Tory Vow To End Hefty Taxpayer-Funded Payouts

Success Rolls On As Car Firm Posts Record Sales

Written By Unknown on Selasa, 06 Januari 2015 | 18.57

Rolls-Royce sold more cars than ever before last year.

The company delivered 4,063 cars in 2014 - its highest total in 111 years.

A 12% increase on 2013 means sales have now risen five-fold since 2009.

In 2014 sales rose 13% in the UK, 75% in Australia, 60% in Japan, 40% in Europe as a whole, 30% in the USA and 20% in the Middle East.

The best-selling dealership was in Abu Dhabi - though the US remains the company's biggest market, followed by mainland China.

Sales were boosted by orders for the Ghost Series II launched in November. The Wraith also enjoyed its first full year on the market.

The company has created 200 permanent jobs in 18 months, meaning more than 1,500 people now work at its Goodwood headquarters in West Sussex.

Business Secretary Vince Cable said: "Rolls-Royce motor cars are famous throughout the world with increasing numbers now exported abroad. The skill and dedication of its workers here in Britain has led to another very successful year.

"The UK's automotive industry is thriving with a new car rolling off the production line every 20 seconds, and increasing levels of investment that's helping to secure local jobs.

"Through our industrial strategy we are backing companies like Rolls-Royce as they go from strength to strength, giving them the right environment to invest with confidence and create high-skilled jobs."

The Rolls-Royce figures precede statistics from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders that are expected to show new-car sales in the UK reached a 10-year high of 2.46 million in 2014.

Rolls-Royce Motor Cars chief executive Torsten Muller-Otvos said: "This fifth consecutive record year saw Rolls-Royce Motor Cars break through the 4,000 car sales level for the first time in its history.

"The result confirms that our strategy of balanced, sustainable and profitable growth is delivering and that Rolls-Royce remains the world's leading luxury goods brand."

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Clydesdale Boss Bows Out After PPI Deluge

By Mark Kleinman, City Editor

The boss of the Clydesdale and Yorkshire banks is stepping down in the wake of a deluge of insurance mis-selling claims.

Sky News has learnt that National Australia Bank (NAB) has hired City headhunters Korn Ferry to identify a successor to David Thorburn who can lead the business through a stock market listing later this year.

In a statement to the Australian Stock Exchange issued after an enquiry by Sky News, NAB said Mr Thorburn would leave later this year and said the recruitment of a new chief executive was "well underway".

Mr Thorburn joined Clydesdale in 1993 before taking over the leadership of the UK business in 2011.

His departure comes at an awkward time for NAB, which is planning to offload its British operations, potentially by way of a stock market listing before the end of 2015.

The UK business has become a drag on the profitability of its parent, largely due to ongoing provisions for mis-selling payment protection insurance (PPI) and interest rate hedging products to smaller companies.

Last October, NAB issued a profit warning, which it blamed on a £450m PPI bill and £250m charge to compensate interest rate swap customers.

People familiar with the company said its leadership had concluded that a new leader was required to take it to the public markets.

Andrew Thorburn, the NAB CEO who is no relation to the departing UK boss, said last autumn that it had "an intention to exit the UK "(as) an absolute priority".

In Tuesday's statement, issued after the close of the Australian stock markets, he insisted that the Clydesdale and Yorkshire businesses were "in much better shape" as a result of his namesake's efforts.

David Thorburn said: "I believe that the business requires a five-year commitment from me, particularly as NAB looks at options to accelerate the exit from its UK banking business and I felt this was a significant undertaking."

Morgan Stanley, the investment bank, is working on the flotation of NAB's UK operation, which comes amid a competition probe into the personal current accounts and small business banking markets.

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Apple Sued Over iPhone And iPad Storage Space

Written By Unknown on Minggu, 04 Januari 2015 | 18.56

A lawsuit has been filed against Apple, accusing the technology giant of promising more available storage space than it actually delivers in its iPhones, iPads, and iPod touch devices.

The plaintiffs argue that while Apple advertises 16 gigabytes of digital storage on lower price models of gadgets such as iPhones, about a fifth of that is eaten up by the latest operating software.

The percentage of space touted as available for digital content such as photos, video, or music shrinks further on Apple gadgets built with eight gigabytes of storage, it is claimed.

Apple's latest operating system, iOS 8, which was beset with problems when it launched in September, takes up as much as 23.1% of storage capacity on some devices.

The lawsuit is being brought on behalf of two men from Florida, Paul Orshan and Christopher Endara, in a District Court in Northern California.

They also complain that once Apple gadget owners reach limits to data storage, they are prompted to pay monthly fees for digital locker space online at the Californian based-firm's iCloud service.

The lawsuit says: "Using these sharp business tactics, (Apple) gives less storage capacity than advertised, only to offer to sell that capacity in a desperate moment, eg when a consumer is trying to record or take photos at a child or grandchild's recital, basketball game or wedding.

"Each gigabyte of storage Apple shortchanges its customers amounts to approximately 400-500 high resolution photographs."

Lawyers behind the suit are seeking class action status along with punishments that include Apple turning over all profits from sales of gadgets at issue in the case.

Apple has so far declined to comment to the media on the matter.

Apple has been embroiled in countless lawsuits with tech rival Samsung over recent years. The smartphone and tablet makers have accused each other of infringing patents in intellectual property battles around the world.

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Tory Vow To End Hefty Taxpayer-Funded Payouts

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A cap would be introduced to curb hefty six-figure redundancy pay-offs for public sector bosses the Tories have promised, if they are returned to office in May.

The party will pledge in its election manifesto to impose a £95,000 limit on payments in the public sector, according to Conservative Treasury Minister Priti Patel.

The move comes in the wake of a string of controversial taxpayer-funded golden goodbyes.

These include severance payments of more than £450,000 in the Civil Service, £500,000 in the NHS, and £1m in the BBC.

Latest figures show the national average redundancy payout is £13,396.

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Gallery: Big Public Sector Payouts

George Entwistle, former director general of the BBC Paid £475,000 after just 54 days in the job

Mark Byford, former deputy director-general of the BBC Pay-off of £949,000

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Caroline Thomson, ex-chief BBC operating officer Paid £670,000

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Katherine Kerswell, former managing director of Kent Council Paid £420,000 and later given civil service job

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Michael Lockwood, chief executive of Harrow Council Given £168,000 when role made redundant, then rehired to same position

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Under the Conservative plan, public sector staff earning less than £27,000 will be exempt from the cap in order to protect the small number of low-paid, long-serving public servants who might otherwise have been hit.

Latest figures show the average redundancy payout is £13,396.

Ms Patel told Sky News: "This is a clear commitment by the Conservative Party, for our next manifesto, to bring an end to this culture where people who are highly paid in the public sector receive these automatic redundancy payments that are extremely high, compensation payments and pensions pots, that are funded by hard-working taxpayers."

The Minister said the cap would not apply to MPs losing their seat at the next election, as they were regulated under a different system operated by the parliamentary watchdog.

Members failing to be re-elected at the May poll will receive a resettlement grant based on length of service, up to a maximum of six months salary - £33,530 based on current pay.

Labour's Shadow Health Minister Jamie Reed argued the Conservatives should have acted sooner to tackle the issue of redundancy payouts

He said: "David Cameron can't get away from the fact that this horse has already bolted.

"He wasted £1.6bn on redundancy payouts to NHS managers as part of his reckless reorganisation.

"Frontline NHS staff found it galling that 4,000 managers who received pay-offs are now back in NHS jobs."

And unions point out the proposed cap will not apply retrospectively, meaning that those who have already received pay-offs will be able to keep them.

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Written By Unknown on Jumat, 02 Januari 2015 | 18.56

The administrators of courier firm City Link have announced 2,356 job losses after a bid to buy the company failed.

Many workers found out about the firm's collapse on Christmas Day and had been warned to expect "substantial redundancies".

Announcing the job losses on New Year's Eve, the administrators at EY said an offer that was made for City Link had not been acceptable.

The bid, made by a consortium, "offered no money up front and significantly undervalued the assets to be acquired", the administrators said.

They said: "The administrators proposed an alternative structure that would be acceptable and common in these situations.

"The consortium, despite attempts to make them reconsider, declined to amend their original offer."

Coventry, where the firm has its head office, faces the highest number of redundancies, with 350 jobs lost.

There have also been more than 100 job losses in Hatfield, Heathrow and Warrington.

The administrators said 371 people have been retained to deal with remaining parcels and to help with winding down its operations.

Hunter Kelly, joint administrator of City Link Limited, said: "The company endured substantial losses, which ultimately became too great for it to continue as a going concern, and City Link Limited entered administration following an unsuccessful sale process."

RMT union general secretary Mick Cash said: "The confirmation from the administrators that they have just sacked 2,400 staff and are pulling the plug on any efforts to save City Link is a disgraceful and cynical betrayal that will wreck the lives of our members, many of whom are owed thousands of pounds.

"RMT does not believe that those pulling the strings had any interest in saving this business and were happy to cut and run leaving a trail of human misery in their wake.

"The City Link collapse has blown the lid off the cosy relationship between bandit capitalism and the political elite."

Business Secretary Vince Cable said: "This is very sad news for the City Link workers and their families at a particularly difficult time of year.

"The Government has put arrangements in place to help employees who are made redundant and we stand ready to help."

Around 30,000 parcels are waiting to be collected from City Link depots.

Administrators say they expect depots to remain open until "approximately" 6 January.

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Rail Fares: Anger Over New Year Price Hike

Commuters face rail fare rises by an average of 2.2%, with the latest annual increase meaning some fares have increased over 20% in the last five years.

Although the average increase is the lowest average rise for five years, the rise for regulated fares, including season tickets, will be up to 2.5%.

The rise - announced by rail industry body the Rail Delivery Group - will see more rail passengers than ever before paying £5,000 for season tickets.

While the hike is limited to a maximum of 2.5%, unregulated fares, such as off-peak leisure tickets, can go up by as much as the train companies decide.

It follows weeks of disruption to rush-hour services with problems for travellers compounded by over-running festive engineering work.

Last Saturday's chaos caused King's Cross and Paddington stations in London to close and resulted in Network Rail chief executive Mark Carne announcing he would forego his bonus.

Rail Delivery Group director general Michael Roberts said: "At 2.2%, the average increase in fares in 2015 is the lowest for five years. We understand no one likes to pay more, especially to go to work.

"For every £1 spent on fares, 97p goes on track, train, staff and other costs while 3p goes in profits earned by train companies for running services on Europe's fastest growing railway."

Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin said: "We are investing in the biggest rail modernisation since the Victorian era and fares have a crucial role to play in funding these improvements. This is because building better infrastructure helps create jobs, building a stronger economy for us all."

But campaign groups and trade unions say the latest annual rise in fares far outstrip the rises in wages and that Britons pay some of the highest rail fares in Europe.

Those commuting to London from Milton Keynes in Buckinghamshire, for example, are from today having to pay 2.43% more, with their 2015 ticket going up to £4,888.

According to the Campaign for Better Transport (CBT), the cost of a Milton Keynes season ticket has risen 23.5%, or £930, since January 2010 and is one of a number of fares that have increased around four times more than average wages over this five-year period.

The CBT also highlighted the cost of a Newcastle to Middlesbrough season ticket, which will be £2,324 from today and which has risen 26.3% since January 2010.

According to TUC figures, UK commuters spend more than twice as much of their salary on rail fares than some European passengers.

TUC general secretary Frances O'Grady said: "This year's fare hike will hit passengers particularly hard because wages are rising so slowly.

"Rail fares are now consuming a huge proportion of people's wages, leaving precious little for other bread and butter expenses. On average passengers are now paying £600 more for a season ticket and yet seeing no change in their pay packets."

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Payday Loan Costs Caps Comes Into Force

A cap on the cost of payday loans has come into force aimed at preventing debts spiralling out of control.

Fees and interest paid by customers using payday lenders will now be limited, lowering the cost of borrowing for most people.

The new rules also mean those who cannot afford to repay their debt on time will never pay back more in charges than the sum they initially wanted to borrow.

For all high-cost short-term credit loans, interest and fees must not exceed 0.8% per day of the amount borrowed.

Default fees for borrowers who fail to repay on time will be capped at £15.

The measures mean that if someone borrows £100 for 30 days and pays back on time, they will not be charged more than £24.

And if someone who borrows £100 but struggles to repay their debt will never pay back more than £200, including fees and charges.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), which oversees the industry, said the move will lower costs for most borrowers and ensure that charges are proportionate to the size and duration of the loan.

Short-term lenders said the caps would lead to fewer people getting loans from a smaller group of lenders.

They said that initially at least, the cost of a payday loan would generally be at or near the cap.

Wonga, Britain's biggest payday lender with more than one million active customers, started capping the cost of its loans in mid-December in order to comply with the rules.

Stricter rules for credit brokers are also being introduced amid concerns consumers have often mistaken credit brokers for lenders.

Martin Wheatley, chief executive of the FCA, said the payday loan cap will "make the cost of a loan cheaper for most consumers".

"Anyone who gets into difficulty and is unable to pay back on time, will not see the interest and fees on their loan spiral out of control - no consumer will ever owe more than double the original loan amount," he said.

The payday loans industry, which has been the focus of criticism in recent years, has undergone a string of shake-ups after coming under the regulation of the FCA last April.

Payday lenders are banned from rolling over a loan more than twice and and they can only now make two unsuccessful attempts to claw money back out of a borrowers' account.

The firms have only ''interim permission'' to operate under the FCA's stricter regime and they will need to pass assessments in order to get full permission to carry on.

Russell Hamblin-Boone, chief executive of the Consumer Finance Association, which represents short-term lenders including the Money Shop, Quick Quid, Peachy and Sunny, said: "We expect to see fewer people getting loans from fewer lenders and the loans on offer will evolve but will fully comply with the cap."

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Next Shares Surge After Xmas Sales Growth

Written By Unknown on Kamis, 01 Januari 2015 | 18.56

Next has reported it enjoyed strong sales growth in the run-up to Christmas and has now raised its annual profits guidance.

The retailer confirmed it was to pay a fourth special dividend of the year while announcing a 2.9% increase in full price sales between 28 October and Christmas Eve - with total sales for the year to 24 December rising 7.7%.

Next Directory, which incorporates its online and catalogue offerings, drove the performance with sales in the division rising 7.5% in the pre-Christmas period alone.

The company said it now expected its full-year profit guidance "to be within £10m either side of £775m" - a £5m increase on the midpoint range it had expected in October.

Surplus cash would again be returned to investors, Next said, with its fourth special dividend of the year worth 50p per share.

That development and the wider Christmas cheer boosted its shares by as much as 4% in early trading on the FTSE 100 and gave a lift to rival Marks & Spencer too.

Retailers are on track for a record December following the success of Black Friday sales the previous month, but there are signs that cold weather and some stock shortages may have hit high street sales since Boxing Day.

Next warned that it remained "very cautious" about the year ahead.

The firm said the outlook for UK consumers appeared "relatively benign" with low inflation, wages starting to recover, available credit and strong employment painting a "somewhat more positive picture than recent years".

But the group said it faced comparisons with a strong spring and summer in 2014 while uncertainty in the UK and global economy - with a general election looming - presented risks.

It is expecting sales growth for 2015/16 of between 2.5% and 7.5%, compared with the latest expectations for 2014/15 of 6-8%.

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House Prices Rise At Slowest Pace For A Year

UK house price growth eased to its weakest annual pace for 13 months in December, according to Nationwide.

The building society's monthly index showed that property prices lifted by 7.2% annually this month to reach £188,559 on average, slowing from an 8.5% annual rate of growth in November.

The average cost of a home edged slightly lower from the record high of £189,388 measured the previous month.

Nationwide's report named London as the UK's "top performer" for price growth in 2014, with prices there up by 17.8% year on year, reaching £406,730 typically.

Wales was the weakest-performing region, with values having increased by 1.4% annually to reach £141,631 on average.

Activity in the housing market slowed following the introduction of tougher mortgage affordability checks but Nationwide forecast a return to stronger growth in 2015 because of stamp duty reforms and improved levels of construction.

Its chief economist Robert Gardner said: "The slowdown in housing market activity is surprising given further steady gains in employment, a pickup in wage growth (albeit from low levels) and the continued low level of mortgage rates.

"Moreover, surveys suggest consumers remain in high spirits – a view reinforced by robust retail spending growth in November, which was at its highest for over a decade.

"If the economic backdrop continues to improve as we and most forecasters expect, activity in the housing market is likely to regain momentum in the months ahead.

"Supply side developments will be crucial in determining the trajectory for prices."

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City Link Confirms Thousands Of Jobs Lost