UK sells £1bn of bonds on most expensive terms since 2004 – as it happened

More on today’s UK government bond auction (see post at 10.10am GMT) – Reuters have crunched the numbers.The bond sale attracted solid demand, but it was on the most expensive terms since 2004, underscoring the cost to taxpayers from a recent sell-off in bond markets, which has pushed yields to multi-year highs.The Debt Management Office sold £1bn of inflation-linked gilts due in 2054 and received bids worth 3.06 times that sum

Sizewell C cost ‘has doubled since 2020 and could near £40bn’

The cost of building the Sizewell C nuclear power plant in Suffolk has doubled since the plans were presented to the UK government in 2020 and could now reach close to £40bn, according to reports.A rise in construction charges over recent years, combined with cost overruns and delays at EDF’s Hinkley Point C nuclear project in Somerset is expected to increase the final bill to build a successor project at Sizewell, according to the Financial Times.A report cited people close to the talks between EDF and the government, which are focused on how to finance the nuclear project. The Treasury is expected to decide whether to back the project in this year’s spending review.According to the report, one senior government figure and two well-placed industry sources said that the cost of building Sizewell C would be about £40bn in 2025 prices

‘We have enough products on the planet’: Nobody’s Child boss Jody Plows on the ethics of sustainable fashion

The chief executive of the clothing label is emphasising traceability and accountability in the supply chain – and looking beyond one season at a timeJody Plows sweeps aside a screen to reveal models, photographers and stylists swishing about the white-walled offices of the Nobody’s Child HQ in Camden.The boss of the fast-growing fashion label, whose clothes have been worn by the likes of Phoebe Dynevor, Poppy Delevingne, Sienna Miller and brand ambassador Fearne Cotton, says she has been “building a culture” as much as a business.The office is filled with colourfully dressed employees who, Plows says, hold a meeting once a month to “celebrate everybody” and the brand’s successes. “I think all of that is very motivational,” she says.Founded a decade ago by tech and fashion manufacturing entrepreneur Andrew Xeni, and backed by New Look founder Tom Singh, the brand began selling affordable dresses at around £40 with the aim of being more ethical and sustainable than its competitors

‘Don’t allow you to go to the bathroom’: big tech’s call center workers in Greece on strike

Call center workers for some of the world’s biggest tech companies including Apple, Google, Microsoft and Netflix are accusing their employer of retaliating against union organisers, constantly surveilling staff and even refusing bathroom breaks.In the US or Europe, if you call for technical or customer support from a big tech company, you may be speaking with a worker at one of Teleperformance’s call centers in Greece.Teleperformance, the largest call center operator in the world, employs about 12,000 workers in Greece, serving more than 140 markets around the world in 43 different languages and dialects. The company has seven multi-language hubs in Greece – in Athens, Chania, and Thessaloniki.Workers who have been pushing for a collective labor agreement with Teleperformance in Greece say the company has recently retaliated with targeted layoffs of union leaders

A bargaining breakdown and strikes: the ongoing union fight at Starbucks

Negotiations between Starbucks and its union have broken down, with workers calling the company’s proposals “almost laughable” and highlighting the multimillion pay package of the coffee chain’s recently appointed CEO.Since late 2021, over 530 Starbucks stores have won union elections, representing more than 12,000 workers at the company. But talks aimed at negotiating a first union contract have stalled and the company has called the union’s proposals “not sustainable”.Workers said the pay of Starbucks’ new CEO, Brian Niccol, who left Chipotle in August 2024 to assume the role of CEO at Starbucks, is at the center of the breakdown in contract negotiations between Starbucks and Starbucks Workers United.Niccol’s pay package includes up to $113m in total compensation, 10,000 times the median salary of a Starbucks barista, with a $10m sign-on bonus, $75m in stock options plus a remote office in southern California and access to the company’s private jet to travel to Starbucks headquarters in Seattle, Washington

JD Sports cuts profit forecast, blaming big fashion price cuts

JD Sports has cut profit expectations for the second time in eight weeks, blaming heavy discounting across the fashion market.The retailer said it did not expect any growth in sales at established stores during the year and warned that annual profits would be no more than £935m, down from previous hopes of between £955m and £1.03bn.Shares in JD, which also owns the Size?, Blacks and Millets brands in the UK, fell 10% as it cut forecasts below its previous expectations and warned of a tough economic backdrop for retailers.The JD Group chief executive, Régis Schultz, said: “With these trading conditions expected to continue, we are taking a cautious view of the new financial year