Category Archives: Business

Australia agrees to clear-the-air talks with Qatar over controversial airline decision

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Exclusive: Comes after heated Senate inquiry hearings told application for extra flights by the Gulf had been “unfairly rejected”

Australian bureaucrats will schedule a meeting with Qatari officials to discuss the Albanese government’s controversial decision to reject Qatar Airways’ request to almost double its flight operations to Australia.

Senate inquiry hearings this week revealed that the Qatar Civil Aviation Authority (QCAA) – which lodged the request for an additional 28 weekly flights to Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth – had requested consultations with the Australian department of infrastructure and transport.

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PwC Australia reveals more breaches on heels of scathing report into consultancy scandal

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Firm releases ‘statement of facts’ alongside Switkowski review making further admissions about government consultation work

PwC Australia has revealed a series of additional breaches of confidentiality as a new report details a litany of corporate failures that allowed confidential government information to be misused for years without any disciplinary action.

The confessions are detailed in what PwC Australia has described as “a statement of facts”, which was published alongside a review into its internal culture by the former Telstra boss Ziggy Switkowski. His report found some partners prioritised profit above ethics and internal dismay at the firm’s response to the scandal.

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Chair of China’s Evergrande reportedly put under police surveillance

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Another missed bond payment raises doubts over future of world’s most indebted property developer

The chair of China’s Evergrande Group has reportedly been put under police surveillance as another missed bond payment casts further doubt over the future of the world’s most indebted property developer.

Hui Ka Yan, who founded Evergrande in 1996, was taken away earlier this month and is being monitored at a designated location, according to Bloomberg.

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Hollywood writers agree to end five-month strike after new studio deal

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Writers Guild of America said its members could return to work while a ratification vote takes place for fresh three-year contract

Hollywood writers will officially end their five-month strike on Wednesday, as union leaders approved an agreement made with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, and sent the full details of the new contract to union members for ratification.

The Writers Guild of America (WGA) said in a statement on Tuesday evening that its members could return to work at midnight tonight, while a ratification vote takes place on a new three-year contract with Hollywood studios.

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PwC to restructure board as report into consultancy scandal released

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PwC Australia will also commit to publishing audited financial statements

PwC Australia will overhaul its corporate structure, adding three non-executive directors to its governance board and a non-executive chair, as well as committing to publishing audited financial statements.

The announcement comes ahead of the release of an investigation into the firm’s misuse of confidential government information, which triggered a reputation crisis and widespread condemnation.

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First-time buyers in UK drop by a fifth as higher mortgage costs bite

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Lender says homes needing renovation are most in demand as people seek cheaper properties

The number of first-time buyers in the UK has fallen by more than a fifth, while homes in need of renovation are most in demand as buyers look for cheaper properties, in the latest evidence that people are struggling with higher mortgage costs.

There were 22% fewer first-time buyers between January and August compared with the same period last year, according to the mortgage lender Halifax. They still accounted for more than half (53%) of all home loans agreed in the first eight months of this year, similar to a year earlier (52%).

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Scrapping inheritance tax would cost £15bn a year by 2032, says IFS

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Thinktank carried out analysis as calls mount among Tory MPs for the tax to be abolished

Scrapping inheritance tax would cost the government almost £15bn a year in lost revenue by 2032, according to analysis by the Institute for Fiscal Studies that follows calls from Tory MPs for the main tax on inherited wealth to be abolished.

The thinktank said the latest figures from HMRC showed fewer than 4% of estates paid inheritance tax (IHT) in 2020–21, but the rapid growth in wealth among older individuals meant this number was set to rise to more than 7% over the next decade.

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Key details behind Nord Stream pipeline blasts revealed by scientists

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Researchers in Norway reveal further analysis of 2022 explosions as well as a detailed timeline of events

Scientists investigating the attack on the Nord Stream pipelines have revealed key new details of explosions linked to the event, which remains unsolved on its first anniversary.

Researchers in Norway shared with the Guardian seismic evidence of the four explosions, becoming the first national body to publicly confirm the second two detonations, as well as revealing a detailed timeline of events.

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Everton owner received £400m from Alisher Usmanov companies, documents suggest

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Exclusive: Questions mount over ties between Farhad Moshiri and tycoon, before he was put under sanctions

The Everton Football Club owner, Farhad Moshiri, received more than £400m from Alisher Usmanov companies in the run-up to the Russian billionaire being placed under sanctions, documents suggest, raising fresh questions about the financial ties between the two men.

Records seen by the Guardian appear to show that Moshiri borrowed £145m from a company wholly owned by the Russian-Uzbek tycoon from about 2020.

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Water firms in England and Wales ordered to cut £114m from bills

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Fewer than half of companies meeting their targets on leaks, says the regulator, Ofwat

Water companies in England and Wales have been ordered to return £114m to customers through lower bills next year because progress on leakage and sewage spills has been “too slow”.

In its annual water company performance report, the regulator, Ofwat, said the majority of water and wastewater companies were underperforming on targets set for 2020-25 to deliver better outcomes, for customers and the environment.

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Joe Biden’s visit to the UAW picket line is historic – and may pay off politically

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The president standing ‘in solidarity’ with striking autoworkers is a powerful gesture that could resonate with key blue-collar voters

In the more than 150 years since workers first formed labor unions in the United States, no American president has ever stood “in solidarity” with workers on a picket line. Joe Biden has vowed to do exactly that with striking autoworkers in Michigan on Tuesday.

“This is genuinely new – I don’t think it’s ever happened before, a president on a picket line,” said Nelson Lichtenstein, a longtime labor historian at the University of California, Santa Barbara. “Candidates do it frequently and prominent senators, but not a president.”

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Asos cuts profit forecast after wet summer hit sales

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Online fashion retailer says it has reduced its stock levels by 30% amid fall in customer numbers

The online fashion retailer Asos said sales in July and August were hit by wet weather, prompting it to cut its estimate for annual profits.

Asos said the poor weather compounded weaker online demand for clothing. Total sales declined by 15% in the quarter to 3 September, with the UK down 16%. The sales washout resulted in a £60m hit to cashflow. July was the wettest such month in England since 2009.

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Europe’s banks helped fossil fuel firms raise more than €1tn from global bond markets

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Exclusive: Pan-European investigation looked at thousands of transactions since Paris climate agreement in 2016

Banks including some of Europe’s largest lenders have helped fossil fuel companies to raise more than €1tn (£869bn) from the global bond markets since the Paris climate agreement, according to an investigation by the Guardian and its reporting partners.

In the push to zero carbon, Europe’s biggest lenders face growing pressure to limit their financial support for fossil fuel companies through direct loans and other financing facilities.

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‘Exceptional’: Hollywood writers hail tentative deal to end strike

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Writers Guild of America says agreement on pay and conditions ‘due to the willingness of this membership to exercise its power’

The tentative deal reached between Hollywood and studio executives has been received well by those on strike and others within the industry.

Members from the Writers Guild of America (WGA), who took on the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) with demands that included better pay and residuals, and safeguards on the use of artificial intelligence, shared their collective relief.

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Gatwick restricts flight numbers for week amid air traffic control problems

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Airport will share 164 cancellations between airlines until Sunday as it seeks to avoid diversions

Thousands of passengers flying to and from Gatwick this week will have their flights cancelled after the airport announced a cap on movements because of a shortage of staff in air traffic control.

Gatwick imposed an immediate cap on Monday of 800 flights taking off or landing a day.

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Australia’s corporate watchdog launches ‘confidential proceedings’ against Deloitte partner

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The partner has been referred to a disciplinary panel for investigation, the firm tells a NSW parliamentary inquiry

A Deloitte partner is facing “confidential proceedings” launched by the corporate watchdog after being referred to a disciplinary panel for investigation.

The big four accounting firm told a New South Wales parliamentary inquiry the partner was still employed but would not be performing audit work until the investigation was finalised.

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Petrostate windfall tax would help poor countries in climate crisis, says Brown

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Former British PM calls for 3% levy on oil and gas export revenues of biggest producers to generate $25bn a year for global south

Petrostates should pay a small percentage of their soaring oil and gas revenues to help poor countries cope with the climate crisis, the former UK prime minister Gordon Brown has urged.

Countries with large oil and gas deposits have enjoyed a record bonanza in the last two years, amounting to about $4tn (£3.3tn) last year for the industry globally. Levying a 3% windfall tax on the oil and gas export revenues of the biggest-producing countries would yield about $25bn a year.

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Unilever to make payments to Kenyan tea pickers over 2007 plantation attacks

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UK law firm Leigh Day says money given to 77 workers for murders and rapes ‘sidesteps’ multinational’s responsibility over attack

Unilever is to make payments to 77 tea pickers who worked on one of its plantations in Kenya that was targeted during post-election violence in 2007.

The UK law firm Leigh Day, representing the workers, said the London-based consumer goods multinational had agreed to make voluntary, or ex-gratia, payments to former workers at its subsidiary Unilever Tea Kenya, who were attacked by armed assailants at its plantation in Kericho.

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Great British slowdown has hamstrung our economy – thinktank

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Country needs successful firms to grow and struggling ones to shrink, says Resolution Foundation

The UK needs more businesses to fail, or at least shrink, to solve the economy’s long-running productivity crisis, a study has argued.

The country’s lack of “economic dynamism”, whereby weaker firms or lower productivity sectors shrink, and more productive ones grow, has caused GDP to be 4% lower between 2008 and 2019 than it would otherwise have been, according to a paper published on Monday by the Resolution Foundation.

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Carmakers call on EU to delay 10% tariff on electric vehicle exports

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Manufacturers expect levy agreed in Brexit deal to hand chunk of market to global firms, including China

Car giants including Renault, BMW and Mercedes-Benz have called on EU leaders to “act now” and delay plans for a 10% tariff on electric car exports from Europe.

Renault’s chief, Luca de Meo, led the calls, saying that if the EU did not take action then policymakers would simply be “handing a chunk of the market to global manufacturers” including Chinese companies, which are making significant inroads.

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