Financial news

• Food trade bodies consider legal action over post-Brexit ‘not for EU’ labelling

  29-02-2024 19:21
  
  Producers say the labelling could add £250m a year to their costs, further fuelling inflationFood industry trade bodies are discussing whether to take legal action against the government over post-Brexit plans that will require all meat and dairy products sold in the UK to be labelled as “not for EU”.Food producers say the labelling could add £250m a year to their costs, further fuelling inflation, and they are discussing a legal challenge as a viable option if a solution
  
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• The UK stock market isn’t working | Nils Pratley

  29-02-2024 19:18
  
  Recent bidding battles for sub-£1bn firms such as Wincanton and Currys suggest London has an undervaluation problemGet ready to see more flotations later this year, said David Schwimmer, chief executive of the London Stock Exchange Group on Thursday. Good: it would mark a change from the droughts of 2022 and 2023 that have caused much agonising over the health of the London stock market.But, actually, the deep problem here may not be a shortage of newcomers. Rather, it could be indifferenc
  
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• Clare Lombardelli named deputy governor of Bank of England

  29-02-2024 19:14
  
  Ex-Treasury official and adviser to David Cameron will replace Ben Broadbent, making MPC majority female for first timeThe Bank of England’s interest-rate-setting committee is set to become majority female for the first time, after the appointment of a former key adviser to David Cameron and George Osborne as one of its deputy governors.Clare Lombardelli, the chief economist at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), will sit on the nine-member monetary policy co
  
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• Hunt scrambles to raise revenue as OBR slashes scope for tax cuts in budget

  29-02-2024 19:00
  
  Chancellor considers unexpected tax rises such as abolishing non-dom status after latest forecastJeremy Hunt’s scope to make tax cuts in next week’s budget has been reduced further this week, according to Treasury insiders, leaving the chancellor considering emergency measures to raise revenue.Recent forecasts from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) are said to have given the chancellor less fiscal headroom than hoped, pushing him to consider unexpected tax rises such as abol
  
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• UK gives £600m backing to Jim Ratcliffe’s ‘carbon bomb’ petrochemical plant

  29-02-2024 16:35
  
  Campaigners say Ineos project in Antwerp will turbocharge plastic production on a scale not seen before in EuropeThe UK government is providing a €700m (£600m) guarantee for the billionaire Jim Ratcliffe to build the biggest petrochemical plant in Europe in 30 years that will turbocharge plastic production.The huge petrochemical plant has been described as a “carbon bomb” by campaigners. Being constructed in the Belgian city of Antwerp by Ratcliffe’s company Ineos, i
  
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• What would happen if the UK’s non-dom tax status was scrapped?

  29-02-2024 16:34
  
  As the chancellor ponders poaching Labour’s policy, an economics professor explains the likely outcomeWith less than a week to the budget, the chancellor is mulling whether to poach one of Labour’s headline policies and scrap non-dom status, which gives generous tax breaks to some of the UK’s wealthiest residents. Who would actually be affected, and what would happen if he went ahead?Arun Advani is an associate professor of economics at the University of Warwick and a research
  
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• ‘A historic step’: G20 discusses plans for global minimum tax on billionaires

  29-02-2024 16:30
  
  Leaders gather in Brazil to explore solutions to hypermobile super-rich avoiding taxThe G20 group of the world’s most powerful countries is exploring plans for a global minimum tax on the world’s 3,000 billionaires, aiming to end a “race to the bottom” that has enabled the super-rich to pay less than the rest of the population.Leaders gathering in São Paulo for a key G20 meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors are preparing to discuss an internation
  
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• MPs open inquiry into success of UK Treasury sanctions on Russia

  29-02-2024 16:15
  
  Treasury committee to consider case for targeting buyers of Russian oil and gas as Moscow weathers penaltiesBusiness live – latest updatesThe Treasury committee on Thursday opened an investigation looking at the effectiveness of the UK’s economic sanctions on Russia, including whether the measures need to be widened to cover the buyers of Russian oil and gas.The MPs will take evidence on the work of the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI), part of the Treasury, which
  
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• Ocado ‘could sue’ M&S in dispute over £190m final payment

  29-02-2024 15:46
  
  Marks & Spencer, which owns 50% of online grocer, is withholding part of the sum, saying targets were missedOcado has threatened to sue Marks & Spencer over a multimillion-pound payment linked to their online joint venture.M&S, which owns 50% of Ocado Retail, is withholding part of the £190m final payment after their delivery tie-up failed to hit certain performance targets. Continue reading...
  
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• Don’t sit at home mourning the loss of Britain’s nightclubs – go out and rave | Dan Hancox

  29-02-2024 15:44
  
  Our nightlife isn’t universally suffering. What it needs is participation, not elegiesHaving fun is big business. Without the factories and mills that first drew hundreds of thousands to towns and cities, today’s modern metropolis is expected to sustain itself and its residents through the manufacturing of leisure and the commodification of a good time. The zeitgeist phrasing is telling: the night-time is now its own economy – one worth an estimated £66bn in the UK. Citie
  
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• British Airways owner’s annual profits soar to £2.3bn on leisure boom

  29-02-2024 15:22
  
  IAG says demand has remained robust despite UK recession, with capacity close to pre-Covid levelsThe owner of British Airways has announced bumper profits for 2023 on the back of sustained demand for leisure flights, with operating profits doubling year on year and exceeding 2019’s pre-Covid haul.IAG reported an annual profit of €2.7bn (£2.3bn) after tax, on operating profits of €3.5bn (£3bn), with high fares and premium leisure travel compensating for smaller numbers
  
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• Do you get paid extra for working on Leap Day?

  29-02-2024 15:13
  
  For most, 29 February is an ordinary working day – but depending on your pay structure, you could earn a bit moreIt’s a leap year once again which means workers are doing a 366-day year. So what does it mean for Americans’ pay?If you’re an hourly worker, the answer is straightforward, says Leticia Saucedo, the Martin Luther King Jr professor of law at the University of California, Davis: you’re certainly entitled to pay. And hours worked on the 29th aren’t con
  
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• Australian workers’ productivity drops 3.7% as employment surges and investment slows

  29-02-2024 15:00
  
  Wage growth from higher employment and hours worked without output gains could fan inflation, Productivity Commission warnsGet our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcastA surge in employment combined with scant investment by firms to improve output triggered a sharp drop in worker productivity, limiting prospects for income growth without fanning inflation, the Productivity Commission said in its annual report.Across the economy, productivity fell 3.7% in 2022-23, as o
  
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• The Body Shop to close 75 stores across UK and cut hundreds of jobs

  29-02-2024 13:35
  
  Administrators say closures will take place over next six weeks amid plans to ‘right-size’ store portfolioBusiness live – latest updatesThe Body Shop is to close 75 stores across the UK in the next six weeks with the loss of 489 jobs, according to administrators who are overseeing the restructuring.The closures are spread across the country, from Swansea to Glasgow, and mean that nearly 800 people will lose their jobs in total when the 300 redundancies at the head office are ta
  
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• Abingworth Announces a Strategic Development Financing Agreement with Gilead Sciences; Establishes Joint Steering Committee between Launch Therapeutics and Gilead Sciences

  29-02-2024 13:00 via globenewswire.com
  
  London, UK and New York, USA, February 29, 2024 - Abingworth, a leading international life sciences investment group, part of global investment firm Carlyle (NASDAQ: CG), today announced a strategic development financing agreement with Gilead Sciences. The financing agreement will provide up to $210 million in funding to support select clinical studies of Trodelvy® (sacituzumab govitecan-hziy), within non-small cell lung cancer. As part of the agreement, Launch Therapeutics, a clinical
  
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• How can I lift the burden of a weighty Virgin Media package for my friend?

  29-02-2024 08:00
  
  He is disabled and paying £144-£175 a month for a TV/broadband/landline packageI have a severely disabled friend. He has previously been sectioned and has not left his flat since October 2023. He only leaves his bed to cook small meals, and to use the bathroom. Among other ailments is a brittle bone condition which has caused him to suffer three fractured hips. He takes powerful medication, and relies on benefits to live.Recently, I discovered that he is paying Virgin Media between &
  
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• UK property sales forecast to rise by 10% as buyers and sellers return

  29-02-2024 01:01
  
  Data from online property company Zoopla showed the housing market is on track to reach 1.1m transactions across this yearBuyers and sellers continued to return to the property market in February, and are expected to boost the number of home sales by 10% this year, according to the latest data from property website Zoopla.All measures of activity were higher than in February 2023, the company said, with agreed sales up by 15% and buyer demand up by 11%. Continue reading...
  
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• Hunt considers poaching Labour’s plan to scrap non-domiciled tax rules

  29-02-2024 00:07
  
  Chancellor mulling scaling back tax break as last-minute option to generate revenue, after previously criticising policyJeremy Hunt is considering scrapping Britain’s non-domiciled tax rules in next week’s budget, it has been reported, in a move that would see him poach one of Labour’s key fiscal policies.The decision is understood to be on a list of revenue-generating options drawn up for the chancellor and Rishi Sunak after economic estimates left them with less money than ex
  
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