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Call For Inquiry Into Government Funding Of Norton Motorcycles
The chair of parliament’s public accounts committee is calling for an investigation into the government’s funding of Norton Motorcycles and has accused officials of “blindly pouring” millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money into the motorbike firm before it went bust. Meg Hillier MP is to write to the department for business, energy and industrial strategy (BEIS), as well as the Cabinet Office, to ask for an inquiry into the events leading up to the failure of the Leicestershire-based manufacturing company last month.
The motorcycle firm had also been funded via a £1m loan received directly from a separate fraud, as well as about £5m of government grants. Aside from the millions in taxpayer support given to Norton, the business also benefited from a string of then government ministers showering the firm with glowing endorsements or agreeing to photo opportunities with the Norton boss Stuart Garner, including the prime minister Theresa May, the chancellor George Osborne, the business secretary Vince Cable and the trade secretary Liam Fox.
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Nissan Sues Fugitive Former Chairman Carlos Ghosn For £70m Over Alleged Misconduct
Nissan is suing its former chairman Carlos Ghosn, seeking 10bn yen (£70m) in damages it claims stem from “years of misconduct and fraudulent activity”. In a lawsuit filed in Yokohama District Court, the Japanese carmaker said it aims to “recover a significant part of the monetary damages inflicted on the company by its former chairman”. The executive who led Nissan for two decades is accused of understating his income and using company funds for events including his wedding at the Palace of Versailles in 2016. Nissan said it expects the claim to increase as it seeks to recover fines anticipated to be levied by regulators in relation to the scandal. Japanese authorities issued an arrest warrant for Mr Ghosn last month and a separate warrant for his wife for alleged perjury. Lebanon and Japan have no extradition treaty and Mr Ghosn is unlikely to be rearrested.
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RBS Changes Name To Natwest In Bid To Draw Line Under 12 Years Of Scandals And Taxpayer Bailout
Royal Bank of Scotland is to be renamed NatWest Group as the bank attempts to rescue its tarnished image after more than a decade of scandals and a £45bn taxpayer bailout. Howard Davies, the chairman of RBS, said that NatWest, one of its subsidiaries, was a more appropriate moniker for the bank, which has shed its riskier businesses to focus on the more mundane business of high-street lending. RBS announced on Friday that it would stop financing large oil companies such as Shell and BP unless they demonstrate that their business models align with the Paris climate agreement. RBS, which is still 62 per cent state-owned, will give major oil firms until 2021 to put “a credible plan” in place to reduce their impact on the climate. The axe is expected to fall on jobs within the RBS-owned loss-making NatWest Markets investment bank, which employs 5,000 people.
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Broadband, Mobile And Pay-TV Customers To Save Up To £1bn On Bills Under New Rules
Millions of customers are set to collectively save up to £1bn a year on the phone, broadband, mobile and TV bills under new rules which force providers to alert people when their contracts are ending. The new rules, which come into force on Saturday, could save some households more than £150 a year, industry regulator Ofcom said. Customers who do nothing when their minimum contract period ends are likely to continue on a monthly rolling deal and can face price increases or changes to their original deal. Under the controls, providers will need to tell them when their contract is up and what they have been paying until now - as well as the price they can expect to pay once their contract is over. The notification must also state any notice period for leaving their provider, the best deals available, and reveal any prices only available to new customers.
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Cathay Pacific issues profit warning after coronavirus hits service
Cathay Pacific, Hong Kong’s flag carrier airline, has issued a profit warning after the coronavirus outbreak forced it to cancel two in every five flights for February and March.
The Covid-19 virus had by Sunday infected 51,857 people worldwide, killing 1,669, according to the World Health Organization.
Efforts to contain the virus have caused large parts of the economy in China, where the outbreak originated, to grind to a halt and businesses across the world are still assessing the potential financial cost amid continued uncertainty.
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Apple Hits Stocks, Euro Near Three-Year Low
World stocks markets were knocked off record highs on Tuesday as two of the world’s mega companies reported damage from the coronavirus outbreak. Apple’s stock fell almost 6% in Frankfurt and all Europe’s main markets fell [.EU] after the iPhone maker warned it was unlikely to meet the March quarter sales guidance it had set just three weeks ago. HSBC announced a massive restructuring that involved shedding $100 billion of assets and slashing 35,000 jobs over three years. It also warned about the impact of the coronavirus on its Asia business. The stock fell more than 2% in Hong Kong trade. The warning from Apple sobered investors who had hoped stimulus from China and other countries would protect the global economy from the effects of the epidemic. The yen rose 0.15% to 109.69 yen per dollar JPY= while the risk- and China-sensitive Australian dollar lost 0.4% to $0.6686 AUD=D4. The yuan was steadier, trading at 6.9950 per dollar CNY=CFXS. “If Apple shares were traded cheaply, that might not matter much. But when they are trading at a record high, investors will be surely tempted to sell.”
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Wages back above pre-economic crisis levels
Weekly pay reached £512 in the three months to December, which - adjusting for inflation - is the highest since March 2008.
Excluding bonuses, earnings grew at an annual rate of 3.2% in the three-month period, official figures show.
Employment rose by 180,000 to another record high of 32.93 million, while unemployment stayed at 1.29 million.
The figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed the number of women in employment increased again - this time by 150,000 in the three months to December to a record high of 15.61 million.
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UK Climbs Ranking Of Tax Havens, Campaign Group Warns
The UK has become a more attractive haven for businesses and super-rich individuals looking to hide their finances from the rule of law, according to the Tax Justice Network (TJN), which it said raised serious concerns about Britain’s post-Brexit strategy. The TJN is now calling for sanctions against countries including the UK, US and the Cayman Islands for “backsliding” on transparency since 2018, just as other countries around the world became more open due to reforms such as automatic sharing of information about non-resident taxpayers. TJN said the UK performed poorly due to more rigorous methodology used for the 2020 report. A spokesperson explained that the UK’s ranking was also affected by historical changes to reporting rules that govern how multinational corporations are required to provide information on their operations in different countries.
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Coronavirus fear returns to stock markets
London's FTSE 100 share index fell more than 3% and there were similar declines in other European markets.
In the US, upbeat data on hiring and unemployment failed to buoy investors.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed almost 1% lower, while the Nasdaq slumped 1.8% and S&P 500 ended down 1.7%. The monthly report from the US Labor Department found US employers added 273,000 jobs in February - significantly beating expectations - while the jobless rate fell back to near a 50-year low of 3.5%.The report also revised up estimates of job gains in January and December, finding 85,000 more than previously understood.
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Oil prices have receded, after rising following an Iranian attack on two bases hosting US troops in Iraq.
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