EY fined almost £5m for breaching standards in Thomas Cook audit

EY has been fined almost £5m for “serious breaches of standards” over its audits of Thomas Cook in the years before the travel company’s devastating collapse in 2019.The UK’s audit watchdog, the Financial Reporting Council (FRC), said EY and one of its partners, Richard Wilson, had admitted to failings related to their assessment of the travel agent’s financial statements from 2017 and 2018.Thomas Cook, the world’s oldest travel company, collapsed in 2019 after it failed to finalise a restructuring plan that would help it cope with a £1.7bn debt burden.The company’s failure put 9,000 jobs at risk and triggered a huge repatriation effort to bring home 150,000 UK holidaymakers stranded overseas

China says Trump’s trade war ‘will end in failure’ as Beijing tariffs take effect

China says Donald Trump’s trade war with Beijing “will end in failure” for Washington, hours after the US president announced he would increase his tariffs on the country’s imports to 125%.China’s own 84% retaliatory tariffs on US imports came into effect on Thursday amid an escalating trade war between the world’s two biggest economies.Beijing’s tariffs are the latest salvo against Trump, who on Wednesday announced a pause to his steepest tariffs on dozens of countries, capping them at 10% for 90 days, but excluding China from the U-turn after it refused to withdraw its retaliatory measures.On Thursday, China’s foreign ministry said Beijing was not interested in a fight “but will not fear if the United States continues its tariff threats.“The US cause doesn’t win the support of the people and will end in failure,” a ministry spokesperson, Lin Jian, said at a regular press conference

Tesco to cut further £500m in costs to help offset Reeves’s tax rises

Tesco has said it plans to slash a further £500m in costs, as the supermarket chain tries to cushion the blow of Rachel Reeves’s tax increases and invest in fighting a price war with rivals.Britain’s biggest grocery retailer said on Thursday it was deepening an existing drive to cut costs to help offset higher operating costs, as well as the £235m increase in its national insurance contributions (NICs) as a result of changes made by the chancellor.The retailer made the cost cuts announcement as it reported a fall in annual profits, and said profits would be lower this year as a fight for shoppers with rivals intensifies. The update sent shares falling sharply, despite a rise in the wider FTSE 100 in response to Donald Trump’s tariff U-turn.Tesco was among retailers to have warned that the rise in employer NICs – announced in Reeves’s autumn budget – would lead to job cuts and higher prices

Australian stock market surges but investors warned ‘we’re not out of the woods just yet’

Donald Trump’s decision to pause steep tariffs against most nations has ignited a share market rally that erased some of the heavy losses suffered over the past week, even as Australia eyes an escalating trade war between the world’s two biggest economies.Wall Street soared overnight after Trump unveiled a 90-day pause on tariffs above 10% on dozens of countries, with the notable exception of China.Australia’s position, along with those of the UK and New Zealand, are unchanged given they remain subject to the US’ “baseline” 10% tariff.The S&P/ASX 200 closed up 4.5% on Thursday, at 7,709 points, after giving away some of its early gains

Green activist group is pausing work after backlash by investors

A green shareholder activist group has decided to “pause” its work pushing oil companies to reduce their emissions amid a growing investor backlash against climate action.Follow This has confirmed that it will not file any climate resolutions against oil and gas companies during the forthcoming AGM season for the first time since 2016.The Netherlands-based group, which has been one of the most successful shareholder activists of recent years, blamed “the changing political landscape” and “the backlash against climate-conscious investors” for the decision by “most institutional shareholders” to pull their support for climate resolutions.The group pointed to a number of US states which have taken legal action against big investors for supporting climate action, and the recent decision of US regulators to drop climate investment disclosure rules as key factors behind the trend.Follow This was taken to court by ExxonMobil last year for its role in calling for the company to reduce its emissions in line with global climate targets, before a judge threw the case out

Virgin Australia offers refunds to 61,000 passengers after charging incorrect itinerary change fees

Virgin Australia is offering refunds to more than 60,000 passengers, after an internal error led to inflated itinerary change fees being charged over the past five years.The airline has apologised and launched an itinerary change claim program, as it begins informing passengers who are eligible for refunds over the incorrect fees charged to customers making changes to their bookings between 21 April 2020 and 31 March this year.A Virgin Australia spokesperson said the company recently discovered the issue and launched an internal investigation, which has found about 61,000 customers – or about 0.1% of all bookings processed in the five-year window – incurred the incorrect charges.Sign up for the Afternoon Update: Election 2025 email newsletterThe airline has since taken issue to prevent the charges from occurring in the future, while appointing Deloitte to conduct the refund claim process