Business and Economics

Southern Water has been hit with a record £126 million penalty package after a “shocking” Ofwat probe uncovered failures in the firm’s sewage treatment sites and found that it fixed wastewater samples. Customers of the utility company will now receive rebates of £61 over the next five years after Southern Water agreed to the package, which, given the size of the firm, is the largest the regulator has ever imposed. Ofwat said its large-scale investigation found that Southern Water failed to...

Tax cuts planned by Boris Johnson, the leading candidate to become Britain's next prime minister, could cost as much as 20 billion pounds a year, according to calculations from the Institute for Fiscal Studies think tank. Johnson, who is vying for the votes of Conservative Party members in a run-off against foreign minister Jeremy Hunt, has proposed raising the threshold at which higher-rate income tax is payable to 80,000 pounds a year from 50,000 pounds. Cutting tax on these earnings...

British fashion chain New Look reported a bigger annual pretax loss, hurt by a large charge, while Brexit woes and rainy weather kept shoppers out of its stores. New Look, owned by South African investment firm Brait, reported statutory loss before tax of 522.2 million pounds for the year ended March, compared with a loss of 190.2 million pounds a year earlier. The loss was mainly driven by a 423.3 million pound non-cash goodwill and brand impairment charge after a...

Britain’s car industry called on Tuesday for the next prime minister to secure a Brexit deal which keeps frictionless trade with the EU, warning a no-deal exit risked billions of pounds in tariffs and border disruption which could cripple the sector. Boris Johnson, the frontrunner to succeed Theresa May, and his leadership rival Jeremy Hunt have both said they are prepared to take Britain out of the EU without a deal, although both says it is not their preferred option....

The Bank of England cut its growth forecast for Britain's economy to zero in the second quarter of 2019 and highlighted risks from global trade tensions and growing fears of a no-deal Brexit. BoE officials voted unanimously to hold interest rates at 0.75%, as expected, and stuck to their message that rates would need to rise in a limited and gradual fashion, assuming Britain can avoid a damaging no-deal Brexit. However, the BoE noted on Thursday a darkening global outlook...

Busy office workers are managing to squeeze in a meagre 16 minutes a day for lunch, a study has found. Researchers found despite having a full hour to enjoy a much-deserved break, many take a quarter of this period to eat, and nearly half will typically dine ‘al-desko’ at precisely 12.43pm. One in 10 admitted eating the same meal for lunch EVERY day, with the most popular reoccurring choices being a plain cheese sandwich or a meaty ham sandwich. And...

Brexit risks are not priced in by bond markets and Britain's exit from the European Union could turn more bitter than expected, Anthony Linehan deputy director at Ireland's debt management agency warned on Wednesday. "To me (Brexit) is an area that isn't priced into markets and it can't be because no one knows what it looks like, even a hard Brexit," he said, speaking at a conference in London. "The one thing that worries me is, it's like a divorce,...

The CBI warn of "Brexit uncertainty biting" as factory orders slump to their lowest since the months following the EU referendum in 2016 Reuters report. British factory orders slid in June against a backdrop of stoppages in car production following uncertainty about when Britain will leave the European Union, the CBI's monthly industrial trends survey showed on Wednesday. The Confederation of British Industry survey's total order book balance sank to -15 this month from -10 in May, the weakest reading...

Airbus Chief Executive Guillaume Faury said on Wednesday there was a growing risk Britain would leave the European Union without a withdrawal deal in a way that could damage the aerospace firm's performance next year. "We have been very clear on the potential negative consequences of a hard Brexit or no-deal Brexit. We see that the likelihood of a no-deal Brexit is high and maybe growing," Faury said at an investor meeting coinciding with the Paris Airshow, adding it was...