpiece: the secret business of shipping priceless artworks

  21-03-2019 07:00 via theguardian.com
  What happens when a forklift goes through your Picasso? By Andrew DicksonEarly one morning last summer, I stood inside a museum in Antwerp and watched as a painting was hung on the wall. When I walked in, the gallery was empty. To one side, there was a crate about a metre square. Royal blue, it was unmarked apart from a code number and a yellow stencilled sign reading “Lato da Aprire / Open this Side”. Although its home is nominally Florence, the painting inside was a seasoned travel
  
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• Streaming accounts for more than half UK record label income

  21-03-2019 01:01 via theguardian.com
  Revenue from Spotify, Amazon and Apple rises as CD sales continue to fallMusic streaming services generated more than half of the income earned by record labels in the UK last year, as CD sales continue to plummet.Subscription streaming platforms operated by Spotify, Amazon Music and Apple Music, made revenues of £468m in the UK last year, 54% of the £865.5m total income for the recorded music industry. It is the first time that subscription streaming revenues, which grew at 35% year
  
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