Category Archives: Business

Russia’s central bank hikes interest rates by 3.5 percentage points as rouble falls

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Emergency decision is intended to halt slide after currency dropped to weakest point in almost 17 months

Russia’s central bank has hiked interest rates by 3.5 percentage points in an emergency move aimed at halting the rouble’s recent slide, after it fell to its weakest point in almost 17 months.

The decision to raise the key rate from 8.5% to 12% was announced after an extraordinary meeting of the bank’s board of directors, called after the rouble plunged past the psychologically key level of 100 to the dollar on Monday morning.

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Global wealth fall cost 3.5m people ‘dollar millionaire’ status last year

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UBS says assets dipped for first time since financial crisis as high inflation and struggling currencies took toll

More than 3.5 million people lost their “dollar millionaire” status last year during the first fall in global wealth since the 2008 financial crisis.

The number of adults with assets of more than $1m (£790,000) fell from 62.9 million at the end of 2021 to 59.4 million at the end of 2022, according to the UBS annual wealth report, published on Tuesday. The Swiss bank said global wealth was depressed by high inflation and the collapse of many currencies against the dollar.

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Harvey Nichols boss resigns after strategy dispute with owner

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Manju Malhotra, who joined retailer 25 years ago, is understood to have disagreed over pace of change

The boss of Harvey Nichols has quit the retailer she first joined 25 years ago after tensions over its strategy, and a member of its owning family will take the reins.

Manju Malhotra started at the Knightsbridge store in London in 1998 as a newly qualified accountant and worked her way up through the ranks before becoming chief executive in January 2020, just before the Covid pandemic forced stores to shut.

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China stops releasing youth unemployment rates amid economic gloom

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Release of figures suspended in order to ‘optimise labour force survey statistics’, says bureau, after youth jobless figure hit record 21.3% in June

China has said it would suspend the release of youth unemployment figures, as its central bank cut a key interest rate to boost flagging growth.

Youth unemployment hit a record 21.3% in June, as a slew of disappointing figures in recent months reflected a slump in China, with its post-Covid rebound fading.

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Top Chinese developer’s financial woes cast shadow over Australian property market

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Huge housing estates developed by Risland on the fringes of Sydney and Melbourne could be affected as shares of parent company Country Garden plunge

The financial problems of one of China’s biggest property companies, Country Garden, could reverberate in the Australian property market, where its subsidiary Risland Australia is developing two massive housing estates on the fringes of Sydney and Melbourne.

Delays in the projects or a corporate failure would have significant impacts on the amount of new housing coming on to the market during a dire affordability crisis.

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Long delays at Panama Canal after drought hits global shipping route

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Number of vessels able to pass through each day limited because lower availability of water

Commercial ships are facing long queues and delays to travel through the Panama Canal as a lengthy drought in the Central American country has led to a cut in the number of vessels able to pass through one of the world’s most important trading routes.

In a fresh demonstration of the impact of the climate crisis on global business and trade, the Panama Canal Authority (ACP), which manages the waterway, introduced restrictions on the number of transiting vessels as a result of the drought.

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Car park fees and other charges kept Australia’s big airports profitable during Covid recovery

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Airports lost money on aviation operations between 2021 and 2023 but car parking remained a huge source of income

Australia’s major airports have all been haemorrhaging money from aviation operations, but were able to stay profitable during the Covid recovery from tens of millions of dollars in car parking fees, retail and other charges.

In its latest airport monitoring report of Australia’s four major airports – Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and Brisbane – the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) renewed its recommendation to the government to require the airports to report more detailed data about the true costs of providing services to airlines and travellers.

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Sharp rise in cost of food basics forces UK families ‘to make desperate choices’

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Which? research finds cheese, butter and bread are up by more than 30% in the past two years, hitting the poor hardest

The cost of some basic food items such as cheese, butter and bread has soared by more than 30% in the last two years, forcing poorer households to “make desperate choices between keeping up with their bill payments or putting food on the table,” campaigners have said.

Food price inflation has slowed in recent months, but costs remain much higher than they were two years ago, disproportionally affecting low-income households, according to research by consumer body Which? shared exclusively with the Guardian.

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Fears many Australians will abandon home insurance as premiums jump 50% in high-risk areas

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Median premiums across all areas rose 28% in the year to March and actuaries warn climate disasters are driving them to unaffordable heights

Home insurance premiums have climbed by 50% in high-risk parts of Australia as global heating increases the frequency and cost of climate disasters, a new report has found.

The Actuaries Institute’s research on home insurance affordability and funding for flood costs, released on Monday, found median home insurance premiums rose by 28% in the year to March, sitting at an average of $1,894 across all states.

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Britain has felt the shift to home working more than most countries

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For many reasons it is no surprise that the office exodus is so pronounced in the historical centre of Anglo-Saxon capitalism

Working from home is a seismic shift in employment patterns that has rocked businesses, charities and public sector organisations across the world.

From Hong Kong and Singapore to London, New York and Toronto, white collar workers have changed the way they work, shop and pursue leisure, culture and recreation, shifting many local economies on their axis. For many towns and cities it’s as if the sun shines at a different point in the day, such is the transformation in how about 60% of people conduct their lives.

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Don’t call me Captain Killjoy: David Littleproud opposes Matildas’ public holiday

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National party leader says it’s easy for the PM to call for a national holiday if Australia win the World Cup, but business would suffer

David Littleproud has opposed a public holiday for Australia if the Matildas win the World Cup, while insisting he does not want to be labelled “Captain Killjoy”.

A day after Australia defeated France in a thrilling penalty shootout to set up a semi-final clash against England, the National party leader said business groups were right to worry about the costs of a public holiday.

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Shell accused of eco-destruction in push to demolish old HQ

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Plan to knock down former offices in Aberdeen will release ‘vast amount of carbon emissions in atmosphere’ warn experts

Aberdeen is arguably best known for two things: granite – found in nearby quarries and used to construct almost all of the coastal city’s buildings – and oil. After the discovery of a significant reserve in the North Sea in the 1970s, Aberdeen became known as Europe’s oil capital and a thriving oil and gas industry sprang up in Scotland’s north-east.

At the centre of the boom was the multinational company Shell, which built a five-storey modernist headquarters in the city’s Tullos area, from where it operated for half a century, before moving last year. Now the building has become the subject of a bitter row after Shell announced its intention to demolish rather than upgrade and repurpose it.

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Coles and Woolworths say their profits are modest – but does that stack up?

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The two big Australian supermarkets under scrutiny at a federal parliamentary inquiry into economic dynamism

When a representative of Australia’s biggest supermarket chain answered questions at a parliamentary committee about profits, the response created an impression that margins were modest and, if anything, falling.

The assertion appears to rub against data that shows Woolworths and Coles have greatly increased profits derived from grocery items during the inflationary period and related cost-of-living crisis.

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Judge orders FTX chief Sam Bankman-Fried to jail after bail revoked

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Lewis Kaplan says he has cause to believe defendant ‘had tried to tamper with witnesses at least twice’ since December arrest

Sam Bankman-Fried’s bail has been revoked ahead of his October fraud trial after prosecutors accused the indicted founder of the bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX of tampering with witnesses.

Bankman-Fried is expected to report to jail later on Friday after Judge Lewis Kaplan announced the decision at a hearing over Bankman-Fried’s bail conditions in federal court in Manhattan. Bankman-Fried was taken directly into custody at the conclusion of the hearing. He was led out of the courtroom by members of the US Marshals Service.

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RMT announces Saturday rail strikes in August and September

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Rail workers’ union says 20,000 members from 14 firms will strike on 26 August and 2 September

Members of the biggest rail workers’ union are to stage fresh strikes in a long-running dispute over pay, jobs and conditions.

The Rail, Maritime and Transport workers’ union (RMT) said 20,000 of its members from 14 train operators would walk out on 26 August and 2 September.

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Saudis ask to join UK, Italy and Japan’s joint air combat programme

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UK-backed move could help spread cost of developing fighter jet and drones, but may prove controversial

Saudi Arabia has asked the UK, Japan and Italy to be made a full partner in their joint effort to build the next generation of fighter jets, in a move backed by the British government.

Companies from the UK, Japan and Italy are working together to build a new fighter jet and other systems such as drones under the Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP), also known as Tempest. The programme aims to deliver the first planes by 2035, a tight turnaround.

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Southern Water owner Macquarie invests further £550m

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Australian investment bank funds troubled UK utility’s overhaul of pipes and sewage works

The Australian infrastructure investor Macquarie has confirmed it will inject a further £550m into the UK’s Southern Water in an attempt to turn around the troubled company.

The funds are intended to help Southern Water, which supplies Kent, Sussex, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, to overhaul its leaky pipes and faulty sewage works.

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Owners of ‘LGBT’ Swatch watches could be jailed for three years in Malaysia

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Sellers of timepieces with rainbow colours face same punishment as country says they could ‘harm morals’

Owners or sellers of rainbow-coloured timepieces made by the Swiss watchmaker Swatch face three years in prison in Malaysia, the interior ministry has said, as the Muslim-majority country rails against LGBTQ+ symbols it says could “harm morals”.

Homosexuality is outlawed in Malaysia and LGBTQ+ people face discrimination.

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UK considers tighter rules on investment in China after US clampdown

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Rishi Sunak mulls whether to follow US lead in restricting funding for advanced technologies

The British government is considering tightening rules on investment in China after the US president announced new measures aimed at limiting the dollars and expertise flowing into sensitive technologies in the country.

Joe Biden signed an executive order on Wednesday that authorises the US treasury secretary to prohibit or restrict US investments in Chinese entities in three sectors: semiconductors and microelectronics; quantum information technologies; and certain artificial intelligence systems.

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UK government urged to scrap 20% VAT on period pants

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Campaigners say absorbent alternative to tampons and sanitary towels should not be classed as garments

MPs, retailers and charities have written to the government urging it to axe the 20% VAT on period pants, the absorbent underwear designed to be worn as an alternative to tampons and sanitary towels.

Period pants are classed as garments but campaigners are asking Victoria Atkins, who as financial secretary to the Treasury is the minister responsible for VAT, to get them reclassified as period products in the chancellor’s autumn statement later this year.

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