Financial news

• Reeves to announce ‘megafunds’ shake-up of local government pension scheme

  13-11-2024 23:00
  
  Chancellor to tell City leaders of Canada-style plan to pool assets for benefit of long-term investmentRachel Reeves will announce plans to merge local government retirement schemes into “megafunds” as she tries to revive long-running efforts to overhaul the UK’s public pension system.The chancellor will tell an audience of City leaders and chief executives on Thursday that she will introduce a new pensions bill next year that will aim to pool assets from the 86 separate local
  
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• Thames Water should explain its murky logic on fundraising

  13-11-2024 18:58 via theguardian.com
  
  Transparency around this emergency process has been miserable as company looks for approval to borrow £3bn moreCongratulations to Thames Water: it is not going bust early in the new year. Probably. The necessary three-quarters of A-class bondholders have backed a proposal for the company, already drowning in £15bn of debt, to borrow another £3bn at the nose-bleed rate of 9.75% plus a hefty serving of fees on top. And, critically, the numbers are looking good to get permission f
  
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• Owner of Aberdeen, Southampton and Glasgow airports sold in £1.53bn deal

  13-11-2024 18:54 via theguardian.com
  AGS Airports, joint venture of Ferrovial and Macquarie, to be sold to AviAlliance for £900m along with £653m in debtThe owner of Aberdeen, Glasgow and Southampton airports is being sold in a deal worth more than £1.5bn.The Spanish construction company Ferrovial and its partner Macquarie have agreed to offload the AGS Airports joint venture to AviAlliance, a German-headquartered airport operator. Continue reading...
  
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• Bitcoin clears $93,000 and Dogecoin soars amid Trump-fueled crypto rally

  13-11-2024 18:40 via theguardian.com
  
  Cryptocurrency boosters are expecting the president-elect’s economic team to be crypto-friendlyThe price of bitcoin scaled a fresh all-time high on Wednesday, soaring above $93,000 as cryptocurrency investors continued to cheer the election victory of Donald Trump.Dogecoin, a meme coin previously backed by Elon Musk, has risen as much as 150% in value since election day. It continued to rise after the president-elect announced that Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy would lead the so-called Departme
  
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• Homebase collapses into administration with thousands of jobs at risk

  13-11-2024 18:07 via theguardian.com
  
  Future of 2,000 staff remains unclear despite the bulk of stores being bought by the homeware retailer The RangeThe struggling DIY chain Homebase has collapsed into administration, leaving thousands of workers facing an uncertain future, despite the purchase of the bulk of its stores by the owner of The Range homeware retailer.Gavin Park, Gavin Maher and Adele Macleod from the financial advisory firm Teneo were appointed as joint administrators of Homebase’s owners, HHGL Limited and Hampde
  
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• P&O Ferries spent £47m on mass layoffs amid financial woes, accounts show

  13-11-2024 18:01 via theguardian.com
  
  Delayed filings reveal cost of sacking 786 seafarers and replacing them with lower-paid agency staff in 2022P&O Ferries spent more than £47m on sacking hundreds of UK seafarers in 2022, according to its long overdue accounts that will be published in the coming days.The filings, which the Guardian has seen, confirm the financial cost of the company’s actions two and a half years ago when it outraged the public and parliament by dismissing 786 mainly British ferry workers –
  
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• ‘Defend the product!’ How the French keep their artisan food culture alive

  13-11-2024 16:16 via theguardian.com
  Medieval-style producer guilds, a glut of festivals and strict controls on quality and origin all combine to make sure that traditional gastronomie is honoured and protectedIt’s a Saturday morning in October and Rouen’s Fête du Ventre – the festival of the tummy – is in full swing. The main street, Rue Jeanne d’Arc, is lined with food stalls where red-aproned cheesemongers are proffering cubes of neufchâtel and camembert cheeses, and cloth-capped charcut
  
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• Trump victory raises risk of investing in offshore wind projects, says RWE

  13-11-2024 15:44 via theguardian.com
  
  German energy firm shaves €3bn from spending plans for next financial year to €7bnA German energy firm has said that Donald Trump’s election victory has increased the risks of investing in offshore wind projects – but his return to the White House could help bolster Britain’s renewables sector, according to UK developer SSE.Germany’s RWE has cut its spending plans and warned that, as a result of the US election, “the risks for offshore wind projects have i
  
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• Keir Starmer dodges question during PMQs about whether he is keeping cap on council tax – video

  13-11-2024 15:23 via theguardian.com
  
  Keir Starmer avoided answering a question about council tax from the leader of the opposition during PMQs on Wednesday. Kemi Badenoch earlier said the prime minister had made unilateral commitments at Cop29 that would make life more expensive for everyone and pressed Starmer on whether he would keep the cap on council tax. The prime minister preferred to focus on his appearance at the climate summit instead, saying he was proud of the fact that he was restoring leadership on the crisis, and talk
  
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• Post Office plan to close 115 branches and cut jobs condemned as ‘immoral’

  13-11-2024 15:16 via theguardian.com
  
  Unions criticise decision that puts up to 2,000 jobs at risk and comes amidinquiry into Horizon IT scandalThe Post Office plans to close more than 100 branches and says about 2,000 jobs are at risk in a move that has been condemned by unions as “tone deaf and immoral” after the Horizon IT scandal.The Post Office confirmed on Wednesday it was seeking to offload 115 branches, known as crown post offices, it centrally owns, but said it expected to maintain the total network at 11,500 br
  
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• Key US inflation measure ticks higher for first time since March

  13-11-2024 14:44 via theguardian.com
  
  The consumer price index rose at annual pace of 2.6% after September saw lowest rate in more than three yearsA key measure of US inflation has risen for the first time since March, underlining its bumpy ride down to lower levels.The consumer price index (CPI), which measures price growth across a basket of goods, ticked up to an annual pace of 2.6% in October – from 2.4% in September, which had been the slowest rate in more than three years. Continue reading...
  
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• Liz Kendall says there is ‘no tension’ in government over winter fuel payments

  13-11-2024 14:22 via theguardian.com
  
  Work and pensions secretary says ‘scandal’ of pensioners not claiming credit entitlement is bigger problemUK politics live – latest updatesLiz Kendall has said she sees “no tension” in government over plans to make savings from restricting winter fuel payments to vulnerable pensioners and an increase in people securing pension credit.The work and pensions secretary stressed she wanted all people eligible for pension credit to have the benefit, regardless of whether
  
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• Klarna chooses New York over London for much-anticipated IPO

  13-11-2024 13:22 via theguardian.com
  
  US filing by one of world’s largest buy now, pay later firms seen as another blow to London Stock ExchangeThe buy now, pay later company Klarna has filed for a much-anticipated flotation in the US, a move that marks another blow for the London market.The Swedish fintech firm confirmed on Wednesday morning that it had “confidentially submitted” an application to the US Securities and Exchange Commission “relating to the proposed initial public offering of its ordinary shar
  
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• Soaring grocery prices helped Trump to victory. The climate crisis is only going to make this worse | James Meadway

  13-11-2024 13:00 via theguardian.com
  
  From olive oil to butter, extreme weather is pushing up the cost of living and having a dramatic political impact. Economists need a solutionIn the US, where Donald Trump swept the board last week, it was the experience of sharply increasing essentials prices, from food to energy, that glued together the Republicans’ new electoral coalition. About 75% of those voting Republican reported that they had faced “hardship” or “severe hardship” as a result of price rises;
  
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• Just Eat Takeaway to sell US arm Grubhub at a loss of more than $6.5bn

  13-11-2024 11:40 via theguardian.com
  
  Netherlands-based firm offloads unit to fast casual restaurant chain Wonder for $650m four years after buying it for $7.3bnThe food delivery company Just Eat Takeaway is selling Grubhub to the delivery-focused restaurant chain Wonder for $650m (£510m), only four years after buying the US app in a multibillion-dollar tie-up after the first Covid lockdowns.The Netherlands-based Just Eat, which is Europe’s largest meal delivery company, had been looking to offload its US unit since as e
  
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• Thames Water gains key support from creditors for £3bn funding lifeline

  13-11-2024 09:49 via theguardian.com
  
  Utilities firm says 75% of class A bondholders back emergency package aimed at staving off collapseBusiness live – latest updatesThames Water has gained support from its top-ranking creditors to proceed to the next stage of securing a £3bn emergency funding package intended to stave off its collapse for at least a year.The struggling utility company said on Wednesday that 75% of the holders of its least risky loans – known as class A debt – had backed a plan to extend the
  
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• How to save a bundle on children’s clothes

  13-11-2024 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  From swap meets to looking after clothes correctly, you can save cash while making your children’s wardrobes more sustainableCharity shops can be a goldmine for bargains – use the Charity Retail Association’s online search page to find ones that stock children’s clothes, or in London, head to one of FARA’s 14 stores that specialise in kids’ clothes. Again you can find them listed online. Continue reading...
  
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• BT has left my 80-year-old dad without a landline for months

  13-11-2024 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  After hours of calls to BT, engineer no-shows, complaints raised and multiple promises, nothing has happenedI am desperate to help my 80-year-old dad, JF, and his partner who have been left without a landline for more than two months by BT.This is especially difficult as my dad has relatives in Canada that he usually phones every weekend, and his partner is Japanese. Both need a landline to call their families so as to not feel  isolated. Continue reading...
  
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• ‘Fart blaster’ tops Christmas toy wishlist as experts predict record sales

  13-11-2024 07:30
  
  Despicable Me 4 tie-in smells more like popcorn while a waddling duck and an interactive pet monkey also featureA “fart blaster” with a repertoire of 15 sounds that blasts “fog fart rings” and a waddling mother duck are among the toys destined to appear on Christmas lists as experts predict a “record-breaking” year for sales.At £30, the Despicable Me 4 spin-off toy promises to be a talking point on Christmas Day. It comes with two scents: banana and &ldq
  
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• The briefcase, the Porsche and the collapse of the German government – podcast

  13-11-2024 04:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Der Spiegel journalist Regina Steffens and author John Kampfner explain how Germany’s traffic light coalition came to an end, and the profound problems facing whichever government comes nextAs Germans processed the news of Donald Trump’s re-election on Wednesday, they were soon hit by a story much closer to home – their coalition government was about to collapse.As Der Spiegel journalist Regina Steffens explains to Helen Pidd, though the divisions within the government were wel
  
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• Elon Musk handpicked by Trump to carry out slash-and-burn cuts plan

  13-11-2024 02:49 via theguardian.com
  
  World’s richest man has been an enthusiastic cost-cutter – but he may find the public sector an entirely different beastDonald Trump, president-elect of the US, announced on Tuesday that he has selected Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, and Vivek Ramaswamy to lead the Department of Government Efficiency, with plans to reduce bureaucracy in the federal government by roughly a third.Musk had pushed for a government efficiency department and has since relentlessly promoted it, e
  
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