Singaporean investor praises London as it buys £385m City building

Business reporter,London(wp/es):

A Singaporean investor on Friday said London will remain a “global financial hub”, after paying £385 million for the former home of the London Stock Exchange.

Singapore-listed City Developments has bought 125 Old Broad Street from private equity giant Blackstone, in one of the biggest single-building deals in the Square Mile this year.

The 26-storey 329,000-square-foot office building, previously known as Stock Exchange Tower, overlooks the Bank of England and is let to businesses including law firm King & Spalding and China International Capital Corporation.

The property was home to the LSE for more than 30 years until it relocated in 2004.

Frank Khoo, chief investment officer at City Developments, which was advised by property agent Cushman & Wakefield, said: “We have confidence in the long-term fundamentals of London as a global financial hub with a robust office market.”

The weaker pound since the EU referendum has made the capital a bargain to international buyers compared with rival cities.

Man charged after Met Police officers stabbed with screwdriver

Crime reporter(wp/es):

A man has been charged with two counts of grievous bodily harm after allegedly attacking two Met Police officers with a screwdriver.

One officer was stabbed in the head and another in the arm during an incident in north London on Wednesday.

They had been called to reports of a burglary in Lawrence Gardens, Mill Hill, at 4.45pm, police said.

Roque Dos-Santos Sequerira, 29, of Lower Strand, Colindale, has also been charged with one count of burglary and two counts of possession of an offensive weapon.

He has been remanded in custody to appear at Willesden Magistrates' Court on Friday.

Both officers have since been discharged from hospital.

Boy, 6, killed in house blaze as mother screams 'help me, help me'

Staff reporter,Derbyshire(wp/es):

A six-year-old boy has died in a house fire in Derbyshire, police have said.

The child was killed after a blaze ripped through a house in Ilkeston on Friday night.

His mother was reportedly heard screaming for help and neighbours apparently tried to force their way into the house to rescue the child.

One neighbour told Derbyshire Live: "I heard this commotion on the street, it was the mum screaming 'help me, help me'."

"Me and another neighbour tried to get in but we just couldn't."

Another neighbour named Jack Hill described how he tried to get to the bedroom to rescue the boy.

"I ran to the Chinese takeaway and grabbed their fire extinguisher and went into the house.

“I tried to get into the upstairs room but the smoke was too thick.

“Then I saw the young boy that lives there being brought our by the fire brigade."

The emergency services were called to an address in Shaw Street West at 10.40pm.

Firefighters pulled the boy from the house and he was taken to hospital where he later died. 

Derbyshire Constabulary said in a statement on Saturday: "We were called by Derbyshire Fire and Rescue to reports of a fire at a house in Shaw Street West, Ilkeston, at 10:40pm last night (26 October)

"Firefighters entered the property and found a six-year-old boy with serious injuries.

"The boy was taken to Queen's Medical Centre by ambulance, however, he was pronounced dead a short time later.

"Enquiries as to the cause of the fire are ongoing and a joint police and fire investigation will take place today."

Anybody with any information about the incident is encouraged to contact Derbyshire Constabulary, with reference 18*516997.

Hammond to increase road investment by 44 percent in budget

Staff reporter(wp/reuters):

British finance minister Philip Hammond will announce a 44 percent jump in roads and highways investment in his budget on Monday, the finance ministry said, offering a glimpse of higher public spending promised by the government.

The 25.5 billion-pound fund for the 2020-2025 period will be invested in projects in England such as motorway improvements and major new roads, the ministry said on Saturday.

A further 3.5 billion pounds would be earmarked for local routes.

The ministry said the investment would reduce congestion and help to improve Britain’s weak productivity growth.

Revenues raised by Britain’s Vehicle Excise Duty would be entirely earmarked for spending on roads for the first time.

Hammond is under pressure to show he can honour Prime Minister Theresa May’s promise to end nearly a decade of austerity while sticking to his plan to clean up high levels of public debt.

Although he has some room for manoeuvre after a fall in the budget deficit, uncertainty about Britain’s exit from the European Union in March, and its impact on the economy, is likely to restrict Hammond’s options on Monday.

On Friday, the government said Hammond was likely to give a 900 million-pound tax cut to small retailers to help them compete against online competition.

The finance ministry said on Saturday that Hammond would also launch a feasibility study into a no-interest loan scheme to help low-income households seeking to break their reliance on high-interest payday lenders.

UK supermarket Asda to consult on up to 2,500 possible job losses

Business correspondent(wp/reuters):
British supermarket Asda (WMT.N), which is subject to a proposed takeover by rival Sainsbury’s (SBRY.L), said on Friday it would start consulting with staff over the potential loss of up to 2,500 jobs next year.

The move by Asda, which is owned by U.S. giant Walmart, was first reported by Press Association, and a spokeswoman for the supermarket group said no decisions had been taken yet.

“We need to consider changing the roles we need our colleagues to do or the hours needed in particular parts of our stores,” Asda said in a statement. “We believe the proposed changes we are consulting on would allow us to do a better job for our customers.”

It added: “We also recognize that discussions about potential change aren’t easy. If the decision is taken to implement the proposed changes, we would work with our colleagues to look at the potential impact of these proposals on them.”

Asda is Britain’s third-biggest grocer by market share behind Tesco (TSCO.L) and Sainsbury’s.

RBS sets £100 million aside to cover Brexit uncertainty

Banking&Finance reporter(wp/reuters):
Royal Bank of Scotland has set an extra 100 million pounds aside to account for possible bad loans as a result of Brexit uncertainty, in the first concrete sign this is clouding the outlook of a big British bank.

The provision means RBS is concerned that its customers might become less able to pay their debts when Britain leaves the European Union in five months’ time.

While HSBC put aside $245 million (191.2 million pounds) at its half-year results to account for greater economic uncertainty, RBS is the first big UK bank to link the move to Brexit.

CEO Ross McEwan said RBS was taking into account the possibility of more negative outcomes from the Brexit negotiations, under new accounting standards that require banks to be better prepared for possible future losses.

“There’s a lot more uncertainty in the marketplace until we get agreement, and that’s what this is reflecting,” McEwan told reporters on a call, referring to the provision.

McEwan said the move did not hint at any special problem with the RBS loan books, but reflected its low impairment levels following a decade-long clean-up after its 2008 state bailout.

RBS shares fell by 4 percent on Friday, the second worst performer in the STOXX European banks index after Ireland’s AIB Group.

The fortunes of major lenders like RBS are closely intertwined with the health of UK consumers and businesses.

The bank has been less upbeat about the consequences of Brexit than some of its peers, with McEwan warning recently that Britain could slip into recession if it crashes out of the EU with no deal.

Bank of England Deputy Governor Sam Woods said on Thursday banks in Britain must hold enough cash to withstand any disorderly Brexit hitting financial markets.

RBS’s rival Lloyds said on Thursday it was confident that negotiations between London and Brussels could still deliver a withdrawal agreement, which remains elusive even after years of tense talks.

Both banks said that they had seen no sign borrowers’ ability to service their loans had deteriorated so far.

PROFIT MISS

McEwan said he had a phone call with Prime Minister Theresa May and executives last week and received an optimistic signal that a Brexit deal could be reached.

But with the March 2019 deadline fast approaching, businesses remain in the dark about how they will interact with EU markets and the impact Brexit will have on the UK economy.

The provision, announced with RBS’s third quarter results, took the bank’s impairments for the period to 240 million pounds, up from 143 million pounds in 2017.

The bank reported a profit of 448 million pounds for the quarter, below analysts’ expectations of 507 million pounds.

RBS reported a common equity tier one capital ratio of 16.7 percent, well above its target of 13 percent, even after it paid its first dividend in a decade and a hefty fine to U.S. authorities earlier this year.

The bank took another 200 million pound provision for mis-sold payment protection insurance - Britain’s costliest such scandal that has seen RBS alone pay out over 5 billion pounds.

It gave no clue as to its future dividend policy - information shareholders are hungry for after being starved of payouts for 10 years.

Landmark pensions ruling may cost Lloyds Banking Group $192 million

Banking&finance reporter(wp/reuters):
Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY.L) must amend its pension schemes to equalise benefits for men and women following a court ruling that could cost the bank up to 150 million pounds ($191.97 million) and affect thousands of other companies.

In a case closely watched by the government, Judge Paul Morgan ruled that Lloyds’ pension trustee had a duty to amend the schemes to equalise treatment after three female members claimed discrimination, with women’s pensions increasing at a slower rate than those of men in the schemes.

The case affects around 230,000 members of the bank’s pension schemes, but union BTU has said it could have implications for as many as 7.8 million people in thousands of other schemes across the country, with the cost of equalising all affected pensions put at up to 20 billion pounds.

“These issues have created uncertainties in the occupational pensions industry in this country for many years,” Morgan said in his written ruling, seen by Reuters on Friday.

The judge stipulated a number of methods Lloyds could use to achieve equal treatment for men and women, which could require the bank to pay between 100 million pounds and 150 million pounds.

Union BTU had previously said the case could cost the bank up to 500 million pounds.

Britain’s Treasury and Department for Work and Pensions were listed as “interested parties” in the case because of its consequences for the wider public sector.

“It is time now for trustees to roll up their sleeves and start to assess the implications and possible remedial actions,” said Chantal Thompson, pensions partner at law firm Baker McKenzie, adding the implications would be far reaching.

The case relates to employees that had their secondary state pension payments - supplementary to their basic state pension - paid by their employer rather than the government under an arrangement known as “contracting out”.

Both the employee and the employer benefited from lower tax contributions, while the employer would guarantee to pay a minimum amount broadly equivalent to what the employee would have received from the government.

But under the arrangements, the calculation employers were required to use to determine pension benefits created inequalities. While in some cases men received a smaller amount, in most instances it was women who were negatively affected.

A Lloyds spokeswoman said in a statement it was working through the details in order to implement the court’s decision.

“The hearing focused on what is a complex and longstanding industry-wide issue. The group welcomes the decision made by the court and the clarity it provides.”