UBS Cuts Thousands Of UK Jobs Amid Restructuring

UBS has confirmed that it is cutting 10,000 jobs as it looks to drastically shrink its ailing investment bank, which has a large presence in London.

Switzerland's biggest bank announced the plans as part of its third-quarter results, which revealed a loss of 2.2 billion Swiss francs (£1.43bn) compared to a profit of 1.02 billion (£0.67bn) in the same period last year.

It said the result for the July-September period was damaged by a one-off charge of 3.1 billion Swiss francs (£2bn) linked to the restructuring of its investment banking division and a debt-related charge of 863 million (£574m).

Chief Executive Sergio Ermotti said the investment unit, which has been hit by a series of costly blunders in recent years, would "continue to be a significant global player in its core businesses" but there would be "a significant acceleration" in its transformation.

The move will see the lender and wealth manager focus on its private bank and a smaller investment bank, ditching much of the trading business that cost it $50bn (£30bn) in the financial crisis and which had been "rendered uneconomical by changes in regulation and market developments".

UBS wants to concentrate on its traditional strengths in advisory, research, equities, foreign exchange and precious metals.

Of the total job cuts, which represent 15% of the workforce, 2,500 positions would be lost in Switzerland while the rest would be felt in the UK and US.

A UBS source told Sky News there was currently no confirmed figure for UK losses but said it would be fair to assume it would be around two thousand.

Dozens of traders in the City were told to go home following the announcement.

Mr Ermotti said: "This decision has been a difficult one, particularly in a business such as ours that is all about its people.

"Some reductions will result from natural attrition and we will take whatever measures we can to mitigate the overall effect.

"Throughout the process we will ensure that our people will be supported and treated with care."

UBS shares were trading 6% higher in early trading in Zurich as investors welcomed the transformation plan.

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Nuclear Power: Hitachi Buys Newbuild Project

Britain's nuclear expansion plans have been boosted after Japan's Hitachi signed a £700m deal that will enable the UK to start building the next generation of power plants.

The engineering giant is buying Horizon Nuclear Power, which has the rights to build reactors at Wylfa on Anglesey, North Wales, and Oldbury in Gloucestershire, from its German owners E.ON and RWE npower.

In what it described as the start of a 100-year commitment to the UK, Hitachi confirmed that it intends to progress Horizon's plans to build between two and three new nuclear plants at each site.

The facilities could be feeding electricity into the national grid in the first half of the 2020s and are expected to generate power equivalent to up to 14 million homes over 60 years.

Up to 6,000 jobs are expected to be created during construction at each site, with a further 1,000 permanent jobs at both locations once operational.

Hitachi has also signed supply chain deals with UK engineering firms Rolls-Royce and Babcock International and has pledged to establish a module assembly facility in the UK.

Some 1,000 jobs are expected to be created at Oldbury nuclear power station

The Horizon venture, which currently employs around 90 people, was set up in 2009 as part of the drive to meet the UK's carbon reduction goals.

But RWE and E.ON put the business up for sale in March after Germany's move to abandon nuclear power in the wake of Japan's Fukushima disaster.

Since then, doubts have grown about the private sector's commitment to the UK's nuclear programme.

Hitachi plans to employ its advanced boiling water technology, which is already in use in four reactors in Japan having been built to time and budget.

Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Davey told Sky News the investment was "a huge shot in the arm for the UK economy and a vote of confidence in UK energy policy".

The Cabinet minister dismissed any concerns over safety, insisting that Britain had the "toughest safety regulatory regime in the world".

He added that the technology Hitachi was proposing had "a very good track record" and it was different from the reactors used at Fukushima.

Prime Minister David Cameron said Hitachi's involvement represented a "decades-long, multibillion-pound vote of confidence in the UK".

Mike Clancy, general secretary-designate of the Prospect union, said: "The Horizon venture is an important milestone in securing future low-carbon energy generation capacity within the UK and its importance to local and national economies cannot be overstated."

Gary Smith, national officer of the GMB union, added: "This is positive news. However, we should be under no illusions that there are still real concerns with UK energy policy."

Shadow energy secretary Caroline Flint said Hitachi's decision to buy Horizon was "welcome news" for the nuclear industry, and underscored how important it was that the Government's reforms of the electricity market provided certainty and confidence for other investors.

Tatsuro Ishizuka, vice president of Hitachi, told a news conference in London that the company would invest billions of pounds in UK nuclear operations, stressing that it has already built nuclear power plants safely, on time and on budget.

He said: "Our aim is to build safe nuclear power stations, on time and on budget, to provide long-term, affordable energy."

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Heseltine Reveals Radical Plan For Growth

By Joey Jones, Deputy Political Editor

Former Cabinet minister Lord Heseltine has published a sweeping report aimed at stimulating growth, which is littered with criticism of Government inertia and delay.

The report, entitled No Stone Unturned, was commissioned by the Chancellor more than a year ago, but has been dogged by rumours that senior ministers have become increasingly doubtful about its viability.

Lord Heseltine advocates a major shift of power and money from Whitehall departments to Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs), the grassroots business organisations that have replaced Regional Development Agencies under the current Government.

His proposals would result in a massive expansion of LEP finance. Currently each LEP manages a budget running into millions of pounds, but Lord Heseltine suggests they should be empowered to bid for tens of billions of pounds currently administered by central Government.

The report earmarks £49bn of Government funding under the current spending period that would be better spent by LEPs, but suggests the bidding process should only begin in the run-up to the next spending review.

Lord Heseltine is harshly critical of Government departments' unwillingness to change, and argues that the current administration has been guilty of damaging delay in its approach to major projects including re-equipping the aviation network in the southeast of England.

The former president of the Board of Trade admits that many of the ideas contained in his report have been put forward in the past only to be kicked into the long grass.

He argues that there are grounds for optimism in that the current Government will act where others have sat on their hands.

The fact that the Chancellor and Prime Minister were eager for him to take on the job indicates, in his view, their appetite for controversial but productive reform.

Lord Heseltine also points out that some of his proposals "go with the grain" of the Government's localism agenda.

When asked how he would react in a year's time if his report ends up gathering dust like so many before it, Lord Heseltine was philosophical.

"I'll just get on running my garden," he told Sky News. "I've done my bit."

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Barclays Reports Loss After PPI Charges

Barclays has reported a pre-tax quarterly loss of £47m - compared with a £2.4bn profit over the same period last year.

The statutory loss in the three months to September was driven by increasing costs relating to the mis-selling of payment protection insurance (PPI) and a one-off £1bn charge against the value of the bank's own credit.

The bank had previously said it would set aside a further £700m to cover its costs after customer complaints over PPI continue, taking its total estimated bill to £2bn.

If this charge is not included, Barclays reported underlying pre-tax profits for the third quarter of £1.7bn, compared with £1.3bn last year.

Its investment bank more than doubled its quarterly underlying pre-tax profits to £937m, but its UK retail banking fell 19% year-on-year to £400m.

Barclays, which was rocked by the Libor rate-rigging scandal, also unveiled two new US regulatory inquiries into its conduct.

The bank said the US Department of Justice and US Securities and Exchange Commission were investigating whether its relationships with third parties who help it win or retain business are compliant with the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

It is also being investigated for past power trading in the west of the US.

Barclays' new chief executive, Anthony Jenkins, said the company would end 2012 in a "strong position".

"These results demonstrate that we continue to have good momentum in our businesses despite the difficulties we faced through this period," he said in a statement.

"While we have much to do to restore trust among stakeholders, our universal banking franchise remains strong and well positioned." 

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Star Wars Given New Hope In £2.5bn Disney Deal

Disney has agreed a deal to buy Lucasfilm from its founder George Lucas and says it will make a new series of Star Wars movies.

The US entertainment giant, which already owns brands such as Pixar, Marvel, ESPN and ABC, announced it is paying $4.05bn (£2.52bn) for the production company.

It also confirmed it is making Star Wars Episode 7, which is scheduled to be released in 2015.

Disney said the project would be the first in a new series of Star Wars films, with a new movie being released every two to three years.

The last Star Wars picture was Revenge Of The Sith in 2005, and Lucas had previously suggested there were no plans for any more.

The deal also includes the rights to the Indiana Jones franchise, although Disney did not reveal if it planned to revive the films featuring the action hero, played by Harrison Ford.

Kathleen Kennedy, the current co-chairman of Lucasfilm, will become its president and report to Walt Disney Studios chairman Alan Horn.

Analyst Matthew Harrigan, from Wunderlich Securities in the US, said the deal was a good one.

The deal could also spell a return for Harrison Ford's Han Solo

"Lucas wanted Luke and Darth to be in safe hands, and now they will be," he told Sky News.

He said there was room for growth in both the film and merchandising aspects of the franchise - given the popularity of 3D films and Imax cinemas, and video and social games.

But Mr Harrigan warned that Disney must be cautious about the number of Star Wars films it releases.

"The last Star Wars movie did OK internationally - but not as good as James Bond," he said.

"There's certainly scope to grow, but Disney must be careful not to burn the franchise out.

"Releasing a film every two to three years sounds about right."

Lucas, who created the Star Wars fictional universe and with it one of the most lucrative box office draws of all time, will be creative consultant on the new films.

After the deal was announced he said: "It's now time for me to pass Star Wars on to a new generation of filmmakers.

"I've always believed that Star Wars could live beyond me and I thought it was important to set up the transition during my lifetime."

Lucas will become the second-largest individual holder of Disney shares, with a 2.2% stake.

Disney will pay about half the purchase price in cash and issue about 40 million shares to complete the deal.

Chief financial officer Jay Rasulo said the deal would lower Disney's earnings per share by a low single-digits percentage in 2013 and 2014.

He also said Disney would repurchase all of the issued shares on the open market within the next two years, on top of planned buybacks.

The deal marks the third time in less than seven years that Disney has signed a massive deal to take over iconic studios or characters, part of its strategy to acquire brands that can be stretched across TV, movies, theme parks and the internet.

In early 2006, Disney struck a deal to acquire Toy Story creator Pixar, and in the summer of 2009 it bought the comic book powerhouse Marvel Entertainment.

Mr Harrigan added: "This deal is not a slam dunk like Marvel, but it is as good as - if not better than - Pixar."

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Superstorm Sandy Could Cost The US $45bn

Superstorm Sandy, which ripped through the east coast of the US, could cost around $45bn (£27.9bn), according to the latest estimate.

The figure, from professional services firm PwC, allows for a rise in original estimations as the full scale of damage becomes clear.

"There is clearly the potential for initial estimates to rise as we saw with Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Irene which underestimated the scale and level of damage caused," Mohammad Khan, insurance partner, PwC said.

An earlier estimate by forecasting company IHS Global Insight said the storm would cause about $20bn (£12.4bn) in damage and between $10bn (£ 6.2bn) and $30bn (£18.6bn) in lost business.

While risk consultants AIR Worldwide estimated losses up to $15bn (£9.3bn).

Mr Khan added that interruptions to business will make up a significant part of the overall losses - with Hurricane Katrina these claims made up approximately 20% of the overall insurance claims.

Damage on the New Jersey coastline

"Whether this is applicable to Sandy depends on the swiftness of recovery of the subway and other transports links which would be a good proxy for the recovery of New York in general," he said.

Businesses have been hit by a host of problems caused by the storm, including the flooding of the New York subway system which suffered the worst damage in its 108-year history.

New York mayor Michael Bloomberg said it could be four or five days before the subway is running again.

The city's financial district was also flooded by torrents of rainwater - leading to the closure of Wall Street on both Monday and Tuesday.

They reopened on Wednesday, with mayor Bloomberg ringing the bell at the New York Stock Exchange.

A road in North Carolina buckles following the storm

At the height of the storm, more than 8 million homes and businesses lost electricity - nearly a quarter of which were in New York.

Power company Consolidated Edison said it would be four days before its customers in Manhattan and Brooklyn would have power again, and it could take a week to restore outages in other New York districts.

But there was some good news from the region's airports - John F. Kennedy International in New York and Newark Liberty International said they planned to reopen with limited service on Wednesday.

Almost 19,000 flights have been cancelled since Sunday, according to flight tracking service FlightAware.com, and New York's LaGuardia Airport is still flooded and remained closed.

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Wall Street Opens Higher After Sandy Shutdown

New York's Dow Jones opened up 0.4% after Hurricane Sandy's arrival on the East Coast forced a two-day market closure.

The S&P 500 rose 0.3%, while the Nasdaq fell slightly in early trading.

US stock markets were closed on Monday or Tuesday as Sandy tore through the city, flooding the financial district and subway system and causing widespread power cuts.

But New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg rang the bell at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on Wednesday, signalling Wall Street was open for business again.

To ensure a smooth start, the NYSE invoked a condition to trading known as Rule 48 which helps stop extreme market volatility. 

But the exchange is currently without an internet connection or electricity, as are large parts of Manhattan, and is running on backup generators.

The majority of floor traders at the NYSE managed to get to work, despite the closure of the city's subways and train networks.

But trading was expected to be volatile following two days of inactivity and in low volumes, with the power outages preventing some traders from working from home.

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GM Slashes Jobs Amid Europe Car Downturn

General Motors has announced European job cuts amid the sales downturn in the foreign car market.

The US parent firm of Britain's Vauxhall said it would aim to make $500m (£310m) in fixed-cost savings between 2013 and 2015.

It added the company was planning further job cuts in Europe as it seeks to break even on the continent by the middle of the decade.

GM said it will cut the shifts at its Opel plant in Eisenach, Germany, from three to two next year, according to a presentation made after the firm revealed its third quarter earnings.

The Detroit-based car maker, which needed a US bailout after the global financial crisis, posted a surprisingly strong Q3 profit.

However, it said the break even target in Europe comes as it plans to save as much as $1.8bn (£1.11bn) there this year.

The proposed cuts come days after Ford announced major job losses as part of its plans to reduce production in Europe.

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Aldi Beats Fortnum And Mason In Taste Test

A taste test of Christmas puddings has ranked Fortnum & Mason's 29th out of 32 - and Aldi's second.

The discount supermarket's £7.99 Xmas pud was described it as a "real bargain" by Good Housekeeping magazine.

But the exclusive London departments store's offering was "a real disappointment", despite costing over three times as much at £24.95.

Waitrose came top in the category with its cherry and almond-topped pudding, complete with edible glitter.

The upmarket supermarket also won the champagne round with its Brut Special Reserve Vintage 2004, while bubbly by Sainsbury's and Tesco's were judged runners-up.

The magazine's experts ate and drank their way through 162 different festive foods across eleven categories for its annual Christmas Dinner Tried and Tested.

In the cranberry sauce category, Fortnum & Mason's £10.95 jar came bottom - beaten by Tesco's £1.49 version.

The supermarkets also topped the charts when it came to Christmas cake - with all five major stores' own-brand versions shortlisted.

But specialists won the mince pie taste-off - Bettys, Harrods and Gails were shortlisted, along with only one supermarket, Morrisons.

The magazine's consumer director, Caroline Bloor, said shopping for Christmas dinner products can be hit and miss.

"Our annual Good Housekeeping Tried and Tested special on festive foods proves you don't need to bust the budget buying expensive names to treat everyone to something special," she said.

"In most categories, the overall winner is from a high street supermarket. If you're going to splash out, save your money for the mince pies."

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4G TV Interference 'For 2.3m Homes'

New 4G mobile phone networks could cause TV interference to some 2.3million households, a senior MP has warned.

John Whittingdale, chairman of the influential Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee, says the government needs to act to alert people to the risk.

The problem centres on 4G services using the 800mhz band of the radio spectrum, which used to be used for television, and is most likely to affect homes with Freeview.

Conservative MP Mr Whittingdale said: "The problem with that is that it is going to cause quite a lot of interference to people who use Freeview and we estimate that something like 2.3million households could find that their reception of Freeview is affected by the new 4G service."

He said there were concerns about the 4G roll-out, despite government plans to provide a plug-in filter for the TV in some affected households or vouchers to pay for technicians to adjust rooftop aerials.

He said: "They're only going to supply one filter, so if you have more than one television set you may have to go out and buy the others.

"But also the timescale in which this is happening is very short. It's going to start happening probably about June next year and at the moment it seems as if almost no-one is aware of it, so the government is going to have to move very quickly to make people aware that this is going to happen."

MP John Whittingdale has issued a warning about 4G TV interference

Meanwhile, a new study warns that another Christmas without a universal 4G service will cost the UK economy £120m in lost sales.

The report by online auction site eBay claims a nationwide roll-out of 4G would have boosted sales from £373m to £493m.

More than half of consumers (55%) plan to use their mobile to browse the web this Christmas, while 39% say they will use their device to get gift ideas and check prices.

eBay.co.uk said the top three barriers preventing consumers from shopping on their mobiles were slow connection speeds, payments timing out and network reliability - all problems that could be reduced by 4G.

EE, formerly known as Everything Everywhere, has started to launch its range of 4G products and services in London, Bristol, Birmingham, Cardiff, Leeds, Sheffield, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Liverpool, Southampton and Manchester.

The network, which offers speeds up to five times faster than 3G, will be available on the Apple iPhone 5 as well as devices from HTC, Samsung, Nokia and Huawei.

Clare Gilmartin, vice president of eBay Marketplaces Europe, said: "Mobile devices have become virtual stores in our pockets, giving us the ability to shop anytime, anywhere.

"But for consumers, it's critical that the experience is quick, seamless and simple."

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