China’s Temu more than doubles EU profits to nearly $120m despite having only eight staff

The Chinese online marketplace Temu’s EU operations more than doubled pre-tax profits last year to just below $120m (£90m) despite employing just eight people, accounts show.They rose 171% in the 12 months to December 2024 compared with the $44.1m the year before, as shoppers snapped up its low-cost goods, which are widely promoted on social media.However, the company paid just $18m in corporation tax, almost $3m of which was a mandatory top-up tax brought in at the end of 2023 after the EU signed up to a global minimum tax rate for large companies.The accounts filed for the group’s Ireland-based EU parent group, Whaleco Technology, also show revenues rose to $1

Global financial system vulnerable to shocks amid recent stock market surge, Bank of England chief warns – as it happened

The global financial system is vulnerable to shocks amid a recent surge in the price of shares and other assets, Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey has warned.Bailey, chairman of the Financial Stability Board (FSB), the fiscal risk watchdog for the G20 group of nations, urged greater multilateral co-operation between nations to help support global financial systems.In a letter to G20 ministers, he said that increased debt levels and a failure to fully implement agreed financial reforms would lead to increased vulnerability.Bailey cautioned that there could be a “disorderly adjustment”, i.e

Markets rebound amid latest US-China tariff spat as traders look to possible ‘Taco trade’

Global stock markets have edged higher and cryptocurrencies rebounded amid signs that a new front in the US-China trade war may not be as severe as first feared.Tensions between Washington and Beijing escalated again on Friday and over the weekend, as Donald Trump threatened to impose additional US tariffs of 100% on China starting next month.The US president accused the country of “very hostile” moves to restrict exports of rare-earth minerals needed for American industry. Beijing said it would retaliate if Trump did not back down.However, Trump and senior US officials opened a door to a possible deal with China on Sunday

Greenpeace threatens to sue crown estate for driving up cost of offshore wind

Greenpeace is threatening to sue King Charles’s property management company, accusing it of exploiting its monopoly ownership of the seabed.The environmental lobby group alleges the crown estate has driven up costs for wind power developers and boosted its own profits, as well as the royal household’s income, due to the “aggressive” way it auctions seabed rights.The crown estate, as the legal owner of the seabed around England, Wales and Northern Ireland, is responsible for auctioning offshore wind rights. It has benefited from the huge growth in the industry, commanding hefty option fees from renewable energy developers to secure areas of the seabed to build their windfarms.It made a £1

Lloyds warns motor finance scandal could cost it nearly £2bn as bill rises

Lloyds Bank has put aside an extra £800m to deal with possible compensation claims over the motor finance scandal, with its total provision rising to almost £2bn.The bank, one of the most exposed to an ongoing scandal in which drivers were overcharged for loans as a result of commission paid to car dealers, had previously set aside £1.15bn to deal with potential costs.However, it said on Monday that an additional charge of £800m reflected an increased likelihood of further historical cases, particularly those affected by discretionary commission arrangements (known as DCAs), being eligible for compensation.The new estimate comes after the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published a 360-page consultation paper for its redress scheme

One of Europe’s biggest farm machinery firms halts US exports over ‘hidden’ tariffs

One of Europe’s biggest farm machinery companies, Krone, has been forced to pause exports of large equipment to the US because of “alarming” and little-known new tariffs that are hitting hundreds of products from knitting needles and hairdryers to combine harvesters.Among the products on the steel derivatives list drawn up in consultation with US manufacturers, Donald Trump is taxing 407 specific products ranging from tiny embroidery stilettos to cooker hoods, barbecues, fridges, freezers, dishwashers, hair curling tongs, grills, elevators, bridge and railway structures, agriculture equipment and wind turbines.It has meant that since 18 August, companies such as Krone and the construction company Liebherr in Germany have to provide an unprecedented level of detail to customs border authorities certifying the origin, weight and value of any steel in their products right down to nuts and bolts.“You have to get paperwork from the supplier to the supplier to the supplier. That is pretty much impossible,” said Oliver Richtberg, the head of foreign trade at the German engineering federation VDMA, one of the most influential trade bodies in Europe