Financial news

• Thames Water’s ‘difficult choices’ must include pain for bondholders | Nils Pratley

  28-08-2024 19:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Customers know bills have to rise, but shareholders should also pay, as they would at a conventional company that overextended itselfIs the board of Thames Water having a laugh? Having been told last month by regulator Ofwat that a plan to hike customers’ bills by 40% over five years was unacceptable, and that 23% would be nearer the mark, the company has returned with a counter-proposal: how about 52%, or 59% if one throws in conditional spending on big projects?Since these figures don&rs
  
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• The Guardian view on trade unions: good for capitalism | Editorial

  28-08-2024 19:25 via theguardian.com
  
  Drop the cliches about union barons and militant strikers; organised workers are essential to a modern economy Some journalists disparage summer as a dry, barren season, but this month has yielded a bumper crop of ancient cliches. Try union barons, militant strikers or Labour paymasters.That’s right, Sir Keir Starmer’s pay rise for junior doctors, train drivers and others has prompted many rightwing politicians and pundits to riffle through their Roget’s stale-o-sauru
  
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• I can’t even afford to charge my wheelchair. So how are people like me expected to afford the energy price rise? | Thirugnanam Sureshan

  28-08-2024 17:25 via theguardian.com
  
  I’m already rationing heating and my use of mobility aids. But it feels like the government forgets the extra costs disabled people faceI had hope for this government. That has all gone now. I expected better, but with the rise in energy bills by 10% it is looking as if this year is going to be worse than the last.
  I am a disabled man with multiple health conditions: retinal disease, ischemic heart disease and type 2 diabetes, as well as being an amputee as a result of Charcot foot. With t
  
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• Thames Water says without steep bill increase it’s ‘neither financeable nor investible’

  28-08-2024 17:20 via theguardian.com
  Debt-laden company tells Ofwat if it cannot charge customers 59% more, it ‘would prevent company turnaround and recovery’Thames Water has said it will be unable to recover from its funding crisis if it is blocked from charging customers significantly more, as it proposed to pile an extra £228 a year on to household bills.The debt-laden company said the increase to bills that has been proposed by the industry regulator, Ofwat, leaves its activities “neither financeable nor
  
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• Drawdown disaster as Brits blow pension savings in their 50s - and we'll pick up the tab

  28-08-2024 16:10 via express.co.uk
  
  Pension freedom reforms have backfired as new research shows millions of Britons are blowing their retirement savings in their 50s, which means the money could run out decades before they die.
  
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• Tell us: how will you be affected by the state-funded childcare expansion in England?

  28-08-2024 15:44 via theguardian.com
  
  We’d like to hear from parents, early years practitioners, childminders and council workers on the expansion of “free” childcare for all children from the age of nine monthsFrom September, working parents in England of all children aged from nine months old have been promised 15 hours a week of state-funded childcare. However, data seen by the Observer reveals early years providers are struggling to attract enough new workers, while many are warning they are continuing to lose
  
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• ‘I’m a financial expert - I’d bet my house Labour will raise this tax to fill £22bn gap’

  28-08-2024 15:35 via express.co.uk
  
  EXCLUSIVE: People are more likely to be affected by this suspected tax rise if they live in a certain UK region.
  
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• Victoria Beckham losses shrink as sales soar 50% at fashion brand

  28-08-2024 15:20 via theguardian.com
  
  Revamp and expansion into leather and beauty helped ailing label head towards break evenVictoria Beckham’s fashion and beauty business narrowed its losses last year as sales soared by 52% to £89m.The company said sales rose online, at its flagship Mayfair store in central London and through wholesalers, helping cut 2023 losses to £200,000 from £900,000 the year before. Continue reading...
  
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• Santander warns parents of £21,000 house price premium

  28-08-2024 15:02 via express.co.uk
  
  Demand to get a home in the catchment area of a high performing state school is rising against the background of plans to charge VAT on private school fees.
  
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• ‘Don’t be scared of beans’: how readers are handling US grocery inflation

  28-08-2024 15:00 via theguardian.com
  Food prices have increased 22% in last four years and people are feeling the pinch. Readers share their strategies to copeBack in 2019, $100 worth of groceries may have lasted a week for a household of two. Today, that same $100 will probably only buy enough groceries to stretch for a couple of days.In the last four years, food prices have increased a whopping 22%, and consumers are feeling the pinch. Continue reading...
  
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• Supersonic: where will the money be made on Oasis reunion tour?

  28-08-2024 14:53 via theguardian.com
  
  Band’s shows next summer expected to be most popular tour in British history – and a solid gold financial hitBusiness live – latest updatesThe Oasis reunion is expected to be the most popular tour in British history, a solid gold financial hit for the band, managers, ticket sellers and stadium operators, as well as an economic phenomenon worth hundreds of millions for businesses cashing in on super-fans.The news that Liam and Noel Gallagher have buried the hatchet – or at
  
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• Inheritance tax warning as rise in Brits being caught off guard by nasty ‘surprise'

  28-08-2024 14:26 via express.co.uk
  
  As many as 5.1 million people in the UK were kept in the dark about their inheritance over the past five years, leaving them vulnerable to potential "unexpected costs".
  
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• HMRC alert over crypto tax demand and says 'that's a scam'

  28-08-2024 14:14 via express.co.uk
  
  A taxpayer contacted the authority about a suspicious scheme.
  
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• Move to cap tax-free pension lump sum to £100,000 could cost retirees more than £70,000

  28-08-2024 13:46 via express.co.uk
  
  Currently, workers can take out a maximum sum of £268,275 without paying tax, which many people count on to pay off debts, such as mortgages.
  
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• Doctors rarely understand how influence really works. The result: an NHS bowing to the needs of big pharma | Margaret McCartney

  28-08-2024 11:30 via theguardian.com
  
  There must be transparency over funding to medics from the pharmaceutical industry – and that’s only the startShouldn’t we be able to trust doctors to give us independent advice? Earlier this year, there was an outcry when it appeared that a doctor who often appeared on TV to speak about Covid vaccines had been paid a significant sum by the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca. The payment was to promote a flu vaccine, not the Covid vaccine. The reaction demonstrated the discomfo
  
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• City watchdog raises concerns over £4bn life insurance market

  28-08-2024 09:19 via theguardian.com
  
  FCA to launch market study into pure protection products to discover if they ‘provide fair value’ to consumersBusiness live – latest updatesThe UK financial watchdog is to investigate whether insurance companies are ripping off “vulnerable” customers who take out policies designed to financially protect them and their families in case of serious illness or death.The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) intends to launch a market study into pure protection products, whi
  
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• I’ve got a beef with my wellingtons warranty – are my boots still under guarantee?

  28-08-2024 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  After having them replaced twice for free, it seems the manufacturer is no longer obliged to helpCan I ask what the legal position is concerning guarantees? The reason I ask is that in August 2023 I bought some Jileon wellington boots. Over the year since then I have had these boots replaced twice under guarantee, the first time in January 2024 and again last week. Both times the boots started to leak, and there was absolutely no problem from Jileon in getting replacements.However, when I asked
  
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