Financial news

• Brits spend average of 138 minutes a week searching for bargains, research shows

  24-01-2025 20:12 via express.co.uk
  
  The average person dedicates the most time to shopping in supermarkets, searching for holidays and when buying new clothes to ensure the best deals
  
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• How to win against private parking firms | Letter

  24-01-2025 18:41
  
  It’s worth going to court to challenge unfair private parking fines, says Alexander TrerythPrivate parking companies like to threaten county court judgments, but they are only issued if a case actually goes to court and the judge decides in favour of the parking company (Private car parks: UK drivers seek justice as penalties hit record, 18 January).My experience of this process was sitting in a court for 40 minutes, trying not to laugh as the judge gave the parking company’s lawyer
  
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• London mansion formerly owned by Saudi royals sells for £139m

  24-01-2025 17:24
  
  The Holme in Regent’s Park, which has 40 bedrooms, was put on the market two years ago for £250mA 40-bedroom mansion inside Regent’s Park formerly owned by the Saudi royal family has been sold for about £139m in one of London’s biggest ever property sales.The Holme, a 2,694 sq metre (29,000 sq ft) residence in 1.6 hectares (4 acres) of gardens, sits next to the park’s boating lake close to London zoo and the US ambassador’s residence, Winfield House. It
  
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• Google agrees to crack down on fake reviews for UK businesses

  24-01-2025 13:54
  
  Tech company will issue ‘warning’ alerts on profiles of firms that manipulate star ratings, says CMABusiness live – latest updatesGoogle has agreed to do more to identify and remove fake reviews, including sanctioning rogue individuals and UK businesses that have manipulated their star ratings, the UK’s competition watchdog has said.The tech company will also issue “warning” alerts on the profiles of businesses that use fake reviews to boost their ratings, the
  
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• Electric cars in UK last as long as petrol and diesel vehicles, study finds

  24-01-2025 12:28
  
  International research team based findings on 300m records from MOT data to estimate failure rates of all carsBattery cars on Britain’s roads are lasting as long as petrol and diesel cars, according to a study that has found a rapid improvement in electric vehicle reliability.An international team of researchers has estimated that an electric car will have a lifespan of 18.4 years, compared with 18.7 years for petrol cars and 16.8 years for diesels, according to a peer-reviewed study publi
  
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• Davos day four: ‘Too much pessimism’ about European economy, WEF hears – business live

  24-01-2025 11:24 via theguardian.com
  Rolling coverage of the final day of the World Economic Forum, and the latest economic and financial newsLarry Fink then explains that the US economy has a major advantage over Europe – the deep foundations of its capital markets make it easier for entrepreneurs to raise capital.That allows the US to change direction and modify faster than another other economy in the world.I believe it is probably time to be investing back into Europe, focusing on it. Continue reading...
  
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• Burberry bounces back after 4% drop in sales over Christmas quarter

  24-01-2025 10:57 via theguardian.com
  Relatively positive results are a ‘first (and early) step in the right direction’, analysts sayDavos day four live – latest updatesBurberry has recorded a 4% drop in sales over the Christmas quarter, but expects to recover from losses made in the first half of its financial year after a strong performance in the US.The fashion retailer’s shares rose by as much as 15% on Friday as it posted a fall in retail sales for the three months to 28 December, which was much better t
  
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• Thames Water credit rating slashed as administrators approached

  24-01-2025 10:35 via theguardian.com
  
  Moody’s changes outlook on firm from stable to negative as financial plans ‘do not provide attractive risk-return balance’Thames Water’s debt has been downgraded as the struggling utility company seeks to secure £3bn in emergency funding to stave off collapse, after it emerged that the government has approached potential administrators.The rating agency Moody’s downgraded the company’s debt rating, and increased its view of the probability of default, ch
  
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• Rolls-Royce wins its biggest ever MoD deal with £9bn nuclear submarine contract

  24-01-2025 09:33 via theguardian.com
  Agreement to make reactors for Royal Navy will create more than 1,000 jobs and safeguard 4,000 other rolesThe British engineering company Rolls-Royce has struck its biggest ever deal with the Ministry of Defence with a £9bn contract to make nuclear submarine reactors for the Royal Navy.The government said the deal, which will create more than 1,000 jobs and safeguard 4,000 other roles, will boost UK national security and drive economic growth. Continue reading...
  
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• Davos day four: Global economy in focus after Trump tariff threat – business live

  24-01-2025 08:59 via theguardian.com
  Rolling coverage of the final day of the World Economic Forum, and the latest economic and financial newsBusiness secretary Jonathan Reynolds has left the door open to joining a tariff-free trading scheme with Europe, following a meeting with the EU trade commissioner here in Davos.Jonathan Reynolds met with Maros Sefcovic on Thursday, after Sefcovic suggested Britain could join the Pan-Euro-Mediterranean Convention (PEM), which allows for tariff-free trade of goods across Europe, as well as som
  
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• Homes for sale for doer-uppers – in pictures

  24-01-2025 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  From Grade II-listed cottages to a classic Victorian home in the centre of town Continue reading...
  
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• ‘I was a multimillionaire, I had a beautiful girlfriend, I was unhappy’: the ups and downs of a supertrader

  24-01-2025 06:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Gary Stevenson grew up poor, got rich in the City – then found himself wrestling with depression. Now he says he’s the only person on the left who really understands the British economy – and the people who wield the powerI’ve interviewed Gary Stevenson three times. First in 2020 about global finance being screwed with a capital “S”; again in 2022 about the cost of living crisis; and then last year when he published The Trading Game, his compelling memoir abou
  
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• Humphrey’s world: how the Samuel Smith beer baron built Britain’s strangest pub chain – podcast

  24-01-2025 06:00 via theguardian.com
  Since the 1970s, Humphrey Smith has acquired scores of pubs and historic properties around the UK. But time after time, he has left the buildings empty. Why has he allowed his empire to moulder? By Mark Blacklock. Read by Joe Layton Continue reading...
  
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• Chichester least affordable area outside London for first-time buyers, data shows

  24-01-2025 01:01 via theguardian.com
  
  Homes in the city cost 8.5 times the annual earnings of the typical full-time worker, Nationwide saysChichester is the least affordable area outside London for first-time buyers to get on the property ladder, with homes in the cathedral city costing an average of 8.5 times the annual earnings of the typical full-time worker in the area, according to figures from Nationwide.The building society said there had been a “modest improvement” in affordability across Great Britain over the p
  
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