Fake Letters: Wonga May Face Criminal Probe

City of London Police have confirmed they are to look again at whether the payday lender Wonga should face a criminal investigation.

This week the firm agreed to pay £2.6m in compensation to 45,000 customers after it was found to have sent letters from two fake law firms.

The letters were to pressure people in arrears into paying up.

They threatened legal action and gave the impressionthat  outstanding loans had been passed to debt recovery firms.

The police force discussed the case a year ago but decided at the time it should be left to regulators.

However, now a compensation deal has been reached between Wonga and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), officers will "be reassessing whether a criminal investigation is appropriate".

Meanwhile, the industry body representing solicitors has urged the Metropolitan Police to launch an investigation into Wonga.

The Law Society has asked Scotland Yard to determine if the fake legal letters amounted to blackmail or deception, and called on the regulator to hand over documents it holds on Wonga.

The FCA confirmed that the Society, which represents around 160,000 solicitors across England and Wales, had been in contact.

Law Society chief executive Desmond Hudson said: "It seems that the intention behind Wonga's dishonest activity was to make customers believe that their outstanding debt had been passed to a genuine law firm.

"It looks like they also wanted customers to believe that court action undertaken by a genuine law firm would follow if the debt was not repaid.

"Depending on the precise circumstances of what has happened, that could amount to blackmail and deception, as well as offences under the Solicitors Act 1974 and Legal Services Act 2007."

Wonga is Britain's biggest payday lending firm, and has since apologised for its action between October 2008 and November 2010.

The short-term consumer credit sector has come under increased regulatory scrutiny over business practices and potential four-digit interest rates.

The Wonga action has been described by consumer campaigners as a "shocking new low" for the payday industry.

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'House Sitters' Bag Top Properties On Cheap

By Gemma Morris, Sky News Reporter

More and more young professionals, who cannot afford to get on the housing ladder, are bagging themselves plush temporary accommodation for very little money under "guardian schemes".

Becoming a guardian is a bit like glorified house sitting - often in grand and eccentric properties that would otherwise be left standing empty.

It saves the property owners from forking out on security costs and also keeps squatters at bay.

At the same time, the guardians get to live in buildings they could otherwise only dream of - while paying monthly fees which can sometimes be as low as 20% of the market rental rate.

One of the properties on offer to guardians

Robyn Winfield-Smith is a theatre director who lives in a 10,000 sq ft building in the heart of London's West End.

Her bedroom is a spacious former dance studio.

She says being a guardian works for her and her housemates because they cannot afford typical rents in the capital.

"This enables us to stay within the careers that we want whilst living very cheaply."

Recent figures from LSL Property Services put the average monthly rent in England and Wales at £745 per month.

In London, it's £1,124.

This home in Hampstead Heath is offered as planning permission is obtained

Guardian schemes are only ever temporary, usually for a few months or years, and tend to be while the building owners await planning permission.

But Robyn enjoys the constant change.

"You can bring along all your furniture and create a brand new home every time you move ... Some of the buildings we've had have been extraordinary."

Properties managed by guardian companies include churches, pubs and other commercial buildings as well as privately owned more "normal" looking flats and houses.

Robyn Winfield-Smith enters her London dance studio home

Arthur Duke, managing director of Live-In Guardians, said the number of young professionals applying to be guardians in the past 18 months has grown.

"One of the attractions is the fact that they pay at least 50% of the going market rental which is all inclusive so there's no bills on top and no council tax either.

"We used to get around 8-10 on line applications a day, whereas now we are getting around 15-20."

Critics though warn it is not a solution to the housing crisis.

Antonia Bance, from Shelter, said: "We'd urge caution, [there are] very few tenancy rights attached to property guardianship schemes. If we're looking to solve our housing crisis the thing that we need to do is build more affordable homes."

Robyn admits there are some downsides too, but she is not put off.

"You're not allowed pets, not allowed smoking, and not allowed to have more than two people for longer than three hours  - that's the kind of general rule on guests. But that's fine because what we're getting in exchange is this amazing environment to live in."

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New Mortgage Level Caps To Cool Housing Market

Bank Of England Acts On London Property Bubble

Updated: 7:19pm UK, Thursday 26 June 2014

By Ed Conway, Economics Editor

It's tempting to glance at what the Bank of England has done today and say: "so what?"

After all, on the face of it, the two primary measures unveiled by the Financial Policy Committee are hardly likely to make much difference to the UK housing story.

There's the new stress test on mortgage lending, under which a mortgage company will have to ensure their applicants will be able to afford their loan repayments even if official interest rates go up by 3% over five years.

Most lenders are already carrying out checks of similar stringency, and have been doing so for months, if not years.

After all, 3% is more or less where markets expect interest rates to be in five years' time.

Then there's the new limit on big mortgages: in future a lender will have to limit the amount of their "high debt" mortgage lending (the Bank classifies that as a loan worth 4.5 times a borrower's income) to just 15% of their total book.

Again, it sounds sensible, but it won't have any immediate impact.

Indeed, currently only about 11% of total mortgage lending is at this level; in fact, had this limit been in place in recent decades, it would never have been breached - even in previous housing booms and crashes.

So, is this yet another case of all talk and no action from the Bank of England? I think not.

What this represents is the Bank trying to tackle a London housing bubble while leaving the rest of the UK more or less untouched.

The Bank is terrified about carrying out anything that looked like regional economic policy.

What's striking about its new rules, however, is that while they are unlikely to have much impact on the average family in the UK, or indeed the average first-time buyer (barely more than 12% of their mortgages are at loan-to-income (LTI) levels of 4.5 times or more), they will certainly affect London.

In London, more than a fifth of mortgages being issued at the moment are have LTIs of 4.5 or above.

If there is one part of the country where this measure should have an impact, it's the capital.

This won't have an immediate impact: after all, the FPC rules apply to banks' total mortgage books, most of which are spread across the country.

But banks will be likely to continue to restrict their high debt lending, which will disproportionately affect London.

This seems to make plenty of sense.

However, it's unclear how effective the sanctions will be.

This is uncharted territory for monetary and financial policy - and these measures haven't been universally effective elsewhere.

Nonetheless, it's welcome to see the Bank re-embrace regional policy - without speaking its name.

There is no nationwide housing bubble. There is, however, a London property bubble.

It's partly fuelled by foreign demand, but it's nonetheless pushing buyers in the capital into greater debt than ever before.

For the first time, the Bank seems to be acting on it.

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Lidl Supermarket Chain Creates 2,500 Jobs

German supermarket chain Lidl is creating 2,500 jobs as part of a £220m expansion programme in the UK.

The company says it will boost the number of stores from 600 to 620 in the next nine months.

It is recruiting across the board, including store roles, depot staff and positions at its Wimbledon HQ.

The chain says it is also filling specialist positions such as bakery managers and freshness coordinators.

The expansion follows four years of growth in sales and profitability for Lidl in the UK. 

Morrisons has confirmed plans for 2,600 job cuts

Turnover was £3.3bn in 2013 and sales have increased by 20% over the past 12 months.

That has helped to grow market share to a record 3.6% in June, up from 3% in 2013.

The jobs boost contrasts with the 2,600 redundancies recently announced by Morrisons. 

This latest round of investment comes on the back of a £170m investment in 2013, comprising 12 new stores and 3,500 new staff.

The supermarket has also significantly increased the amount of space allocated to fresh fruit and vegetables, meat, poultry and fresh fish.

Ronny Gottschlich, Lidl UK's managing director, said: "This latest phase in our growth is a testament to the continuing success of Lidl in the UK.

"People all over the country are realising they can make huge savings on their weekly grocery shop with us, without compromising on quality."

Chancellor George Osborne said: "It's great news that Lidl is investing in thousands of new jobs across the UK - each job means security and a better future for another family and the country as a whole."

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Centrica Boss Welcomes 'Watchdog Referral'

By Ian King, Sky News Business Presenter

The chairman of Britain's biggest energy supplier has told Sky News he welcomes an expected referral of the sector to the UK's competition watchdog.

Rick Haythornthwaite, who chairs the owner of British Gas, Centrica, said it was clear there was a lack of trust in the energy market, making it important that the Competition and Markets Authority provided an objective view.

He said: "There's a lack of trust in the system but, most importantly, there's a lack of a commonly-held, independent data set from which we can rebuild the trust.

"And I trust the CMA to provide an objective independent view taking the sector forward because we need to solve some pretty important things together."

Both energy companies and Ofgem itself are keen to de-politicise the sector ahead of next year's general election.

The Labour leader, Ed Miliband, shocked energy companies but won support in opinion polls when, during last year's Labour Party conference, he announced an incoming Labour government would freeze energy bills.

This has subsequently led to suggestions that energy companies have been reluctant to pass on recent falls in wholesale energy prices on the basis it will be difficult to raise prices subsequently ahead of the election.

Mr Haythornthwaite stressed, though, it was important for the CMA to look at as wide a picture as possible rather than focussing on the narrow issue of consumer bills.

He added: "What is really important is to look at it [the sector] as a whole.

"There's a lot of discussion about wholesale prices, but there's more than just that.

"Although they're going down right now with the warm winters, spring and early summers, the environmental costs are going up, distribution costs are going up and everyone needs to understand the basis of that.

"Equally, I think it's important to understand the role that government plays and the regulator in turning around this sector."

Rick Haythornthwaite appeared on Ian King Live

Mr Haythornthwaite disputed that, because none of the major suppliers had yet passed on recent falls in wholesale energy prices, it suggested the energy market was not efficient.

He went on: "In an efficient market, all the competitors have to decide what their target customers need. Ours say they're interested in price and predictability, in what is today an uncertain world, and it's not uncommon for some to believe in buying gas going forward.

"And so what is most important in a competitive market is that customers understand what's on offer to them, can make a choice based on the pure facts and can switch quickly. I hope, when the CMA looks at it, they'll understand there are lots of players in the market.

"We aren't free to create our own creative position through our prices and offering and we certainly can't switch quickly enough. Centrica is absolutely committed to being transparent to ensuring our customers' ability to switch quickly."

Centrica is facing a major overhaul of its top management later this year, with finance director Nick Luff set to leave to join publishing company Reed Elsevier by the end of the year.

At the same time, Chris Weston, the managing director of British Gas, will shortly leave to become chief executive of the temporary power supplier, Aggreko, while the City is buzzing with speculation that Sam Laidlaw, Centrica's chief executive for the last eight years, is poised to leave.

However, Mr Haythornthwaite insisted this did not mean Centrica was "rudderless", as one City analyst recently suggested. He said: "The bigger question I wanted to ask, when I first joined, is there strategic momentum?

"We have strength in depth, our strategy is clear and the company is driving it through. Sam is leading it and we will manage [his] succession in a measured fashion."

He said he had "no doubt" Centrica would find a good candidate for the job if Mr Laidlaw did decide to step down.

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Barclays Faces US 'Dark Pool' Fraud Lawsuit

US authorities have launched a securities fraud lawsuit against Barclays linked to its private trading system, or "dark pool".

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman alleged that the London-based bank's dark pool gave advantages to high-frequency traders.

It is alleged Barclays misled investors about "toxic and predatory" practices in the system.

The lawsuit says the bank boosted the market share of its dark pool through a series of dishonest statements to clients.

Dark pools are off-exchange systems that allow investors to trade blocks of shares anonymously, with the size and price of the orders hidden from other participants.

"The facts alleged in our complaint show that Barclays demonstrated a disturbing disregard for its investors in a systematic pattern of fraud and deceit," Mr Schneiderman said.

"Barclays grew its dark pool by telling investors they were diving into safe waters. According to the lawsuit, Barclays' dark pool was full of predators - there at Barclays' invitation."

The attorney general said Barclays falsified marketing material to back up its claims.

It allegedly removed from one marketing document mention that a high-frequency trading firm, known to engage in predatory practices, was a major participant in the dark pool. 

One employee allegedly stated: "I had always liked the idea that we were being transparent, but happy to take liberties if we can all agree."

Mr Schneiderman said of the bank: "And, boy, did they take liberties."

Barclays also heavily promoted a service called Liquidity Profiling, which the bank said would weed out predatory traders.

But the lawsuit says that system falsely assigned safe ratings to "toxic" traders.

Barclays also allegedly overrode ratings for some of its own internal trading desks that were engaged in high-frequency trading. 

A number of former employees of the bank helped the investigation by reporting the wrongdoing, said the attorney general.

A Barclays spokesman, said: "We take these allegations very seriously.

"Barclays has been co-operating with the New York Attorney General and the SEC and has been examining this matter internally. The integrity of the markets is a top priority of Barclays."

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Strike By French Air Traffic Controllers Slammed

Airlines have been forced to cancel dozens of flights to and from France on the first day of a six-day walkout by air traffic controllers.

The stoppage comes at the height of the tourist season and follows a rail strike that affected services abroad and domestically and is still continuing in some parts.

According to the country's civil aviation watchdog, about one in five flights travelling to and from several big cities in the south, or taking off from Paris to the south, Spain, Portugal, Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria, were cancelled.

Passengers also experienced delays on other services.

Some 20% of flights are expected to be cancelled today.

Those who are travelling have been warned not to go to the airport "without having been guaranteed that their flight is maintained".

Ryanair was forced to cancel more than 200 flights on Tuesday, and is set to cancel more than 250 today.

The airline slammed the strike, calling on the EU Commission "to remove the right to strike from Europe's air traffic controllers, who are once more attempting to blackmail ordinary consumers with strikes".

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) airlines group also condemned the action.

IATA head Tony Tyler said: "Unions bent on stopping progress are putting at risk the hard-earned vacations of millions of travellers, and from the public's perspective, the timing of the strike could even be regarded as malicious.

"In addition to vacationers, businesspeople undertaking important trips and those awaiting urgent shipments will all face hassles and uncertain waits as flights are cancelled, delayed or diverted around a major portion of European airspace."

Twenty-eight easyJet flights were cancelled, while British Airways said eight flights had been affected.

The majority of Air France's flights were unaffected by the strike, with only 10% of short and medium-haul journeys scrapped.

Not all air traffic controllers are striking, but those who have walked out are protesting against what they say is a lack of sufficient funding for a sector they say is in dire need of modernisation.

They want airport fees for airlines to increase by 10%, while companies want them to decrease.

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Home Building Being Hit By Skills Shortage

By Becky Johnson, North of England Correspondent

A serious shortage of skilled construction workers is impacting on the industry's recovery.

Experts have told Sky News that thousands of workers need to be recruited and trained in order to meet intense demand for new housing.

A shortage of homes is among the factors fuelling rapidly rising house prices.

Last year just 108,190 houses were completed in England, fewer than half the 220,000 the Home Builders Federation says are needed to keep up with demand.

However, there currently aren't enough skilled workers. During the recession 390,000 workers left the industry according to the national training organisation, the CITB.

Fewer apprentices have joined the sector since 2008, resulting in an aging work force. A further 410,000 workers are due to retire in the next five years.

Mark Aldcroft, who manages a new build site near Stockport, told Sky News: "Definitely bricklaying and roofers, we're struggling to get an influx of them.

"Sometimes we can't get enough of the joinery industry because they're being pulled from pillar to post, various other contractors and house builders.

"Inevitably it does cause delays," he said.

Jay Culbert, who works as a labourer, said he has noticed fewer young people coming into the industry.

He told Sky News: "People have obviously steered away from it because they were unable to make a career in this when we suffered the recession.

"I think people have steered toward those jobs that require more thinking rather than obviously physical, manual labour."

Mike Bialyj from the CITB said there will "undoubtedly" be an impact on the housing sector.

He told Sky News: "One in 20 companies were forecasting that their business could be damaged or even irreparably damaged due to the skills shortage, so we really do need to make sure we fill the gap."

Tomorrow, the Bank of England Governor Mark Carney will outline his plans to take the heat out of the housing market.

It comes as research from charity Shelter shows that rising prices mean 80% of properties for sale in England are now unaffordable for the average working family.

In an exclusive interview with Sky News last month Mr Carney said: "The issue around the housing market in the UK … is there are not sufficient (numbers of) houses (being) built."

Asked if more houses need to be built, Mr Carney replied: "That would help us out."

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WPP Pay Rebel Changes Tack Ahead Of AGM

By Mark Kleinman, City Editor

One of the most trenchant City critics of pay at WPP Group is to change tack by voting in favour of remuneration policies at this week's annual meeting of the world's biggest marketing services provider.

Sky News understands from fund management sources that Scottish Widows Investment Partnership (SWIP), which holds a stake of more than 2% in WPP, has decided to support last year's directors' pay report as well as a binding vote on future policy.

The decision is a surprise since SWIP, which is now owned by Aberdeen Asset Management, has voted against resolutions on pay at previous WPP AGMs.

Wednesday's shareholder meeting, which will be held at the Shard, the City skyscraper, is expected to see well over 70% of investors supporting the WPP board once abstentions are taken into account.

Excluding abstentions, the vote in favour is likely to be above 80%, slightly ahead of last year's figure.

City sources said that other notable supporters of the pay resolutions were likely to include Blackrock and Legal & General Investment Management, while Standard Life Investments, another leading institution, was expected to oppose the board.

Some investors have expressed reservations about the earnings of Sir Martin Sorrell, WPP's chief executive, who received total remuneration worth nearly £30m last year.

That figure represented a hefty increase on the previous year's £17.5m package, although some leading shareholder proxy groups have recommended voting in favour because more than 90% of Sir Martin's remuneration is performance-related.

The near-£30m deal included £22.7m awarded under a long-term share scheme which was handed to him after a surge in the company's share price.

WPP had a successful 2013, benefiting from the turbulence caused by the ultimately-aborted merger talks of its two principal rivals, Omnicom Group of the US and France's Publicis Groupe.

Last weekend, WPP, which owns agency networks such as JWT, Ogilvy & Mather and Young & Rubicam, won prestigious awards for being the most creative and effective marketing services holding company at the Cannes Advertising Festival.

The WPP boss has been a staunch defender of his pay, frequently pointing to the risks he took to fund its growth during precarious phases of the company's expansion.

One ally of Sir Martin's pointed out that during the five-year period covered by the £22.7m share payout, there was a £12.35bn uplift in returns to WPP's wider shareholder base.

Reforms to WPP pay policies saw investor support for the company's remuneration report rebound to 80% last year from a meagre 40% in 2012.

Vince Cable, the Business Secretary, has forced an overhaul of the way companies report executive pay, and handed shareholders a binding vote on future compensation policies.

Votes on the previous year's pay deals, which have seen bloody noses given to boards at Barclays and Pearson this year, remain non-binding.

A WPP spokesman said previously: "The vast majority of Sir Martin Sorrell's pay relates to the five-year LEAP scheme already disclosed and designed to link long-term shareholder value creation with executive rewards as prescribed in Vince Cable's recent communication with companies."

The spokesman declined to comment on shareholders' voting decisions ahead of Wednesday's AGM.

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Dozens Of Flights Cancelled Over France Strikes

By Mike McCarthy, Sky News Correspondent

Thousands of air passengers are facing travel disruption due to a strike by air traffic controllers in France.

The action, starting today, is expected to last for six days. Last night, French authorities were still trying to assess the likely impact.

Airports in the UK say the industrial action is likely to affect many flights using French airspace including those to Spain.

EasyJet, which is the second biggest airline in France, is telling customers they will have to cancel about 25% of flights.

These include a number of flights from Lyon, Marseille, Toulouse, Bordeaux, Paris Orly, and Paris Charles de Gaulle.

EastJet has promised refunds to passengers

The airline says it is doing everything it can to minimise the impact on customers and that all those on affected flights will be informed by text message or email. 

It has promised to offer free transfers to a new flight or a full refund for travellers hit by the action. 

The company has advised people against re-booking journeys between today and June 30, because of the likelihood of further disruption.

Cancellations and delays may be significant but are not expected to be as bad as first feared. One of the two French unions involved called off its action after talks. 

The unions are opposed to plans for a re-organisation of air navigation in France.

Airports and airlines have been planning in an effort to avoid as much of the disruption as possible.  

Each week 17,000 seats are available between France and Manchester alone.

Manchester airport, which is part of a group including Stansted, East Midlands and Bournemouth, says up to 13,000 passengers could be affected this week.

It has advised passengers who are concerned to check with their airline before arriving at the airport.

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Trainline Tracks Float Despite Tech Wobble

By Mark Kleinman, City Editor

Britain's biggest online rail booking operation is on track for a stock market flotation despite disappointment over the performance of technology listings in London so far this year.

Sky News understands that the owner of Trainline has kicked off discussions with banks about an initial public offering (IPO) that could value the company at in excess of £400m.

Exponent Private Equity, which has held a controlling stake in Trainline since 2006, is expected to appoint City advisers to oversee a flotation within weeks, although the timing of any listing is uncertain and an outright sale to another investor is a possibility, sources said.

A flotation would provide a further test of investors' appetite for shares in technology companies following a mixed reception for a spate of technology debuts in recent months.

Businesses such as AO World, a digital channel for white goods sales, and Just Eat, an online takeaway service, attracted strong demand ahead of their listings but both have traded down since going public.

Trainline's recent performance has been strong, and Exponent is understood to believe it possesses a sufficiently visible growth profile to reassure prospective investors.

It made around £9m in profit in the year to March 2013, despite having to pay £2m in fees to advisers who led an unsuccessful sale process.

The business, which handles ticket sales for the majority of UK rail operating companies, added two million customers in the year to March and has seen its digital app downloaded more than six million times since its launch.

The company also said that its site was the most popular travel app on iPhone and Android devices.

In an attempt to drive the shift to mobile usage of its site, Trainline reshuffled its top management earlier this month, recruiting Clare Gilmartin, a former eBay manager, as its new chief executive.

Murray Hennessy became deputy chairman following Ms Gilmartin's appointment.

Established in 1999, Trainline was bought by Exponent for about £160m from a consortium which included Virgin, Stagecoach and National Express.

A previous attempt to sell the business in 2012 collapsed when bidders including Priceline.com, the US-based bookings site, and a Canadian pension fund declined to meet the owner's asking price.

Exponent subsequently paid itself a multimillion pound dividend from Trainline as part of a £190m refinancing.

The company faced a sudden loss of revenue in 2012 when the Department for Transport (DfT) decided to strip Virgin Trains of the West Coast mainline franchise and award it to FirstGroup.

However, that decision was overturned after embarrassing flaws in the bidding process were exposed, triggering an overhaul of the entire rail franchising system.

Last week, Virgin won a further two-year extension to run the line, one of the UK's most lucrative, prompting Sir Richard Branson to pledge to bid again for the next licence period.

As well as its own website, Trainline's runs digital sales operations for the majority of train operating companies and has expanded overseas, serving major companies and travel agents as clients.

Exponent and Trainline declined to comment on Sunday.

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Want A New Job? Report Reveals Poor Prospects

By Emma Birchley, Sky News Correspondent

The number of people starting a new job is down nearly a third on pre-recession levels in parts of the UK, a new report has warned.

Only inner London has seen job creation rise to above the figures for 2006-7, with a 3% increase - despite unemployment figures being at a five-year low.

Frances O'Grady, general secretary of the Trades Union Congress, which published the research, said: "Job creation is as important for people looking for work as it is for those already in work and looking to boost their incomes.

"It's worrying that across huge swathes of the country - and particularly in rural areas - job creation levels remain depressed and that where jobs are being created far more are temporary positions than before the crash.

"We need to see far more high-quality jobs being created, not just in our cities but across the UK, if we're going to achieve full employment and a return to healthy pay rises."

Brewer Marston's invests in areas like Telford where jobs are scarce

In some areas, including Tyne and Wear, South Yorkshire and the South East, the number of job starts is improving significantly on the depths of the downturn.

But the figures suggest in areas like Merseyside, much of the West Midlands, and parts of the North West, it is harder to find a new job than at the worst of the crash.

In the past four years, the brewers Marston's has built 100 new pubs like The Grazing Cow in Telford, Shropshire. Each one creates around 50 jobs.

CEO Ralph Findlay can see why London and cities like Birmingham and Newcastle are seeing the most growth, but he says the company likes to invest in areas where jobs are hard to come by.

"What we've got to try to do is encourage investment in some of the other areas where there is a desperate need for creating jobs and additional business," he said.

It took Becky Hill six months to find a job

"Business will not come without amenities and that is one of the things this kind of thing is able to offer."

The report also suggests that the rate young people are being hired has fallen considerably in the past 17 years.

Becky Hill, 20, started waitressing at The Grazing Cow a week ago, but it took her six months to find work despite handing out endless CVs to different employers.

"A lot of the time they are doing zero-hour contracts because it's very flexible for them as and when they need you," she said.

"It's been difficult and many people think I need something more permanent than that and more structure than that in their lives."

The Government says the report is misleading and a record number of people are in fact in work while vacancies are rising.

A spokesman for the Department for Work and Pensions said: "This report paints a misleading picture if the jobs market. The reality is we have a record number of people in work.

"Job vacancies rose by 116,000 over the past year, and it's a sign of confidence among businesses up and down the country that they're working hard to hold on to staff as well as taking on new workers."

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Ramada Owner Was £6bn InterContinental Suitor

By Mark Kleinman, City Editor

The owner of the Ramada hotel chain was the mystery suitor behind a recent £6bn takeover offer for the FTSE-100 hospitality provider InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG), Sky News can reveal.

Wyndham Worldwide Corporation, which is the world's biggest hotel operator with 7,500 sites, made a preliminary offer to acquire IHG in a deal that would have united leading industry brands such as Holiday Inn, Travelodge, Knights Inn and Crowne Plaza.

Sources said this weekend that Wyndham's initial approach to combine with IHG, which was made earlier this year, had been rebuffed and was no longer live, but suggested that it could subsequently be revived.

Wyndham is understood to have been examining a merger with IHG as a means of pursuing a so-called inversion, under which its tax domicile would have switched to the UK to take advantage of favourable corporate tax rates.

Such deals have become an important driver of trans-Atlantic mergers and acquisitions activity.

Pfizer recently failed with an attempt to buy its British rival AstraZeneca for roughly £70bn after provoking a hostile reaction from its target and Westminster politicians, who were angered that the offer was partly predicated upon tax benefits.

This week, Shire, a London-listed and Irish-headquartered pharmaceuticals group, rejected a £26bn offer from AbbVie, a US-based company which wants to use a deal to relocate its tax base.

Inversion have also sparked anger in the US, with several leading politicians vowing to pursue legislative measures to prevent American companies relocating overseas.

It is unclear how Wyndham, which has a market value of $9.5bn (£5.6bn) and is the world's biggest hotel group by number of properties, was proposing to structure an offer for IHG, which is valued at just under £6bn.

Sky News revealed in May that IHG's board had met to consider an approach from an unnamed suitor but rejected it on the grounds that it was too low.

The report prompted a shareholder in the UK-based group, Marcato Capital Management, to call for IHG to examine merger opportunities.

"We believe that a combination with a larger hotel operator would have compelling strategic and financial merit and represents a unique opportunity to reshape the global hospitality industry," it said.

"We strongly encourage InterContinental Hotels Group's board of directors to explore such a combination and engage advisers to conduct a formal process to ensure it evaluates the full range of opportunities available to maximise value."

Since then, IHG's management has shown little appetite to heed the request. Sources close to the company pointed to its recent strong performance as evidence that it had no need to seek a suitor.

The British group is chaired by Patrick Cescau, a former boss of Unilever, and run by Richard Solomons, who has pleased investors with a series of large capital returns.

These have been generated by the sale of many of its flagship hotel properties, including most recently sites in San Francisco and New York, as IHG shifts its business model to hotel management rather than ownership.

IHG still owns the LeGrand Paris and InterContinental Hong Kong, but is also expected to sell these properties and return hundreds of millions of pounds more to shareholders.

It has also been accelerating the expansion of its pipeline of new hotels, with 237 locations opened last year and 444 more added to its roster of future openings.

The company operates about 5% of the world's hotel rooms but has more than twice that volume of the industry's known slate of new rooms.

Last year, IHG reported pre-tax profits of £600m, a 10% rise on the previous year.

Its future growth will be driven by emerging markets, with Hualuxe, a premium brand aimed at Chinese customers, launched in 2012.

IHG declined to comment while Wyndham was unavailable.

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Cashless High Street Ditches Notes And Coins

By Becky Johnson, North of England Correspondent

Shoppers will find their cash is worthless in one Manchester suburb as only cards will be accepted by stores on the high street.

As part of a social experiment, shops along fashionable Beech Road in Chorlton will only take payments on plastic.

It comes as research shows people are increasingly using cards instead of notes and coins.

Many of the shops, bars and restaurants on the road are independently owned.

Mary Paul, of the Beech Road traders' association, said: "Businesses can see the way things are going with more money being taken on cards across the board, so this is a very interesting glimpse into the future for all of us."

This month the British Retail Consortium (BRC) revealed cash use has fallen by 14% in the last five years.

Card use is increasing rapidly, with debit cards currently being used for 32% of transactions compared to 30% last year.

Some experts predict physical currency will cease to exist within 20 years.

Shops on Beech Road in Chorlton are trialling plastic-only payments

Helen Dickinson, director general of the BRC, said: "Customers are taking advantage of new ways to shop and pay. The availability of contactless cards, handy express stores and self-service tills, as well as online sales, has increased the use of debit cards for smaller payments in place of cash."

Mark Latham, product and innovation director at Handepay, the card payment provider behind the idea to trial a cashless high street, added: "Britain is at the forefront of countries heading towards becoming cashless because the public are always eager to embrace new technology.

"Recent research showed most Londoners would welcome a cash-free society as they're so used to paying for everything with cards.

"There's now an expectation that card payment is available everywhere - it takes us aback as consumers if it isn't.

"Business owners love it too as it cuts down on queues, reduces lost sales and gives them more time to interact with their customers.

"All evidence shows consumers spend more too, as they're no longer limited to just the cash in their pockets."

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