Financial news

• High finance: Mr Nice 'cannabis lifestyle' shop opens in London

  16-05-2019 21:04 via theguardian.com
  Store named after celebrity dealer Howard Marks sells legal products such as CBD oilHoward Marks made his name in the illicit drugs trade but the late drugs baron is making a posthumous comeback to cash in on a booming legal trade in cannabis-related products.Borrowing his most famous alias, the first Mr Nice store opened in London’s Soho district on Thursday, selling everything from upmarket bath bombs and face creams to hoodies inspired by Britain’s best-known drug smuggler. Contin
  
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• Metro Bank got there eventually, but this story is not over yet

  16-05-2019 20:55 via theguardian.com
  The bank has undergone a confidence-shaking saga and its chairman must surely goIn July last year Metro Bank didn’t have to break sweat to raise £300m from investors. It got its money at £34.22 a share, close to the prevailing market price.This year’s exercise has been excruciating. The need for £350m was announced at the end of February, weeks after the confidence-shaking saga in which Metro confessed it had placed £900m of loans in the wrong risk bracket. It
  
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• British Steel staves off threat of collapse – without state help

  16-05-2019 20:37 via theguardian.com
  Troubled firm’s owners and lenders agree to provide fresh funds, securing 4,500 jobsBritish Steel has staved off the threat of collapse, despite the government refusing its request to participate in a bailout, after the firm’s owners and lenders agreed to provide fresh funds.The deal, reached after talks at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), secures the immediate future of 4,500 staff, most of whom work at the company’s Scunthorpe steelworks, on
  
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• Boohoo refuses to let union talk to workers about representation

  16-05-2019 19:24 via theguardian.com
  Exclusive: Founder told MPs fashion firm would recognise union if workers wanted it toThe booming online fashion retailer Boohoo is refusing to allow trade union officials to discuss recognition for employees months after its founder told MPs she was open to union representation.The fast fashion company, which has 5 million customers, last month posted record profits of £59.9m. But the 2,500 workers at its Burnley packaging and distribution centre and the thousands of textile workers in Le
  
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• How does Labour plan to pay for its energy nationalisation policy?

  16-05-2019 19:02 via theguardian.com
  Taking back control from private shareholders will cost a Labour government billionsThe Labour Party has announced plans to take back control of Britain’s energy network from private shareholders, as part of a sweeping nationalisation policy. We look at how a Labour government plans to pay for the multibillion pound programme. Related: Nationalisation plans will bring more than howls of outrage | Nils PratleyContinue reading...
  
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• Waitrose eyes rapid expansion of online grocery business

  16-05-2019 18:47 via theguardian.com
  Supermarket chain aims to treble online revenue in three years, following Ocado split Waitrose is aiming to treble the size of its online business to £1bn annually following the end of its partnership with Ocado, by teaming up with one of the grocery delivery specialist’s co-founders.Waitrose is targeting rapid online revenue growth over the next three years with the help of a new partner, Today Development Partners. Continue reading...
  
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• Burberry to close one in 10 stores worldwide

  16-05-2019 17:51 via theguardian.com
  Clothing company refuses to reveal location of the 38 outlets earmarked for closureBurberry is closing one in 10 stores around the world as part of an overhaul designed to take the luxury fashion brand more upmarket.The 163 year-old company refused to identify the locations of the 38 stores earmarked for closure but revealed five had already shut in Brazil and Spain. The brand will instead focus on turning its flagship stores into luxury destinations for well-heeled shoppers. Continue reading...
  
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• UK banks fined €1bn by EU for rigging foreign exchange market

  16-05-2019 14:39 via theguardian.com
  European commission says decision shows ‘collusive behaviour will not be tolerated’Five banks including Barclays and Royal Bank of Scotland have been fined more than €1bn (£875m) by the European Union for rigging the multitrillion-dollar foreign exchange market.The European commission said the banks, which also include Citigroup, JP Morgan and MUFG (Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group), formed two cartels to manipulate the spot foreign exchange market for 11 currencies, includi
  
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• How other countries are responding to Trump's Huawei threat

  16-05-2019 14:29 via theguardian.com
  The US says allies face a ban on intelligence sharing for using Chinese 5G equipmentHuawei hits back over Trump’s national emergency on telecoms ‘threat’Donald Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday that effectively bars US companies from using telecoms equipment supplied by “foreign adversaries” deemed to pose “unacceptable risks” to national security.The “national emergency” ban is aimed at controversial Chinese telecom Huawei, which
  
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• Renationalise the grid and watch energy prices rise, warns boss

  16-05-2019 14:25
  National Grid chief says Labour policy will also stall move to cleaner energy as firm unveils £1.8bn profitThe chief executive of National Grid has warned that Labour’s renationalisation proposals would hold back the UK’s move to cleaner energy and mean higher prices for customers, as the company reported an £1.8bn annual profit.National Grid, which runs the UK’s national electricity network, said its profit for the 12 months to 31 March was down by nearly a third f
  
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• PC World’s warranty was a real lemon

  16-05-2019 08:00
  It promised a voucher if I needed a replacement but I was refused when Knowhow failed to fix itWhen I bought a laptop from PC World in 2013, I was urged to take out an extended warranty billed “Whatever Happens Club – No Lemons”. This entitled me to three repairs and, if a fourth was needed, a voucher for a new laptop. The device needed its first repair in 2016 and has not worked properly since. Five months ago it became unusable and, in that time, four further repairs failed t
  
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• Not milking it: how vegan cheese finally caught up with modern appetites

  16-05-2019 07:00 via theguardian.com
  Like other facets of the mushrooming plant-based foods industry, sales of vegan cheese have skyrocketed in recent yearsAt first glance, Riverdel is more or less indistinguishable from any other gourmet food shop in Brooklyn. Shelves along one side of the narrow space are lined by boxes of gluten-free pasta, artisanal chocolate bars, no-added-sugar ketchup, shakers of nutritional yeast and jars of small-batch vodka sauce. On the other side is a refrigerated display case containing what appears to
  
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