Financial news

• At Asda and Morrisons it was always about financial engineering | Nils Pratley

  20-08-2024 19:57 via theguardian.com
  
  Their need to keep the buyout arithmetic on track has been a drag on performance, and neither deal was aimed at growthPrivate equity sometimes gets “a bad rap” and generally makes its returns by growing businesses rather than via “financial engineering”, opined Andrew Higginson, then chair of the supermarket chain Morrisons, when his board agreed to sell to the buyout firm Clayton Dubilier & Rice for £7bn in 2021. Really?Three years on, there is no sign of growt
  
  Read more

• Paramount Global receives $4.3bn takeover offer from Edgar Bronfman Jr

  20-08-2024 18:39 via theguardian.com
  
  Veteran media executive’s bid would scupper Hollywood media empire’s planned merger with Skydance MediaThe veteran media executive Edgar Bronfman Jr has submitted a multibillion-dollar takeover offer for Paramount Global, according to reports.The entertainment conglomerate behind Paramount Pictures, the storied Hollywood movie studio, and TV networks including CBS, Nickelodeon, MTV and the UK’s Channel 5, last month agreed to a blockbuster merger with the independent film studi
  
  Read more

• Birmingham’s going bankrupt. Here’s why everything you’ve heard about that is wrong | James Brackley

  20-08-2024 17:02 via theguardian.com
  
  The bankruptcy that led to brutal local cuts was blamed on an equal pay claim. The truth is more complex – and damning James Brackley is an accounting academic at The Audit Reform LabBirmingham city council declared itself effectively bankrupt in September last year, but only now are the facts about what really happened beginning to emerge. A series of monumental problems and errors, including the botched implementation of a new IT system, a likely overstated equal pay liability, and a dis
  
  Read more

• Hundreds of thousands of people missing out on £6,000 pension payout - how to claim

  20-08-2024 16:28 via express.co.uk
  
  According to Martin Lewis' site Money Saving Expert more then 200,000 people could be entitled to a pension payout.
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Millions face shock HMRC bill as Jeremy Hunt’s forgotten tax timebomb explodes

  20-08-2024 16:11 via express.co.uk
  
  Two million more savers risk being dragged into HMRC's clutches due to an overlooked tax raid by former Tory chancellor Jeremy Hunt.
  
  Read more

• Up to 270,000 customers urged to claim £1,000 after data breach

  20-08-2024 15:51 via express.co.uk
  
  People's Energy went into administration in January 2021 - but those affected by the 2020 breach can still claim compensation, with administrators suggesting millions could be available
  
  Read more

• Pension tip for high earners could save more than £8,000 a year on childcare

  20-08-2024 15:26 via express.co.uk
  
  Experts at Moneyfarm said the eligibility for receiving free and tax free childcare is limited to households where an individual earns at least £8,670 and no more than £100,000.
  
  Read more

• UK citizens travelling to EU next summer will have to pay €7 visa-waiver charge

  20-08-2024 15:22 via theguardian.com
  Scheme will mirror US Esta and apply to travel to Schengen area, with under-18s and over-70s exempt Business live – latest updatesUK citizens travelling to the EU next summer will have to pay a €7 visa-waiver charge after the EU revealed its timeline for the introduction of new border checks and entry requirements for some visitors.Ylva Johansson, the EU home affairs commissioner, confirmed that the European Travel Information and Authorisation System (Etias), which will require UK ci
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Half-year earnings rise 12.5% at UK’s largest pawnbroker H&T

  20-08-2024 15:20 via theguardian.com
  
  Company reports growth opportunity as cost of living crisis puts pressure on household financesThe UK’s largest pawnbroker has reported a rise in profits as its customers sought to secure small, quick loans against jewellery and watches, in a sign of the continuing strain of the cost of living crisis.H&T, which has 280 shops in the UK, said pre-tax profits had risen by 12.5% to £9.9m in the first six months of 2024 on the same period a year earlier. Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Brits urged to challenge HMRC fines after 73% success rate

  20-08-2024 14:53 via express.co.uk
  
  An automatic fine is a monetary penalty issued by HMRC for those who miss a filling or payment date
  
  Read more

• Sicily: divers launch fresh search for six missing after yacht capsized – video report

  20-08-2024 14:52 via theguardian.com
  
  Specialist divers have launched a fresh search for six people missing after a yacht capsized off the coast of Sicily, including the British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch and his teenage daughter. The British-flagged Bayesian, a 56-metre sailboat, was carrying 22 people and anchored just offshore near the port of Porticello when it was hit by a waterspout at about 5am local time (4am BST) on Monday, the Italian coastguard said. One man, Ricardo Thomas, understood to be the vessel’s chef and
  
  Read more

• HMRC issues urgent two-week warning or households risk losing benefit payments

  20-08-2024 14:50 via express.co.uk
  
  More than 270,000 households have acted on HMRC's alert so far.
  
  Read more

• Call to use AI to detect DWP benefit fraud and errors ‘risks mass surveillance'

  20-08-2024 14:12 via express.co.uk
  
  The Tony Blair Institute for Global Change suggested that AI could effectively take over 40 per cent of tasks conducted by civil servants at the DWP
  
  Read more

• Ofgem energy price cap to rise by 9% - here are 10 ‘cheaper’ fixed tariffs

  20-08-2024 14:04 via express.co.uk
  
  The price cap increase could add a further £146 to annual energy bills, but some tariffs are cheaper than this prediction.
  
  Read more

• Gold price surges to a record high with a single bar selling for more than $1 million

  20-08-2024 13:36 via express.co.uk
  
  Investors, both private individuals and institutions, are turning to precious metals to preserve and boost their wealth amid global economic uncertainty.
  
  Read more

• O2 sent me a £150 phone bill for a call – after just one ring

  20-08-2024 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  The network says I’m victim of a ‘Wangiri scam’ but I was in bed at 5am with my mobile nearbyRecently I discovered that O2 has billed me £150 for a mobile phone call it says I made to Armenia at 5am on 25 June.As I was safely tucked up in bed at home, with my phone nearby, there was no way I could have made that call. Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• First £1 coin featuring King Charles III enters circulation

  20-08-2024 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Design with bees on reverse, part of collection inspired by plants and animals, was voted people’s favourite
  The first £1 coin bearing the official portrait of King Charles III has entered general circulation as part of a collection inspired by plants and animals found across the four nations of the United Kingdom.The latest design, featuring two bees, has been issued to Post Offices and banks, with nearly 3m coins making their way into tills and pockets. Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Ministers launch pension credit campaign after restricting winter fuel payments

  20-08-2024 01:01 via theguardian.com
  
  Government urges pensioners to check their eligibility for credit which will also qualify recipients for winter fuel supportMinisters have launched a pension credit publicity campaign to minimise the impact of the government’s decision to radically restrict winter fuel payments.Last month the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, introduced a means test for the winter fuel payments, which have been a universal benefit available to all pensioners since 1997, so that only those on pension credit would
  
  Read more

Follow @financialnwsUK on Twitter!