Severn Trent’s profits triple as it fails drinking water risk rules
Severn Trent has nearly tripled its profits even as the FTSE 100 water company said it had failed to meet a drinking water risk standard.The company, which serves 4.7 million customers stretching from Bristol and mid-Wales to the Humber, said it would be “in penalty this year” over a measure of water quality known as the compliance risk index (CRI).Water companies have come under close scrutiny over pollution and water quality in recent years, as politicians have accused the sector of not investing enough in vital infrastructure even as shareholders made impressive returns.Several other water companies are under severe financial strain as they struggle under big debt loads
Santander puts aside £295m for car loan mis-selling
Santander UK has put aside £295m to cover potential payouts to car loan customers as the bank issued its first estimate of the financial fallout from the growing car loan mis-selling scandal.The figures were released alongside the bank’s third-quarter results, which were delayed last month after a court of appeal ruling said it was unlawful for two lenders to have paid a “secret” commission to car dealers without borrowers’ knowledge.The provision dented the bank’s pre-tax profits, which fell to £143m in the quarter, down from £413m in the second quarter.Car lenders such as Santander UK had already been facing potential payouts over a Financial Conduct Authority investigation into a specific type of commission payment, discretionary commission arrangements,that was banned in 2021.However, the court judgment went beyond the scope of the FCA investigation and City regulation, extending into common law and opening the door to a much larger compensation bill for motor loan providers
Rio Tinto review shows rise in rape and bullying reports
Rio Tinto has said the number of its employees who reported they have experienced actual or attempted sexual assault or rape has increased over the last two years, despite efforts to improve its workplace culture in recent years.A report on the Anglo-Australian mining company, authored by the former Australian sex discrimination commissioner, Elizabeth Broderick, found “mixed results” in its efforts to implement a programme to change its culture in an effort stamp out sexual assault, bullying and racism.Broderick’s 76-page report on the company, which employs 57,000 globally, noted that a rise in bullying against women was in part “retaliation” to Rio Tinto’s efforts to “promote gender diversity and inclusion”.Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news emailThe report revealed that eight allegations of rape or attempted rape in the past 12 months, up from five cases in 2021. The report also found 32 employees reported experiencing pressure or requests for sex or sexual acts, down from 37 people in 2021
Former John Lewis chair Sharon White takes role at Canadian pension fund
Dame Sharon White, the former chair of John Lewis, has been appointed European head of the Canadian public pension fund manager that holds investments in companies including Eurostar and Heathrow.White has been given the official title of managing director and head of Europe at Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ) and will start in January.White, the shortest-serving chair in the history of the John Lewis Partnership and who stepped down as chair in September, had been due to leave the retailer next February but left early to make way for the former Tesco boss Jason Tarry.The announcement of White’s decision to step down came a month after she repoted that the group’s turnaround would take two years longer than planned and cost more money.John Lewis ditched its annual staff bonus for the second time in three years in March last year, after the group slumped to a worse-than-expected £230m full-year loss
E.ON must pay £14.5m to prepayment customers after billing failures
The energy regulator has ordered power supplier E.ON Next to pay £14.5m in compensation to nearly 250,000 prepayment customers, after an investigation found “unacceptable” failures to pay credit they had on accounts or final bill payments they were owed.Ofgem found that the customers were affected over an 18-month period from early 2021 to late last year by an error in E.ON Next’s billing system
UK’s inflation jump dashes hope of interest rate cut in December | Heather Stewart
Any lingering hope that the Bank of England might deliver a pre-Christmas interest rate cut next month has evaporated, after official data showed inflation jumping to 2.3% in October.If it continues to rise in the coming months, Labour will be forced to defend itself against Tory claims that government policy is at least partly responsible.The CPI measure had been expected to creep up, after dipping to 1.7% in September, but 2
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Ford cuts 4,000 jobs in Europe, including 800 in UK, after slowdown in EV sales
Ford has said it will cut 4,000 jobs in Europe, becoming the latest carmaker to try to reduce costs amid slowing growth in electric car sales and competition from China.The American carmaker said on Wednesday it would axe 800 jobs in the UK and 2,900 in Germany. The company’s UK factories in Dagenham and Halewood will not be affected.The cuts represent about 14% of Ford’s 28,000 workforce in Europe and will be completed by the end of 2027.Ford is the latest in a series of global carmakers to aim for cost savings as the industry struggles with waning demand while also trying to invest in the transition to electric cars
Ford to cut 4,000 jobs in Europe, with Germany and the UK hardest hit – as it happened
Ford has announced it will cut 4,000 jobs in Europe, mainly in Germany and the UK.This amounts to 14% of the American carmaker’s European workforce. The layoffs will be made by the end of 2027. Globally, they represent around 2.3% of Ford’s workforce of 174,000
US justice department plans to push Google to sell off Chrome browser
US justice department officials plan to ask a judge to force Google to sell off its Chrome browser to dismantle the monopoly it has over the internet search market, in a major intervention against one of the world’s biggest tech companies.The Department of Justice (DoJ) last month filed court papers saying it was considering enforcing “structural remedies” to prevent Google from using some its products.The DoJ will reportedly push for Google, which is owned by Alphabet, to sell the browser and also ask a judge to require new measures related to artificial intelligence as well as its Android smartphone operating system, according to Bloomberg.Competition officials, along with a number of US states that have joined the case against the Silicon Valley company, also plan to recommend that the federal judge Amit Mehta imposes data licensing requirements.Google has said it will challenge any case by the DoJ and said the proposals marked an “overreach” by the government that would harm consumers
TechScape: Betting markets come for everything – and the FBI comes for a betting market
Gambling on the outcome of the presidential election became legal in the US at the start of October after decades of prohibition, becoming a new type of pre-election poll. Online prediction markets such as Kalshi and Polymarket accepted billions of dollars in wagers on the outcome, with their users favoring Donald Trump with a 70% chance of beating Kamala Harris, out of sync with mainstream polls. Trump’s camp trumpeted the predictions.In the UK, election gambling is legal and takes a very different form. Traditional bookmakers and betting firms take players’ wagers and set prices and odds
Rejigged India can draw strength from 2021 – but still face uphill struggle
Arriving in Australia in the ember weeks of 2024, the Indian Test team is in an unusual position. They are, in a sense, defending champions. Starting in 1947, Asian teams toured Australia 30 times in a row without winning a series. Most of the time they didn’t come close: Australia won 24, six drawn. It was January 2019 in Sydney, after more than seven decades, that India’s run mountain while leading the series forced the home team to bat for a draw
‘No intention of stopping’: meet the F1 mechanic set for 600th straight race
Whatever happens at the Las Vegas Grand Prix this weekend, Aston Martin will be celebrating a remarkable achievement. It’s viva Las Vegas for Andy Stevenson, Aston’s sporting director who will mark his 600th grand prix here, a feat of longevity made all the more striking by the fact he has not missed a race since he joined the team as a callow youth in 1987.Such was his childhood ambition to work in F1 that he committed to it in writing. “My mother recently found the paperwork from my first visit to the careers office which said I wanted to work with fast cars and travel the world,” he says with a smile.“I was always interested in anything mechanical and F1 cars are the best machines on the planet
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