Eight Renewable Energy Projects Get Go-Ahead

Plans for eight renewable energy projects - expected to generate enough clean power for three million homes - have been approved by the Government.

Contracts for schemes including offshore wind farms and the conversion of coal-fired power stations to run on biomass, are set to support 8,500 jobs and attract up to £12bn in private investment.

Once built, the projects will contribute around 4% of the nation's total energy supply.

The schemes - five of which are offshore wind farms - are being taken forward under the Government's Contracts for Difference (CfD), under which generators and developers receive a fixed price for the electricity they produce for 15 years.

These contracts aim to give investors the guaranteed income they need to pay the up-front costs of major new construction projects.

Government measures are set to increase household bills by 2%, but energy secretary Ed Davey said the policy would bring down overall costs.

He told Sky News: "It's a real boost to green energy and will help ensure we have green energy too."

"It will really add to our electricity supply, we reckon about 4% of our total capacity. So it is really helping to ensure we can keep the lights on and do it in a green, affordable way."

Mr Davey has also confirmed that the Government is looking at changing trespass laws to enable companies to carrying fracking under private land.

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Sports Direct Slams £73m Boss' Bonus Rejection

High street retailer Sports Direct has slammed shareholders who failed to support a £73m bonus share scheme proposed for founder Mike Ashley.

The comments come as the company reported a rise in fourth-quarter sales to £360m in the nine weeks to March 30.

It said its core sports retail sales were up 11% in the period.

In early April, the company halted the proposed £73m bonus for Mr Ashley, its majority shareholder, after failing to gain sufficient investor support.

"The board was extremely disappointed to withdraw the resolution regarding a proposed share scheme award to Mike Ashley," Sports Direct chief executive Dave Forsey said in a statement.

"The most disappointing aspect was where large shareholders gave their support only to then vote differently.

"This outcome is likely to lead to further uncertainty in the future."

Sports Direct has around 400 stores in the UK and another 200 stores in Europe.

Sales in its smaller fashion arm, trading under the USC and Cruise brands, rose 0.7% in the period.

Shortly after the bonus rejection for Mr Ashley, who does not receive salary or bonus from the company, it saw a share price dip.

The decline came after he reduced his stake by 4% to 57.7%.

It now plans to include Mr Ashley in a company-wide share scheme eligible for all staff and executives.

The group also moved to expand its foothold in other groups, and bought an 11% stake in retailer House of Fraser amid its tie-up negotiations with China's Sanpower group.

It had earlier snapped up more than 4% of Debenham's shares before selling the tranche shortly afterwards.

Sports Direct said it expected to meet its full-year forecast of £310m, before staff bonuses are deducted.

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Primark Sees Profit Up 26% In Last Six Months

Discount fashion chain Primark has seen its half-yearly operating profit rise 26% to £298m.

Owner Associated British Foods (ABF) said its retail arm saw the surge in profit in the 24 weeks to March 1.

Revenue in the period for Primark was up 14%, to £2.278bn.

While like-for-like sales growth was 4%, its aggressive expansion plans with larger new stores helped drive the increase in revenue.

ABF shares were trading more than 8% up on Wednesday morning.

The chain saw double-digit growth in Spain and Portugal, along with "very strong" growth in northern Europe.

It now has 269 stores with a total selling space of 9.6 million square-feet and expects store expansion to increase by a third more than that achieved last year.

Its operating margin increased by 13.1%, brought about by improved warehouse and distribution efficiencies and lower freight rates.

ABF revealed more details about compensation for workers in Bangladesh, following the collapse of an eight-storey factory in capital Dhaka, which claimed the lives of 1,100 people a year ago.

Primark has paid compensation over the collapsed Rana Plaza in Dhaka

It said $2m (£1.18m) has been paid in short-term aid to the families of all the workers employed at Rana Plaza, most of whom it claims were making clothes for its competitors.

ABF has further agreed to pay $1m (£595,000) to the Rana Plaza Donors Trust Fund, chaired by the International Labour Organisation (ILO).

A further $9m (£5.34m) is being paid in long-term compensation to the affected families.

ABF said the total compensation totaled $12m, of which $7m was included in last year's results and $5m factored into this year's results.

It said: "We support the ILO in urging other retailers sourcing from Rana Plaza to donate to the trust fund so that it can pay out in full to the remaining victims."

ABF has also announced a decision to take the Primark brand to the United States.

It will open a 70,000 square-foot store in Boston, ahead of further expansion plans in the north-east of the US during 2016.

Overall the company, which also has interests in groceries, sugar, agriculture and ingredients supply, saw group revenue down 2% to £6.2bn and pre-tax profit up 4% at £468m.

ABF owns brands including Twinings tea, Kingsmill bread, Jordans, Ryvita and Silver Spoon sugar.

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Tourism: Storm-Hit Dorset Gets Easter Boost

By David Crabtree, Sky News Correspondent

Early indications suggest the storm battered south-west coast has enjoyed a much-needed boost in tourism over the Easter weekend.

The area was hard hit in the worst winter on record and business owners reported that in places trade was down by as much as a third.

But good weather in this holiday period has brought the tourists back in great numbers and, once the figures are in, tourism bosses hope they will show the region is back on track.

In Lyme Regis, bed and breakfast accommodation and most of the local hotels were full and the beaches busy.

David Tucker, who runs the Lyme Regis Museum, said footfall was clearly down in the early part of the year but he expected the area to recover quickly.

"The images of Lyme Regis and elsewhere being battered and damaged by the storms are bound to have a lasting effect on people," he said.

Waves batter Lyme Regis in December

"All we can say is that everything is back to normal and this is a beautiful place to come and visit."

Mark Callaghan, who owns The Terrace cafe and shop in Lyme Regis, said: "We are economy-driven as well as weather-driven here and we are constantly at the mercy of both.

"People who a couple of months ago may have tried and failed to get here because of the weather are certainly coming back. It might be a gradual process.

"We have had to expand our online business so we can keep going forward."

The Environment Agency announced today that it has repaired 350 flood defences, including the sea defences at Weymouth and the dune system on the Lincolnshire coast.

The Government says the Environment Agency has been provided with an extra £270m to maintain the defences.

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GSK In £8.5bn Deal With Swiss Rival Novartis

British drug giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) is to sell its oncology business to Novartis for $14.5bn (£8.5bn) and will buy the Swiss company's vaccines division.

Novartis is expected to pay another $1.5bn (£900m) if certain milestones on the deal are met.

Under a "major three-part transaction" GSK and Novartis have agreed also to create a consumer healthcare business, GSK confirmed in a statement.

GSK will own 63.5% of the newly-created consumer healthcare business.

The British firm said it would use proceeds from the deals to return £4bn to its shareholders.

Shares in the company were up more than 4% in early Tuesday trades.

GSK chief executive Sir Andrew Witty said the deals are expected to be completed during the first half of 2015.

He said they would accelerates the firm's "strategy to generate sustainable, broadly sourced sales growth and improve long-term earnings".

Novartis confirmed it signed several multi-billion dollar deals with GlaxoSmithKline and US company Eli Lilly, which may affect up some 15,000 of its employees.

It will sell the vaccines business to GSK, excluding its flu sector, for $7.1bn (£4.2bn), plus royalties.

Eli Lilly will buy the Basel-based firm's animal health division for about $5.4bn (£3.2bn)

No details have been released on the potential impact of the deal on jobs for the Brentford-based GSK.

Sir Andrew added: "Opportunities to build greater scale and combine high quality assets in vaccines and consumer healthcare are scarce.

"With this transaction we will substantially strengthen two of our core businesses and create significant new options to increase value for shareholders."

Meanwhile, US pharma giant Pfizer may renew its bid for British drug company AstraZeneca, after its reported £60bn takeover approach was rejected.

AstraZeneca topped the FTSE 100 top risers on Tuesday morning, up more than 7% on the potential deal.

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David Moyes Sacked As Manchester United Boss

Keeping Moyes 'A Bigger Gamble Than Hiring Him'

Updated: 9:28am UK, Tuesday 22 April 2014

By Paul Kelso, Sky News Sports Correspondent

David Moyes lost the faith of Manchester United's owners the Glazer family, and with it his job, because sticking with him represented a bigger gamble than hiring him in the first place.

Moyes was hired, exclusively on the advice of his compatriot Sir Alex Ferguson, with what now looks like negligent haste. The Glazer family chose to ignore the claims of other candidates, including Jose Mourinho, to give Ferguson's protege a six-year contract.

If that was a risk it was as a calculated one. Moyes' 10 years at Everton did not yield a trophy but they did merit respect, and a chance to prove he could step up to the very highest level.

The answer, after nine months and two transfer windows, was a resounding "no".

Moyes is a fine manager and a decent man but he seemed overwhelmed by the scale of the challenge. Where once he was certain, he second-guessed. Having run Everton in his own image, at United he could not escape his predecessor's shadow.

It left the Glazers with an even bigger decision than the one they faced last summer.

It is beyond question that United's squad needs a fundamental overhaul. It is a £150m project that will set the foundations for the next three to five years.

So the question for Old Trafford's Floridian absentee landlords was whether to trust it to a man struggling with the demands of the job, amid growing hostility from some players and colleagues.

Friction with senior figures including Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes, and disaffection from players such as Danny Welbeck offered them little comfort, and humiliating defeats to Liverpool and Manchester City chipped away at Moyes' credibility.

Despite this the Glazers were still looking hard for evidence that he could be trusted with the club's future on and off the field. They appear to have found none.

There is simply too much risk for owners who need success to drive the commercial performance that pays the interest on the loans with which they bought the club. Ferguson guaranteed that. The only guarantee with Moyes is uncertainty.

So after nine years of stability under Sir Alex, the Glazers are searching for their second manager in nine months. They can ill-afford to get it wrong again. Expect the new man to have Champions League experience and an international profile.

The new coach will also mark a new era.

When Ferguson recommended Moyes he was promoting a principle as well as a pal. In his fellow Glaswegian he saw a man who would maintain the values he instilled, the commitment to the long-term and developing their own talent.

That idea of United as a special club, one that does not panic, sack its manager and buy its way out of trouble, may die with Moyes' departure.

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Co-op Admits 'Disastrous Year' Amid £2.5bn Loss

The embattled Co-operative Group has confirmed a loss of £2.5bn for 2013, in what it described as a "disastrous year".

The loss comes on the back of a £529m figure recorded in its 2012 results.

Interim group chief executive Richard Pennycook said: "2013 was a disastrous year for the Co-operative Group, the worst in our 150-year history.

"Today's results demonstrate that but they also highlight fundamental failings in management and governance at the group over many years.

"These results should serve as a wake-up call to anyone who doubts just how serious the challenges we face are."

It said most of the losses were from "discontinued operations" of its banking arm, which totaled £2.1bn.

Group sales were £10.5bn, down from the £11bn recorded in the previous year.

Profit from its food division were down 8% at £247m but it also recorded a goodwill impairment charge of £226m for its purchase of Somerfield stores.

The Co-operative Group consists of a number of divisions

However, it recorded more encouraging figures for some other divisions.

General insurance profit jumped from £13m in 2012 to £33m last year.

The pharmacy chain, which is being offered for sale, saw profit rise by about a fifth to £33m.

And its funeral services business saw sales up 3% to £370m and profit up £2m to £62m.

Co-operative Group chair Ursula Lidbetter said: "During 2013, it became apparent that our governance had fallen far short of the standards to which we aspire as a co-operative society.

"Now is the time to put that right through fundamental reform - we have to act with urgency if we are to lay the foundations for a stronger, healthier co-operative business in the future."

The group's bank division revealed a £1.5bn capital black hole last year and then in March announced a plan to raise another £400m.

Amid risks of the bank's collapse, the group reduced its stake in the institution to 30% as private equity bondholders provided capital - raising concerns of how it would maintain its 'ethical' stance.

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British Gas Bonus Claims To Be Investigated

Claims that British Gas workers have been paid large bonuses to inflate customer bills are to be investigated by the energy regulator, Ofgem.

It comes after a former employee claimed the energy company encouraged its sales staff to sign up charities, churches and small businesses to its highest-priced tariffs in order to boost their own earnings.

British Gas has strongly denied the allegations.

The whistleblower, who worked for the company between 2010 and 2013, told the Daily Mail the firm's policies were designed "to rip off" customers.

He claimed sales agent typically earned between £4 and £37 in commission per deal if they persuaded existing customers to renew contracts.

But by moving a customer to a more expensive deal they could earn more than £400 a time, he alleged.

"People were desperate to make the salaries they had been promised, so everyone inflated the prices," he told the paper.

"Scout clubs was a favourite one; churches, charities, small businesses, where people would just go for the maximum 5p notch-up," he added.

Ofgem will investigate whether the sales activities were 'honest and fair'

A British Gas spokeswoman said: "British Gas strongly refutes any suggestion that employees are paid commission on any prices charged to residential customers."

British Gas Business managing director Stephen Beynon said his sales agents are paid commission, but he denied any suggestion that contracts were negotiated inappropriately.

"This is a highly regulated market, and every part of the sales negotiation process is closely monitored," he said.

"Sales agents in British Gas Business do receive commission, but we are reducing its importance.

"We're leading the way in addressing the variability in price that customers face in this market, and we'll continue to do so."

Ofgem said in a statement: "There are strict rules in place which require suppliers to take all reasonable steps to ensure information provided is accurate and not misleading, and that sales activities are conducted in a fair, honest, transparent and professional manner.

"Ofgem is an evidenced-based regulator and we would encourage anyone with information that an energy company is not complying with Ofgem rules to provide us with this."

Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Davey said: "This is a very serious and deeply disturbing allegation that comes as we are doing all we can to make the energy markets work better for all consumers - whether domestic or businesses.

"The Government fully supports Ofgem's recommendation for a full market investigation.

"In the meantime, we'll continue to help people pay less for the energy they use, driving the competition that has seen the number of energy suppliers triple since 2010 and people switching supplier in record numbers."

The allegations come days after Ofgem fined British Gas Business for a series of failures including blocking firms from switching to other suppliers.

Ofgem said British Gas Business would pay a total penalty of £5.6m of which £800,000 would be in fines, on top of £1.3m already paid to 1,200 customers who paid higher bills because they were not notified when their contracts were due to expire.

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Best Of British Gear Up For China Car Show

Some of Britain's most famous cars are on parade today at one of the most important days in the motoring calendar.

Ford cars on display at the 50 years celebration ceremony of Ford

UK brands such as Rolls-Royce, Jaguar and Land Rover are showing their new models at the China Motor Show in Beijing to help boost sales in an intensely competitive market.

An original 1965 Ford Mustang Convertible alongside today's model

More than 1,100 vehicles will be on display at the exhibition which will also be attended by General Motors, Toyota, Volkswagen and Hyundai, along with SAIC and Dongfeng, China's domestic carmakers.

Although sales growth is forecast to slow from last year's 15.7% to 8 to 10% this year, China remains the world's biggest auto market with 17.9 million vehicles sold last year.

Car sales are expected to slow in China this year

The expo comes as a growing number of Chinese cities are restricting the number of cars on the road in a bid to battle pollution and congestion, moves that analysts warn could cut into purchases.

The eastern city of Hangzhou, a popular tourist destination, last month became the sixth major city to implement such a restriction, with some estimates placing the limit at 80,000 cars a year.

More than 1,100 vehicles will be on display at the exhibition

The boss of Mercedez-Benz in China told Sky News earlier this year that survival in the automotive industry is based largely on success in China.

German auto giant Daimler also announced recently it had signed a $1.4bn deal with Chinese partner Beijing Automotive Industry Corporation to expand production at their joint venture in Beijing.     

Among the cars on display at the exhibition will be one of the first 1965 Ford Mustang Convertibles.

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Co-op Admits 'Disastrous Year' Amid £2.5bn Loss

The embattled Co-operative Group has confirmed a loss of £2.5bn for 2013, in what it described as a "disastrous year".

The loss comes on the back of a £529m figure recorded in its 2012 results.

Interim group chief executive Richard Pennycook said: "2013 was a disastrous year for the Co-operative Group, the worst in our 150-year history.

"Today's results demonstrate that but they also highlight fundamental failings in management and governance at the group over many years.

"These results should serve as a wake-up call to anyone who doubts just how serious the challenges we face are."

It said most of the losses were from "discontinued operations" of its banking arm, which totaled £2.1bn.

Group sales were £10.5bn, down from the £11bn recorded in the previous year.

Profit from its food division were down 8% at £247m but it also recorded a goodwill impairment charge of £226m for its purchase of Somerfield stores.

The Co-operative Group consists of a number of divisions

However, it recorded more encouraging figures for some other divisions.

General insurance profit jumped from £13m in 2012 to £33m last year.

The pharmacy chain, which is being offered for sale, saw profit rise by about a fifth to £33m.

And its funeral services business saw sales up 3% to £370m and profit up £2m to £62m.

Co-operative Group chair Ursula Lidbetter said: "During 2013, it became apparent that our governance had fallen far short of the standards to which we aspire as a co-operative society.

"Now is the time to put that right through fundamental reform - we have to act with urgency if we are to lay the foundations for a stronger, healthier co-operative business in the future."

The group's bank division revealed a £1.5bn capital black hole last year and then in March announced a plan to raise another £400m.

Amid risks of the bank's collapse, the group reduced its stake in the institution to 30% as private equity bondholders provided capital - raising concerns of how it would maintain its 'ethical' stance.

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