BP Appeals 'Gross Negligence' Oil Spill Ruling

Oil giant BP has asked for a court ruling that it was "grossly negligent" for the Gulf of Mexico spill to be overturned.

BP made the request to a US court to reconsider a judgment handed down last month, which increases its potential liabilities by about $18bn (£11.1bn).

It said Louisiana district court Judge Carl Barbier's ruling was based on evidence he had agreed to exclude from the ongoing trial.

The company said he should therefore review his decision or give it a new trial over the 2010 spill, which saw millions of barrels of oil spread in the gulf.

The evidence in question surrounds expert testimony about how the Macondo well's casing was weakened and breached, part of a series of eight alleged errors linked to the blowout.

"BP respectfully requests that the court eliminate its theory that this series of acts amounted to gross negligence," the company said in its motion.

"In the alternative, BP would be entitled to a new trial."

The ruling last month assigned BP 67% of responsibility for the spill, while drilling rig owner Transocean Ltd was assigned 30% of blame, and cementing contractor Halliburton 3%.

The legal action is the latest motion by BP to curb fines stemming from the case, however Judge Barbier has rejected most of them.

The company has already set aside more than $42bn (£26bn) in provisions for the worst offshore spill in US history, which killed 11 workers.

The additional $18bn fines may come when the judge assigns damages under the federal Clean Water Act, next year.

BP's shares are now trading at around 30% lower than before the accident, and have never fully recovered.

On Thursday, Brent crude was trading at a 27-month low, putting more pressure on the industry with price cutting.

The company's shares are now trading at virtually the same price as this time last year.

The oil major is an important part of many UK pension fund portfolios.

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EasyJet Helped By Lengthy Air France Strike

EasyJet has lifted its annual profit forecast, as a result of lower fuel costs and a lengthy strike at competitor Air France-KLM.

The budget carrier said its full-year pre-tax profit is now expected to be around £577.5m, up from guidance given during July's third quarter of around £557.5m.

The new full-year estimate is above analysts' expectations.

"EasyJet has continued to execute its strategy," chief executive Carolyn McCall said.

"This has enabled easyJet to deliver record profits for the fourth year in a row."

The company now intends to reward shareholders as a result.

"This will also lead to our largest every ordinary dividend payment as we are also proposing to increase the proportion of our profits after tax paid in dividends from 33% to 40%," Ms McCall said.

EasyJet said it expect the two-week strike by Air France in September would add around £5m to its revenue.

The strike cost easyJet's rival hundreds of million of euros in lost revenue.

The travel industry has long been squeezed by rising fuel costs, however in recent months benefits have been seen.

Crude oil prices have dropped around 20% since June, which has helped those with shorter hedging strategies.

On Thursday, Tui Travel cited dropping fuel prices as a factor in its improved results.

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Singapore Swoop In £1bn UK Airports Deal

By Mark Kleinman, City Editor

A state-backed Singaporean investment fund is poised to participate in a £1bn takeover of the UK's biggest regional airports that will be announced within days.

Sky News has learnt that the Government Investment Corporation of Singapore (GIC) is expected to take a slice of the equity in Aberdeen, Glasgow and Southampton airports, alongside Ferrovial, the Spanish infrastructure giant, and Macquarie, the Australian bank.

GIC's involvement is understood to be in the process of being finalised although it may not be publicly named as an investor when the deal is announced early next week, according to insiders.

The three airports, which collectively handle approximately 13 million passengers annually, are being sold by Heathrow Airport Holdings (HAH), the parent company of Britain's busiest airport.

Sky News revealed Ferrovial's interest in buying the three airports nearly ten months ago, with HAH's board keen to offload the regional sites as it concentrates on securing backing for a third runway.

The debate about Britain's aviation policy will reach a crucial stage next year, when Sir Howard Davies's commission makes a recommendation about the most appropriate location for new runway capacity.

The Commission's verdict will be made after the general election, and is effectively now a two-way fight between Heathrow and Gatwick, with the London Mayor, Boris Johnson, having seen his concept of a new hub airport in the Thames Estuary rejected by Sir Howard.

The three regional airports owned by HAH are the last remnants of the former BAA's monopoly over the UK's aviation infrastructure.

Next week's deal has been held up because of the complexity of HAH's own shareholder structure, with Ferrovial, which took over BAA in 2006, having steadily reduced its investment in Heathrow in recent years by selling small chunks of shares to sovereign wealth funds in China, Qatar and Singapore, including GIC.

Last year, the Universities Superannuation Scheme, one of the UK's biggest pension fund managers, bought an 8.65% stake in Heathrow's holding company, a move which saw Ferrovial's shareholding lowered to 25%.

Shortly after Ferrovial's takeover of BAA, competition authorities ordered the company to break itself up by selling Stansted, Gatwick and either Glasgow or Edinburgh, the latter of which was offloaded two years ago.

Heathrow accounts for more than 95% of HAH's annual profits, making the sale of the other regional assets "inevitable" within the next three years, said one.

HAH declined to comment on Friday.

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Virgin Money Confirms Stock Market Flotation

Virgin Money has confirmed a planned stock market flotation, with trading due to begin later this month.

Sky News City Editor Mark Kleinman first reported the float, with an expected valuation of up to £2bn.

Sir Richard Branson: "This is a huge day for Virgin Money. We started this company 20 years ago with Jayne-Anne Gadhia when we set out to challenge the financial services industry.

"Our wonderful team have come a long way since then and have built a strong and valuable business, which offers great value products and services and a real challenge to the established players.

"There is still plenty to do and I am really excited about the future.

"Our intention to float is not the end of our journey, but the beginning of the next one. I really look forward to being on that journey with our customers and our staff in years to come".

Some £50m will be returned to the taxpayer as a result of the float, after the company took on the 'good bank' assets of ailing Northern Rock in 2011.

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Wonga Writes Off 330,000 Customers' Debts

Payday lender Wonga said it would write off the debts of 330,000 customers whose loans would not have been approved under new affordability guidelines.

Sky sources said the cost of writing off the debt will be £35m.

There is £220m debt outstanding for the customers affected, at an average loan value of £667.

The short-term lender said it would contact the borrowers by 10 October.

City watchdog the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said the 330,000 customers who are currently in excess of 30 days in arrears will have the balance of their loan written off and therefore owe Wonga nothing.

And some 45,000 customers who are between zero and 29 days in arrears will be asked to repay their debt without interest and charges and will be given an option of paying off their debt over an extended period of four months.

The news comes just days after the company reported a massive drop in earnings.

Wonga's annual profit has dropped by 53%, after the payday lender came under fire for the tactics it uses to reclaim money from borrowers in default.

It said full-year pre-tax profit in the 12 months to 31 December were £39.7m, down from £84.5m a year earlier.

The company came under fire over its previous tactic of sending customers in default fake legal letters.

FCA director of supervision Clive Adamson said: "We are determined to drive up standards in the consumer credit market and it is disappointing that some firms still have a way to go to meet our expectations.

"This should put the rest of the industry on notice - they need to lend affordably and responsibly.

"It is absolutely right that Wonga's new management team has acted quickly to put things right for their customers after these issues were raised by the FCA."

The announcement was made after new Wonga chairman Andy Haste completed discussions with the FCA.

Mr Haste said: "It's clear to me that the need for change at Wonga is real and urgent.

"Our regulator is determined to improve standards in consumer credit and I share that determination.

"There is much to do in order to make Wonga a sustainable and accepted business, and today's announcement is a significant step forward in that process."

He added: "We want to ensure we only lend to those who can reasonably afford the loan in question and during my review, it became clear to me that this has unfortunately not always been the case.

"I agreed with the concerns expressed by the FCA and as a consequence of our discussions we have committed to taking these actions."

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BoE Wants Powers To Cap Loan To Value Ratio

The Bank of England (BoE) has said it wants legal power to cap the loan-to-income ratios for mortgages.

The bank's plan is to expand its ability to curb mortgage lending for homes and buy-to-let properties.

Lenders are currently limited to not exceeding 15% of loans being above the ratio of 4.5 times the applicant's income.

In June, Chancellor George Osborne said he was willing to give expanded powers to the central bank.

On Monday at the Conservative Party conference he reaffirmed the position and said he wanted it enacted before the next election.

The BoE spelled out its position, especially for buy-to-let loans, which currently make up 12% of new mortgages.

It said this would include an 'interest coverage ratio' to provide a buffer ensuring rental income is comfortably higher than interest payments.

Professional investors' easy access to buy-to-let mortgages have been seen by some as a reason why barriers prevent prospective homeowner climbing the property ladder.

The BoE also gave a clean bill of health to the Government's Help To Buy mortgage guarantee scheme.

The scheme was considered controversial by critics, who said it risked pushing up house prices.

But the bank said Help To Buy was not to blame for rising values, as it only accounted for some 5% of purchases.

It was also most commonly used in areas where price increases have been modest.

More follows...

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Vauxhall Recall: Warning Over Corsa Steering

Recalls By Carmakers On The Rise

Updated: 11:25am UK, Saturday 27 September 2014

The recall by Vauxhall of around 3,000 vehicles because of a steering problem is just the latest in a series of headaches for motor manufacturers.

Last year, manufacturers recalled 868,605 vehicles to dealerships to fix potentially life-threatening defects - up from 665,000 in 2009.

However, the increase does not necessarily mean cars are more prone to faults, but that firms are acting more quickly to deal with problems - anxious to avoid damage to their brands.

Here are just some of the major recalls seen in the past year or so.

:: Only this week US car giant Ford put out a recall on around 850,000 cars in the US over a "potential issue" with airbags.

:: Ferrari has recalled more than 3,000 of its £200,000 luxury sports cars because a fault with a latch means anyone trapped in the boot would not be able to get out.

:: General Motors recalled more than 220,000 cars to correct a brake defect that could increase the risk of fire.

:: Earlier this year, Toyota issued a recall affecting 6.4 million vehicles worldwide and 35,124 in the UK. The carmaker has learned the lessons from the past when it suffered a backlash, after being seen to have responded too slowly to a fault that caused models to accelerate without warning in 2010.

:: Aston Martin recalled 17,590 sports cars in February due to a problem with the accelerator pedal.

:: In 2013, Mercedes recalled 2,540 M-class SUV models in the UK when it discovered a particular floor mat could impede the accelerator pedal.

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Budget Chain Aldi Sees Profit Boom In Britain

Aldi And Lidl 'Victors In Supermarket War'

Updated: 2:18pm UK, Tuesday 29 July 2014

Discounters Aldi and Lidl have seen their market share surge as Britain's four biggest outlets suffer in the ongoing bitter supermarket war.

Research firm Kantar Worldpanel said in the three months to June 20, both of the German-based retailers saw significant growth compared to the same period last year.

It said Aldi's share rose from 3.7% to 4.8%, while Lidl expanded from 3.1% to 3.6%.

Meanwhile, supermarket giant Tesco saw its share of the sector fall from 30.3% last year to 28.9% in the period ending in July.

Asda, Britain's second biggest chain, remained flat at 17%, while Sainsbury's also remained static at 16.6%.

Struggling supermarket Morrisons was the second biggest faller out of the major retailers, seeing its share fall from 11.5% last year to 11% this year.

Both Tesco and Morrisons recorded sales losses of 3.8% compared to the same period last year, researchers said.

Kantar Worldpanel director Edward Garner said: "Aldi's 32% growth rate has lifted its market share to 4.8%, and this is a new record for the retailer and means it has nearly caught up with Waitrose on 4.9%.

"Similarly, Lidl sales have grown by nearly 20% and it has held onto its record share of 3.6%."

Britain's big outlets have become increasingly embroiled in a price war during 2014 that has harmed their margins.

They have also invested heavily in convenience store and online delivery services.

The hard discounters have avoided entering the online delivery sub-sector, which is seen by analysts as costing the majors more than £100m a year.

Grocery price inflation has also fallen for the 10th consecutive periods and now stands at 0.4%.

Price slashing and deflation in staple items like milk, vegetables and bread have driven food price inflation down to its lowest level since late 2006, when the research first started.
 

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Chancellor To Abolish 'Death Tax' On Pensions

UKIP Defections: PM Did Too Little, Too Late

Updated: 10:09pm UK, Saturday 27 September 2014

By Anushka Asthana, Political Correspondent

During the 2010 election, I travelled to Rochester and Strood in Kent, where I met the Tory candidate Mark Reckless.

One thing that struck me as I watched him take to the doorsteps, was the number of constituents raising the issue of immigration.

One awkward incident involved an elderly man ranting about why he supported the far-right National Front. Mr Reckless backed off, embarrassed.

He certainly didn't share those extreme views. But it was clear then that he was a politician who was worried about immigration and angry about Europe.

I remember another conversation with Mr Reckless last year in the Commons.

Tory backbenchers were nervous about immigration, he told me. They felt David Cameron hadn't done enough, and the looming prospect of transitional controls lifted on Bulgarians and Romanians was of particular concern. 

Things could get tetchy in January 2015, he said.

Mr Cameron knew about these misgivings among his MPs and tried to act on them.

Late last year he unveiled a toughening up in the rhetoric on immigration – bringing in new rules to crack down on the access that new EU migrants would get to benefits. Then came the pledge of an EU referendum.

The hope was to appease the concerns of people like Mr Reckless, and you might have thought it was working.

After all, following the defection to UKIP of Douglas Carswell many asked the MP if he would be next. He insisted not.

When I texted Tracey Crouch, a neighbouring MP in Kent, about his decision to leave the Tories, she replied: "Nothing I can say right now would be becoming of a lady. I'm so angry. He looked me in the eye and promised he wasn't going to defect."

Others pointed out that he was openly supportive of the Conservatives as recently as yesterday.

Then he tweeted: "Good to lead coach for Team2015 campaigning in Birmingham Northfield on Sunday + will be followed by our Clacton action next Thursday."

That is why Tory sources say they are "surprised". Other MPs told me they felt "let down", "frustrated" and "fed up".

"Another battle when we should be fighting Labour," said one.

Others argued that although he had behaved irresponsibly, giving a leg-up to Ed Miliband, that a number of backbenchers were angry with the party's position on Europe.

They believe that Mr Cameron hasn't done enough to prove he can loosen Britain's ties to the EU. They want to see the issue addressed at his conference speech this week.

The problem for men like Mr Reckless is they don't share the Prime Minister's views on Europe.

Mr Cameron wants to reform the UK's relationship with the continent and then – ideally – campaign for us to stay IN.

And that is the sticking point with Mr Reckless.

The former Tory MP was clear today that he believes in an independent Britain, and wants to follow the Scotland Yes campaign with what he said was a positive, patriotic message for voters.

He wants OUT – and UKIP is the only party that is fully with him.

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First-Time Buyers To Get 20% Off Under Tories

Young first-time buyers will get a 20% discount on their new homes, under plans announced by the Conservatives.

David Cameron has set out plans to build tens of thousands of new homes on commercial "brownfield" land, reserved for first-time buyers, under 40.

As Tories begin gathering in Birmingham for their annual conference, the PM said a Conservative government would implement the plan if they were re-elected in 2015.

Homes built under the proposed Help to Buy: Starter Homes scheme would be exempt from a range of taxes, lowering their price by 20%, say Tories.

First-time buyers have been priced out of many areas, especially in London

In an interview with The Sun, Mr Cameron said the programme would deliver 100,000 starter homes over the lifetime of the next parliament.

"We want to help more young people achieve the dream of home ownership so today as part of our long-term economic plan I can pledge we will build 100,000 homes for young, first-time buyers," he said.

"We will make these starter homes 20% cheaper by exempting them from a raft of taxes and by using brownfield land.

"I don't want to see young people locked out of home ownership.

David Cameron says the new homes would be exempt from some taxes

"We've already started to tackle the problem with Help to Buy mortgages - and these new plans will help tens of thousands more people to buy their first home."

The Conservatives said the homes would be built on brownfield land already zoned for development but no longer needed for industrial or commercial use.

Such land is not normally made available for housebuilding and can be bought more cheaply than other land, and the savings will be passed on to the buyer.

Public sector land which is surplus to requirements will also be brought into the scheme.

At the same time, the Conservatives said that the properties would be exempt from most of the taxes imposed on new homes.

These taxes include the social housing requirement and the community infrastructure levy.

Some future regulations such as the zero carbon homes standard will also not apply to properties built under the scheme.

The announcement is intended to set the tone for the party's final annual conference before the country goes to the polls next May.

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